[Subzzo]

Hey,
ill get right down to it:
Im in the business of buying a new smartphone.
I think my main requirements would be a different OS from Bada,
Slightly bigger in size than my current phone the Samsung wave.
My question is this, what would you guys advise as a good smartphone
for now and the future?

[Sharpkiller]

I'd either look at one of the higher-end Android phones or an iPhone.

[Caymen Greener]

I agree with Sharp - an iPhone or Android seem to be where the market is right now. I happen to have a Dell Venue Pro (Windows Phone 7, with the 7.5 Mango update) and it is quite nice. AND it is only $300 retail (no contract necessary). So if you want to try the Windows Phone 7 path, which is quite a nice interface I must say (and not just because I have been an MS fanboy for many years), it's not a bad option. However, as to my original point and Sharp's, iPhone and Droid, can't go wrong. In fact, we'll be getting my wife the iPhone 4S in December when we have a renewal option.

Caymen

[Shakken]

Im also going to say Win7.5 I just swapped out from an android phone, as it was painfully unstable and prone to crashes. The UI cant be beat and it runs great. I am on a Samsung Focus S.

[Subzzo]

Thnx for the tips, im quite partial to Samsung myself, but does any1 have any info other than the obvious spec sheet on the new Galaxy Nexus?

[Grace Pryde]

I'm an iPhone girl myself. I know it's pricey but it's fab!

[Sharpkiller]

I have Google's old flagship phone from last year, the Nexus S, and I'm loving it. If the Galaxy Nexus is anything like it's predecessor it's certainly worth looking at. Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) has a lot of cool looking features that will only be found on the Galaxy Nexus - and being straight from Google the phone will be among the first to receive software updates and is unlocked

[Steven Kenter]

I have an iPhone myself. I don't think you can go wrong with it.

[Endeavour]

I know a couple of people who have iPhones. I've got to play on them, always loved them.
I need a new phone as well, but am holding of for the iPhone 5 next year. Supposed to have a 4" screen.

[Christopher Halsey]

The biggest factor will be what you actually want the phone for. Do you use your phone mostly for calls, text messages, email, music, taking photos, recording video, playing games, internet browsing, social networking etc.

I would say if you want a good smartphone that does everything go with a high end Android phone. If you go down the Android route I would go with either HTC or Samsung. Android has become the dominant OS of the smartphone market. The OS is very intuitive and is by far the most flexible allowing you to fully customise your home screens with apps, functions and widgets.

I've got an iPhone but I don't rate it as a phone especially not when compared to some of the better Android phones on the market the only reason I use it is I have a lot of music from iTunes so using an iPhone means I don't have to carry around a seperate MP3 player. The biggest (and only real) selling point of an iPhone these days is iTunes, huge selection of apps and media, if you take away iTunes even with the 4S you have a phone that still lags behind rival phones released over a year ago.

Alternatively there is always Blackberry, the latest Blackberry Bold is very nice and combines keys and touchscreen very well. You don't have as much choice when it comes to apps as with Android or iOS but everything you need you can get and Blackberry still do messenging best with BBM and their superior email service.

Personally I would avoid anything with Windows Phone on it. Even Microsoft admits it has been a flop which they seem to blame on it being good for a first attempt evidently forgetting the fact that Windows Phones aren't anything new (I had my first one about 7 years ago). Microsoft are likely to either cut their losses or just start from scratch again in the near future so don't invest in one of their phones now. The fact that Nokia has partnered with them only shows how bad things are going, you remember Nokia don't you? That phone company that used to be popular about a billion years ago

[Airik]

My Partner Beth will be getting a new phone with her Contract soon i will be pushing her down the Galaxy nexus root if i can for all the reasons stated above it seems like a brilliant little machine and it being the new google phone will likely meen better interfaces for google features (google+ anyone)

[Subzzo]

I think i've weighed out the pro's and con's and looked at enough reviews plus have a fair idea of what
the future of the market is. Even though its not out yet i'm probably going to put my money
on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Thnx for your opinions guys.

[Burtonshaw]

I am in the same boat, as i am due an upgrade in Feb. After research, definitely go HTC android. They seem to be the best manufacturer at the moment.

If you are on Orange or T-Mobile you may consider getting one of the UMA supported phones
( http://help.orange.co.uk/orangeuk/su...ersonal/446693 )

My personal phone of choice is going to be the Desire S (unless a new HTC comes out). It seems that thi phone comes out on top from the reviews i have read.

