Advice on new phone

[Cozarkian]

My new job is giving me a phone reimbursement (use it or lose it) so it is time to upgrade beyond using my wife's hand-me-downs (currently an iphone 3G). I can basically get any phone currently on the market or that will be released within the next 60 days.

Sound quality is probably the most important feature since I actually tend to use phones for calls and computers for internet access. Beyond that I'd like a readable screen for those times I have to check work email without a computer nearby and a quality camera would be nice.

Oh, carrier can be either AT&T or Tmobile.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[ImDonly1]

iPhone 5s if that is your thing.
Android: Nexus 5, LG G2, HTC One (2014 edition) soon be to released, etc

 

[Trombe]

Moto X will probably have the best sound quality but the camera is pretty crappy compared to other flagships.

New HTC one is supposedly going to be officially announced March 25th, dunno if the release date will be within your 60 days (or the S5 for that matter) for the US.

Is your company going to pay for the phone service too or just the phone?

 

[IamDavid]

Nokia 925 = Pure awesomeness with amazing sound quality. 5S phone quality sucks. Moto X is great sounding.

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/nokia/lumia-925-black.html#fbid=bOOeGRa8ECL

 

[dawheat]

Anecdotally, Apple and Motorola are said to have very good sound quality, though I've never had any issues personally with my Samsung, Nexus, or LG phones.

If you have 60 days, I'd wait to check out some upcoming phones to compare against the best today (Note 3, LG G2, Moto X, iPhone 5S).
- Samsung S5
- LG G Pro 2

The M8 HTC One will probably be available outside your 60 day window, though hopefully HTC will announce US availability during their presentation.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Since you are after a work phone and pretty much said you don't need it for games, consider a Blackberry Z30.

The sound quality on the Z30 is top notch.

The unified inbox is also incredible.

And if you want to be able to type fast, it's hard to beat the Blackberry keyboard.

As an aside, notice how everyone just responded with what they think the best phones are. Get an HTC One. Oh, the latest iPhone! Ya, great advice. Based on your needs, that's what people are saying and they don't even say why.

Seriously, your requirements are:
1) e-mail
2) phone
3) web browser (assuming you meant this by internet)

Take your requirements and decide is my best advice. You probably want a 5" screen. I'd say get a good unified inbox but I never found one that compares to the BB Hub. Any modern phone will have a good browser on it.

RANT: I am endlessly amazed how brainwashed people in the USA are.

 

[mnewsham]

RANT: I am endlessly amazed how brainwashed people in the USA are.

Apple and android actually have established app ecosystems that are both doing fairly well, Windows phone is slowly getting there, BB10? Not even close, bottom of the heap. Canada is the only country RIM still has decent market share in and I'd wager it's mostly stemming from the fact that RIM is a Canadian company.

Also android and Apple are both doing much better in Europe, Asia, middle east, Africa, Australia, and central & south America. So unless they're all brainwashed too maybe BlackBerry has had its time and it's no longer a top phone company? Seems the most likely explanation.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Apple and android actually have established app ecosystems that are both doing fairly well, Windows phone is slowly getting there, BB10? Not even close, bottom of the heap. Canada is the only country RIM still has decent market share in and I'd wager it's mostly stemming from the fact that RIM is a Canadian company.

Advice. If you don't know the statistics behind something, you shouldn't make concrete statements.
Note: If you think Canada is the country they have the best market share, you are wrong.

Why are you advising the OP to Android, iOS and Windows phone without (as I already pointed out) actually giving factual reasons to do so?

See what I mean about people in the USA being brainwashed? Get it? WINDOWS PHONE IS DOING BETTER BECAUSE THEIR MARKETTING TEAM IS TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT. You are proving my point for me! But no one can comprehend simple logic.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Also android and Apple are both doing much better in Europe, Asia, middle east, Africa, Australia, and central & south America. So unless they're all brainwashed too maybe BlackBerry has had its time and it's no longer a top phone company? Seems the most likely explanation.

Wow, once giant sentence stated as a concrete fact. Yet it is factually incorrect. *done with this conversation* I learned long ago that Lemmings like to be Lemmings.

EDIT:
I give up. OP, just go get any Android or iOS phone that is $200 on contract. Get the shiny one that has a cool case available for it. That's the level of advice you're basically getting. Once you get the Android device, you can spend another 40+ hours figuring what free and at cost apps you need to make your phone actually behave somewhat nicely to do the things Blackberry does best (for your needs) out of box. Not putting you down OP.... just can't deal with the 15 year old mentality of buy it because it's cool in this forum.

 

[mnewsham]

You're delusional and BB10 release hasn't changed anything so don't bring that up.

 

[WelshBloke]

...

Arent you the guy that bought a butt ton of RIM shares and advised everyone else to as well?

 

[dawheat]

Since you are after a work phone and pretty much said you don't need it for games, consider a Blackberry Z30.

The sound quality on the Z30 is top notch.

The unified inbox is also incredible.

And if you want to be able to type fast, it's hard to beat the Blackberry keyboard.

As an aside, notice how everyone just responded with what they think the best phones are. Get an HTC One. Oh, the latest iPhone! Ya, great advice. Based on your needs, that's what people are saying and they don't even say why.

Seriously, your requirements are:
1) e-mail
2) phone
3) web browser (assuming you meant this by internet)

Take your requirements and decide is my best advice. You probably want a 5" screen. I'd say get a good unified inbox but I never found one that compares to the BB Hub. Any modern phone will have a good browser on it.

RANT: I am endlessly amazed how brainwashed people in the USA are.

Please read the OP more carefully before insulting others - he mentioned it needs to be on AT&T or T-mobile. AFAIK, the Z30 is only available on Verizon. I doubt his work will subsidize a non-US carrier GSM phone to use on AT&T. So good job recommending a phone that can't be bought.

