[chbot] OT : smart phone shopping list

[Yani Dubin]

To counter-balance what Hads said regarding the Nexus 4, while its specs
are very tempting (the price point for its processing power 1.5Ghz quad
core), be sure to read of the disturbingly frequent reports of this device
shattering. Generally from sliding off things / being dropped and
shattering (this has glass both sides), but some even report it shattering
just sitting on the bench. There are a lot of very unhappy buyers of this
phone, which is worth consideration.

When work offered to buy my current phone due to its relevance to a project
they were working on a few weeks back, I had to make the choice. It was a
new Nexus 4 (4x 1.5GHz), or a Galaxy Nexus S (2x 1.2GHz) which sell for
similar prices from memory. I chose the latter, as I didn't want to take
the risk of loosing that much money due to a drop (and I very rarely drop
my phone - but at that price, the risk is too much).

Hads: I hope you have an anti-drop shield around that sucker :) If not, I
suggest looking at some reviews and taking heed.

Regards,
Yani.


On Mon, Aug 12, 2013 at 10:20 AM, Hadley Rich <hads at nice.net.nz> wrote:

> On 12/08/13 10:10, Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
>
>> Heh! I've been keeping a bit of an eye on it too, but no matter how much
>> money I was thinking of spending, my list of satisfactory options is so
>> far empty.
>>
>> My main requirements would be:
>>
>>    reception
>>    call quality
>>    GPS
>>    software upgrades / support / security fixes
>>
>> Pick any two. Given the price tag of those "smart" jobs, and the fact
>> they're called a tele*phone*, Consumer tends to find that a <$100 dumb
>> job usually does a better job. Along with these signal strength
>> problems, plenty of manufacturers can't make the GPS work properly
>> either - well what's the point of the price tag if google maps doesn't
>> work properly.
>>
>> Google's offerings are a bit better priced and have the software problem
>> better sorted, but I'm a bit reluctant to buy google hardware.
>>
>> The advice I'd give is to prioritise the required feature list, zero in
>> on some models, and tick their capabilities off using Consumer,
>> duckduckgo and the specs.
>>
>> And do let us know when you've found one why you found it particularly
>> good for the purpose you wanted it for.
>>
>
> If you can deal with the general privacy issues of Android then I'm quite
> happy with the LG/Google Nexus 4. The main issue is trying to strike a
> balance between crippling the functionality and protecting a shred of
> privacy.
>
> The processor is fast, software is updated quickly on Nexus devices, GPS
> works well (still gets a quickish lock with the WiFi location phone home
> turned thing off), reception is on par with any smart phone I've seen.
>
> I bought from the Google Play store for AU$350 but they're available from
> around the place in NZ.
>
> hads
>
>
> --
> http://nice.net.nz
>
>
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