25K+ Looking for a new phone upgrade-please help!

[avirup2008]

Hi All,
After two years of loyal service, my old pal, the Samsung Galaxy S II is on its final breath. Tired of frequent freezes, battery issues and a lot of other problems, I've finally taken the decision to make a switch. This is where I'll need your help because I am confused at the huge range of options. My preferences are given below in the template:

1. Budget?
A: 35-40k (can extend a bit too, suggest options)
2. Preferred Form Factor(flip, bar, slider)?
A: Bar
3. Preferred display type?
A: Any high end (AMOLED, S-LCD)
4. Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them.
A: Not a fan of brands like LG or Indian ones like Micromax.
5. Preferred input method (Touchscreen, QWERTY, etc.)?
A: Touchscreen
6. Camera required or not? If required, please specify type like front camera/flash/etc.
A: Definitely required. Any 8 MP or higher shooter is better with stable optics.
7. Preferred operating system? (Android, Symbian, iOS, Windows Phone etc).
A: As a long time user, Android. However, are there any "wow" options in Windows Phone or iOS?
8. Preferred connectivity options? (3G, Wifi, Edge etc).
A: 3G.
9. What is your intended use for this phone(internet, camera, multimedia, mails, etc)?
A:The jack of all trades (to be my personal portable computer)
10. Any other requirements?
A: :Looking for high end hardware and software optimization to carry out a variety of tasks.
11. If you have already considered a phone then please mention the model.
A: Leaning towards HTC One (but small screen size ) or the Note 3 (horrible looks ). Confused about other options.

Hope you can provide some answer to my dilemma. The timeline to buy is around 2-3 weeks at the maximum.

Thanks,
Avi

 

[afterburner]

Jus wait few more days if its worth you can take Nexus 5..!

 

[paarkhi]

Android
A bit on the higher side but Note3, if in budget then Note2 can also do (Using it, very productive if you take Notes on your phone) #Perfect fit to be a The jack of all trades (to be your personal portable computer) Note taking, Internet browsing, Big Battery.
Sony Xperia Z1

WP # Lumia 920 (Don't know about WP as I've never used it, experts can comment on this)
iPhone (@raksrules can comment on this he is our iPhone expert atleast for me)

 

[avirup2008]

Nexus 5 is a good option but then there's something premium about that HTC One that I can't seem to shake off in terms of being a looker

Sony is another good option. So is the Note 3 but it looks fugly. So much confusion

 

[paarkhi]

HTC One only if you don't have problem with non-removable battery and non-expandable storage. There is also a mixed review about its camera (better to check the onlone reviews along with some real world user). Service may also be a problem in the case of HTC and Sony.

Note3 looks OK and once you make a habit of seeing it daily then you may not find it so ugly . You need to decide your priorities.
In the case of Nexus 5 (it's also from LG even though being a Google Phone), you may not get Indian Warranty in case of Import (It's not going to release so soon in India) and the same applies to it (Non removable battery and non-expandable storage) if you are ok with it then Nexus 5 is the device to go (it will receive prompt OS Updates)

 

[avirup2008]

Yup, HTC one , as gorgeous as it is, has a host of issues, primarily with the non-removable battery and non-expandable storage. The camera of 4 MP is just average in normal light (Ultrapixel technology is suited mostly to low light settings) and zooming in reduces the sharpness a lot. Also the HTC service centre in Kolkata is horrible. My previous phone before the S II was the HTC Touch Diamond 2 and I ran into a million issues in its 1.5 years of use.

As for Note 3, the entire thing just looks so ugly. (Both hardware/UI). I can spend a couple of hours downloading a custom ROM from XDA-Dev to remove the Sammy crapware, tweak with launchers and iconsets and UCC widgets for the UI but how do you mod hardware? I love the specs but Samsung has horrible, horrible taste in aesthetic design.

Nexus 5, I am still split over whether to trust LG. I want to trust Sony here but then I hardly see Sony phones in my friends or work circles (especially Sony high end smartphones) so I am not in a position to make a well-informed observation

 

[paarkhi]

I want to trust Sony here but then I hardly see Sony phones in my friends or work circles (especially Sony high end smartphones) so I am not in a position to make a well-informed observation

also see comp@ddict's case in Sony Z1 and he's still waiting for his Phone. So A.S.S also in an important point in selecting the high end phones.

 

[raksrules]

I understand non removable batteries are concern and deal breaker for many people, but do such people remove their phone's battery every night before sleeping ? I mean how frequently do you need to access the battery?
Or are there frequent hanging of your phone that you require to remove battery to fix it ?
If it is for replacing the battery then is it because the battery is so crap that you need to replace yourself every couple of months ?

