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Saturday, April 21, 2012

quandary over phones



The last couple weeks have me pondering over what I want to be my next phone. As much as I love my HTC Legend, it is really showing its age on the inside. The outside still looks amazing, I take good care of it; I don't put it in a pocket with keys, etc. But I do just shove it into my pocket as I'm running out the door, mostly with no case (I only got a case last time I was in Shenzhen, it was given to me) It's amazing even the screen has no scratches, it's a great little phone. The small form factor makes it so pocketable and real-life portable.


But the 600 MHz processor and small amount of ram... even worse, the small amount of space for apps.... I don't have that many apps on it and I've constantly got a "low space" warning on there because I have less than 20 MB free-- about 11MB free last time I checked.

So I think I need to upgrade to a more spacious & powerful phone. I've got my eye on quite a few contenders:


HTC One X - I'd prefer the One S for its size & form factor, but only the One X international version has "32GB" of storage... I think it's 22GB of actual usable storage.... which is enough for me. It has a great camera and Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 OS... but it's a big phone. 4.7" screen... I definitely think there should be 4.7" screens but for me, I think that may be too big. 4.3" seems about as big as I can comfortably fit in my pocket. And it's around $700.00 for an import version, super expensive.





Samsung Galaxy S2 - This is the top smartphone of 2011. It shows to be consistently the fastest with browser and apps (from video reviews & tests) the screen is huge and looks really good. But there are some issues I'm worried about. It's super thin but there are reports of it getting really hot around the camera area after extended browsing & use. Plus the overall look of it is nice but there's something... I dunno, kinda cheap-looking about Samsung phones, just the materials maybe? And I've heard the screen scratches easily, part of the build quality issues.




White Samsung Galaxy s2 - Anyone who's read my past entries about my white Star Wars PSP-2000 knows I love white gadgets. I can't decide whether I like white even more than black. So a white Samsung Galaxy S2 should look awesome. But one thing I really don't like about it is that chrome bezel around the phone. I've held it my hand and it just doesn't look as good as in the pics and videos. But it's still white... and it looks so nice in the pics......




HTC Evo 3D - This one is really high on my list. As much as I complain about the faults of the 3D on the 3DS, I really love the idea of mobile 3D gaming. I'd love a better 3D camera, and the Evo 3D is about the only place for that. But it is chunky, and though it would give me the closest experience to my HTC Legend, on the other hand, there are also no surprises... I know what I'd be getting in a Sense UI. I've held the phone in my hands in Hong Kong, and the feel is good. But there are build quality issues with this one too. The power button is super sensitive. Volume buttons are mushy.




Samsung Galaxy S Slide (Captivate Glide in the U.S.) - This is currently at the top of my list. I'd *really* like a qwerty keyboard on a decent phone. The spces are right up there, but the keyboard is very flat. And there's no FM radio, another feature I really appreciate on my HTC Legend. The 4" screen should be nice but I wish it was 4.3" like the SGS2. Also it's a pentile screen.


Gaahhhh..... so much choice... I just don't know which one would fit my needs the best. I *really* want a slider keyboard, but I also want FM radio. And a decent keyboard, it's bizarre that Samsung messed up the Glide when they've done qwerty keyboard sliders before. I may be able to get by with wi-fi streaming of my most-listened to radio stations like CBC. So right now the odds-on favourite is the Glide..... but I really like the Evo 3D too.... I dunno......


I might wait until the Samsung Galaxy S 3 is revealed on May 1. But I'm reasonably sure it will only be a minor upgrade ala iPhone 4S, so it probably won't be something I'm super interested in.


later
don

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