SUBSIM mobile phone thread

[the_tyrant]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Wait for newer phones, eh? This is why I am still using a 4 year old phone

Ok, so with Virgin, this phone?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Virgin+M...&skuId=5177501

And tMobile, this phone
Samsung Exhibit 4G
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/...-34818011.html

As far as Gingerbread 2.3, how is that going to adversly affect my phone? It works, right? Maybe not as "fast" as Ice cream or whatever the latest OS is, but this time next year, there will be some new OS, and the current one will suck.

And it does connect to wifi, right? That's where I plan to do my most internet browsing anyway.

Most modern phones have wifi, so don't worry about that.

I would seriously recommend 4.0 over 2.3, the difference is quite big!

Go on ebay, or to best buy to get your phones, I usually find that they have much better deals than your carrier stores.

For andriod, I usually recommend Sony, they have the best looking phones with the best support (they always update all their phones). Now that Google owns Motorola, they are becoming quite good too.


Have you considered staying with AT&T on a smaller plan or prepaid?
AT&T uses standard GSM bands, aka you have the biggest choice in phones.

Look what a few quick searches on ebay allowed me to find: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SONY-XPERIA-...item3cca90c7d2

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MT27i-BLK...9226617&sr=1-5

[AVGWarhawk]

Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, 2.2, 2.3 on it goes with Android. One phone will upgrade if you carrier wants to upgrade it. Others won't. Personally, my experience with a Windows phone was nice. My next phone will have Windows. I have grown to hate Android.

[the_tyrant]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, 2.2, 2.3 on it goes with Android. One phone will upgrade if you carrier wants to upgrade it. Others won't. Personally, my experience with a Windows phone was nice. My next phone will have Windows. I have grown to hate Android.

Hi five!

I had the quantum too, so now I am eagerly waiting for Windows Phone 8 (coming out on the 26th)

Now that is also why I recommend that you don't buy your andriod from a carrier, since carriers would limit your update chances.

[AVGWarhawk]

Planned obsolescence Tyrant. Very clever of the Droid and carriers

[the_tyrant]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Planned obsolescence Tyrant. Very clever of the Droid and carriers

Yep, and that is why I often suggest unbranded phones (aka phones that are not under carrier control for updates). With good companies like Sony, you would usually get at least 1 - 2 updates.

Or, get a nexus directly from google (Verizon often witholds updates)

Or even better, get a Windows Phone. Every single windows phone 7 got all the updates, and every single windows phone 8 is guranteed to give at least 18 months worth of updates (starting from launch day). Even LG(who is horrible with updates), rolled out all the updates for their Windows Phones.

[antikristuseke]

root and install a custom rom, thats the way to go with droids.

[soopaman2]

Not so much related, but kinda ironic.

Last few times I looked in this thread I saw a Virgin mobile ad.

I already use them though, so nice try Neal!

Do you want an android Neal, or happy with your phone and hate your plan?

I use mine for easy internet access and the free GPS program. (verizon wanted 5$ a month to use gps on my old phone.)
I gotta travel, and NJ has so many roads for such a small state, I get lost sometimes. Plus I am dumber than a pile of bricks, so that helps with my getting lost on roads I should know.

If it is your plan you hate, then go with a budget carrier (virgin/t-mobile) and use a cheapo 40$ phone. Budget does not equal bad, Virgin has better reception than my old Verizon phone in my location.

If you want an upgrade then follow one of the many suggestions you got above.

It all depends on what you need.

[joea]

Originally Posted by v-i-c-

Yes, the iPhone 5 rocks from its specs compared to its predecessors.
The GPU of the iPad 1 and iPhone/iPod touch 4 is too slow for the number of pixels on the screen. It's the same GPU that the 3GS uses. During the last two years this was always a problem for me (developing games).
When I started with the new Seehund midget submarine version of WOTA I've made a completely new water for the game. Now WOTA is really CPU bound on the 3GS, on the iPad 1 it still suffers from pixel fill rate problems due to the underpowered GPU. When it comes to gaming iPad 2 and 4S are great devices WOTA runs at 60fps with additional eyecandy on them.

Because of the CPU problems on the 3GS I've compared CPU benchmarks of all iOS devices to find out what extras will be possible on which device (I just can't afford to buy them all and the low end devices are most important for testing anyway)

The iPhone 5 is extremely fast! It's a HUGE difference and this difference is huge compared to the 4S, actually when it comes to CPU and memory performance the difference between the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S is larger than the difference between the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 3GS! Calling the iPhone 5 an insignificant upgrade is just wrong - the iPhone 4 was an insignificant upgrade:

iPhone 5 compared to iPhone 4S:
integer performance: 2.26 times faster
floating point performance: 2.83 times faster
memory performance: 2.49 times faster
memory stream performance: 3.17 times faster

iPhone 4S compared to iPhone 3GS:
integer performance: 2.47 times faster
floating point performance: 2.64 times faster
memory performance: 1.68 times faster
memory stream performance: 1.33 times faster

iPhone 4S compared to iPhone 4:
integer performance: 1.92 times faster
floating point performance: 2.03 times faster
memory performance: 1.26 times faster
memory stream performance: 1.05 times faster

iPhone 4 compared to iPhone 3GS:
integer performance: 1.29 times faster
floating point performance: 1.29 times faster
memory performance: 1.68 times faster
memory stream performance: 1.33 times faster

Also the 3 core GPU is a good upgrade compared to the 4S.



