Looking for a new Android phone

[Cletonius]

I currently own an S2. Running JellyBean 4.2, so it is hardly "obsolete". My phone can do everything an S3/4 can, it's just a bit slower and doesn't support LTE.

My biggest problem with a lot of current smart phones is no external SD card slot. What memory comes with the phone is all you get. This also sucks as if anything happens to the phone, everything on it is lost.

I'm not saying it's a bad phone, but it is obsolete. It was released over a year ago and with the pace tech changes... Lack of LTE support further supports this.

I've got a gnex and am in the same boat. It's perfectly usable device but it's obsolete also.

Cloud backup is your friend. You can have your photos auto backup to dropbox or the like, music can all also be done this way via Google music. There's no excuse in today's world for losing your data except laziness.

[Jand3rson]

HTC One. Best smartphone I've ever had. Higher resolution display than the S4, and better build quality (not made of plastic). Mine is rooted running CyanogenMod 10.2 (Android 4.3), and it screams. Super fast, no issues with the phone whatsoever.

[bmwm42]

The g2 has a piece of shit camera
The mega is a big s3
Id go s4 or note 3

[bmwm42]

HTC One. Best smartphone I've ever had. Higher resolution display than the S4, and better build quality (not made of plastic). Mine is rooted running CyanogenMod 10.2 (Android 4.3), and it screams. Super fast, no issues with the phone whatsoever.

The have the same resolution the s4 actually has a better oled screen unlike the htc one lcd screen

[bmwm42]

LG G2 is only phone on the market that is set up for the new 4gLTA network that is coming out, only phone with a faster processor is the Samsung Note3.

The note 3 is actually running ltea in New York and other select areas

[Jand3rson]

The have the same resolution the s4 actually has a better oled screen unlike the htc one lcd screen

My screen looks worlds sharper than an S4 side by side.

[bmwm42]

My screen looks worlds sharper than an S4 side by side.

Specs don't lie they are both great phones though

[IronFreak]

I would also say LG G2 as currently it has the best of all hardware. Most of the annoying software bits can be disabled or changed. CleanRom fixes the bloatware problem and flash the camera fixes and IMO the phone is just dandy.Currently I am running the latest Cyanogen nightly but am going to go back to CleanRom (stock just debloated) as it is still IMO the best solution. I generally get just under 2 days on the battery for my usage.

I think after reading all your comments I'm still leaning towards the G2. I really don't want to root my phone, don't have the technical know how to do it correctly, nor do I really care. I just want a great performing phone in it's off the shelf state. Maybe do cleanRom to clean bloatware but that's it.

Thanks for all the feedback, Unless you guys can come up with a different phone or reason I should get something else I'll probably be grabbing a G2 this weekend.

Have you guys ever ordered a phone after Amazon? I have a prime account and the G2 is only $99 bucks on there.

[Cletonius]

I think after reading all your comments I'm still leaning towards the G2. I really don't want to root my phone, don't have the technical know how to do it correctly, nor do I really care. I just want a great performing phone in it's off the shelf state. Maybe do cleanRom to clean bloatware but that's it.

Thanks for all the feedback, Unless you guys can come up with a different phone or reason I should get something else I'll probably be grabbing a G2 this weekend.

Have you guys ever ordered a phone after Amazon? I have a prime account and the G2 is only $99 bucks on there.

It's a fairly simple process to root and ROM a phone. Going back to stock if warranty work is needed is usually the difficult part.

Amazon wireless is legit, they even honor the standard amazon return policy iirc

[AndrewBird]

Going back to a stock rom is no harder than going to a custom rom. Same exact process, you just install the stock rom instead of custom.

[agent]

The plus on the G2 is it has a 13 mega pixel camera compared to the 8 on the galaxy phones. I don't carry a camera around so it would be better quality pictures of my build for the r3v community ;)

More megapixels don't necessarily equate to higher quality images. I don't care for iPhones, but from what I've seen their (8MP) cameras take noticeably better pictures than most any Android phone.

[Cletonius]

Going back to a stock rom is no harder than going to a custom rom. Same exact process, you just install the stock rom instead of custom.

I've sometimes had problems getting devices to relock the bootloader. Would be nice if you could "fastboot oem lock" on everything.

But you're right, flashing is flashing regardless of stock/custom ROM.

[Ryan Stewart]

Nexus 5, its the G2 but without a shitty software skin on it.

[IronFreak]

Nexus 5, its the G2 but without a shitty software skin on it.

What do you mean software skin?

[lambo]

What do you mean software skin?

Each phone developer has their own launcher for the Android OS. They control the icons, how the homepages operate and a ton of other shit.