Regardless, I think most folks recommend iOS or Android simply b/c most people don't want to carry around 2 devices and if a work device can handle both duties, all the better. It's hard for me to recommend as a daily driver, a 5" 720p phone that's heavier than a Note 3, has a below average camera compared to current flagships (and poor low light photos), and dependent on sideloading apps from the Play Store.

Also - I dug up some old reviews on the Z30 - and saw mention that call quality wasn't great which frankly was surprising to me.

 

[Raduque]

Seriously, your requirements are:
1) e-mail
2) phone
3) web browser (assuming you meant this by internet)

Actually, his requirements were

1)call quality
2)"readable" screen (i'm assuming this means large, high-resolution)
3)Camera

I would recommend a Note 3 above all the other devices.

Congrats on reading his post thoroughly and not using it as an excuse to plug a dying company... oh wait.

 

[mnewsham]

I would recommend a Note 3 above all the other devices.

LG G Pro 2 is better than the Note 3 so if he can get that instead it would have a better camera (same specs as the Note 3 but it has OIS where the note3 does not have) and a slightly larger screen. Besides that the phones are nearly identical.

 

[smitbret]

Wow, once giant sentence stated as a concrete fact. Yet it is factually incorrect. *done with this conversation* I learned long ago that Lemmings like to be Lemmings.

EDIT:
I give up. OP, just go get any Android or iOS phone that is $200 on contract. Get the shiny one that has a cool case available for it. That's the level of advice you're basically getting. Once you get the Android device, you can spend another 40+ hours figuring what free and at cost apps you need to make your phone actually behave somewhat nicely to do the things Blackberry does best (for your needs) out of box. Not putting you down OP.... just can't deal with the 15 year old mentality of buy it because it's cool in this forum.

You'll never win them over.

Most are 20-something marketing sponges who drive rice-burners because every other 20-something drives a rice burner.

See my point?

Voice quality on my Z10 is much better than my GFs Nexus 4, my parents' iPhones, my MIL's Moto G and my FIL's LG. That's why I bought it. Although I will admit the Moto X is probably just as good. The keyboard on the Z10 is much better than the Android and iPhone sets unless you really like Swype.

Camera quality is subjective. Some people like over saturated images. Others like natural tones. Some are better at lowlight and some are awesome in daylight photos. You just won't know till you try it.

Everyone in this thread will just plug their own phone, though. You'll get heavy Android with a lot of iPhone and a handful of Windows phone recommendations.

Seriously, just go to the stores and try them out. Any salesman would be more than happy to let you place a test call or two with a working handset.

 

[poofyhairguy]

WINDOWS PHONE IS DOING BETTER BECAUSE THEIR MARKETTING TEAM IS TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT.

Actually they are doing better because they are using the hardware efficiency of the OS to attack the low-end market. Like BlackBerry should have done with their new line of phones, but their ego made them think their offerings were still comparable to other companies' flagship devices.

I give up. OP, just go get any Android or iOS phone that is $200 on contract. Get the shiny one that has a cool case available for it. That's the level of advice you're basically getting.

Actually I was going to recommend looking at Windows Phones. Nokia makes good phones even though I have never owned one.

Once you get the Android device, you can spend another 40+ hours figuring what free and at cost apps you need to make your phone actually behave somewhat nicely to do the things Blackberry does best (for your needs) out of box.

And for the tasks that BlackBerry can't do out of the box but iOS/Android has an easy-to-get app? I know your answer- do without! That answer is why BB died.

 

[s44]

Arent you the guy that bought a butt ton of RIM shares and advised everyone else to as well?

He's the guy who's been singlehandedly shilling BB here since the new OS announcement.

Rather bad form to hijack this advice thread though.

I'd suggest the 5S, Note 3, or S5. WP only if you never plan to upgrade your use patterns.

 

[PowerYoga]

ignore the blackberry shill, he's been around forever and people have learned that nothing he says should be taken seriously.

If it's for business use Note 3 may be good for the big screen and stylus, but samsung radios and voice quality are not the best. The voice is good enough for conference calls though, since you'll most likely be talking through a headpiece or a headset most of the time it's not really an issue.

The best idea is to walk around a store and see which ones feel "right" to you. Note 3 is too big for a lot of people.

 

[smitbret]

ignore the blackberry shill(s)

Pluralized that for you. I want some recognition, too.

 

[WelshBloke]

He's the guy who's been singlehandedly shilling BB here since the new OS announcement.

It's just that other people have been banned for trying to pump share prices on this forum.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Pluralized that for you. I want some recognition, too.

I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, you seem more rational. You seem to accept that people might have valid needs that a BB device cannot adequately meet.

 

[jacktesterson]

If I was being offered a free phone, I certainly wouldn't want a Blackberry, regardless of the situation currently.

 

[IeraseU]

I would get the Galaxy S5. The iPhone 5s is going to look dated as soon as the larger screen iPhone 6 is released imo.

 

[Radeon962]

LG G Pro 2 is better than the Note 3 so if he can get that instead it would have a better camera (same specs as the Note 3 but it has OIS where the note3 does not have) and a slightly larger screen. Besides that the phones are nearly identical.

Curious how you came to that conclusion. I'm biased as a Note 3 owner but it seems that Note 3 is generally regarded as king of the phablet sized phones.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I would get the Galaxy S5. The iPhone 5s is going to look dated as soon as the larger screen iPhone 6 is released imo.

Or the Lg G2 seems like a fine choice too, but I've heard the rear button is a love it or hate it thing. Gotta feel it to see if it would work for you. The Note 3 may be an option...it's a pretty nice device.