My two cents {

You get the iPhone 5 starting at 1,- EUR with a contract (in germany).

Currently the iPhone 5 is the fastest smartphone on the market, as usual this will change within the year. The pricing of the comparable android high end smartphones is almost identical. It might be a bad buy next summer but currently it is not… except that 600 EUR for a phone (without contract) might be a bit crazy anyway.

But compared to android you will have some advantages:

1. free unexpected adventures due to the new map app
2. almost no risk to install malware apps
3. more apps and games
4. This is the SUBSIM forum - well... WOTA: Wolves of the Atlantic:


http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=163753


I see this android vs iOS thing from a developers point of view:

There are more android phones (68%) out there than iOS phones (17%) but the statistics show that 63.48% of the mobile internet accesses comes from iOS devices (android = 22.1% - I'll guess the iPod touch is included in the statistics) - so it seems that iOS devices are more in use than android devices. Maybe a lot of people who don't really need a smartphone just take one for $1,- with their contract but never use it except for phoning?

Same for sales numbers of Apps. Most developers sell 10 times more per app on the iOS app store than on all android markets combined. And the pirated to sale ratio on iOS is already pretty high at about 95:1 - unless you are in the top 1000 you will sell exactly: nothing, ZERO - yes more than 649,000 apps have 0 sales a day - to make any money that will at least pay your time of development you will have to reach the top 300 of games in the USA and stay there for a long time - a highly competitive market with dumping prices, rude customer reviews and on android it is even worse because sales are lower.

It's terrible to try to support all the different android devices, GPUs, screen sizes, Systems etc. - you will end up with ten times the hassle and bad reviews for 1/10 of the generated income.

That's why WOTA for android will come out after a Mac & PC release. and why I would always recommend iOS. ;-) But it's a biased view and someone who just needs a phone with mobile browser, email app, maps etc. might be as happy as an iPhone customer. But I doubt those kind of people would ever seriously debate about android vs iOS. It's almost the same old boring war like Mac vs PC.

}

Very good post, blows some of the arguments on this thread out of the water, heck I'm going to post to this on other forums. Well only some-if you actually just want to make phone calls on your phone ah well.

[MH]

There are more android phones (68%) out there than iOS phones (17%) but the statistics show that 63.48% of the mobile internet accesses comes from iOS devices (android = 22.1% - I'll guess the iPod touch is included in the statistics) - so it seems that iOS devices are more in use than android devices. Maybe a lot of people who don't really need a smartphone just take one for $1,- with their contract but never use it except for phoning?

Thats simply because almost anyone can buy low end cheap android phone weather needed for web or not and enjoy some features of such phone.
Simply put it...you dont need to go broke to have some cool device with usfull features...there is a lot of choice.

[antikristuseke]

Iphone priced similarly to android handsets? Is this a joke?
Even the S 3, which I concider overpriced is at least 150 euros cheaper than the bloody iphone, hell, its cheaper than the previous generation iphones though by a smaller margin.

[the_tyrant]

Originally Posted by antikristuseke

Iphone priced similarly to android handsets? Is this a joke?
Even the S 3, which I concider overpriced is at least 150 euros cheaper than the bloody iphone, hell, its cheaper than the previous generation iphones though by a smaller margin.

I would dispute that

My carrier (Rogers) sells the iPhone 5 at about the same price of the s3 (and other top of the line androids)

Hell, if we want to talk overpriced, Verizon sells the blackberry 9930 for a bit more than the iPhone 5, whereas the iPhone 5 is priced at the same as the Droid razr MAXX

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by soopaman2

Lg Optimus Elite. And carrier is virgin mobile. Go figure, not a sprint verizon or AT&T in there. It isn't a Samsung Galaxy, but it is more than adequate.

Ok, I went with the same phone, LG Optimus Elite, Virgin Mobile Paylo plan, $35 a month (not $35 + fees and tax = $45).

Thanks for the help, the phone looks & works sweet. I will see how this works out, hopefully living in America's third largest city, I can get decent signal and call quality.

[AVGWarhawk]

I can get decent signal and call quality.

Huh? Please repeat. I did not hear.

[Onkel Neal]

Mark me down with an LG Optimus Prim...er, Elite!

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

...America's third largest city...

Really? According to the figures I looked at, Chicago still holds that title. Only by half a million, but still...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._by_population