So, long story short: AT&T is raising the price of its grandfathered in unlimited data plans, to the point where my wife and I had to really question whether we should move to a metered plan. We were going to stick it out, but the two-year agreement phone has now been dropped by AT&T as well. I got on the phone and asked if our rates would come down once our current phones had been paid off (used to be that your plan price went down after the contract ended and your phone was paid off), and was told that no, they would not do that this time. The rep stopped just short of admitting that AT&T is going to great lengths to get rid of everyone who has an unlimited plan and/or actually knows what they're doing with a phone, and instead shoehorn people into that idiotic "pay $10/mo for the privilege of renting your phone at full retail price" garbage.
So since we're against the idea of paying AT&T full retail price (plus $200+ in "Next" fees) for a phone we don't get to keep, we're going to go the unlocked route and bring our own devices to Verizon. AT&T was nice enough to grant all unlimited data users a 60-day grace period to cancel without ETFs, and Verizon's network and speed are so much better that it's well past time. I'd been really looking forward to getting a Nexus phone, but the 5X has subpar reviews, and the 6P is the size of a freaking tablet. I'm kind of over carrying a brick around, and want my next phone to be somewhere between a 4.5" and 5.2" display. It doesn't have to be the hot new model--in fact, I'd rather it wasn't, since my first stop will be XDA to get it rooted and have a customized OS installed. Likewise, doesn't need to be a flagship, as I'm thinking cheaper. That said, I don't want to go older than the previous generation, or hardware limitations will really start to become an issue.
I've looked at the Nexus 5X, obviously, a couple of Huawei phones (including the 6P), the Moto X Play, the Sony Experia Z3 Compact (and other Z phones), the LG G4 and the OnePlus Two. If the OnePlus worked on Verizon's network, I'd have a phone ordered already...but it doesn't.
The G4 is a perfect fit but, imo, too big.
Are there any solid Android phones out there that I'm overlooking?
Also, no fruit.
I thought you said long story short.
I got nuthin', I've had my Galaxy S3 since it came out and I'm not ever changing if I can help it.
I got one with numbers and letters.
Quote:I got one with numbers and letters.
Even that overwhelms you, am I right?
I switched to att the phone prices are outrageous! I went to best buy and bought a moterolla 4 go phone it does everything my iPhone 4 did and cost me 50 bucks.
Quote:I thought you said long story short.
That IS the short version
I just upgraded from a Nokia Windows phone to a Galaxy S6. Not too big, nice camera and screen, it was the best value among my upgrade options. Not overly thrilled with the Samsung version of Android, but not even close to a deal breaker for me. I'm not very tech savvy when it comes to smartphones, though.
I wouldn't get the LG G4 the G5 will be coming out sometime this quarter if you can hold off. You can google it. Specs on it are pretty amazing. But it will be on the big side. I think in my skimming I saw you shy away from the big ones.
I have a Nexus 5 and if you're going to root/unlock bootloader sticking with google will keep life easy (I had a Nexus 4 before also and it was very easy too root/unlock, if I remember correctly the GSM was unlocked out the box). Cyanogen is probably my favorite rom when you go that route...which also gets updated regularly for Nexus phones.
I have an ASUS Zenfone 2, which I really like, but that only works on GSM carriers. A couple of my friends have Nexus phones and they seem to like them though.
Quote:I have a Nexus 5 and if you're going to root/unlock bootloader sticking with google will keep life easy (I had a Nexus 4 before also and it was very easy too root/unlock, if I remember correctly the GSM was unlocked out the box). Cyanogen is probably my favorite rom when you go that route...which also gets updated regularly for Nexus phones.
Do you have the 5, or the 5X? I almost sucked it up and bought a 5, and I kind of wish I had. And yeah, Cyanogen is a really nice, clean OS for the most part, although I've found myself using Sense-based ROMs on my M8 more and more.
Quote:I have an ASUS Zenfone 2, which I really like, but that only works on GSM carriers. A couple of my friends have Nexus phones and they seem to like them though.
I'm giving up on Verizon to some extent. Their CDMA network is making life miserable in terms of finding unlocked phones that will work with them. Sprint's network is a joke and T-Mo's is worse, which kind of leaves me right back on AT&T.
