Android Phones OR Windows Phones?

[bruce20]

Hi Guys,

I'm planning to get a new smartphone. I want to know, which is better & which is widely used? Androids OR Windows Smartphones?

Thanks.

 

[shadovraven]

It depends on your needs and what you're looking for in a smartphone.

Android smartphones are most popular right now, going with Android allows you to choose from variety of devices and applications. Android is a open source system which actually means that you can fully control your device if you want to, it's also highly customizable and developer scene is huge. The biggest flaw of Android platform is software and hardware fragmentations. It basically means that there's a lot of different hardware and software platforms ( different versions of Android and different SOCs ) which result in Android not being properly optimized, less stable and slower than its counterparts like iOS or Windows Phone.

Windows Phone is closed system, it's a less popular, there's less different devices and less applications available but it offers better quality. Windows Phone is designed for small number of hardware platforms and because of that it's optimized better than Android. It's also more intuitive and easier to get into, which makes it perfect for people who never had a smartphone before.

There's a lot of question you should answer before deciding which one is better. How you'll use your smartphone? Will it be used for gaming, messaging, internet, business or something else? Are you interested in low, mid or high end smartphones? Is a battery life important? Do you want to have a control over your device or you just want it to work without your ingerence? Are you interested in quality or rather freedom ? Are you interested in becoming a developer for certain platform in future ?

There's no ultimate answer which one is the best, it all depends on your view and needs.

 

[bruce20]

It depends on your needs and what you're looking for in a smartphone.

Android smartphones are most popular right now, going with Android allows you to choose from variety of devices and applications. Android is a open source system which actually means that you can fully control your device if you want to, it's also highly customizable and developer scene is huge. The biggest flaw of Android platform is software and hardware fragmentations. It basically means that there's a lot of different hardware and software platforms ( different versions of Android and different SOCs ) which result in Android not being properly optimized, less stable and slower than its counterparts like iOS or Windows Phone.

There's a lot of question you should answer before deciding which one is better. How you'll use your smartphone? Will it be used for gaming, messaging, internet, business or something else? Are you interested in low, mid or high end smartphones? Is a battery life important? Do you want to have a control over your device or you just want it to work without your ingerence? Are you interested in quality or rather freedom ? Are you interested in becoming a developer for certain platform in future ?

There's no ultimate answer which one is the best, it all depends on your view and needs.

Thanks a lot for your comprehensive response. My main usage will include phone, messaging, Skype, Email, lots of Internet usage, and may be games (but not much). I need one as I'm an active freelancer and need something that will help me manage a lot of my work, like schedules, calenders, apps for different project manager tools etc. (I'm not a developer so it doesn't matter how the developer side works).

You raised a very good point for hardware and software fragmentations. I was thinking there are many smartphones which have relatively older OS version, for example 2.3 Gingerbread but they're upgradable to 4.0/4.1. I was thinking even if they can be upgraded, how exactly the old hardware will handle the features that will come with the Upgraded versions 4.0/4.1?

What you think for this question?
So should I already get a smartphone, which comes with the recent OS Version like Ice Cream Sandwich OR Jelly Beans? Will it be well optimized with the hardware?

From Flexibility point of view, I think Androids will be good.

Thanks.

 

[shadovraven]

You're welcome. I think that Android would be the safest and best choice for those kind of tasks. Mainly because of huge number of applications to choose from, which could help you to manage all of your work. Another thing is that Android is much better when it comes to multitasking and it looks like you'll be using it a lot.

There's a lot of good and powerful still smartphones which suffer because of lack of new Android versions. This is where developers scene comes in, providing you with all sort of goodies, including newest versions of the system. So picking a popular smartphone is key to gain a support for years, even after the official one will not be available. The great example of this is Samsung Galaxy S. It's 3 years old, left with Gingerbread, many would say it's also weak considering the new hardware available in smartphones but it has enourmous amount of roms and developers working on it. You can install stable 4.2 or 4.1 already, the question is if this is what interests you. When it comes to hardware, it depends what kind of hardware we're talking about, the strongest single core smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S+ or Desire HD are powerful enough to handle Jelly Bean fairly well. Talking is one thing and seeing is another, here's example how does 4.1 runs on old device like SGS:

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fkn2AfkWIg

It's smooth, definitely usable and suitable for daily usage. As you can propably imagine, it does works much smoother and faster on more powerful dual and quad core smartphones like SGS2, SGS3, Note, Nexus 4, HTC One X and others. The questions is, would you prefer to have official support for as long as possible or you're fine with not official one as well. The best way would be to get a mid, high end smartphone which is very popular. You have to take in mind that official support costs, it costs a lot.

