Phone recommendations

[Bruinsfan25]

Hello, so my contract is up with Sprint and my intention is to change over to AT&T since I have DirecTV but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for third party phones that they like/use. I don't like Apple and I've had a Samsung S3 and S5 in recent years but I'm a little weary with all the issues Samsung has had lately. Was looking at an LG but I just don't know enough about them. If anyone has any suggestions or input as far as what you like/look for in a phone, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[YtseJam]

Although I have Samsungs, they don't stand behind their products and they break, malfunction and of course explode now too. Their warrant service is a joke so I will no longer buy their products. Apple likes to sell you a product that they control so I'm not a fan of them either. I'm also looking at what else is out there and interested in what others think.

[Prog Snob]

LG G5 and Moto Z are two of the best outside of Samsung and Apple world.

[home]

If you want a really good budget phone, look at Motorala phones (Moto), I think their quality/price is one of the best. I currently have the Moto G plus, and I'm very satisfied the camera is excellent and it's easily fast enough for the things I want to do with it (I don't really use my phone for anything besides browsing, listening to music, taking pictures and chatting)

[orcus116]

Whatever phone you get just make sure it's able to run on the LTE bands AT&T has (B2, B4, B5, B12/B17, B29, B30). Not all phones have every band but the newer ones typically do.

[Hyperplex]

Going to throw in my suggestion for the Google Pixel here. It's unlocked and a phenomenal Android phone. I got my XL last month and it's the best phone I've ever used. It's pricey, but is a high end phone

[pogoowner]

Going to throw in my suggestion for the Google Pixel here. It's unlocked and a phenomenal Android phone. I got my XL last month and it's the best phone I've ever used. It's pricey, but is a high end phone

The advantage with the Pixel, or even their Nexus phones, is that they run pure, unadulterated Android, which is vastly superior to what you get after Samsung butchers it. Of course, if you're a tech-savvy person, you can find ways to get that done on other phones as well, but it's nice to have that out of the box.

[Bruinsfan25]

Going to throw in my suggestion for the Google Pixel here. It's unlocked and a phenomenal Android phone. I got my XL last month and it's the best phone I've ever used. It's pricey, but is a high end phone

The advantage with the Pixel, or even their Nexus phones, is that they run pure, unadulterated Android, which is vastly superior to what you get after Samsung butchers it. Of course, if you're a tech-savvy person, you can find ways to get that done on other phones as well, but it's nice to have that out of the box.

Isn't the Pixel only available on Verizon?

[Hyperplex]

That's what they like you to believe but, no. If you buy it from Google, you can put any SIM in it. Technically, the same is true for a Verizon phone, too. It's an unlocked phone that works on all bands.

[Bruinsfan25]

That's what they like you to believe but, no. If you buy it from Google, you can put any SIM in it. Technically, the same is true for a Verizon phone, too. It's an unlocked phone that works on all bands.

So can you get a Pixel through AT&T or do you have to buy it and bring it to them? I only ask because I get a monthly reimbursement from my job and was hoping to get the price of the phone built into the bill so I don't have to pay out of pocket as much.

[Hyperplex]

I don't know what carriers other than Verizon are selling them in-store. I do know you can finance through Google if you buy through them. You'd have to investigate that. You don't even need to take the Google-bought phones in to AT&T. You just need to pop in your SIM and activate it, I think.

[pogoowner]

I believe Verizon is the only major carrier that sells the phone. But you can buy it or finance it through Google and do what you please with it (including just using Google Fi, which many people haven't heard about yet).

[orcus116]

Google even has a quick guide on how to transfer info between the two phones once you buy it in case you're not sure.

[Hyperplex]

I believe Verizon is the only major carrier that sells the phone. But you can buy it or finance it through Google and do what you please with it (including just using Google Fi, which many people haven't heard about yet).

If my wife had a Google phone, I'd be on Fi like a fly on shit. But she has an iPhone, so id have to keep Verizon as her carrier, and if I went to Fi, I'd have two carriers, so it doesn't make sense. I'd love to be on Fi tho.

[pogoowner]

I believe Verizon is the only major carrier that sells the phone. But you can buy it or finance it through Google and do what you please with it (including just using Google Fi, which many people haven't heard about yet).

If my wife had a Google phone, I'd be on Fi like a fly on shit. But she has an iPhone, so id have to keep Verizon as her carrier, and if I went to Fi, I'd have two carriers, so it doesn't make sense. I'd love to be on Fi tho.

Yeah, I'm planning on switching to Fi at some point. I'm not sure how well they compete when it comes to family plans, but for a single person like me, who doesn't use that much data, it's a great deal. I'd likely be spending no more than $30 per month on average for the plan itself. And I've heard their customer service is top notch.

[hefdaddy42]

Fi sounds awesome.  Not sure why they aren't publicizing that more.

