A few months back my Samsung Nexus 4G cracked (I think it was March), after it was hurled across the road by a random series of events. Since then, I have had no problems using the device outside of the general embarrassment of using a cracked phone.
But it’s been good to me for over two years now, so I have not been in an incredible rush to purchase a new device. The only major problem I have faced lately is the limited amount of RAM it has, 512MB. Phones now are providing four 4x that amount, which is good and bad. Bad, primarily because application developers are building larger, more complex applications. But good, of course, because the applications, supposedly, are more sophisticated.
In any case, when I wish to download the latest version of Google Search, which takes up a whopping 28MB, I often have to delete an older app. I might not use that older app very often, but sometimes I just want to Shazam something… Luckily, again, I suppose, Google does provide a Shazam-like service “Sound Search” I’m not sure if it’s as neat or sophisticated as Shazam, which can listen to commercials and TV shows, but it’s good to be able to track down that tune should I need to.
Now about a new phone… Since I seem to be quite the data hog, listening to Pandora, Google Music or streaming Netflix and Youtube, I think I will stay with Sprint service, even though, they seem to have some of the worst reception on Long Island, next to Team Mobile. Why they can’t plant some towers along 495 is just beyond me, but it’s an argument for another day.
My choices are rather limited. I am embarrassed with the way Google has taken the reigns at Motorola. I was hoping for a snazzy device to be out this summer, but now I hear they are launching their new device in October, which is just too long to go with a phone that is on the out. The next option is Samsung. I love their devices. They might use plastic, which people complain about, but my current Nexus is plastic and I think it really does have a great feel to it (even having owned an iPhone in the past). But Samsung puts a lot of bloatware on their devices, that only the Nexus lines do not include. I might just go with HTC’s One, even if it’s not possible to eliminate BlinkFeed. I am not too familiar with HTC devices, so I am hesitant, but the reviews, to date, have been spectacular and, more importantly, the bad reviews don’t seem to concern my usage. By far and away my favorite device to date would be the Nexus 4, made by LG. I am skeptical about LG as a device manufacturer, but I love the barebones Nexus experience.
I guess I’ll sleep on it for another day or week and start narrowing down my decision… Stay tuned.