The only concerns regarding your usage will be battery life and of course enough power to handle all those taks without problems. Tell me how much you're willing to spend and we can think of good smartphone for you.

 

[bruce20]

Sounds good. I've a couple of options in mind & I would like to hear from you more options.

Here are the models in consideration.
1). Sony Xperia J
2). Sony Xperia Sola
3). Sony Xperia U

I'm focusing on Sony Xperia, because I love their design and the above phones are in my price range/budget. Please give your suggestions in same price point. It would be awesome if I can get a bigger screen like in Xperia J (4.0")

I have not checked Samsung & Nokia smartphones yet bcoz of 2 reasons.
1). There designs are not so elegant as Xperia
2). I think Samsung smartphones are not very good & reliable like others (Xperia/Nokia). Please give me your thoughts on it.

Thanks.

 

[bruce20]

Also, here is my other thread, please give your opinion.
http/www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1657625/umts.html
Thanks.

 

[shadovraven]

In this price point both U and Sola are interesting choices, they are very similiar except Sola having slightly bigger screen. There's also alternative from Samsung, it's called Galaxy Ace 2, should be in the price point between U and Sola. It has biggest screen (3.8 inch compared to 3.7 and 3.5 from Sola and U), more RAM (768 MB compared to 512 present in Xperias) and better battery. Galaxy Ace 2 can be also officialy updated to Jelly Bean where U and Sola are left with Ice Cream Sandwich. It's also important to notice that Xperia U doesn't have SD card slot so you can't expand its memory.

As you propably noticed I totally ignored Xperia J, I did it for a reason. Xperia J is very weak hardware wise, compared to other Xperia's you've mentioned. It spots very weak and 4 years old single core cpu that was rebranded to support armv7 instructions set. It has gained some power compared to MSM7227 on which is based but it's still struggle to even handle Android 4.x, not mentioning any of the newest games.

So it's up for you to decide if you prefer Xperia design or slightly better hardware and newer version of Android.

 

[bruce20]

Thanks, Xperia J single core also disappointed me. I actually loved its design, also just realized Sony & HTC have no warranty here in Asia, and sadly I can't get them now. So may be I should move my search to Samsung. Samsung Ace 2 has gingerbread and its processor is Dual core 800MHz. Isn't it slow as compared to 1GHZ Duar core?

 

[shadovraven]

It depends to what kind of dual core you're comparing it to. If you're comparing it to Sola soc then it's not slow. It's the same chip actually, it just has slightly lowered frequency. Architecture is what matters not frequency, it's even more visible in devices like smartphones and you can propably overclock Ace 2 beyond this 1 Ghz.

 

[bruce20]

Thanks. OK, that looks fine from specifications point of view, but its rounded shape is not so lovely. I did some further researched and dug another samsung. Its Samsung Galaxy S2 Plus I9105. A Bit high in price, but pretty cool from specs point of view & design is also cool, it looks quite similar to iphone. What do you think about it?

Will you suggest any other samsung between Samsung Ace 2 & Samsung S2 Plus I9105

Thanks.

 

[shadovraven]

I looked into it and if you like this kind of design I'd suggest either Samsung Galaxy SII (I9100) or Galaxy S Advance (I9070). I'd avoid SII Plus because it's actually weaker than standard SII, especially the Broadcom gpu. I'm not sure how much I9105 costs in your country but it will be propably more expensive than standard SII. Galaxy S Advance shares same design as SII but it's similar to Ace 2 when it comes to hardware. It's also cheaper than SII, has bigger 4.0 Amoled screen and more storage (8/16 GB).

 

[bruce20]

OK, Thanks. I'll check S Advance. I can't seems to find S II, Isn't it an old version, released in 2010?

Also, just realized, no mobile company offers 3G mobile internet in our country, they only offer GPRS. I know Email browsing etc. will work on GPRS, but please tell me, will Skype & Skype Audio/Video Calls work fine on GPRS?

