New Phone: Currently on iPhone.....

[mtb1611]

Greetings. Mobile plan ends in a month or so, thought I'd start looking around at alternatives. I don't mind the iphone but the camera is very ordinary (largely useless in terms of night pics without flash or zoomed in) and I despise the modus operandi of Apple, particularly in regard to the fact that one must use "genuine" Apple accessories that retail at triple the price of other brands.

One of my main concerns is transferring music from my phone (and Macbook) to, for example, a Samsung without having to redo playlists etc. I'm a longtime itunes user and don't have an issue with it but am certainly open to using other platforms.

The S8 looks attractive and there are decent plans available from both Telstra and Optus.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers.

 

[droenn]

I’ve always tried to buy my phones outright. Seems to be better than plan in long run, there are some exceptions though. Do the sums first I guess.

If I needed a flagship phone now it would be pixel 2 or iPhone 8. But so expensive really.

Current setup is iPhone SE and iPad Pro, it’s great. Phone is cheap, powerful, tiny and convenient, and use iPad for when I’m sitting on couch or travelling.

I’d probably get another SE if I lost phone today

 

[Haakon]

Apple made a point of bringing the cameras up to par, they’re very decent on iPhone 7 and beyond.

Another SE user here, I don’t like big phones... Only just upgraded from a 4S a few months ago, I’d still be using if a few particular apps still worked on it!!

What do you mean by genuine accessories?

 

[Oddjob]

There's apple music on android but Spotify has almost everything anyway.

Samsung s8 seems to be the leader of the pack but there are some interesting other options like the Huawei p10 and Pixel 2. All the above have much better cameras than Apple.

Personally I've been running a s5 for years and wouldn't consider moving to apple because of all the restrictions. Try playing a h.246 movie on an iphone or ipad without converting it first.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

 

[Haakon]

Try playing a h.246 movie on an iphone or ipad without converting it first.

Yeah, that one is constantly annoying me for sure.






Ummm. What is h.246...?

 

[Oddjob]

Yeah, that one is constantly annoying me for sure.






Ummm. What is h.246...?

Divx movies.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

 

[waldog]

Yeah, that one is constantly annoying me for sure.






Ummm. What is h.246...?

You wouldn’t understand.

 

[All_the_gear_and_no_idea]

Speaking as a fairly long time android user I'd recommend the S8 if you are looking for a current flagship phone otherwise I'd recommend the S7 as they're pretty much the same phone.
Considering the S8 has a headphone jack, micro SD card slot and is waterproofed to IP68 it beats the vast majority of other flagships out there in my opinion.
Recently the trend has been to ditch the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, which to me seems to make about as much sense as boost spacing :heh: and I'd rather not have buy a dongle to use my headphones. The S8's micro SD card slot lets you expand the memory by up to 256 gb and it's waterproofing is priceless for peace of mind... and gnarly winter rides.

The other major point in the S8's or any other android's favor is the fact they are unlikely to be bricked by future updates (looking at you Apple) and by buying one you are buying into an ecosystem where everything is standardized and there's no propriety dongles or ports that are phased out every 3 years rendering all your accessories useless. That being said, phones are moving towards USB C now so there's a very strong chance that'll be the new standard so be careful! Also some phones like the Pixel 2 won't have a headphone jack, which immediately rules them out for me.

If I had to pick an issue with android it'd be software related. compared to an iPhone the os isn't quite as pretty or as intuitive, so if you want a phone your grandma could use I'd pick Apple. However if you are willing to google things and use your intuition you can customize your android phone to an almost limitless extent. I'd also like to point out I have also found the camera on low to mid range androids to be lacking compared to an iPhone.
All in all I'd fully recommend the S8 or the S7 over an Iphone/Pixel Two due to the waterproofing, expandable storage and headphone jack. But if you are after the best camera on the market the Pixel has a reputation for being the best available.

 

[born-again-biker]

I'm in the same boat as the OP just now.
I've been researching quite a lot lately and will be buying a new phone outright soon.

I currently have an iPhone 6 plus and it's my second iPhone in a row. I'm a pretty embedded Apple user (Macbook + Mac + iPods + Apple TV etc)

BUT.....

