i need a new phone? any recommendations?

[Aaron]

I've had an Android my whole life too, and I honestly hate it. If it was my decision to make, I'd be buying an iPhone.

Why is that?

[anna.xo]

Why is that?

I've had issues with it since forever; battery life has always been awful, so much crashing, freezing, lagging it makes it hard to do anything smoothly, apps I need don't work properly. I'm fairly sure it's an Android issue because I've had all these problems and more on every single phone I've ever used.

[Orson]

I've had issues with it since forever; battery life has always been awful, so much crashing, freezing, lagging it makes it hard to do anything smoothly, apps I need don't work properly. I'm fairly sure it's an Android issue because I've had all these problems and more on every single phone I've ever used.

What kind of apps were you trying to run? These issues usually occur when someone tries to run a super new app on really old hardware. Or was this with a 'current' phone? I'm curious...what phone was it?

[Russ]

My Android functionality has degraded in a way that I am given to understand iOS devices don't do, so I don't think it's an uncommon issue. I've never owned an iPhone but I'm probably going to pick one up next time I replace my phone (although some of that is for the ecosystem and iMessage)

[Maz]

oh...the important decisions in life 
I've never had a problem with my samsung...
how is the camera on an S5 and S6...and how is it on the apple equivalents?

[Orson]

oh...the important decisions in life 
I've never had a problem with my samsung...
how is the camera on an S5 and S6...and how is it on the apple equivalents?

Camerawise, they are different, you can't say one is better than the other. The S5/S6 have 16MP external cameras, and 5MP seflie cameras, while the iPhone 6S has an 8MP external camera.

But, the amount of MP (MegaPixels) don't really affect the everyday user because they aren't going to print it, or edit it very much. The only people who need to worry about MP are wedding photographers, or people who need to print various sizes of pictures, with great quality. Also, the thing that really matters for picture quality is the sensor. Phones nowadays have a 'camera bulge', that's because the designers are trying to fit the largest sensor they can into it.

Basically, all modern phone cameras are pretty good for things like random shoots, but nothing serious if you're going to be printing and selling or whatever.

[anna.xo]

What kind of apps were you trying to run? These issues usually occur when someone tries to run a super new app on really old hardware. Or was this with a 'current' phone? I'm curious...what phone was it?

Just typical everyday stuff. Nothing  ridiculously fancy, I don't recall names anymore because I got rid of those apps.

It was quite common with my Sony xperia so which I got rid of about 2 months ago.

[slothpomba]

Budget?

If you just want any smart phone (and lets be honest, it'll do 99% things as well as any other phone), i recommend the moto G. Its an absolutely amazing package for the price. Camera is somewhat lacking but the rest is very good for the budget. It was engineered after google bought motorola (they since sold it again but its mostly the same still).

I bought it because i didn't want to spend $500+ on a smart phone. It seems to do absolutely everything as well as my friends $900 phone for instance. Quad core processors and 4gb of ram is absolute overkill for what your phone will normally be doing, sounds impressive but not at all necessary.

You can probably pick up a moto G for $250-$350 depending how suss you want to get (buy it overseas - warranty issues but cheaper, buy it from kogan - still some issues, buy it online, buy it from a store, etc).

[bedigursimran]

I know this thread is more or less dead.

I highly recommend stock android phones (nexus or moto) because they will get support from Google or Motorola, better UI(subjective) and will stay smooth for much longer than other OEM skins.

Phones such as Nexus 5X ($419 for 32 GB) or Moto G($229) are cheap and do almost everything right such as great camera, ui, speed and display.

If you have the money, Galaxy Note 7 or S7 or even the iPhone 7 may be better suited for you.

[Orson]

Look, there really is no need to change phone operating systems unless you absolutely have to.

iOS vs Android:

- More secure vs less secure (only less secure if you change settings or "root" your phone and don't know how to handle your new found power)
- Less customisation vs more customisation
- Simple vs not so simple (to operate, find things)
- New operating system vs your current operating system (you're used to Android already, why change?)

I made the move to Android (Samsung Galaxy S5) a year or so ago from an iPhone 4s and it was legitimately the best thing i've ever done. Given my background, I like to mess around with things and open up the backend of the phone software (e.g. root access, legal but will void any warranty you have with your manufacturer) and therefore Android is a perfect environment for me.

With what you've said in mind, I think you should stay with an Android phone given that you've already had first hand experience with this operating system (so you've already passed the biggest hurdle that phone users who move encounter).

What type of Samsung is your phone? The S6 has dropped price by around $300 since it was released last year, so i'd look into that. If you really want a pure Android experience (e.g. no apps that the manufacturer installs by default that you can't forcibly remove), then look into the Nexus line by Google. There are also a few other manufacturers that aren't Australia based that offer cheap Android varieties, but you'd have to look into them further (e.g. OnePlus, Saygus, Oppo, Xiaomi).

Did you delete all the bloatware after your root?

[Aaron]

Did you delete all the bloatware after your root?

You can, but I just replaced the entire operating system with Cyanogenmod. Pretty much stock in itself + Android 6.0.1.

Samsung's hardware is reliable (at least for the earlier models ) , but the software is disgusting (as someone who is in IT). Hence why my S5 runs with CM13 now.