Mobile phones: The official thread

Neither Samsung nor sony are perticularely good. And neither is Android. It is a massively overrated pile of toot. Neither Samsung nor Sony are very good with firmware updates.

If you REALLY want to go with Android then go with Motorola instead. The X phones are amazing, I have the first gen and it's easily my best Android hardware-wise and performance-wise.

I have the Lumia 635, itks a good little LTE capable phone with a removable battery and microSD, but the dark cloud is that it will not get the complete Win10 update. If this is not an issue, get it, but not on a subscription as it's very close to being obsolete hardware as MS have announced some new Win10 Lumias coming in the next month or so. Two of those are XL models which means phablet territory -- 5"+ screens.

In short:
-Get a Moto X, or any Android Motorola
-Hold out for the new Win10 Lumias
-Go CrackBerry 10 hunting on eBay

Getting a bigger screen for browsing files away from my computer would make my life easier but I can wait. Thanks.

Hold up, there is one more thing I forgot to mention --

The new Lumias will have the ability to transform into a full-blown Windows 10 desktop via a dock attachment. Might worth taking into consideration. You'd basically get two devices in one and switch between phone and tablet whenever you need. Could be convenient when you don't feel like carting a laptop around.

TBH, I am quite tempted to get one of those XL phablets myself. Win10 is stellar and things being very much uncertain for BlackBerry, unfortunately, might be time to look into a plan B.

If those bloody Jollas weren't so damn expensive I'd get one

Here is a look at the 950 XL

http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=16578

And here is the 550, the affordable one

http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=16580

Money is an object and I don't really need a top of the line phone. The Lumia 635 looked pretty decent and was my first choice still I need to think things through. You've given me some elements to consider. This is much appreciated.

The 635 is a good little phone and definitively a good choice, although personally I would wait for the 550, but that's up to you.

I can do a video review for you, if you'd like.

Thanks for the offer. I need some time to think things through. I could wait but in that case I would have to stick to my old White Berry a while longer. Like I said I don't want to spend too much on a phone and I don't particularly need the latest model.

I stuck with a Bold 9000 for quite a long while so I know where you're coming from. After using BB10 it's incredibly hard to go back to the Bold or the Torch, even though the two have physical keyboard very close to perfection, only overshadowed by the Motorola Q9H.

The only problem is the limited shelf life the 635 has remaining. When I got my Lumia 800, Windows Phone 7 was EOL and WP8 was just around the corner. It still works fine, but 7.8 (the consolation prize update WP7 owners got) lacks many of 8.1 and soon to be 10's features. Most of those functions have improved as WP matures, the music player in WP7 was okay, but not great, and I find Xbox Music to be a vast improvement.

I'll talk about about the 635 in the video, but in this example, the 635 is like the 800 -- it remains a very good phone, but the hardware makes it more limited for longer-term updates. Sure, it will get the Win10 update, but it will be like the 7.8 update my Lumia 800 got, some few superficial changes, and that's it, because the 635 has a meager 512MB of RAM. But, in all fairness, it is more than enough for WP8.

The 550 has 1GB of RAM (which might not seem like a lot but WP is optimized to run on minimal resources), a 720p screen, better battery, even faster LTE (which is already ridiculously fast to begin with) and the full Win10 experiece. I understand money is an issue, and I understand you don't give a toss about the specs -- I usually don't either unless a phone is appallingly underpowered like my big piece of shite Doogee Phablet -- and while both are ultimately good choices, it makes much more sense to me to wait a little and invest a little more for the 550 rather than go with the sunsetting 635.

I understand and I see that in the long run there is absolutely no contest but it's all about the money. Either I stick to my White Berry for another year or I get a phone that will be an antique two years from now. That seems to be my current predicament.

I've checked again and I could get a Lumia 640 with my current subscription (which I'm keeping anyway). The screen is a little bit larger but it doesn't seem very different (unless I'm missing something).

The screen is bigger because it is 720p. It has a 8MP cam, 1GB of RAM and LTE support and a microSD slot. It's definitively a step up from the 635. WP also have Office on board, which is a nice touch since you said you'd like to browse documents on the go.

