Ask HN: Which Android Phone to Buy?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1466520

by dpapathanasiou • 16 years ago

44 110 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Is the Nexus One from Google the best choice? Or, should I consider another device from Verizon, etc. instead?

Ideally, I'd like to have a simple pay-go plan, as opposed to a fixed cost per month.

byoung24• 16 years ago

It depends on what you want/need to do with your phone.

If you travel internationally, The Nexus One is a great choice because it's GSM. You'll have to put up with T-Mobile/AT&T in the states, but when you're abroad, just pop in a foreign SIM card and you're good to go.

If you want the fastest internet with no caps, look at the EVO from Sprint. With 4G speeds from 3-6Mbps in about 2 dozen cities and a hotspot supporting up to 8 devices, you can almost use it as your only internet connection at home.

If you do a lot of texting/emailing, the Droid from Verizon is about the best Android phone around with a slide out keyboard, plus you get a reliable network to back it up.

I guess in the end you have to decide what you want and go from there...

yoden• 16 years ago

Also, the Droid X will launch in August or so, so if you go that route you may want to wait a few months (it also doesn't have the droid's fiddly d-pad.

jackowayed3• 16 years ago

The Droid X comes out in July and does not have a keyboard. It's basically an EVO clone.

You're probably thinking of the Droid 2.

billymeltdown3• 16 years ago

that's an interesting device. any word on the battery life?

megablast4• 16 years ago

There is always a new android phone coming out, which is bigger and better than the last. Some people like this, some people don't.

bdb3• 16 years ago

The Droid is a great phone too. I think I like the screen better than that of the Nexus One.

I just can't get into the Evo. If you haven't held one in your hand, you don't understand the size of this thing. It feels like talking into a paperback copy of The Catcher in the Rye.

byoung24• 16 years ago

My girlfriend has an EVO and man is that thing huge. I have pretty big hands (i can span a tenth on a piano and palm a basketball) and my first thought was that the EVO is uncomfortable for me to hold as a phone. I say as a phone because I realized that she uses it as a replacement for her Viliv S5 tablet (before that she had a Nokia N800). Most of the time she uses it in landscape mode as more of an internet tablet (video chat, browsing, texting), and she never holds it up to her ear (uses bluetooth instead). When you look at it that way, it's not so big after all.

seancron• 16 years ago

I do have to say I still haven't gotten entirely used to the keyboard on the Droid. It can be hard to tell where the individual keys are, and the keys are a little shallow so it's not the most responsive.

Another benefit for the Nexus One is that it does seem to get updates the soonest out of all the Android phones, whereas I'm still waiting for 2.2 on my Droid. Hopefully it'll be updated soon though now that Froyo has been open sourced.

biafra2• 16 years ago

UMTS (3G) with HSDPA is also 3-6Mbps. Depending on your carrier its available in all major cities in Germany.

zackola3• 16 years ago

I'll pay you 10 dollars to take my G1.

peregrine2• 16 years ago

Have you by chance installed any of the custom roms on it yet? Makes the G1 feel like a new phone, still the best phone I've ever owned.

That said mine is definitely showing its age and I'm excited for my contract to be up this August.

Andys• 16 years ago

I love my G1. It feels solid.. yesterday I dropped it down a flight of concrete steps and its fine!

keefe2• 16 years ago

links to best roms / verified howto?

zackola3• 16 years ago

Yes, I'd been running a pretty recent Cyanogen mod, but not one that was 2.1. I had been thinking about using a 2.1+ mod but haven't had the time to sit down and figure the whole process again. The keyboard on the G1 is great, but that's about it. After installing and using Cyanogen it always felt like the phone was laggy for doing the important things, answering calls, etc.

The best phone I've owned so far for functioning as a phone was a RAZR v3. The best smartphone up until about a year ago was the G1, but with limited ram the hardware has been unable to keep up it seems.

jchonphoenix• 16 years ago

I wouldn't bother with getting a slide out keyboard. If you install Swype, your typing speeds can be faster than it is with a phone keyboard.

byoung24• 16 years ago

I have a Touch Pro 2 (with slide out keyboard), and one not-so obvious advantage is that I can type without having an onscreen keyboard block half the screen.

ryandvm• 16 years ago

Definitely. Swype is amazing. I'm using the beta right now, but when they decide to start asking for money I'll pay.

byoung24• 16 years ago

I think their plan is to charge royalties to cellphone makers to include the technology in their phones.

Zak3• 16 years ago

Typing speed isn't the only advantage to a keyboard. Having the full screen available while you're entering text is a significant advantage in certain situations.

martythemaniak• 16 years ago

The one thing I would definitely say is get one of the new, high-end ones - Droid / Droid 2, Droid Incredible, Droid X, Nexus One, Galaxy S and Evo.

