Upgrading phone soon, any help?

[TribbleTrickswithTinsel]

Hello,

I'm due an upgrade soon, I've got an iphone five at the moment (the battery is shocking on this). It does what I want it to, which is basically take pictures, text and look at crap on FB and youtube.

Now before I get suckered into getting another iphone. Are there any other phones I should look at? I've had android phones before and liked them, so not adverse to change.

Thank you.

[nutgrabber]

Might be worth checking a decent nokia lumia as the cameras are generally good (I've got a 1020 which has an amazing camera). If android is your thing then the LG G3 is highly rated.

[nutgrabber]

Forgot to add that these are miles cheaper than an iPhone and given your requirements I don't think you need to pay top dollar for your mobile

[crapcrapcrapcrap]

Just got myself a Sony Xperia z3 compact. Waterproof! It's reasonably cheap, has good functions, a decent camera, a good sized screen but isn't too enormous to pocket, and it seems so far too be very good.

[TribbleTrickswithTinsel]

Oh thank you, quite like the look of the Samsung one. Looks like that one would be good with kids around.

[overthehill74]

I have the Samsung s5 after changing from iPhone 5. I love it! Fantastic camera,can add memory card for extra storage,would definitely recommend

[NetworkGuy]

amicissimma - "I also like an FM radio, but that's a rare feature these days."

Not sure it is 'that' rare, I've just checked my (Android) mobiles, and 3 Samsung models, plus Huawei and Sony (Tipo) all have 'FM Radio'. Have to admit that they'd need the earplugs in (to act as aerial) so I use TuneIn Pro (a cheap but very good App).

If you do a search on the website GSMarena.com then for phones you can select whether to have radio and you should find dozens with FM, some FM Stereo and some have RDS built in too (so the radio will switch to a traffic report if you want, or jump to a different frequency - but keep same station - if you are driving along a motorway with a national station like R2, Classic FM, R4, etc).

[NetworkGuy]

TribbleTrickswithTinsel - If you check the specification of any phone on GSMArena, it should indicate whether the battery is removable (but there are some battery packs which might be worth considering - I paid a tenner the other day for one on Amazon from Anker - about the size of a lipstick - and have seen others at up to 20 quid with considerably larger charge capacity).

Ten or 20 quid is not too expensive and can be used with multiple phones over time, whereas a replacement phone battery is only good for phone(s) from one manufacturer (I have a number of different batteries from one manufacturer, for their different phones, from days before the micro-USB plug became very popular as a 'standard').

As far as mobile phones go, I'd throw in the Motorola Moto G (around 150 quid) as something to look at - there are 3 or 4 models now, depending on whether you want 3G or 4G, and a single SIM or dual SIM. The original (2013) model is only 3G and has a 5 MPixel camera (where the 2014 model has 8 MPixel) but can be 8 or 16 GB, 2014 model has only 8 GB for films, music, photos.

Of course I was looking for someone else on the 'Which smartphone to buy?' thread. Since you've got an iPhone 5, then your monthly charge may be quite hefty. There are two higher spec Motorola phones, the HTC One M8 and so on to consider (check that thread, I don't know the size/weight of the iPhone 5 but I was comparing phones with 4.5" to 5.5" screens).

You may consider the very latest Google Nexus 6 phone, made by Motorola, a big sister to the Motorola Moto X. Some of the latest phones use different (no wiring, just a portion of your mousemat, perhaps) methods of recharging, such as by induction loop.

[NetworkGuy]

Just had a look - seems the 'standard' Galaxy S5 does not have radio and a quick search of Samsung mobiles (in the upper 2/3 of prices) running Android v4. or v5 (Lollipop, latest release) went from a count of 38 to just 8 when I > added a filter for FM Radio to be present when I lowered the price by a third the number increased to 18 positive reviews

[NetworkGuy]

PS The best ever mobile phone radio (for sensitivity/ clarity) that I've had was the Nokia 8310 from 15+ years ago (one was in a Terminator film). A really nice one (which sadly I have misplaced) was the Nokia Xpress Radio which needed no headphones plugged in to allow the FM to work. Still have no idea how they did that... Lovely phone, but not a smart model of course.

PS I still have 2x Nokia 8310s :)

[NetworkGuy]

Also, people are still selling them on Ebay at around 10-15 quid and extra batteries can be obtained too. It's a really small phone, but you'd need the earphones to use the radio. Oh, rats....

[NetworkGuy]

Just seen the *> Galaxy Ace 4

[TribbleTrickswithTinsel]

Thanks Networkguy I don't want to pay anymore than I am at the moment on contract, I don't mind paying for the phone either. I think I need to go have a look at the phones in the flesh really. I'm tempted by the nexus or the sony z3 compact though . Small issue is that my whole family have iphones and facetime the kids, but I suspect that's overcome with a skype app.

[NetworkGuy]

Not sure it i such a small issue, I'm sorry.

As far as I know, Apple's Facetime will only work on the iPhone and iPad, and there's no Android alternative (it's the sort of thing Apple probably would keep from non Apple equipment, to keep all usage to Apple devices and make more profit that way)

May be worth asking outright (new topic) "Can you Facetime on Android ?" in case someone has seen how it can be done.