Thread: Smartphone Choice

Hey guys. I'm looking to buy a new smartphone, my budget is about 181 euros (800 lei in romanian currency). I may go beyond the budget if it is really worth it but not by much.
Off the top of my head, I'm looking for:

• long-battery life (I talk about 2 hours a day, average)
• GPS
• Android OS (needed for some apps and the fact that I hate windows phones)
• Music, will listen to it all day.

I would prefer if you could look at these two sites and select your recommendations from there:
Telefoane mobile - Flanco.ro
Smartphone - PC Garage

Thank you

For that budget, the moto g is the only decent phone you'll find.

I like it so far but it doesn't have an SD card slot. Space is important as well, what if I want to record something? Or add my music collection?
LE: using microsoft drive isn't an option. I have fixed bandwidth on my mobile subscription and cannot use storaged items.

The Google Nexus and Samsung Galaxy are great phones. :)

M using this phone..
Micromax A114 Canvas 2.2 - Full phone specifications
N its a complete phone and great phone...Camera is awesome n gaming too.. Only thing that i didn't find good are the headphones... It will cost u around 99 euros only.. Unfortunately not available in

Micromax will release devices in Russia and Romania this year - GSMArena.com news

SONY XPERIA C is ur only choice i guess .. Don't buy xiomi.. piece of garbage

Originally Posted by Blocker

The Google Nexus and Samsung Galaxy are great phones. :)

They are also double his price range :)
If my two cents are worth anything, I'd just save up a bit longer and get a Nexus device.. (even though those dont have sd slots either)

Huawei has some pretty decent phones as well, but I'm not too familiar with the exact models.

Originally Posted by hellman

M using this phone..
Micromax A114 Canvas 2.2 - Full phone specifications
N its a complete phone and great phone...Camera is awesome n gaming too.. Only thing that i didn't find good are the headphones... It will cost u around 99 euros only.. Unfortunately not available in

Micromax will release devices in Russia and Romania this year - GSMArena.com news

SONY XPERIA C is ur only choice i guess .. Don't buy xiomi.. piece of garbage

XPeria's are meh when it comes to updates (both sony and community) when you don't have a high-end one (read as 'everything under a Z'). I have a T, which isn't even bad at all, so I know what I'm talking about. There's just a lack of loving.


The Moto i suggested is super popular, thus has many many roms, with decent hardware and amazing battery on top.
A cheap phone is good and all, but getting stuck with an old android version a few months after purchase is going to suck hard.

Originally Posted by Master Razor

I like it so far but it doesn't have an SD card slot. Space is important as well, what if I want to record something? Or add my music collection?
LE: using microsoft drive isn't an option. I have fixed bandwidth on my mobile subscription and cannot use storaged items.

I have an SD card and honestly, I don't use it that much. Put your music on google music for free. It will cache the stuff you want to listen to on your phone as well.
Ok, I'll admit that it will take some planning the day beforehand to sync the stuff you want to listen to so you won't be able to carry around your 60GB of music. But that being said, even a single GB of music is _a lot_ of hours. Then you'll still have plenty of GB's left for apps etc.

Originally Posted by Sazzy

XPeria's are meh when it comes to updates (both sony and community) when you don't have a high-end one (read as 'everything under a Z'). I have a T, which isn't even bad at all, so I know what I'm talking about. There's just a lack of loving

Well agreed on sony updates .. But u can always root

Originally Posted by Sazzy

A cheap phone is good and all, but getting stuck with an old android version a few months after purchase is going to suck hard.

nops not true. atleast not everywhere ..micromax is gonna give updates on almost all of the canvas series. Micromax has released Android one phones too which is a big deal..

Originally Posted by Master Razor

How much space does Android take?

Heavy but it is mostly heavy coz devices use AOSP version of Android, which is the barebones version of the OS. Different phone companies take AOSP and then put their own user interface and apps in it..

Originally Posted by Master Razor

How much space does Android take?

It depends. Count about a gigabyte, and you'll be in the safe zone by a landslide. The last custom rom zip i downloaded was 260mb (yesterday) and it doesn't increase all that much when flashed.

Originally Posted by hellman

Well agreed on sony updates .. But u can always root

Rooting does nothing against having an older version. Only flashing a custom rom. And for that, you are dependent on the community. A device with little fanboys won't have much roms and won't be kept up to date.

Originally Posted by hellman

nops not true. atleast not everywhere ..micromax is gonna give updates on almost all of the canvas series. Micromax has released Android one phones too which is a big deal..

I don't know Micromax. I trust your judgement on that. "Android One"'s are nice though and a recommendation when looking for a budget phone. Can't wait for android silver to come out :)

I was just talking in general and mostly about the XPeria C you mentioned. The C model has exactly 0 custom roms on xda. Zero :(

Point is, though, that flagships get priority on updates from their manufacturers. And it's only normal that you get your update first if you're paying 3 times the amount some other dude is. Meaning faster and more updates overall. I've seen phones get 2 minor updates before getting EOL'd. That's just sad.