From this bunch, it depends on which carrier / features you want. Some of them are physically larger, some have slide-out keyboards, etc etc.

enjo• 16 years ago

For my money the Incredible is tops. I love the form factor. Feels good in hand. Very similar form factor (and DPI) to the iPhone 4.

billymeltdown3• 16 years ago

I've been told by a friend, who's opinion on these matters I dig, that he got his hands on an HTC Legend and said it was "Android done right." I think the HTC Incredible is available now and is of similar design, user interface wise. Apparently the HTC folks are making a lot of head-way there.

I've read some rough review and commentary about the EVO, think you might want to do your homework there.

bdb3• 16 years ago

The right answer is Nexus One on T-Mobile. I am not a huge fan of tmo's coverage here in San Francisco, but they have the best plans for what you want, I think.

Nexus One because it's unlocked and also: it's the phone that Google employees use most therefore your phone will run the newest builds/features before everyone else's.

When you get it: immediately root it ("fastboot oem unlock"). If you want to do it later, it will wipe your data first. And then toss the latest Froyo build on there - you will have to Google around to find it, but it's really good.

extension• 16 years ago

The big problem with the N1 is the terrible touch screen. Quite often it won't register a touch on one or both axes and the "multi-touch" is a lie.

jrockway4• 16 years ago

I've played with a friend's Nexus One. You can pinch to zoom in Maps and the browser, so who cares about anything else?

cowmixtoo• 16 years ago

I have to agree here. I love my N1 but the 'touch' part blows.

strangecargo• 16 years ago

The biggest downside to the Nexus One is the screen; it is almost impossible to use in direct sunlight and the PenTile subpixel layout makes everything look like it's been resampled. Anything bright with a straight edge over a dark background ends up with a red dotted line along the left edge. It's most noticeable in text.

alec• 16 years ago

I looked into buying a used Droid off ebay and doing pay-as-you-go on Verizon; no luck, you must have a $30/month data plan to use a smartphone on Verizon.

eduardo_f• 16 years ago

You are looking for Page Plus Cellular. Pay as you go on Verizon's network. That's what I do on my Droid. 50 MB limit on data though :(

billymeltdown3• 16 years ago

Oh, Google doesn't appear to be developing Nexus One any further, unfortunately. So, IIWY, I'd avoid it.

brk• 16 years ago

I had the Moto Droid on Verizon. Hated it, too many little poorly implemented things (IMO).

I just got an HTC Incredible a few days ago, and so far it's very tolerable.

Android stil does not, IMO, have the usability and polish of the iPhone, but the HTC UI is pretty good overall.

cageface• 16 years ago

I like my droid. The keyboard is great for things like this post. It's fast. The screen is lovely. The integration with google services is smooth.

TBH I was a bit worried that I'd regret not getting another iPhone but I'd never go back to that world now.

superk2• 16 years ago

I have both the Droid and Nexus One. Nifty keyboard aside, Nexus One is a much better phone hands down. Lot's of instability problems with the Droid, and performance overall is much slower (and the keyboard while neat does make the device heavier and clunkier).

bockris• 16 years ago

FWIW, I have essentially 0 stability problems with my Droid. (Can't speak to superk's other points because I haven't played with a Nexus One.)

superk2• 16 years ago

I have the GSM version - branded as the Motorola Milestone - so that could be a factor. But Droid's instability problems have been reported before (ie. this 56 page thread: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1587731-Official-...)

luke_s• 16 years ago

About a month ago, I ordered a HTC desire online from the UK (I'm in Australia). So far I couldn't be happier with it! The screen is large and responsive to touch. The entire experience is snappy, and the modifications HTC has made to the default Andriod look and feel work well. I highly recommend the desire.

jackowayed3• 16 years ago

I have an Incredible. Sense (HTC's UI tweaks) is very nice, and I thought it was a must have, but I played with someone's Nexus One, and I think it's fine. In some ways I prefer the stock UI, and getting all of the updates instantly would be really nice. (I'm still waiting impatiently on Froyo, which will come "in the 2nd half of the year" or when someone figured out how to root the Incredible :) )

I'm not sure how pay-as-you-go would work, but you definitely can be without a 2-year contract if you buy a Nexus One. (Though you probably could just pay full price to get an Incredible or the like and also do that.) If I had to guess, I'd say that people's pay-as-you-go data rates will be really high (since most people with pay-as-you plans don't have smartphones) that it won't be worth it. But if you do want to go that route, look at different companies' rates and see if it'll work.