I will NOT be buying an iPhone this time around. They are now really taking the piss with their pricing if you want a phone outright. They want premium prices....but they haven't moved the game forward much.

My searching & reading etc has turned up the LG G6 as the bang-for-your-buck choice. It seems to be a really good phone for a bit less than the S8 (currently around $600 - $700 brand new)
It has really good screen/bezel ratio, Ingress Protection, high quality DAC for music output, clever multi-function camera...... etc etc etc etc etc.
I think it might be the S8 for punters who don't care about brand??

Many of my friends have various Samsung S6/S7/S8 etc .....and they all end up broken / smashed and repaired again. Those phones do not handle small drops/bumps well from what I've seen (others may disagree with me).

I might also add, my experience with 2 year plans and Telstra was not good. Monthly bills were wayyy above the contract numbers and lots of sneaky charges. I will never buy a phone on a plan again.

 

[Nautonier]

I'm not sure why everyone has to have the latest and greatest all the time, you will always pay a premium for that whatever way you do it. If you stay about 2 models behind the latest, you'll be using the same software, will have negligible performance losses and pay about $300 (less for android) if you're prepared to buy used in good condition. You'll also still get that wow factor of a new and better phone if you've come off something 4 models behind.

I can understand the need for a new phone if you're wanting to cross over from apple to android or vice versa however.

I regards to the camera, it doesn't matter how many megapixels you're packing, you're still using a cheap crappy little lens (quite possibly made of plastic) on any phone, which will never be half as good as a dedicated camera (which probably costs less than half what the latest phone costs). If taking good pics is important, phones aren't the way to do it.

In terms of music, the Cesium app is a good alternative to apple music and also works on android I think, with full integration with itunes/icloud. Apple music is such an absolute pig, it's virtually unusable. Why did they ever get rid of the itunes app??

 

[Ezkaton]

I've got an S8+ and I find the camera quite underwhelming... Post processing is too over the top to compensate for the lower mexapixel count vs. my old S6 Edge+ (12 on the 8+ vs. 16 on the 6+).

Close up detail and focus I find heaps better on the S6...

Everything else on the S8+ is better, however.

If I had to choose a new phone now I'd be going to the Pixel 2.

 

[Plankosaurus]

I'm not sure why everyone has to have the latest and greatest all the time, you will always pay a premium for that whatever way you do it. If you stay about 2 models behind the latest, you'll be using the same software, will have negligible performance losses and pay about $300 (less for android) if you're prepared to buy used in good condition. You'll also still get that wow factor of a new and better phone if you've come off something 4 models behind.

This is bang on.

I'm packing a z3 compact that's about 4generations behind the curve (or 14 generations if your talking Scamsung/Mapple) and sitting pretty on prepaid. Not as flashy as some of the newer offerings, but I can't for the life of me justify the expense of getting something new - just think of all the hope bling you could get for a 1500 phone!

I shell out $35 a month for unlimited calls/texts and 9gb of data, and I don't even think that's a great deal anymore. You're kidding yourself if you think going on a plan with a phone is getting you ahead, it's no different to buying with a credit card except you don't have the option of saving yourself interest by paying it off early and you're stuck with shitty value plan for 2 years.


Let suckers buy up all the new stuff then pick it all up off them at 1/2 the price a month later when samsapple release the latest and greatest thing they can't live without

Sent from my Xperia Z3C using Tapatalk

 

[droenn]

A couple of articles on why SE is still a great choice above the "latest and greatest"

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/apple-iphone-se-best-iphone-350-2017-9?r=US&IR=T

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/apple-iphone-se-review-retrospective-2017-4?r=US&IR=T

re: divx on iphones / apple - you can use VLC for those, and yes the iOS version is buggy, so there is also Infuse.

I'm a long time apple user who does not use itunes, ever.

 

[Haakon]

not come across divx in a mighty long time... Most stuff on torrents these days in .mkv, I just toss it through Handbrake which then automatically dumps it into itunes.

But that's just so I can watch it via the AppleTV, never watch videos on my phone. All the memory is full of photos and ALAC music. If a movie is worth watching, its worth watching on a big plasma screen.

 

[Haakon]

I'm a long time apple user who does not use itunes, ever.

