smartphone upgrade ..to what?

Hello gents!
Upgrade time is not as exciting as it sounds, at least for me..
Long story short, i am "forced" to upgrade because my wife will "upgrade" from her Nokia C7 to my trusty Lumia 730; so i am in the market for a new smartphone.

Now, i was almost decided to go for a heavily discounted Lumia 950, but it is rumoured that Microsoft will kill Lumia line by end of 2016...wtf?¿

No iDevice for me..so Android is what i am supposed to upgrade?Nougat ?
But what device costs 200-250 euros, gets updates and has amazing camera..tricky..
Suggestions, please!

 

I know you're talking pretty much outright price there as well. I think some people may forget that carrier locked phones from certain providers are pointless as a recommendation. Now that said, there may be a carrier locked phone from your provider that you can purchase and use your current SIM card.

You need to take into consideration the Lumia's have very decent cameras, and the OS is actually very memory friendly and fast on lesser hardware when compared to Android. Unfortunately this memory and lesser hardware friendliness is why there were so many low end phones.

You need to consider the 950 also has an AMOLED screen (good for outdoor use), great battery life, great camera, is fast, and cheaper than the alternatives. Even the 650 has an AMOLED screen.

Microsoft are still developing Windows Mobile, they've actually picked up the development recently more so than before. They are dropping the Lumia line, but they may be releasing a Surface series shortly. Don't be too worried about them not making Lumias, they will still be supported. You have to remember not making and more models would be the same as you getting a 950 and the 960 coming out. With Windows Phones, and now on Windows 10 where they can bypass waiting for telcos' to update, can keep your Windows updated. Windows Mobile is on parallel development with Windows 10 now, with both the 14393 release builds and the insider preview builds.

Just like you could consider the Samsung S7 as the premium just released Android device, the HP Elite X3 is the just release premium Windows phone (not the 950). Remember Android is made by Google, and they do make their own phones as well like the Nexus. The upcoming (supposedly) Surface line will be akin the Google's Nexus.

I would like to point out that the Elite X3 has a 3.5 mm headphone jack despite having the same IP67 waterproof certification as the iPhone. Therefore, it is just an excuse by Apple to pedal their headphones through the lightning jack. The thickness isn't an excuse either, otherwise the iPod nano would be massive. I'm surprised the iPhone still only comes with 2 GB of RAM seeing as it is supposedly an ultra-premium device.

Additionally the Elite X3 also has:
MIL-STD 810G - grade salt, fog, humidity, transport shock and thermal shock resistant

I'd suggest the 950 though, especially as you are already familiar with the interface and usage.

 

If you like windows phone then by all means stick to the 950/XL.

Android suffers severely from a lack of a decent supported mid range device. You may buy one with the latest OS but whether itll get updates for long is another matter.

You might be able to get a good deal on the Nexus 5X though now with the new pixel range replacing nexus in October. The 5X is a really nice phone and a great camera and has Google update support for the OS until late next year (I think they stated september but id have to double check). Just make sure you can get the 32GB version though as 16GB phones for many are too small and Nexus has no SD card slot.

 

Thanks for in-depth suggestions and your time.
I like the IP67 waterproof certification of the Elite X3, but it is big for my hands...and also more expensive.
Had a Nexus in my hands, and it is a good smartphone.
Surface phone you say...just rumours as for now, and it will be a enterprise level device..
well, keep them coming!

 

Let me prefix this by saying that I love my Nexus 6P...

I'm not sure I'd recommend getting a 6P unless you are very sure you want a huge phone. I got one after I had (and couldn't stand) an iPhone 6s plus. The 6P is very big. If you are a one hand phone user you will not be happy. It requires uncomfortable reaches if you need to get to the far side of the screen.

If you are looking to go for something nexus-y, maybe take a look at the new Pixel line thats going to come out soon, or maybe even the One Plus 3. I think you're probably looking for something pretty soon though. Maybe the Nexus 5X? You can pick one up pretty cheap. IMO the camera on the 6P is pretty darn good, the 5X has the same sensor.

 

I know your feeling, although i prefer Android above lumias/iphones
Iphones: hardware is really nice but IOS gets on my nerves, so many f** restrictions.
Lumias/windows phones: i dont have a strong reason, but its specially the lesser variety of apps.

That said, its a freaking pain to buy a good android device.
- Most have badass/great hardware but lack software support/updates (extremely common problem)
- Others are ok but extremely expensive and sometimes explode (rotfl i could not resist that one)
- Motorola is (WAS) awesome but.. its lenovo now.. soo i wont recommend as easily as 2 years ago.
- xiaomi its a great chinese brand (never tought i would say this, but yes, one of the most sold is xiaomi redmi 3 pro) and have awesome prices, but availability is limited and buying from a reseller in amazon or something can bite you.
The third party resellers usually tamper with the rom and add malware, its not a xiaomi only problem, but happens frequently with xiaomi.
A friend of mine had to flash the original rom to get rid of the tampered rom, he was suspicious because he wasnt getting official updates for obvious reasons.