I really like my Incredible, and I'm glad I got off AT&T since I'm heading to Silicon Valley in the fall, but I kind of wish I had gotten a Nexus One so I could get Froyo. It's going to be awhile 'til I get it, and when I do, it probably won't have WiFi hotspot, so I'm going to have to use PDANet or the like if I want tethering.

Here's the rundown of pros and cons as I see it:

* Nexus One--Get updates immediately without carrier interference. Nice hardware. Stock Android.

* HTC Incredible--Basically the same hardware as the Nexus One. 8MP camera instead of 5. Verizon. Takes awhile to get new Android versions.

* HTC EVO--Big screen, but also big physically (you have to carry it around in your pocket everywhere, remember). Apparently has pretty bad battery life. Have to be on Sprint. Same Sense pros and cons as the Incredible.

* Droid X--Also big like the EVO. Verizon. Pretty similar to it spec-wise. Has a special Motorola-branded Android, so also will probably be slow to get new updates. I generally consider HTC to make better hardware than Motorola. Hard to know too much since it's not out yet.

* Droid 2--hard to know too much since it's not out for awhile, but you probably don't want it unless you have to have a physical keyboard. You probably don't need one. The correction is pretty nice, and lately I've been using Swype, which allows me to type pretty fast.

If I were you, I'd get the Nexus One unless you really prefer Sense to stock Android or really prefer Verizon to AT&T/T-Mobile, in which case I'd get the Incredible.

megablast4• 16 years ago

Ever since people started talking about the battery problems on android devices, this is what I have been most concerned about. Apple, with the new iPhone addresses this issue with the iPhone 4, but android phone makers just seem to be making devices with bigger screens, with nobody trying to bring out a device with a better battery.

jackowayed3• 16 years ago

My Incredible's battery is at least as good as my old 2G iPhone.

One advantage of the Android phones is that you can actually open them up and swap in a new battery (just like with every phone in the world besides the iPhone). So if you really find that it's a problem, you could buy a 2nd battery and take that with you sometimes. It's not optimal, but it would work.

detst2• 16 years ago

The Droid X will have a 1540 mAh battery (big for a stock battery). This is the phone I would go with if you actually like the 4.3" screen, which I do.

If you want a slightly smaller screen with a physical keyboard, wait for the Droid 2 coming soon.

If you have even more patience, there are rumors of a 2Ghz Android phone coming in 4Q.

dagw• 16 years ago

HTC has both the Desire and the Legend (not sure what the US names are) in their line up. The Desire is for people who want the hottest specs and the Legend is for people who want better battery life and design.

astine• 16 years ago

I have an Incredible as well and my suggestion would be the same.

The weakest point on the Incredible is definitely the battery. If you use it like a phone (ie. just for calls) it will last a day or two without charging, but if you play with it a lot or browse the net regularly on it, you'll have to charge it every night at least.

Other than that, it's a great phone.

cheriot• 16 years ago

Also with the Evo, depending on your location, you can get 4g service. It's important to note that 4g doesn't penetrate buildings as well as 3g. If one intends to use their phone for tethering, though, I imagine it will be nice. At least thats why I ordered one.

follower• 16 years ago

> * Nexus One--Get updates immediately without carrier interference.

Keep in mind that there has been no official 2.2 release that has been widely distributed for the Nexus yet.

Aside from apparently some early review/press models there have been no general Over-The-Air 2.2 updates--people running 2.2. have had to manually install it.

(This is annoying. :) )

Supermighty• 16 years ago

On my EVO I had to turn off wifi and the batter now seems better than my old iPhone 3G. There are supposed to be updates soon to fix the power/wifi issues.

GVRV• 16 years ago

Samsung Galaxy S, it's not getting as much attention as HTC or Motorola phones, but it's still got the features. Plus, it's available for the cheap (about $59 per month with 1GB data transfer here in Australia)

Osiris• 16 years ago

It's coming to the U.S. on both AT&T and T-mobile. The Super AMOLED screen is supposed to be very good and Samsung is holding out on shipping AMOLED's to HTC and others in order to keep them for the Galaxy S variants. I'm pretty tempted by this one, until I read that dual-core phones are on the way (Cortex-A9, maybe Tegra 2).

lleger6• 16 years ago

iPhone 4 is the best mobile phone on the market — period.

alextingle2• 16 years ago

...as long as you don't need to make a phone call.

lleger6• 16 years ago

This was downvoted because?

CrazedGeek2• 16 years ago

A. The poster wanted to know the best Android phone to get- chances are, he's already looked at the iPhone and decided it wasn't for him (or wants to develop for Android or something).