And for information, here are two reviews:

Galaxy S2 : http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-pho...view-50002442/
HTC Desire S : http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobile-pho...view-50002643/

[Terrell]

I've had quite a lot of issues with my Android handset. As soon as I can get away from Orange I'm getting myself an iPhone, even if it's the old 3GS model. It depends on your tastes, I would say go to a store and have a demo on any of the handsets your interested in.

[LynxMukka]

I realise that Subzzo has already now chosen a phone, however I feel I need to correct a few things which were stated earlier in the thread:

I would say if you want a good smartphone that does everything go with a high end Android phone. If you go down the Android route I would go with either HTC or Samsung. Android has become the dominant OS of the smartphone market. The OS is very intuitive and is by far the most flexible allowing you to fully customise your home screens with apps, functions and widgets.

Android does have some good benefits, particularly because they tend to be cheaper, however I'd personally say that you'd need to steer clear of them if possible. Androids are cheaper for a reason, primarily because of the cheaper materials that they're made out of, and have been statistically proven on average to develop faults faster than other smartphone brands, so you take a risk there.

Additionally, one major flaw with the Android OS is its inability to update to the latest version. The OS is inheriently problematic in updating and has resulted in millions of handsets running numerous different versions because Google haven't done a good enough job to make sure that their update environment is up to scratch with its competitors. Another interesting study reveals that while Android takes up the most marketshare, it also has the greatest amount of users who wish to switch to another smartphone device, primarily the iPhone, so again you take a risk with Android.

I've got an iPhone but I don't rate it as a phone especially not when compared to some of the better Android phones on the market the only reason I use it is I have a lot of music from iTunes so using an iPhone means I don't have to carry around a seperate MP3 player. The biggest (and only real) selling point of an iPhone these days is iTunes, huge selection of apps and media, if you take away iTunes even with the 4S you have a phone that still lags behind rival phones released over a year ago.

I don't think so really, when you compare the specs of the iPhone with other smartphones, it's pretty much on par. While obviously I think Apple receive a lot of attention and over hype their products simply because they're Apple, they've come a way in delivering a new service. Specifically Siri, which I question as to whether it will actually be useful to the majority of users, is at least an innovation that Apple decided to invest in, while Android and Windows Phone fell behind (although WP7 already had primitive speech recognition for sometime).

Alternatively there is always Blackberry, the latest Blackberry Bold is very nice and combines keys and touchscreen very well. You don't have as much choice when it comes to apps as with Android or iOS but everything you need you can get and Blackberry still do messenging best with BBM and their superior email service.

I'm not sure why you've recommended the BlackBerry to be honest, the service outages that they've experienced recently have truly dented their marketshare and customer experience. Many users of BlackBerrys have since switched to other platforms and I question how much longer the BlackBerry brand will last to be honest. While they may have once been a big competitor, RIM have done very little to keep up with the majority of users who are less interested in a business oriented phone and want to go for the social networking device. The BlackBerry does not cater for a great variety of apps in an open environment, which Android, the iPhone and Windows Phone do.

Personally I would avoid anything with Windows Phone on it. Even Microsoft admits it has been a flop which they seem to blame on it being good for a first attempt evidently forgetting the fact that Windows Phones aren't anything new (I had my first one about 7 years ago). Microsoft are likely to either cut their losses or just start from scratch again in the near future so don't invest in one of their phones now. The fact that Nokia has partnered with them only shows how bad things are going, you remember Nokia don't you? That phone company that used to be popular about a billion years ago

This paragraph is just full of either incorrect facts or totally biased slander. Microsoft have never mentioned anything to admit that it's been a flop and quite the opposite have continued to improve the OS so that it matches on par with its competitors. With improvements in recent updates such as Mango, it now has functionality of Copy and Paste, Multi-Tasking etc. Remember features such as those were non existent when the iPhone first launched.

Also, I believe there is some confusion that you've made between Windows Mobile and Windows Phone, they're two totally different operating systems and to compare the two as being similar is just incomprehensible.

Nokia was still not too long ago the biggest producer of phones in the world, and is still a big player, so counting them out now is somewhat blind sighted. Let's not forget that Nokia chose to partner with Microsoft and not the other way around, if Nokia were really in trouble or thought Windows Phone was worthless, why would they have chosen to go with the Windows Phone OS?

Also, Nokia have recently launched a worldwide promotion for its new range of Windows Phone models and as a result, hundreds of thousands of handsets have now sold under the Windows Phone brand. Statistics in fact show from numerous research companies that in a couple of years time, Windows Phone has the potential to take over iPhone marketshare due to Nokia's influence, influence which many it would appear, do not realise still exists.