[Bruinsfan25]

So a quick update: I got the Pixel and signed up for Google Fi. Outside of wifi when it's available, the service is not very good. I had Sprint before which wasn't great and this is worse, which is odd since Sprint is one of the providers for Fi. I use the phone a lot for navigation and it always seems to be searching for network. I'll definitely be moving over to AT&T once the new galaxy comes out.

As for the phone, it's ok. I got so accustomed to Samsung after having galaxies for almost 5 years. This one doesn't do a lot of what I liked about Samsung so I'll be getting either the 7 or the 8 when it comes out in a few weeks.

All in all, Fi is a good concept but the coverage is lacking. The wifi portion is great and I love how Google secures most public locations you hook up to, but if there's no wifi it can be frustrating and expensive.

[Tick]

I hearken back to a simpler time.

2 cans and a string.

[cramx3]

Fi sounds awesome.  Not sure why they aren't publicizing that more.

Because its failing, it won't be around much more similar to the Google fiber to your house project and I don't believe it's because of the product (although my boss and coworker have it and both have had issues with traveling which to me is the main selling point), but because Google can't break through the big companies to make it work.

Also, I love Samsungs so I would totally recommend the S7 or maybe the new S8.  Explosions were only on the Note S7.  So unless you are looking for a big phone, you are safe with the normal Samsungs.  I'd consider the Pixel as well, I heard good things but have no first hand experience with it.

[El Barto]

Yeah, bad wrap for Samsung here. Their phones have lasted me longer than my interest in keeping them, and the exploding battery was an isolated incident (it just happened with an insanely popular device). Moreover, it all comes down to the features you want. Does it have a user replaceable battery? Can you put in an SD card increase storage? Does it have a headphone jack? Is it the size you want? Is the voice quality worth a damn? These are what made my decision for me.

[King Postwhore]

When my wife got a Galaxy S7 a lot of our friends asked us, "Why would you get a phone that could explode?"

It amazes me that people don't pay attention to the news and what model was having that problem.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I'm soon going to upgrade my phone and have been using the Samsung Galaxy S5 with Verizon Wireless for a while.  I keep running into issues where the internal storage is getting eaten up and running low.  Despite my routinely moving every possible app I can to the SD card, keeping all my photos and videos on the SD card, etc.  I've read that Samsung phones are well known for all their bloatware crap and there are, indeed, a number of apps on here that I can't just outright get rid of altogether.  That said, I have ABUSED this phone like you would not believe.  It has been dropped SOOOOO many times and it's still in fine shape.  So there's that.

I've read elsewhere as well as here that Google phones are fantastic and have a minimal amount of factory installed bullshit.  I'm feeling like they may be the way to go.

[cramx3]

Have you tried clearing your cached data?  Samsung definitely has bloatware, but it shouldn't be holding back your storage that badly.  Typically when people experience this and they feel they've deleted apps and pictures/videos, it's because the cached data needs to be dumped.   Essentially if you use messaging apps and people send you pics and whatnot, all that gets downloaded and stored somewhere else, your cache for what ever app you are using.  In samsung, you can go to your storage and find it and clear it. (I think I cleared 5GB of data recently from the cache)

From my understanding, the Samsung S8 is the best phone on the market at the moment since it's the newest.  I've heard good things about the Pixel though (and yes, it doesn't have that bloatware).

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I clear the cache from the storage menu pretty routinely, as well as the device cache from the startup/recovery menu.  Even with apps that you move to the SD card, it still keeps some files on the local storage, it seems.  Then whenever an app updates itself, it automatically moves it back to internal memory and you have to move it again.  Very annoying.

[Dublagent66]

I have an iPhone 6S Plus.  Love it.

[pogoowner]

I'm soon going to upgrade my phone and have been using the Samsung Galaxy S5 with Verizon Wireless for a while.  I keep running into issues where the internal storage is getting eaten up and running low.  Despite my routinely moving every possible app I can to the SD card, keeping all my photos and videos on the SD card, etc.  I've read that Samsung phones are well known for all their bloatware crap and there are, indeed, a number of apps on here that I can't just outright get rid of altogether.  That said, I have ABUSED this phone like you would not believe.  It has been dropped SOOOOO many times and it's still in fine shape.  So there's that.

I've read elsewhere as well as here that Google phones are fantastic and have a minimal amount of factory installed bullshit.  I'm feeling like they may be the way to go.

All depends on what you're looking for in your phone. I recently opted for an iPhone SE (same as the 6S, but in a smaller body). Great performance, and it's wonderful for people like me who prefer to use their phone one handed a lot of the time and don't want some massive thing to lug around. With Virgin Mobile, I get unlimited talk/text and 5GB of data per month for $30. Also, music streaming through Spotify, Pandora, iHeart, etc. doesn't count toward my data usage.

I've only had it a couple months, and I always had Android phones before. So far I'm happy with the switch. The Samsung phones always eventually get slow, in my experience, and if you don't want to get into things like rooting your phone, there's not that much you can do about it.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I don't mind a big phone.  I like lots of screen.  I play a lot of games on my phone, so the better I can see, the better.