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Which Android smartphone should I get?

J

JiveMiguel

Lurker
So I'm pretty set on getting a new phone. I've used a BB curve for a few years now and it is great, but lacking in browsing and apps and a lot of other things. I'm making this post to get opinions on which phone I should get, based on the following criteria:


  • I'm in the US (west coast), on the AT&T network. I like AT&T just fine. I know some peeps have issues with it, but I never have. It works great in my house which is important.
  • I need to be able to sync my contacts and calendar with my personal (not enterprise) Outlook. I use Windows exclusively. A lot of times I update a contact on my computer then sync it with my phone, or vice versa. I need that capability and it should be a simple process. Blackberry did this so well I was amazed.
  • I like the ability to load apps. I don't care how it's done, I just want to play Angry Birds and other lame things when I have a little down-time.
  • I have a few email accounts I want to get on my phone, one of them is a Google account. The others are regular old pop3. I assume this isn't a problem.
  • Finally, I want a phone with a real web browser. The BB browser is really lame. I'm sure it has gotten better, but I wouldn't know as my Curve is now quite long in the tooth.
  • I'm not too worried about 'rooting' the phone. As long as it works and does what I want, I'm fine. I consider myself a poweruser, but I need the phone to work first and foremost, and I don't want AT&T to say my warranty is voided if I root the phone.
So, my choices seem to be: The Samsung Captivate or the HTC Aria. Of these two, which would you recommend? Or, are there others I should look at? The Motorola Backflip, maybe??? I'm not worried about waiting for the 4g phones to come out. If I keep waiting, I'll never get a new phone.

Thanks in advance.
 
The only thing in your list of requirements that really helps narrow down which Android you should look at is the limitation of staying with AT&T. To help narrow your choices down:

- Size: Do you want the smallest, slimmest device possible, do you want the biggest screen possible, or somewhere in between?
- Input: Do you want a physical keyboard or will having the on-screen one be enough?

If you really want to play Angry Birds, you probably want a phone with a 1 GHz processor, the slower ones can apparently leave you with lousy framerate, especially on higher levels. Having looked at a co-workers Backflip, I wouldn't recommend it. Sure, it has a physical keyboard which you might like, but they tried to be clever with the design and I think they ended up with "dumb" instead. The way the phone closes, you'd have the screen on one side and the keyboard on the other, leaving it exposed to collect pocket lint and get scratched. Another co-worker has the Aria, and it's a nice slim phone. Not the highest horsepower phone, but nice and light. Plenty of power to run most games, but Angry Birds will probably tax it a bit.

If you want one that's going to remain usefully fast for as long as possible, you might want to consider waiting for the Atrix. It's got a big screen, a powerful dual core processor, and 4G. Otherwise I suppose the Captivate would be the best bet. If you really want the freedom to load whatever apps you want without having to root the phone, you might want to consider leaving AT&T since they've disabled sideloading apps. This will also greatly expand your options; AT&T seems to have the worst selection of Android phones...
 
Thanks for the reply. What you said here is interesting:

Tangent said:
If you really want the freedom to load whatever apps you want without having to root the phone, you might want to consider leaving AT&T since they've disabled sideloading apps. This will also greatly expand your options; AT&T seems to have the worst selection of Android phones...
Click to expand...

What exactly is 'sideloading' and does this mean that not all Android apps are available on AT&T?

Regarding your other questions: From a size point of view, I like the Captivate just fine. And I can do with either the touch-screen keyboard OR the physical one. I'm used to the latter as that's what's on my BB Curve, but the touch-screen ones work fine for me as well.

Another friend said to wait for the Atrix as well. Anybody know how much it's going to cost?
 
Side loading is adding apps not from the Android Market, some developers don't put their apps on the market an example is Swype (although that is still beta)
 
I love HTC and the Aria is a very nice mid end phone. But the Captivate is all over it with sheer specs --- speed, screen, memory.

You (first poster) got the right attitude. if you wait, you can keep on waiting.
 
Yea the Captivate is your best bet. Very smooth and a gorgeous display. Just don't count on getting updates on a timely matter.
 
JiveMiguel said:
I need to be able to sync my contacts and calendar with my personal (not enterprise) Outlook. I use Windows exclusively. A lot of times I update a contact on my computer then sync it with my phone, or vice versa. I need that capability and it should be a simple process. Blackberry did this so well I was amazed.
Click to expand...

Make sure to confirm that the phone you're purchasing can sync via USB, if that's your requirement. Some of the Android phones can only sync easily via Google's contacts or by buying 3rd party applications.
 
Something to keep in mind with the Captivate is the GPS issues that the Galaxy S phones have. If you use (or plan on using) the GPS functions often (like with the excellent Google Navigation), you might run into some frustration with that. And as toomuchgame441 said, don't expect updates that are anywhere close to timely.

If you must have something right now, the Captivate is the best they have. But honestly, if you want to stay on AT&T, wait for the Atrix. It's not that far off, and it should be a considerably better phone than anything AT&T (or anyone else) has to offer right now.

There are also rumors of a Nexus S for AT&T.
 
Captivate may not have the most timely updates, but like any Galaxy S, they are among the easiest phones to root and the hardest phones to brick, which makes them a favorite for rooters and flashers. Rooting and flashing takes care of anyone's upgrade problem, since it lets you transpose the ROMs from an upgraded Samsung Galaxy S version (there are those ahead of what's on the Captivate) and put them on the Captivate.

If a person is a casual user, with modest uses and doesn't care much about upgrades, the Captivate seems perfectly fine for this. If a person is really hard core, addicted to flashing ROMs, the Captivate is also perfect for this.
 
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