What Android phone?

[Eluder]

I've had a chance to use the GS3 and it's a great phone. I currently use the HTC One X which is also a great phone, but the GS3 just felt faster to me, not sure if it's their new TouchWiz UI, or if it was the additional RAM.
Furthermore, the fact that they have expandable storage is huge, it's the one big pain point for me with my HTC One X.

[chrisk]

Galaxy S3 hands-down.

1. Better screen (yes, pentile, but higher pixel density)
2. Longer-lasting battery
3. SD slot...yes, you want this!
4. Much better camera hardware, The same hardware as in the iPhone 4S. Nexus has a horrible camera in comparison.
5. North American S3s will be dual core Snapdragon...not quad core. Excellent processor. No LTE phones work with quad core phones yet.

I would get the Galaxy S2 way before the Nexus. S2 has a better camera, and has SD card slot. The Nexus does get software updates quickly though.

If you can afford it...get the S3. If Telus offers the S2, get that one. I would look at other options before the Nexus.

[belgolas]

Well looks like everyone is voting for the S3 well that is my next phone. Thanks for your input!

[miggs78]

I'm in the same boat too.. I'm leaning towards the S3 too, I really wanted to get the HTC One S, not being the best and greatest, yet it's still a pretty powerful device and one of the fastest Android devices on the market.. It might not have the best screen, yet the viewing angels are damn good.. but the fact that the battery is not removable and no SD card = deal breaker, I'd still live without battery, but no SD card and out of 16gb not the full 16gb is usable = WTF!?!

[chrisk]

I guess Belgolas the only thing I would be careful of with the S3 is that it is not a proven product; I would give it a month or two after release and check out a bunch of reviews and forums to see if there are any problems in the hardware (unless the warranty will allow you to get another phone). Software glitches are one thing, but you don't want to end up with something like the Transformer Prime that looked amazing on paper, but gave a lot of owners fits when they tried to use GPS or wi-fi.

[belgolas]

I may pick up a galaxy S3 today. I also heard that new nexus devices may be on the way soon. The next Nexis phone may be worth the wait.

Oh and I am loving chrome on the nexus 7. 100x better than safari on iPad.

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by belgolas

I may pick up a galaxy S3 today. I also heard that new nexus devices may be on the way soon. The next Nexis phone may be worth the wait.

Oh and I am loving chrome on the nexus 7. 100x better than safari on iPad.

Folks on Bell are complaining about LTE/Data issues on the Galaxy Note, and now the S3.

The issue is that in weak LTE areas, the phone should fall back to HSPA by default...but instead of falling back, you lose all connectivity (ie. data and voice) until a reboot.

The issue does not seem as bad on Rogers.

The workaround for S3 and Note users is to disable LTE altogether this worked for me). The 'workaround' was suggested to me by a Bell employee, who said it was a common issue on the latest Samsung devices with bell's network.

[belgolas]

Originally Posted by chrisk

Folks on Bell are complaining about LTE/Data issues on the Galaxy Note, and now the S3.

The issue is that in weak LTE areas, the phone should fall back to HSPA by default...but instead of falling back, you lose all connectivity (ie. data and voice) until a reboot.

The issue does not seem as bad on Rogers.

The workaround for S3 and Note users is to disable LTE altogether this worked for me). The 'workaround' was suggested to me by a Bell employee, who said it was a common issue on the latest Samsung devices with bell's network.

hmm thats not good as I travel a lot. Wondering when it will get patched

Well I might as well wait some more as my iPhone 4 still works and it will get cheaper for me the more months I wait.

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by belgolas

hmm thats not good as I travel a lot. Wondering when it will get patched

Well I might as well wait some more as my iPhone 4 still works and it will get cheaper for me the more months I wait.

Not sure about a patch. All I can say is that with my Galaxy Note, the issue was present in April when I got it, and was present on all the ATT roms I tried with the phone.

The telling clue for me is that with all the various Note roms, to disable LTE I had to use a dialer code and then select the right config on my own. On the Bell modems, disabling LTE automatically is very easy (now why would they do that.....)

On the flipside, disabling LTE gets drastically better battery life, and for most tasks, I don't see any benefit of LTE.

If LTE is important to you (despite the lower battery life), then I would look to something other than the latest Samsung phones unfortunately on Bell's network.

However, if you can live without LTE like me (and enjoy the better battery life like I do), then the S3 is still a great phone.

The Galaxy Note II is also going to be released in late August. It will probably have a quad core and LTE, which is novel right now. Maybe the radio/modems will be better on those.

For more info on this issue, check out the Bell forum on HowardForums as we have a discussion or 5 on it. Also, there is the odd thread on XDA and AndroidForums too.

[Jake_HT]

Originally Posted by chrisk

Folks on Bell are complaining about LTE/Data issues on the Galaxy Note, and now the S3.

The issue is that in weak LTE areas, the phone should fall back to HSPA by default...but instead of falling back, you lose all connectivity (ie. data and voice) until a reboot.

The issue does not seem as bad on Rogers.

The workaround for S3 and Note users is to disable LTE altogether this worked for me). The 'workaround' was suggested to me by a Bell employee, who said it was a common issue on the latest Samsung devices with bell's network.

On a bell note here, can't say I've ever once had that problem, and it switches on/off LTE all the time in my condo.

Weird?