New smartphone? Android or iOS?

[thevictor390]

Android also has the option of community updates if you are willing to do the legwork. I had Gingerbread on my Hero and ICS is in alpha last I checked, not that I would recommend it

 

[The Spie]

Assuming you trust them

After Moto's fiasco in getting their phones to 2.1, and how my Cliq worked afterward (bricking it would have actually sped it up), I don't trust anything any company says. However, given the publicity they've given the S II, and the fact that they've said the S I isn't going to ICS, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. If not, the S II is so easy to root (and I've already done so), I'll just switch to CM9 if Samsung plays the delay game.

Also think of how long you want to keep the phone, historically Apple supports devices for much longer (and a lot more consistently) than Android, if you are planning on going with a 2 year cycle and don't mind being a bit behind Android should work pretty well.

Two issues with me, Priz:

1) I'm on T-Mobile. Who's the only one of the Big Four that doesn't have an iPhone?
2) There's only one way that I'll buy anything from Apple, and it involves a Desert Eagle and live ammunition.

I do go on a two-year cycle. The only time I've had problems is with my Moto Cliq, and that was because it was just too damn slow for Moto's loaded-down 2.1 and the process of rooting it made me a little nervous (and I'm usually comfortable with doing stuff like that). I'm sure that if I manned up and went for the root, and succeeded, it would have been fine with CM.

Screen real estate is another point of course as you mentioned you like to a have a bit more. Not sure if I would recommend GS2 but I have been jaded by the GS so take that with a grain of salt.

The S II for T-Mo and Sprint is 4.7", significantly bigger than the S. The one for AT&Twat is only 4.5", but that Super-AMOLED screen makes it clear as daylight.

 

[Murcie_LP640]

I ended up getting the Galaxy Nexus. As much love as there is for the S II, I loved the Nexus even more. The style, the UI, that screen , and the general performance won me over. Pics will be in the New Toys thread.

 

[prizrak]

Android also has the option of community updates if you are willing to do the legwork. I had Gingerbread on my Hero and ICS is in alpha last I checked, not that I would recommend it

Good point.

After Moto's fiasco in getting their phones to 2.1, and how my Cliq worked afterward (bricking it would have actually sped it up), I don't trust anything any company says. However, given the publicity they've given the S II, and the fact that they've said the S I isn't going to ICS, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. If not, the S II is so easy to root (and I've already done so), I'll just switch to CM9 if Samsung plays the delay game.

That's kind of where I was coming from, many companies promise to update and few really do...

2) There's only one way that I'll buy anything from Apple, and it involves a Desert Eagle and live ammunition.

Hold on I'll call Spectre

I got a Captivate as a work phone, just about the only good thing I have to say about it is the screen

I ended up getting the Galaxy Nexus. As much love as there is for the S II, I loved the Nexus even more. The style, the UI, that screen , and the general performance won me over. Pics will be in the New Toys thread.

Congrats! I really do feel that Nexus is a better choice when it comes to Android phones. Aside from maybe HTC because I LOVE SenseUI (and have since it was WinMo)

 

[GaryC]

I really wanted to buy the Lumia 900, but with a resolution that poor... I just like how WinMo went with a radically different UI than the android ones, but phones that have it now aren't very good.

 

[Wizegui]

I would generally avoid HTCs in general. They have decent build quality and materials but don't seem as reliable. The HTC Ville seems awfully similar in spec to last years Galaxy S II. If the Galaxy Nexus is too big for you, then the Galaxy S III ios just around the corner and definitely worth a look at. As much as I like the iPhone, if you have a house full of Apple products, getting something different would seem like the logical thing to do to make things more interesting.

 

[nsx_23]

Murcie, how much did you get the Nexus for?

 

[GaryC]

If the Galaxy Nexus is too big for you, then the Galaxy S III ios just around the corner and definitely worth a look at. As much as I like the iPhone, if you have a house full of Apple products, getting something different would seem like the logical thing to do to make things more interesting.

I think the Galaxy S II HD is coming out first? Or Skyrocket?

 

[nsx_23]

A few places already have the S2 HD on pre-order. It looks very similar to the S2 spec-wise so there's a good chance it'll have a reasonable developer community.

 

[jmb]

The camera is really the only weak spot on the Nexus (people will also say the GPU is poor but I've not noticed on any of the games I play - but then I don't play many).
The camera works well in decent light - certainly well enough for facebook snaps anyway.
I didn't like the look of the S2 (squarer shape and "fake iphone" look), plus I love the 720p screen on the Nexus

 

[Murcie_LP640]

Murcie, how much did you get the Nexus for?

Picked it up from Allphones for $750 with a hard shell case and screen protectors. I know it's about $699 online nowadays but I've had some serious bad luck with phones that I've bought online; 3 out of 4 of them have ended up bricked within half a year. Originally I was going to buy it through the Yes!Optus store for the same $750 with no extras (Allphones RRP was $769) but it seems shopping around paid off.

In case you're interested, on Optus it's $5 extra on the $59 plan and its free on the $79 plan. Can't remember Telstra's deals but I do remember it was much more expensive outright: $840. If I was going to spend that much I would have just gone the whole hog and got the HTC Velocity or iPhone 4S.

The camera is really the only weak spot on the Nexus (people will also say the GPU is poor but I've not noticed on any of the games I play - but then I don't play many).
The camera works well in decent light - certainly well enough for facebook snaps anyway.
I didn't like the look of the S2 (squarer shape and "fake iphone" look), plus I love the 720p screen on the Nexus

I picked up the HDR+ app for my Nexus and it's improved the photos a fair bit: I'll throw up comparisons later in the week. You lose the instantaneous shutter but it's still about as quick in taking the 3 shots as many smartphones out there taking 1. The screen was also the main selling point for me; the S2's got slightly sharper colours with the SAMOLED+ screen but the Nexus' colour range still looks fantastic and of course the ppi is much, much higher.