TLDR - I actually like windows phone but it's dying and I need a new phone, What i'm looking for is an Android phone that wont cost me an arm and a leg, isn't the size of a dinner plate and that out specs the Lumia 925 that served me well for so many years.
Full story; For the last three years I have used the Nokia Lumia 925, other than a few small hardware issues (a button breaking and the battery dying due to the heat in Egypt) the phone has served me fantastically. It takes great photos, the screen is fairly good and as i'm not a super heavy app user the lack of app support was not a great issue for me.
Unfortunately the screen on the device recently cracked, due to the way the replacement part is shipped it costs about £125 to repair and when i can buy the phone second hand for £60 on ebay it doesn't really make sense to repair it.
What i'm looking for is an Android phone that wont cost me an arm and a leg, isn't the size of a dinner plate and that out specs the Lumia 925 that served me well for so many years.
For anyone who cares here is what I liked about the Windows phone:
Screen layout was great, the tiles system worked really well in my opinion and when giving it to others people (who had not used a windows phone before) they were easily able to navigate the device with ease.
Built like a tank - yes I broke the screen, but it had fallen many many times prior to this onto hard surfaces and been completely fine
It doesn't look cluttered, I find that the side swiping through pages of apps on both IOS and Android is far harder to take in that the neat alphabetical list used by windows phones.
Dedicated camera button - this was a great feature with a two stage button to allow you to focus and then depress the button further to actually take the photo
To conclude, Windows phone OS has served me well, the Nokia hardware did a great job too. But after 3 years and the promise of the windows 10 update for the phone long overdue I feel it is time to move on.
I think one of the most important thing when you move to Android is software nowadays. I say this because processors and components are getting more powerful and cheaper so what holds back so many phone is software. That being said my suggestion is to pick up a Moto G4 Plus 3GB/32GB version. I think has a pretty well rounded hardware and has the closest experience to stock Android on a budget. Maybe it's a bit too large for you, but phones are getting bigger and bigger unfortunately. P.S. Android requires to be taken care of, so you have to do all the cleaning of junk files, avoid to install too many background running apps and so on.
Huawei p10 is probably going to be the 2017 winner for best highend
the honor 6x is in my opinion the best budget phone for the time being.
I have no partiality between brands but huawei is doing well this round. OPPO makes great devices but they are locking down their OS and future phones will be impossible to unlock bootloader, its no wonder the oneplus people branched off. That being said though it seems oneplus is showing signs of selling out (in terms of moving on from catering to enthusiast users.) They alluded to it in a blog post talking about a recent marketing strategy.
MWC is Feb 26th, there should be a lot of news about what companies are planning for 2017, so i suggest wait until then for a decision
I am thinking about moving to the Moto G4+ as a long overdue upgrade from my Razor. Can you give a few details on the update response (I realize it is carrier dependent) and any other thoughts, pro's and con's ? Cheers
I'm using a no carrier Moto G 2013 (the OG XT1032) and I got updates from 4.2 to 4.4.2 (and 4.4.4). Than to 5.0, 5.1 and 5.1 with march 2016 security patch. Now I think the updates will stop once and for all but has been a great support form the manufacturer. I think the Motorola implementation of Android is the best because adds little utility apps that are not always running in the background and can be ignored. This keeps the phone really snappy and fast. I do really take care of my phone so that's why I'm having no issues with it. I've never tried the Moto G4+ so I don't know what to say about it. Looks like a good phone to me. Also, if it's like the 1st Moto G, even if the battery is integrated is really really easy swap it for a new one.
Stuff like that is what I love on the Moto G4 Play. Dual SIM/SIM + microSD, swappable battery, ... headphone jack (yes, that is a feature now). It does have some drawbacks like no 5GHz WiFi, USB2, 720p screen, not the fastest processor or more RAM than my laptop.... None of that matters to me. The camera is pretty crap, so is every other phone camera, ever.
Basically what I am trying to say is: don't look at phones, look at software, the OS you want to run. For me that was LineageOS because it comes free of all the crap (including google crap) and I can start from scratch. Then I just looked at what devices are supported by the OS and relatively new and cheap and what features i wanted. In that order.
Agreed! I do not use my phone as a laptop - just a 'reasonably competent' device. I attempt some 'reasonable' level of security update path knowing that what little comes down from the carrier will end too soon.
If you actually care about the size, then a Sony Xperia X Compact might be good.
It also has the dedicated dual-stage shutter button, but will cost more than the Moto G4.
The back is plastic, but it feels solid. It's supposed to be waterproof, but supposedly wasn't listed as such, outside of Japan, because of insurance costs or something.
The fingerprint reader requires a firmware flash, if you buy it in the US, because of a copyright issue with HP. There are informative guides on how to do this.
First thing I check before looking at phones is official support for LineageOS (CyanogenMod) then I'll start narrowing down criteria like AMOLED screen, accessory availability... Or whatever, GSMArena has some nice filtering.
Most important to me is NOT using carrier supplied OSs, they are usually bloated with garbage.
My latest phone is a OnePlus 3T. High quality flagship competitor at half the cost. Huge phone though damn near a two handed device.
I used to have a nokia lumia 800 and im now using a Nexus 5 and a Samsung S1 it really depends on how much you want to spend on your new phone I got my Galaxy S1 second hand for £3 and its great for stuff like web browser,listening to music etc but runs a old version of android (2.3 gingerbread) which requires you to use a custom rum to get a newer os version.
TL;DR If you budget allows for it any Samsung Galaxy (Expect Note 7 xD) or Nexus/Pixel phone or even try the One Plus series of devices.