I've tried many phones. I've had an iPhone 6 as my daily driver for 4 months, but due to iOS restrictions, I've always had an Android with me as well. This year alone, I've tried G2, G3, Redmi 2 (non-enhanced), Honor 4X, Honor 6, S4 (before the switch to iPhone), S5, Note 4, OnePlus One, Moto G (first gen)... some used for days, some for months. My wife uses an Oppo Find 7a which I am very fond of and runs beautifully for its price.
All of the phones I've tried have some sort of issues or limitations based on my usage. The most ideal phone for me is likely the Note 4 or G3 ori, if price is not a concern. However, in weighing the price vs feature factor, I finally sold my daily and is now using another S4. Yes it is a 2-year old flagship, but it has great features and can easily compete and win against any of the newer budget phones. What was great 2 years ago will not suddenly become pathetic now just becos there are newer (not necessarily better) phones.
I'm not a heavy user, but I do a lot with my phones, like reading (Aldiko, Flipboard, etc), GPS (Waze, Runkeeper, etc), Hearthstone, Facebook, Whatsapp, uTorrent, Mi Fit, stream radio (DI.FM, etc), record expenses, sync notes, record audio, record video, take pics, edit pics, view videos, email, sync calendar, etc etc.
QUOTE(Alan Yee @ Jul 29 2015, 09:31 PM)
Speaking back to the processor, only choose phone with Qualcomm Snapdragon high end processor, such as S600, S800, S801, S805, S810 and S820.
Even though those S800 series has over heating issue, they offer the best performance in day to day use, and gaming as well.
Forget S615 and S400/S410, they are just as slow.
RAM count, no need so worry, 2GB RAM actually is enough, more RAM doesn't make the phone faster, just good for multi-tasking, but average user seldom multitasking, even the OS itself will close the program if not used for very long time.
After that, come to the budget and brand selection.
Want the most high end and reliable device? Only buy from Samsung, Sony, Apple, LG, HTC, Motorola.
Stay away from budget brand like Huawei, Lenovo, ASUS, Acer, Alcatel, Xiaomi, Oppo, Meizu, Oneplus, ZTE, Ninetology.
Those budget phone is very good in value, and feature high end processor, high end feature at very budget price, but the quality and reliability isn't there.
You may buy those phone in a risky situation where budget allowed, but when your phone got issue, the after sales service just isn't there. Recommend just buy from ASUS, if local warranty is your concern, at least ASUS still has very respectable local support.
No money to buy high end phone? A very good advise is, buy the phone from last year flagship, which has price drop near or similar to those offer from budget brand. The old flagship, starting from year 2013, featuring at least Snapdragon 600 processor, are still very good, almost no different in feature compare to those phone offer in year 2015. They are still pretty fast, fast enough for everyday usage without any weird issue.
Stay away from other budget phone, especially those using Mediatek processor, and those from budget brand.
Have to agree with some things here, like 2GB RAM is enough for most people, and if the option is available at the same budget, go for Snapdragon. Also buy older flagships. Can't comment on the budget becos I almost always buy 2nd-hand phones, very good value there.
But, there are some budget phones with excellent customer service, like Huawei. Of course, this is from reading user experiences in their individual official threads. Xiaomi should be quite good as well. And Oppo does not invalidate warranty due to flashing, rooting, etc.
QUOTE(salimbest83 @ Jul 30 2015, 08:25 AM)
have u ever try using Asus phone ,huawei phone, meizu or xiaomi to begin with?
dont talk BIG here okay.
have u ever buy a samsung ? s3, duos, grand, prime, note 2
have u ever buy oppo? neo series?
have u ever owned an zenfone 3,5,6 series?
and use them personally?
come on bro.
DONT SIMPLY SAY
Stay away from other budget phone, especially those using Mediatek processor, and those from budget brand.To be fair, I too stay away from Mediatek process. Reading user posts about GPS lock problems, etc, is enough to steer me away (especially Meizu branding). No doubt they are powerful procs at budget price, though, so they are always attractive options to other people.
QUOTE(Helldiver @ Jul 30 2015, 08:42 PM)
So you said S615 and S400 is slow, but older flagships using S600 is okay?
And just a friendly suggestion, things aren't as bad as you make them out to be. I used to have thoughts like you, thinking Mediatek is bad; Intel has incompatibility issues, etc. Then I realized, every product out there has almost the same defective rate --there's always a chance of getting a really bad lemon out of the whole perfect batch.
Customer service in Malaysia is
always bad. No matter phone, food, or clothes. I had a lot of bad experiences with Asus, along with few other people --respectable is not even close.
And like you said, they are budget brands, they've got to cut corners here and there --but so far I haven't had a single problem with my Mi3 running heavy games in and out. Things like that, etc.
Not blaming you or wronging you, but do keep your options open a bit --people like certain brands for the brands it self, and also aesthetics. Electronics all die eventually anyway lol
I disagree with customer service is always bad. Some are bad, from reading other people's input. Meizu's warranty is as bad as DirectD, which means almost non-existent. Huawei is good (especially with the 1-to-1 replacement for first 6 months, which they honor). Samsung is good (replaced my S4 motherboard when I complained about battery drain even with Knox tripped and custom recovery). Even with AP, there are good and bad AP after-sales service, for example Seven Mobile vs DirectD.
The chances of lemon are also higher with some manufacturers. My colleague's MI3 screen ghosting problem, some Meizu users' units being at the SC longer than being in their hands, etc. Samsung has lemons too but with better service, you could have reliable parts and repair. I had a tough decision between the M1 Note and Honor 4X, both being around the same price, but with the Meizu having better specs and Honor having better service, I went for the Honor.
I'm not saying people should avoid budget brands, but please be an informed and educated consumer. If budget is #1 priority, by all means buy the cheapest best specced phone available. Otherwise, there are other things to consider too.
And that's what this phone subsection of the forum is all about - sharing opinions and hopefully learning from each other on things we may not have thought of.