Do you use Songbird? I wish there was a Mac version of MediaMonkey... I'm still persevering with itunes out of laziness (and because the Audivarna audiophile processor operates as a plug in to itunes), but it really is a horrible interface and very non-Apple in that its unintuitive...

 

[droenn]

not come across divx in a mighty long time... Most stuff on torrents these days in .mkv, I just toss it through Handbrake which then automatically dumps it into itunes.

But that's just so I can watch it via the AppleTV, never watch videos on my phone. All the memory is full of photos and ALAC music.

.mkv is a container file - often the video stream within is h.264 etc.

Do you use Songbird? I wish there was a Mac version of MediaMonkey... I'm still persevering with itunes out of laziness (and because the Audivarna audiophile processor operates as a plug in to itunes), but it really is a horrible interface and very non-Apple in that its unintuitive...

I'm pretty lazy these days - spotify for steaming, vlc for my .flac collection. Most of the processing is via external DAC though, so it sounds fine rather than trying to find right codecs etc. Used to be a foobar2000 user in my windows days, I see they have an iOS version now - might have a look at that on my ipad tonight.

 

[Nautonier]

This is bang on.
Let suckers buy up all the new stuff then pick it all up off them at 1/2 the price a month later when samsapple release the latest and greatest thing they can't live without

Exactly! My plan is month by month and only costs $19/month for more calls data etc than I can ever get through. Add my 2nd generation old iphone 6s that I picked up for $300 and it's a telecommunications win.

 

[\m/ Moshboy \m/]

LG G6 might be worth a looksee, with IP68, expandable storage & good camera. Picked mine up a couple of weeks ago off Mobile Citi on eBay, for $590 (with an eBay discount code). Is Aus. stock, so comes with local manufacturers warranty. Paired with a $20 Aldi mobile plan (unlimited calls & texts & 1.5gb data), it's a tough deal to beat. No way I was paying Apple or Sammy prices & preferred to stay away from the 'grey market' options.

 

[Haakon]

.mkv is a container file - often the video stream within is h.264 etc.

Oh right. Oh well, either way I just throw it through Handbrake...

I'm pretty lazy these days - spotify for steaming, vlc for my .flac collection. Most of the processing is via external DAC though, so it sounds fine rather than trying to find right codecs etc. Used to be a foobar2000 user in my windows days, I see they have an iOS version now - might have a look at that on my ipad tonight.

Yeah I don't use the phone for music much either, except in the car where the finer audio quality points are lost anyway. I have gone to a dedicated music player (Fiio X1 2) with nice IEM for main music listening at work.

 

[mtb1611]

What do you mean by genuine accessories?

Things like cables; I bought a "non genuine" lightning cable a couple of years ago and after a week or so every time I plugged it in the phone displayed a message statung that the cable wasn't a registered Apple item, then disconnected!

There's apple music on android but Spotify has almost everything anyway.Samsung s8 seems to be the leader of the pack but there are some interesting other options like the Huawei p10 and Pixel 2. All the above have much better cameras than Apple.

Have heard good things about the Pixel 2, might have to do some more homework in regard to considering it as a viable option.

Considering the S8 has a headphone jack, micro SD card slot and is waterproofed to IP68 it beats the vast majority of other flagships out there in my opinion.
Recently the trend has been to ditch the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, which to me seems to make about as much sense as boost spacing :heh: and I'd rather not have buy a dongle to use my headphones. The S8's micro SD card slot lets you expand the memory by up to 256 gb and it's waterproofing is priceless for peace of mind... and gnarly winter rides.

The other major point in the S8's or any other android's favor is the fact they are unlikely to be bricked by future updates (looking at you Apple) and by buying one you are buying into an ecosystem where everything is standardized and there's no propriety dongles or ports that are phased out every 3 years rendering all your accessories useless.

iPhone updates are a farce and yes, I like my headphone jack thank you very much!

I will NOT be buying an iPhone this time around. They are now really taking the piss with their pricing if you want a phone outright. They want premium prices....but they haven't moved the game forward much.

I might also add, my experience with 2 year plans and Telstra was not good. Monthly bills were wayyy above the contract numbers and lots of sneaky charges. I will never buy a phone on a plan again.

Will definitely be buying outright this time around.

Thanks for all the advice guys, really appreciate it!