So my S3 is dying, and for the first time i find myself needing a phone outside of contract upgrade time. (imagine that.. PAYING for a phone!)
Im thinking the S4 is obviously an upgrade on the S3, but are there better alternatives around for a better price?
Is the S4 the best option and where is the best price available?
Appreciate any help lovely people.
cheers.. actually tried elcheapo chinese and very disappointed (prob due to my own lack of research mind you) and yes, im trying to stay as low cost as possible… any upgrade on s3 is good.
If you want to go Chinese again I'd go with Xiaomi Note 2 or Note 3. Decent hardware… low price, fast performance, beats the everloving crap out of the S4. The Note 2 has removable batteries and SD…. the Note 3 does neither, but it's overall a more polished device and has a larger capacity battery.
Only downside is the MIUI interface takes a bit to get used to but from what I can tell it's an improvement over Touchwhiz. You should also be tech savvy enough to flash your own custom ROM — if you can't do that, don't buy a China-droid.
If not I'd go with the LG G series as suggested — the only downside is the battery life due to the inefficiency of the snapdragon chipset and the quad hd LCD panel.
You should mentioned Samsung S4, not just S4, make people easy to understand !
sorry, edited.
imagine that.. PAYING for a phone!
Think you've been getting a FREE phone all this time? LOL
Consider the Moto X 2nd gen or G3 as mentioned above, if the size suits
lol yes i appreciate theres no such thing as a free lunch (phone). but you get the idea, a good contract and a phone for 15+ years.
The g3 sounds good but is pricier than S4?
No. The S4 is $496 whereas the G3 is $488 and this was after a 5 second search - I'm sure there's better deals to be found if you're interested
Plans are no longer worth the value. It's been a cheaper option to purchase a phone outright and then joining a plan for over a year now. In essence, you'll get ALOT more data and the phone for cheaper.
I've had an s4 for 4 years. Honestly, go for something recent.
Xiaomi, mid-range Lumia, One Plus, Samsung's budget smartphones are all better buys.
JUst go to android authority and look at the mid-ranged android phones. There are too many to name.
What is your price range? I have a feeling that in your price range you can probably get something much more recent like the Moto G 3rd gen or a OnePlus One/OnePlus X
i was aiming for around $400, well, ideally under $400 but thats unlikely it would seem to get a new phone at that level?
That can get you something with Snapdragon 800 at least (I am talking about local stock as well), which is better than normal Galaxy S4. LG G2, Moto X2 etc are around that price range (I think Moto X2 was from Harvey Norman $398, LG G2 was around $300 when I grabbed one for my gf).
thanks, i have a preference for local stock too.
The G2 looks good, but im looking for something that has much of what the S4 has, particularly SD card 64gb, removable battery.
Sorry not trying to be annoying.
@offal spokesman: Eh, understandable. mSD card can be amazing, especially if you have tonnes of stuff. That said, I think S4 is slightly outdated, Snapdragon 600 leaves much to be desired with FHD in my opinion. I personally recommend at least looking at other models.
If you really have to go for Galaxy S4, go for the model i9506. It has Snapdragon 800 in it. It was around $400 (slightly higher, less than $500) from mobileciti, last time I've checked (it's been around 8 months).
@offal spokesman:
If you're willing to spend $400 aren't you better off getting something like a LG G3? It too has a SD slot and much better than S4 IMHO.
Galaxy core prime and LG G3 Beat.
Any have any thoughts on these two? around $220 at office works, are they any good?
If you like touchwiz, consider an s5 or waiting to see what the s7 brings in a week or two although since you're considering an s4, it may be out of your price range.
Besides samsung, also consider lgg3 and lgg4. There are el cheapo Chinese phones out there but do your research before buying to see whether it'll work with your mobile provider.