How much data do you and your wife use? I'm guessing that since you two were unlimited plans this won't work, but I'm with Consumer Cellular. They have reasonably priced plans if you don't use too much data, plus they run on AT&T's towers and they actually have good customer service. I've been with them for the past six months and haven't had any problems.
Since you are looking at GSM carriers again, I'd check out the Zenfone 2. It's a little bigger than you wanted (5.5 inches), but the specs are great for the price. There's a couple different models available and I have the 16gb one.
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenFone2-Unlo...+zenfone+2
Quote:Do you have the 5, or the 5X? I almost sucked it up and bought a 5, and I kind of wish I had. And yeah, Cyanogen is a really nice, clean OS for the most part, although I've found myself using Sense-based ROMs on my M8 more and more.
I'm giving up on Verizon to some extent. Their CDMA network is making life miserable in terms of finding unlocked phones that will work with them. Sprint's network is a joke and T-Mo's is worse, which kind of leaves me right back on AT&T.
Bought a 5 (no x) around Christmas '14 or a little after, the camera isn't great, but it's serviceable, I have an actual camera anyways.
Quote:I just upgraded from a Nokia Windows phone to a Galaxy S6. Not too big, nice camera and screen, it was the best value among my upgrade options. Not overly thrilled with the Samsung version of Android, but not even close to a deal breaker for me. I'm not very tech savvy when it comes to smartphones, though.
I loved my Windows phone and 'upgraded' to a Samsung Android. While it's more functional, I've never been completely happy with it. If Windows comes out with the rumored Surface phone, I'm jumping all over it. My kids laugh at me but I just love the Windows interface. The only real drawback is lack of app support. That was always problematic.
Quote:I loved my Windows phone and 'upgraded' to a Samsung Android. While it's more functional, I've never been completely happy with it. If Windows comes out with the rumored Surface phone, I'm jumping all over it. My kids laugh at me but I just love the Windows interface. The only real drawback is lack of app support. That was always problematic.
Yeah I was going to get a Win phone instead just because I love the interface, the store didn't have jack [BLEEP] at the time though, but that seems to be changing. Hopefully by the time I decide to upgrade they'll have more of the apps I care about.
Quote:I have an ASUS Zenfone 2, which I really like, but that only works on GSM carriers. A couple of my friends have Nexus phones and they seem to like them though.
Quote:How much data do you and your wife use? I'm guessing that since you two were unlimited plans this won't work, but I'm with Consumer Cellular. They have reasonably priced plans if you don't use too much data, plus they run on AT&T's towers and they actually have good customer service. I've been with them for the past six months and haven't had any problems.
Since you are looking at GSM carriers again, I'd check out the Zenfone 2. It's a little bigger than you wanted (5.5 inches), but the specs are great for the price. There's a couple different models available and I have the 16gb one.
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenFone2-Unlo...+zenfone+2
I have the Zenfone and don't particularly like it. I even went back to my moto g (which is only a 3g phone) for a period out of frustration. The Android version is inferior to Motorola and Nexus to the point where I don't use my phone nearly as much. And I'm only marginally getting used to it. The biggest annoyance is the phone likes to activate itself randomly. At first I thought it was a result of the power and volume buttons being placed in random awkward locations (like they just wanted to be different for the sake of being different). But then I was able to turn the screen on like 10 times in a row just by tapping it while it's powered off. It's not a good thing when a phone starts making random calls or playing random music by itself while it's in your pocket. I agree it's a really good phone, but the software and OS not so much.
Quote:I have the Zenfone and don't particularly like it. I even went back to my moto g (which is only a 3g phone) for a period out of frustration. The Android version is inferior to Motorola and Nexus to the point where I don't use my phone nearly as much. And I'm only marginally getting used to it. The biggest annoyance is the phone likes to activate itself randomly. At first I thought it was a result of the power and volume buttons being placed in random awkward locations (like they just wanted to be different for the sake of being different). But then I was able to turn the screen on like 10 times in a row just by tapping it while it's powered off. It's not a good thing when a phone starts making random calls or playing random music by itself while it's in your pocket. I agree it's a really good phone, but the software and OS not so much.
Do you have a Zenfone or a Zenfone 2? Because the the Zenfone 2 requires the power button to be held down for few seconds to turn it on. If you had a Zenfone 2, maybe yours was faulty.