Getting a phone that is very popular with the community, will always mean there's a bunch of custom roms available. The more popular it is, the more likely these roms will be stable as well. This pretty much means your phone will get latest android version for quite a while.

I know numbers are just numbers, but my xperia T has improved a lot ever since flashing android 4.4.4. Battery life alone is 3 times better. (3 days instead of 1, normally custom roms take more battery even!!). And on top of that all the extra features, fixes, security updates etc... All that while sony has EOL'd it on 4.3, which for the xperia t was downhill from the 4.2 patch. I'm very happy with my nightlies instead :)

Windows phone all the way

I love how much they are
- secure
- more battery life
- no-virus or malware which make you format your android device once a week !!
- wp store almost having the same apps (and growing)
- wp doesn't need much RAM which will make you save some $$ and having the same experience.

using wp is much more faster and more light-weight than android os (except if you are talking about an android flagship device).

The Moto G phone is out because I can't find it in stock. Very likely it may never be available again.
What do you guys feel about this one. The Lenovo A859.

Getting a phone that is very popular with the community, will always mean there's a bunch of custom roms available. The more popular it is, the more likely these roms will be stable as well. This pretty much means your phone will get latest android version for quite a while.

I would very much like to do that. Change it's firmware to something better, lighter and newer.

Point is, though, that flagships get priority on updates from their manufacturers. And it's only normal that you get your update first if you're paying 3 times the amount some other dude is. Meaning faster and more updates overall. I've seen phones get 2 minor updates before getting EOL'd. That's just sad.

What is up with the updates, though? Can't you root the OS and install any version you'd like?

Originally Posted by Master Razor

The Moto G phone is out because I can't find it in stock. Very likely it may never be available again.

The new version of the moto g is getting released very soon under the same name~

Originally Posted by Master Razor

What is up with the updates, though? Can't you root the OS and install any version you'd like?

Rooting just allows you to get superuser access, nothing more, nothing less. A phone with a locked bootloader can be rooted, but can't be flashed.

To install another OS, you must first find a rom that is built with a kernel suited for your specific device (hence why the community is important since this is unique).
When you have a custom rom you want to install, you must unlock the bootloader of your device and flash the new rom. It's kind of like flashing new firmware on a router or whatever. Most of the time you'll start out by flashing a recovery tool, which allows you to flash new roms without the use of your computer. The first flash is always done using your computer, though. (adb) The phone (most of them at least) comes with a locked bootloader by default, which disables you to flash it. You have to get a key from your manufacturer (e.g. sony, htc, ...) to unlock it. Then you can flash roms that are built for _your specific_ type of phone. An example, the Xperia T and TX are VERY similar and have _almost_ identical hardware, yet you still can't flash a T rom on a TX phone without ending up with a bootloop.

Be careful and check if your device can be unlocked. If you buy it in a deal with a simcard, it is quite likely that it won't be able to and you're pretty much stuck with manufacturer provided roms.



The main reason that updates from manufacturers are also important, is because the community will use the open source code they release to base the custom roms on. if the manufacturer does not release the code, it's unlikely to find a rom. The main issue there is when a phone goes EOL, the last released kernel will get hacked on and modified in attempts to upgrade it to the latest version. Since some parts do not have open source drivers, they remain unstable for ages. The xperia t, for one, had gps issues on _all_ custom roms for over a year. It's only since a few months that custom roms have become stable (more or less the 4.3 kernel source code release).

At some point, the main community devs will get new phones and the device will die a slow death in the community (esp if you have a phone like mine that isn't all too popular, i got lucky with one decent dev, hope he sticks around for quite a bit). At that point, the kernel won't get updated anymore and you will stop seeing new releases. Still, that won't happen until quite a bit after the official manufacturer stops supplying roms, though. But at that point, you can only hope the kernels are stable.

The great part about getting a nexus device, is that google just throws their entire nexus source code online very soon after releasing it. That way, it's easy for devs to keep up (don't have to hack as much) and it's why the devices are so popular

Originally Posted by Sazzy

A phone with a locked bootloader can be rooted, but can't be flashed.

There r ways to unlock the bootloader

Originally Posted by Master Razor

What do you guys feel about this one. The Lenovo A859.

Naa bro.. I'd stay away from lenovo

My frnd bought xiomi redmi 1s.. It was shipped to my address.. So i check the mobile..
1. It was on jellybean 4.3
2. They don't give headphones with it
3. Soundcard was good .. I've tested with my headphones.. Decent audio quality .. I like it
4. back speaker was garbage.. On Full Volume u can hear little tiny hisses in rock music
5. back cover was garbage too and looked cheap
6. Side buttons were disaster.. Looked so ..
7. UI was good.. Touch was good
8. Display has a little yellowish tint n brightness n colors were dull
9. Camers shutter speed was good n quality was fine too but only in daylight.. At night its average. Video quality is mehhh.. average
10. Speed is good n even games like asphalt run without a lag
11. heating problem is a major one