I am asking this genuinely and not trying to defend phones without removable battery. So please answer genuinely and no iPhone specific bashing especially targeted to me.

 

[paarkhi]

@raksrules, for me it's only having a option to remove it and during travel I can carry additional batteries which I can replace but that can easily managed with powerbank. I've Nokia N8 since last 2.5 years and not even once I felt that it would have been good if I could replace the battery. So you are right in the case of non-removable battery but Non-expandable storage is really Pain in the head

 

[avirup2008]

For me its the non-removable storage that's the primary deal breaker and not the battery.

Like I said, I have nothing against iPhones, being an iOS user thanks to my iPod Touch and my iPad. However, since I have always gone Android in phones, are there equivalent alternatives in iOS?

Also, will I get the iPhone 5S in 40k? I highly doubt it. The 5C does not look premium in my opinion and the 5 is out of stock.[DOUBLEPOST=1381647730][/DOUBLEPOST]The reason I mentioned battery is because the S II battery has been giving me a world of trouble since last 3 months and I just imagined a non removable battery scenario would have been a nightmare for this specific scenario

 

[paarkhi]

In Android Non-removable battery may sometimes become a curse iPhone and even age old Symbian are tweaked in a battery friendly way.

 

[avirup2008]

Good looks+A beast in terms of performance, why is it so hard to find, even at 40k+ budgets

 

[paarkhi]

Good looks+A beast in terms of performance, why is it so hard to find, even at 40k+ budgets

The higher the budget the lesser the choice Good Looks=solely depends on the buyer and Beast in terms of performance=Note3, Xperia Z1, HTC One max (May come along with expandable storage)

 

[avirup2008]

I doubt if HTC One Max will have expandable storage but then that's me.

Note 3 seems to be leading the pack here, if only Sammy focused a little bit on looks

 

[paarkhi]

If you are interested in N3 then @karankapoor can give you some feedback, he is using it, don't remember who else is using it.

 

[shanx]

@OP why do you not like LG phones? Any particular problems you had with their phones?? If not why dont you consider the optimus G2? that phone is freaking awesome. It looks super sexy and performs excellently! Optimus UI is nearly stock and can be customized. It does not lag like Touchwiz or Timescape! You mentioned you are from Kolkata! I suggest you go to some LG shoppe and check out the G2.

Also the Note 3 has crapwiz as its UI so no matter what internals it may have, that stupid UI will always be a drag! I am forced to use Nova Prime on my Galaxy Tab and its buttery smooth now.

 

[avirup2008]

Two of my friends had LG devices, both had horrible experiences with it, hence the look of disapproval at my end.

As for UI, I don't really care as most OEM vendor UIs are crappy. The first thing I would do is put on a AOSP ROM from XDA-Dev to get rid of bloatware and then customize according to launchers, iconsets and UCCW widgets. I can mod the software, two years of tinkering with my S2 has made me good at that, but I cannot customize the hardware, that seems to be the issue.

 

[raksrules]

Whatever you buy please do not be hesitant to buy something with non removable battery. I feel it is an overrated requirement. You will almost never feel the need to access the battery and if and when it goes kaput you can get it replaced and if it is a good company the battery should not go kaput in 2 years at least.

 

[avirup2008]

Whatever you buy please do not be hesitant to buy something with non removable battery. I feel it is an overrated requirement. You will almost never feel the need to access the battery and if and when it goes kaput you can get it replaced and if it is a good company the battery should not go kaput in 2 years at least.

Battery is a non issue, its the non-expandable storage that is making me think twice.

I am considering the iPhone at equal lengths with the Note3/One now, but two issues are stopping me from making a decision.

i) I have loads of stuff on my memory card that needs to be present on my new phone. Non expandable storage is killing that.

ii) I have a huge WhatsApp chat history that I absolutely cannot lose and needs to be transferred to device. The problem is Android uses a db.crypt format while iOS is .sqllite. XDA-Dev has a WhatsApp migration tool developed that can transport the chat history files from iPhone to Android but not the other way around. That is one reason why I am hesitant even though an iPhone sounds tempting.[DOUBLEPOST=1381777271][/DOUBLEPOST]So much expectations from the HTC One Max and it arrives with an outdated Snapdragon 600 processor and Adeno 320 GPU, not to mention the same old 4 MP optics without OIS this time.

Why must the gods hate me