B. You gave absolutely zero support as to why you think the iPhone's better than any of the Android phones.

C. Also, you come off as a fanboy.

xenophanes• 16 years ago

Next time include a substantive argument when you make an off topic and inflammatory comment. (And BTW I happen to agree with you about the iPhone.)

goodside• 16 years ago

I have a Droid on Verizon. Do not let the keyboard influence you too much, because it sucks. I almost always use the onscreen keyboard instead of bothering to open it. The only situation where I ever use the keyboard is for games that benefit from having physical buttons, Tetris clones in particular. Everyone seems to think that a keyboard is a make-or-break issue for them, and I felt exactly the same way until I actually had one.

Zak3• 16 years ago

The Droid's keyboard is awful. The keys are flat and require quite a bit of pressure. I recently spent some time using an LG Ally, and found that it's almost always worth opening to use the physical keyboard.

desigooner• 16 years ago

Droid 2 is much better

biafra2• 16 years ago

I have a Milestone, an ADP1 and a Nexus One. I use the Milestone because it has the physical keyboard. It is not as good as the keyboard on the ADP1 but its not awful.

So I guess everyone thinking about a physical keyboard has to try it to know whats better.

psyklic• 16 years ago

Its keyboard is nonetheless a lot faster than using the onscreen one ... and when it was released it was the only device in its category to have a physical keyboard at all.

dotBen3• 16 years ago

I'm onto my 3rd Android, an HTC EVO. The screen is amazing - yes it is big and makes the phone big but I don't really find that a problem in my pocket.

My Sprint plan is $60/month for unlimited data, texts, calls to mobiles, calls at weekends... the only metered calling is landlines during the working day, which I have 500 mins/month on. That for me is = unlimited all the way through.

The 4G is amazing, although not available yet in SF.

Reported battery problems are solved if you install custom ROMS (which you'll want to do anyway to get root, wifi tethering at no extra cost, etc)

d2viant• 16 years ago

From what I understand, Sprint's service is not really 4G, it's WiMax that has been rebranded.

http://community.sprint.com/baw/message/141144

nicholasreed• 16 years ago

I just tested "4G" in Chicago on an Evo and it is blazing fast. The Evo's hotspot ability and screen clarity are amazing! Also, the fact that I pay $50 less per month vs Verizon for great coverage and fast data makes the whole experience even better.

dotBen3• 16 years ago

Oh, it's not 4G by international telephone standards.

But then I say this as a European living in the US that America's telephone and connectivity network is still back in the dark ages.

jallmann2• 16 years ago

WiMax has enough bandwidth to be considered 4G, but the tech is closer to WiFi than traditional cellular. And the rebranding you're thinking of is Clear from Clearwire -- WiMax is just the radio standard that they're using.

The other 4G will be LTE. WiMax/LTE is akin to HSDPA and EV-DO -- different standards that fall under the 3G umbrella. But if you want to be really pedantic, apparently wimax falls under 3G also (according to wikipeda).

djb_hackernews2• 16 years ago

Are you on a special plan to get $60/mo? I thought the basic everything plan from sprint was 59.99/mo + the 10/mo for the 4g device.

I am a sprint customer and ready for a new phone and I know Sprint has great retention deals if you ask, wondering if you went that route.

dotBen3• 16 years ago

I have a former-SERO (Sprint Employee Referral Offer) plan, now known as Everything Data Plus 500.

You can get that via instructions at http://www.cellfanatic.com/2008/07/24/sprint-sero-plans-now-... (See the image for "Russ McGuire"'s info as your referree).

I got my EVO at Google I/O and so when I called up to put the phone on my plan they didn't ask what phone I had and so didn't make me take their kinda pointless $10 EVO tax. I've heard long-standing customers can usually ask retentions to drop it.

I also have an employer discount on there, but they now appear to be hard to get applied on already discount plans. So YMMV. Good luck

I have my phone rooted, so I can run the open source wifi tether and not need to pay Sprint to use the on that comes with the phone.

Also, it's all still cheaper than AT&T

thethimble• 16 years ago

Would it be worth waiting for the next iteration of Android phones to come out?

What's the next "big" Android launch supposed to be (the next HTC EVO)?

ZeroGravitas• 16 years ago

All the Samsung "Galaxy S" models are being announced for the US right about now, some available immediately, some in the next couple of months.

http://www.engadget.com/tag/GalaxyS/

Key features common to the range are the Super-(i.e. works in sunlight)-AMOLED screens and the 1GHz Hummingbird SoC (basically the same as the iPad/iPhone 4 except the iPhone 4 is downclocked).

