Switching platforms - question about Android-base hardware

T

Tesfaledet

New member
I'm making a switch away from Blackberry after 6 years. I'm trying to decide between iPhone and something Android-based. i don't know too much about Android.

Here are my priorities. I want the nicest possible display I can get. I absolutely have to have something that will access the internet efficiently and reliably. I need the best speakerphone I can get. I think I could get used to a touch screen. I'll need text messaging to replace PIN/BBM. I need to use the phone internationally.

Things I don't care about are - camera, gaming, price,

My carrier is Telus in Canada. I will either re-up to get a cheaper handset or buy one on my own.

Given these specific requirements, and my carrier, does anyone have a comment? I don't mind spending some time tweaking and researching builds etc but I'm not a techie like some of you guys and I don't have the time. I need something that basically works right out of the box.

Thanks. If anyone wants to comment about the iPhone vs Android thing, please do, although I know it's a separate thread.
 
Looking at this list:

http://www.telusmobility.com/en/BC/smartphones/index.shtml

I would recommend the Nexus S here.

Latest Android build and you get it straight from Google. Android 2.3.4 is the smoothest and most stable Android OS I've seen yet. No UI nonsense so its all simple fast and smooth. Updates are just sent directly to your phone. The speakers are quite loud in my experience and better yet, as most people don't discover it, the music output from the earphone output is fantastic.

When people start with Android, I like to recommend the Nexus without the UI layers such as HTC Sense or Samsung Touchwiz as they might be a bit overwhelming to some users.

The text messaging app on the Nexus is pretty adequate but its easy to dress it up with apps like Handcent or Go SMS Pro.

If you're familiar with BBM, I might also recommend group messenging apps like Kakaotalk, GroupMe, Kik Messenger and Whatsapp. These apps also encompass iPhone users, so unlike BBM, you can do BBM like activities with users on iPhone and other Androids.

The Nexus S comes with a triband 3G frequency, the last one is 2100, which can give you 3G on Asia and Europe. You can use locally prepaid voice or data SIMs on your destination. This is a great travel phone and that's what I use now for such. My previous was the Nexus One. Not many, I think only the BB Bold has this frequency option in the Telus list there.
 
Drillbit, thanks for taking the time to put this together. It's just what I need. After posting here, I spent a few hours looking around and was looking hard at the Nexus S! I also hear good things about the newest Samsung Galaxy phone but I don't think it's available through Telus yet. Unlocking is something I've never done and I don't know how it can affect performance.

The biggest complaint that people have about the Nexus S is something you mentioned and something I don't care about - the UI. I get the sense that most people don't like it because it isn't pretty enough and not because it's not functional. I really don't care, especially at first. Do you know if the Nexus S has the RAM/processor power to run Touchwiz if I want to try it?

I'll be looking to demo one of these in the next few days. Best Buy in Toronto seems to have them for Telus.

Thanks again, I appreciate it.
 
Touchwiz is Samsung's own special UI. Its found in all the Galaxy S class smartphones Samsung makes. The Nexus S is actually a special form of Galaxy S made for Google without the Touchwiz. So pretty much, yeah, the Nexus S has the hardware for Touchwiz. But without the Touchwiz UI, it also feels stripped down, but lighter, faster and no nonsense. Every software update is directly pushed to you by Google itself so you get updates faster.
 
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