The 640 also gets the Win10 update although I do not know if it is the full version or a bastardized one like the 635. I assume that with the amount of RAM it has, it will be the full version. Could be a nice middle-of-the-road solution.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to look into that.

Alright, here's the review. Not my greatest piece of work, but like I said since you already used Win8 there isn't a lot for me to tell

Cheers mate! Thanks for taking the time to make this video, it really helps to see what you've been posting about in action. I was a bit surprised by the lack of focus at first but it's still really helpful.

I'm still considering my options but I'm leaning towards the 640. I really like Nokia phones and although my White Berry has served me well I guess it's time for an upgrade.

EDIT: I've just ordered the Lumia 640. Thanks for your help my friend.

I had never filmed any reviews since I got my Deathstalker keyboard. My guess is that the lens focused on the backlit keys and said to hell with it.

640 is a pretty damn good choice. WP is a great, and criminally underrated platform. It's silky smooth and you shouldn't have any problems with it.

The only gripe I would have is that the virtual keyboard doesn't stretch all the way to the borders of the screen. With my big fingers this rules out any kind of speed typing. Autocorrect helps in some cases but in others it is a pain in the arse. That's where BB10's keyboard shines -- it is much smarter and learned my typing patterns and sometimes can guess what I am going to write next.

But, the 640 should serve you well for many years. Get ready for some ridiculously fast data -- I usually don't care about that but holy shit it is FAST. Loads for a second or two, then BOOM the entirr page has loaded.

And glad the review could help. Uploading was the longest part -- you probably can't tell becauze of the bluryness but it is in 720p. My keyboard has never looked this good

Well you've really helped me.

I just hope I'll be able to adapt to the touch screen. I have big hands and big fingers and typing on my White Berry was already challenging...

Hopefully I'll be able to keep this phone for a few years. I should be getting it on Wednesday.

My only concern is the size of the phone. I've been carrying my White Berry everywhere and it wasn't an issue but I don't necessarily wear clothes with huge pockets.

With my big mitts I can use as big as 5.5" with one hand no problem, so you should be fine. I've got several 5" phones and I feel it is the sweet spot between usability and size. Thankfully my Z10 has a smart keyboard because 4.2" feels cramped to me.

Typing in landscape shouldn't be an issue. I just find it asinine that MS wouldn't use the wasted border space but then again you can get third party keyboards who should fix this minor issue.

The tile interface can be resized, like I said, and you have the "Show more tiles" which you can turn on or off. The tiles will be bigger if it's turned off, and smaller if turned on. But remember you also have access to everything with a quick swipe.

WP has less of a learning curve than Droid does. You should get the hang of it pretty fast, especially since you know Win8.

Having a removable battery and storage is also an advantage, you could later down the line buy a replacement battery and it would be like new.

You probably will have to change SIM card size, as the 640 takes microSIM, but I assume that's something your carrier will take care of.

But, at any rate, glad my knowledge could help.

I had an Android device and I didn't enjoy it one bit. Not a big fan of Win 8 either but that's because it was cumbersome as hell on a PC, a touch screen is an entirely different matter.

I haven't checked if I needed a new SIM card but it makes sense. I shall see on Wednesday.

I had Android for years and never liked it either. My old Moto i1 was Android 1.5 and it was awful. The hardware was fine, but Bluetooth was moody and sometimes would drop connection and wouldn't reconnect until I rebooted it. Texting was a nightmare, whenever a SMS was getting past 200 characters it would slow down worst then a sloth on sleeping pills, taking forever to display my input, and would end up deleting entire words, sentences or even entire messages.

Wasn't fond of Android 4 either, but with a Nexus 3, I kind of got used to it, and eventually founf it tolerable. Several of my Androids run KitKat, and I have no major gripes with it, especially after using both AOKP (Team Kang's version of Android Open Source Project, much more customizable and efficient) and PacMan (blending the three major custom roms, CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android and AOKP). Then I got an Android 5 rom for my Moto X. Urgh.

Honestly, this Apple/Android duopoly (let's face it, that's what it is) pisses me off. Being a widespread platform does not by any means make it good. Not to mention the fragmentation of the ecosystem -- so many different manufacturers, so many different phones with different versions making it nearly impossible to efficiently patch up security holes. And a LOT of those pop up, most recently the two incarnations of Stagefright which allow total remote control of a phone.