But you get the choice of carrier and hardware keyboard, 3G/4G etc. that you'd expect.

joanou• 16 years ago

I really like my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide. It is the right form factor for me and has a usable keyboard. Only 600Mhz but plenty fast and will be much faster when Froyo is available later this year. Plus I tether it via usb cable when I travel. The network speed is quite good in my area 1.5Mbps up and down.

I looked at the EVO, but it was too big and power hungry for my liking. And I didn't want to root the phone to "fix" it. Great screen though.

durbin• 16 years ago

Italian prepaid users get 2.6 GB of data for € 10.00/month. Best rate in the US for prepaid data is AT&T’s $20 for 100 MB,36X more. http://twitter.com/martinvars/status/16928415972

Hooray Free Markets and invisible hands! Don't get me started on US Broadband.

technomancy4• 16 years ago

I got a Nexus One because the idea of a device that imposes restrictions against the user on the behalf of the manufacturer or carrier is deeply offensive.

It's possible to root most other high-end Android phones in order to install something like Cyanogen, but you're fighting against the current in those cases. If the exploit used to root it gets "fixed", then you might have trouble in the future. Plus you're supporting a fundamentally broken model.

tldr: software freedom is kind of a big deal.

Scriptor• 16 years ago

Are you using it with T-Mobile? If so, how is their service?

technomancy4• 16 years ago

The best thing about T-Mobile is going to a big tech conference where AT&T's network is floundering and getting a great signal to rub in the iPhone users' faces.

On a more serious note, I've only used it in SF and Seattle, but it's great there. I only pay $40/mo for unlimited data. (No minutes since I use VoIP.)

Tichy• 16 years ago

I have a N1 and I am happy with it. Even though some newer Androids are perhaps slightly nicer in terms of hardware, I would also still recommend the N1 for the same reasons - I hate it when vendors impose their silly UI candy on me and in turn prevent me from getting timely updates.

SingAlong• 16 years ago

I highly recommend Desire. Sort of a no-glitch phone. And it comes with the same class of 1ghz processors that most of the recent phones have come with. If you don't mind the delays in getting the newer versions of Android unlike nexus one, then go for the Desire.

I would insist of getting a phone with 1ghz (or faster if available) processors and around 512mb (N1) or 576mb (Desire) ram. That way you could be sure that these phones would get an upgrade to newer versions of Android and would be able to run them properly.

And going by manufacturer's commitment to offering upgrades to newer versions of Android, I would rank Google on top, HTC next and the others follow.

Maybe HTC delayed the Hero update for close to 1yr, but they did release an update.

P.S: HTC's site isn't cluttered like the other manufacturer sites. Easy navigation to support and updates pages on their site is a must for me (which is why i hate Nokia's site).

dminor• 16 years ago

Times sure have changed: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1055913

chmike• 16 years ago

The HTC Desire is a better Nexus One becaus HTC fixed many issues. I have mine for a week now and I am very impressed by its usability. The only problem left I could find is the speaker that distort sound when too loud. Not so good for the ring tones. Reagrding battery lifetime, 3g and especially wifi or GPS must be turned off when not using them. Otherwise it is true that the device won't last more than a day. Wifi is the worst battery drain.

Jake541• 16 years ago

Yes, the Nexus One is a great choice for the parameters you listed. It's a powerful phone with a lot of life and it will likely get Android updates rather quickly as it's a "Google" phone.

Your only choice for pay as you go will essentially be T-Mobile. Forget the Incredible, it's a great phone but it doesn't meet your second criteria.

rodh257• 16 years ago

I just got a Samsung Galaxy S, it's a great phone. I was looking at the Nexus/Desire before this but when I saw it I ran with it, bought pre-ordered and got it imported.

The 4" Super AMOLED screen has better constrast ratio and response time than the iphone4, but not as good a resolution. From what I've read (haven't seen an i4) this means iPhone is better for text, but videos / pictures should look better. It has a 1ghz hummingbird processor, which is supposed to be the fastest out. 720p processor, 8/16gb internal memory, front facing camera.

Its android 2.1, with 2.2 on the way, has wifi tethering, samsung has touchwiz enhancements which I find to be pretty decent (but don't like the menu screen so just downloaded a loader to change that)

the phone is very thin, my main complaint is that it looks like an iPhone so people keep asking me if its the new iPhone...

sandGorgon• 16 years ago

buy one that is supported by Cyanogenmod. Period.

This will reasonably guarantee you that you wont be left out in the cold, when the new ubercool Android release is out.

In general, I have found Cyanogen releases to be better in terms of flexibility as well (CyanoGen "Spare Parts" app)

As on today, the options are Nexus One, G1/Magic, Desire, Evo, Droid, Slide, Hero (maybe only CDMA)

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