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Replacement for HTC Desire, best battery and custom rom installation

B

batfastad

Newbie
Hi everyone

I'm now looking to replace my HTC Desire with a new Android phone.
I'm on a contract with O2 and I'd like to continue with that so I don't have to pay upfront for a handset.

These are my options... Mobile Phone Offers from O2

There's a really broad choice there and I'm having trouble narrowing it down. My head is saying either HTC again or Samsung.

My most important features, in order, are:

  • microSD slot
  • battery life
  • ease of installing a custom rom (CyanogenMod)
  • camera
I'm not too bothered about device speed, since I'll rarely be watching video and it spends most of its time in my jacket pocket.
I would like it to be possible to install a custom rom and not totally locked-out but if the device comes relatively stock Android then that's probably fine as well. All that HTC Sense stuff was a nightmare and CyanogenMod gave me an extra day of battery.
MicroSD is really important though. The couple of times that my HTC Desire went loopy and would not boot, I'm so glad most of my stuff was stored on the MicroSD card as it was returned from O2 with the internal memory wiped.

Anyone got any suggestions of where to start looking on that list of devices?

Cheers, B
 
Well for starters i can't see the devices because I'm not in the UK. I suggest just making a list of your to choices.
 
Ah sorry about that. I didn't realised they were using geolocation.

Here's a list of devices:
LG Nexus 4 no SD slot
Sony Xperia T
Sony Xperia U
Sony Xperia J
Sony Xperia go
Sony Xperia S
Sony Xperia tipo
Sony Xperia P
Sony Xperia miro
HTC Desire X
HTC Desire C no camera flash and fixed focus
HTC One V
HTC One X no SD slot
HTC One X Plus
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2
Samsung Galaxy S III
Samsung Galaxy S III Mini
Samsung Galaxy Ace
Samsung Galaxy Y
Samsung Galaxy Music

Are there any manufacturers there that are particularly picky about rooting and installing roms? When I got my HTC Desire I remember they released a few versions of that handset to try and make it more difficult. I wonder if they've closed even more loopholes since then.
Knowing Sony I bet they try and make it difficult as well.

Cheers, B
 
LG Nexus 4, Galaxy SIII and One X/X Plus. Apart from the Xperia T, none of the other phones match those three in terms of capability. The 4 I mentioned are currently the 4 best Android phones available internationally. If you don't have trouble with limited storage, the Nexus 4 would be a great pic, but the unexpandable 16GB storage is a deal breaker for me. I personally would pick up an SIII or maybe a 32GB One X.

The Nexus is designed for developer play ground so its going to have a lot of ROMs. SIII's popularity will make sure it will have CM support as well. HTC may not have as many fans as Samsung and Nexus but it will still be supported as it is still quite popular.
 
Actually SONY were making some of their code more public earlier this year, or at least that was the story.

There's a huge range there, from low end to near top. You'll get the best ROM support for a high-end device, as they tend to be popular with devs. So if that's a priority the Nexus 4, S3 and One X are the obvious ones. The N4 and One X don't have an SD slot (and N4 has the least storage), but the N4 will probably have the longest official software support of any of these handsets. I expect the One X+ will gain dev traction but it's too new to say for certain. But of course high-end devices are (except for the N4) more expensive.

Not certain we know the story on N4 battery life yet - reviews I've read have tended to say "OK but not outstanding", but it's very early days. Many people find the S3 good. Battery life tends to depend strongly on the user anyway.

Can you not narrow the choice a bit on other factors? For example, the One X+ and Desire C are such different devices in size and screen area that it's hard to imagine them both being serious candidates for the same person. The Desire C is not a camera phone BTW - fixed focus, no flash - so if that's on your list of requirements you can probably scratch that straight away.

There's no substitute for going into a shop and browsing either - the "could I really imagine using this for 2 years?" question is a good one ;)

Edit: Ah, ninja'd by chanchan! :)
 
Hi guys

Thanks for that so far. It's helped me rule out a few. Probably any of those will be an improvement over my Desire.

MicroSD card slot is essential for me. And all the internal storage of all those phones looks much better than my current HTC Desire. I'm finding I can't really install any more applications and Google Reader freaks out with insufficient storage space quite regularly. So 4GB of internal should be more than enough and I'll probably get an 8GB/16GB MicroSD card.

I'm also quite keen on a cheaper device, not too bothered about really high-end. On O2 I tend to pay a bit for the phone up front and go for an 18 month contract but I'll probably go 24 month as it reduces my total outlay. I'm a light user really so I always go for the cheaper tariffs and lowest data pack.

How about the HTC Desire X or HTC One V?
HTC Sense UI though was a nightmare at wasting battery on my original HTC Desire so does anyone know how easy it is to root (and S-Off if that's still needed)?

Or how about the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini?

Cheers, B
 
The SIII mini is essentially a rebranded SII, so it should be a good device still. It probably wont have the same level of developer support as the SII but could have longer official support at this point in time.

The OneV will be my choice over the X if it comes to HTC.
 
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