Blackberry aren't doing well as you no doubt know, and it is a damn shame. They are about to release a sodding Android phone. I love BB10 to death but unfortunately unless a bloody miracle occurs, their phone division is on a timer. The Enterprise assets will allow them to survive, but I can't help but wonder how different things would have been had they taken the Apple threat seriously and stepped up their game back in '07.

Windows Phone I hope will finally take off with Win10. It is an excellent platform and deserves much more success than it has.

I swear, if it ever comes doen to only Apple and Android I will go back to a bloody pager.

I've seen the news about Blackberry making an Android phone... I think they are history, nothing short of a miracle is going to save them and frankly that's too bad I was really fond of my White Berry.

Speaking of security, what should I get for my new phone? What would you recommend?

As of right now you don't need anything specific to secure it. Being a much more marginal platform malware for WP is next to inexistent. Of course this might change when Win10 reaches releases, but they'll prolly be too busy attacking Apple and Android to give a toss about a platform who has like 2% of the market share. I'll do some digging but you should be fine as-is.

As for BlackBerry, they have some strong buisness assets so my guess is they will withdraw from the hardware buisness and focus on BES and such. And yes, it is a bloody shame -- Chen did a superb job as CEO but Balsilie crippled the company when he kept his head in the sans saying that "there is nothing wrong with the company" and brushing off the Apple threat.

We could be looking at a completely different state of affairs had MS and BlackBerry readied for war back when Android emerged and the Fruit released the iTrash.

Edit -- had a look, and no need for antivirus or antimalware of any kind. The fundamental architecture difference in WP makes the applications "sandboxed" so they cannot have access to the secured core. Unless you download shady apps left and right -- which I know isn't your style, being just as much of a paranoid bastard as I am -- you'll be golden. MS is much more rigorous with checking and letting applications through so it's not a melting pot of malware unlike Droid.

Thanks for the feedback. It's always better to be safe so what you've posted is reassuring.

As for Blackberry, I've read they plan on pushing millions of units of their Android phone and if they fail to do so they will abandon the phone business (I can't recall the exact figure).

I'd rather see them completely withdraw from the phone buisness than release this Android bollocks. The hardware will be excellent, and so will the keyboard, but it's all nullified by a bollocks OS.

When I get a little more dough I'm getting the 950XL. And who knows, with MS working on a way to put WP on Android hardware maybe I can salvage a few of my good (hardware wise) Androids. My Xiaomi Redmi Note would make a killer host for WP with the big screen and ridiculously powerful hardware. 2GB of RAM could carry it well in the future.

I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a Jolla as well, but they are impossible to find on my side of the pond.

If I get in the mood, I might review my Firefox OS phone. It's an interesting little oddity even though ZTE are piss poor with updates.

I got my Lumia 640 today. I'm really happy with the big screen but typing is a pain... I keep hitting two keys instead of one. It is going to take some practice.

I did find the apps that I needed to browse files and open pdf and epub files. I even added the Netflix app which is working like a charm.

The wifi setting and the internet browsing is incredibly faster I'm having a blast just like you said.

The autocorrect will smoothen things out once it learns your typing pattern. You could also download a third party keyboard, which wouldn't waste a centimeter of perfectly good space on both sides. But yeah, since you are coming from a physical keyboard, it will take some getting used to the lack of tactile feedback.

Still, good to hear you're enjoying WP so far. I'm on my 635 today, IE is very good at compressing data and extending the life of my data bucket. The messaging tile is especially hilarious when you get more than 5 unread text messages too

I'll be flashing Firefox OS 2.2 on my ZTE Open sometime this week. I don't like FF but as an OS it's actually not bad.

The auto-correct suggestions do help, switching to the side so the keyboard stretches all across the length instead of the width makes typing a bit easier as well. I expect it will get better with time.

This phone is a bit on the bulky side and I really need to buy some sort of cover to protect the screen but I'm really pleased with the ease of use and the comfort it offers.

Browsing the forum this way is so much easier than with my White Berry.