Thanks.

 

[shadovraven]

SII was released in 2011, so it's considered old now.

I can only guess because I've never tried using Skype over GPRS. I think that speeds provided by GPRS wouldn't be enough to use Skype or any other voip. Maybe if it would be EGPRS then it could work somehow.

EDIT: You should check this but I think it will need some clarifications:
http/notesofgenius.com/skype-without-3g-connection/

 

[bruce20]

Thanks. And some companies over here, also Offer EDGE. Will this be beneficial & Better than GPRS?

Is EGPRS same as EDGE?

Thanks.

 

[shadovraven]

Yes EGPRS is same as EDGE, I think you should be fine with EDGE. But to be sure I'd contact operators to verify the real bandwidth speeds they can offer. In order to classify your needs check this:

https/support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1417/how-much-bandwidth-does-skype-need

EDGE can offer maximum to 32 kb/s speeds. As you can see, should be possible to audio call but video call is not a option with EDGE.

 

[bruce20]

Thanks, this table explains a lot. So I guess at least I'm good for audio calling and Skype Chat.

Also, I've checked S II Advance. It has 1 GHz CPU, 768 MB Ram, 5 MP Cam (All these are above S II Advance), But please tell me about the Broadcom BCM28155 (Which S II Plus have). I don't know about Mobile CPUs.

I compared them here.
http/www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Samsung-GALAXY-S-II-Plus,Samsung-GALAXY-S-Advance/phones/7646,6873

And S II might be hard to find over here, as its over 2 years old now. But I'll try.
Suppose if I find one at a reasonable price, then which one you would prefer, Galaxy Ace 2 / Galaxy S II Advance / Galaxy S II?

Thanks.

 

[bruce20]

I found Galaxy S II, but its much more expensive. Samsung Ace 2 is 19,500 my currency, while S II is 33,500.
Also most of the local markets don't have S Advance either. But who have it, are selling it around 26000-28000.

S II Plus is available at same price as S Advance, but it has no warranty and as you also didn't recommended it, so I'll stay away from it.

So I guess I'm left with Ace 2 for the moment. I think I'll buy this one. I know I like the specs, but don't like the rounded border design, but I think I should start to like it now, lol.

Any other Option at or around same price which is as good as Ace 2 or little better?

Thanks.

 

[bruce20]

Can I Use Jelly Beans with Ace 2? If yes, 4.1 OR 4.2 ?

Will the Upgrade be Stable on it? And Will the hardware be fully compatible with the upgrade?

Thanks.

 

[shadovraven]

I'll try to answer all of your three posts in one. First of all Broadcom chipset present in SII Plus is weak compared to the one in SII or even Ace 2. While the cpu seems to be decent and sometimes even comparable to U8500 then gpu is not. Not mentioning the fact that Broadcom chipsets are not very popular which may result in some compatibility problems in some applications.

Considering the prices in your country, Ace 2 is definitely the best choice. Ace 2 doesn't have a lot of alternatives because this hardware and price range is very specific and also rare. Most of available alternatives were already posted, altough I managed to find some less popular ones. First one is ZTE Grand X In with single core Atom processor, which performance is comparable to dual core U8500 from Ace 2 but it does poorly in most of new games. It's very cheap but I didn't recommend it because of very poor touch screen and rather poor build quality as most of ZTE products. It also has 1 GB of ram and supports MHL, which allows you to clone screen to your TV. Second one is Huwawei Ascend P1, which offers good hardware and nice Amoled screen but I don't know much about it. The last one is Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini, it my country it's slightly more expensive than Ace 2 and it offers similiar hardware but more features (Like NFC, Super Amoled screen), it's design is also rounded, which you don't like.

Ace 2 can be officialy updated to Jelly Bean (4.1), hardware will be fully compatible with it.

 

[bruce20]

OK, Perfect. You are right about the SIII Mini, I checked local market for it today & its almost 2 times expensive than Ace 2. I checked some YouTube Videos & read some further reviews & feedback of the people using it on Amazon & Samsung websites & I'm quite Impressed with all those amazing reviews. This is no doubt the BEST Choice & I'll buy this for sure.

Thanks a lot for all the Information. I'll post here if I got any further question, but my Decision is Final Now.

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 is the BEST.

And Now I think I'm starting to like it, lol