Bottom line my solid advice to you, its the google nexus or as they are called in 2017 the pixel.
i have my nexus 5 since 2013 i want to upgrade but the damn phone is still awesome and extremely fast.

So i will strongly recommend the 2015 nexus 5X to you, and its on HEAVY discounts now, (200-250 bucks) you cant get wrong with it.
That ofc if you want to experience android OS at its peak.

Just whatever you do, dont buy a android phone randomly / half assedly.
you will probably get disapointed really fast.

 

Moto X Pure

1440p 5.7" screen
amazing camera
isn't a Samsung

$300-$350USD

 

thats like a lumia 950/XL summary right there man

whether ms keeps making lumias or phones at all doesnt matter here, your lumia will keep getting updates all the time for the foreseeable future, I bet for way longer than say a galaxy or even nexus phone

 

That's exactly right.

 

It's best to forget Samsung if one wants long support. I reckon it's because Samsung has modified the Android (UI) so much that they won't bother to support them too long, or too fast, because it's always a big effort to get those modifications to new Android versions. They can only spare the engineers to do that for the newest generation of devices.

Of course if you like a good thrill, you can get Samsung S7 and wait for the day it inevitably explodes in your hand...

 

Yes indeed.

Please, no Samsung. Just no.

 

If MS drops the Lumia line....or backs out of mobile entirely, I wouldn't expect that they will continue to update W10M too far into the future. I'm still waiting for my Lumia 640 to get W10....

 

they already dropped the lumia line, they are retrenching but not backing out, there's just no logic scenario where they just leave

your 640 will be waiting forever if you dont download the "upgrade advisor" app and allow w10m to install on it, but if you like the "just works" approach I would not advise to get into w10m though

 

Microsoft are backing out of the market, except for the rumoured Surface Phone series. This could be a modified rebrand, so the amount of staff required would be significantly less. Microsoft are actually pushing forward with mobile OS but will rely more on third party devices.

Microsoft will keep persisting with mobile because of the store. They are also continuing to develop Onecore which allows the same apps to work on desktop and mobile.

The upgrade advisor is probably what you need. I believe after doing it you can get the updates directly from Microsoft and not have to wait for the telco's. Basically the updates are currently aligned with PC Windows.

 

no reason to open another thread, there it goes.
upgrade to W10 mobile on my Lumia 730...
well, the design was good, a bit tweaked this and there..
but functionality was horrendous..
phone froze, GPS signal weak and Here Maps and Here Drive were removed and Windows Maps was buggy as hell...
Never, ever i felt the urge to smash my phone to pieces and buy another one, but there i was....
I was in a trip and forced to use it as it was until today...one week of constant frustration.
Now, i am downgrading it to 8.1 and have it solid as a rock, as it was before.
Well, maybe newer Lumias have software tailored to their hardware and overall experience is better, but in my case upgrading to W10 was a big letdown.

 

Microsoft only own the Lumia name until some time in 2017. They aren't killing it off but will supposedly come up with their own brand or have the Surface team take over the building of Windows Phones. Unfortunately I can't speak of much for iOS and Android as I haven't used them in donkey years but I upgraded my 650 to a 950 a month ago and I'm not regretting it one bit.

The only cons of the 950 are that it runs hot whilst charging (but it does fully charge from flat in 1.5 hours). Also it runs hot whilst playing Candy Crush but that's a battery drain bug as it goes down 20% in half an hour.

The pro's are endless, performance, camera, screen quality etc.

 

The gf got a new L650 with WP10 OOTB, and it is far from perfect too, fully updated and still loses it's Outlook server settings, randomly changes it to something that doesn't work, even with the correct server settings, it takes upwards of 20 mins to receive an email

Tiles unpin themselves, contacts lose their photos

Reboots itself

Freezes trying to play small videos needing a battery pull

Had a Lumia WP8.1 before that, not an ounce of trouble with it

 

nope, I see people with 950's having more issues than even my "unsupported" 928 which has none, thats just how w10 is in general, no proper QA team, relying entirely on insiders, this is the result, software works like a dream on a portion of userbase, and BSODs every 3 seconds for another portion

what building? they dont even have support for it anymore, they handed it over to a 3rd party company

 

Sure the updates have been working? There has been a couple of updates already even for mainstream phones. There is also the option of the Insider Previews.

 

Poor choice of words - I mean take over the development of building a Windows Phone.