"Upgrading" my cell phone
 

So I'm due for a "free upgrade" to my cell phone from Verizon.

My current phone:
16 GB iPhone 4S

Free "upgrade":
8 GB iPhone 4S

Am I missing something here?

As a side note, anyone want to chime in on switching from iOS to Android? I've been on iOS for several years now, but I'm not really tied to any of the apps I currently have, and that seems to be the biggest hurdle one would have to overcome. The Galaxy 4 looks pretty sweet, but I'm not sure if that's just a "grass is greener" thing.

To be fair, I hear this phone is also an upgrade option:

Wait till Spring for the Galaxy 5. That's what I'm doing.

I'm currently a split-person. Android phone and iPad 2, and I am like 99.9% certain I'm going to move to 100% Android with my next set of upgrades. Moving to a Galaxy 5 and one of the new Samsung tablets when they are released so that everything will sync more seamlessly.

The free phone you could have had 2 years ago was not an iPhone. In fact I'm guessing the free phone you could have had 2 years ago wasn't even a smart phone.

You instead spent $200 to get your 16 GB 4s at that time. If you spent $200 now you would get the iPhone 5s. You can't compare what you spent money on back then to what you'd get free now.

I think his point was just that it's not a very attractive offer from his POV.

A free iPhone 4S is a great deal, independent of my circumstances.

I think the problem here is one of nomenclature. I've played out my contract with Verizon (actually did back in June of 2013). Because of that, I'm eligible for an "upgrade." This promotion is not named very well, since what they are offering me is a downgrade at the phone level AND an additional two-year contract. I paid a similar amount for the phone I have now when I started, as a new Verizon customer. So essentially this "upgrade" is just a marketing buzzword to get me to buy a new phone.

what provider do you have vince

I think the iPhone v. Android discussion always boils down to a cleaner easier to use interface with better app quality vs. configurability and a bigger screen

There's not necessarily a right answer since you'd probably be happy with either one.

The era of free phone upgrades has been dead for like 2 years. Whatever you do, don't use that Edge plan they advertise. It's a big ripoff.

I don't think iPhone's necessarily have better app quality. Certainly not any better availability, and a lot of the Android apps (because of the OS) can be more powerful.

My Android phone can switch wifi/bluetooth/gps on and off and raise/lower volume and turn on/off checking of emails just based on where I am (via what wifi signals are around).

iOS may have MORE apps, but a lot of those are clickbait-style apps, or things like "whoopie cushion app" rather than being you know...actually...useful.

I switched in December from and iPhone to an S4 when I changed carriers. My biggest impetus as the storage - I was able to upgrade it on the S4 with an inexpensive SD card.

I am not unhappy with the S4, but it hasn't been an earth-shattering revelation either. I have found that things that were super-easy on the iPhone - syncing contacts, music and photos, for example - are a lot more difficult on the S4. I have found ways to do it, but it's nowhere near as easy at it should be. I love the screen and the customizeability, but have not been a big fan of the camera (surprisingly)

I think I probably would still make this choice because of the storage, but I think in two years if Apple has increased storage or added upgradeability (hahahaha) then I would probably switch back.

Are you trying to sync that stuff with Apple devices you mean?

Verizon.


This is probably the right answer. Once I got used to the Android, I'd love certain things about it and dislike others, kind of like my iPhone now.


My roommate has an S4, so I have something to play with to check it out. She is an avid iAnything hater though, so is unable to give me unbiased opinions. Currently I use my phone for:

-Phone calls
-Text Messages (Lots and lots of text messages)
-Surfing the internet (Facebook, checking sports scores, browsing here) while hanging around waiting for something
-Personal e-mail
-Playing music

That's about it. I have a few games loaded on to it, but I hardly ever touch them. From what I've seen, I'm far more impressed with the camera on the iPhone, but I also don't take many pictures. Otherwise they seem pretty similar. I don't have a tablet, nor do I anticipate picking one up any time soon - roommate has an iPad (gift, so she deals with it :) ), and I think it's totally awesome...but I can't justify the cost to myself. So I don't really have to worry about synchronization between my devices. My desktop has my music collection in iTunes, but I have an iPod for that, so I'm not worried about not having music (or having difficulty putting music) on the phone if I go Android.

Since you're on Verizon check out the Moto X and Droid Maxx. I say that since you say a great camera isn't your highest priority. They are passable cameras so they're not absolute shit or anything.

-Both have Moto's skin which is the closest to stock you can get.
-Both have touchless controls (voice control, great driving features, etc)
-Both have Active Notifications. A really awesome way of displaying notifications (read some reviews. I'm short on time right now)
-Both have this shake thing you do with your hand to access the camera quickly which is kind of cool.

Moto X
- Has received updates faster than any non-nexus phone on the market. The Samsungs of the world have been pretty bad at keeping phones up to date.
-Has a great hand feel. May sound weird but it really is the perfect size and design. (Subjective)
-Customizable body. Even has wood back options for extra $.
-Decent battery life. Should get you through the day just fine (Probably more since you don't seem to be a "Power User")

Droid Maxx
-Larger screen
-Larger battery (Crazy battery life)
-Wireless charging (Some swear by it after they have a phone capable of it)
-32GB standard model
-Aesthically may not be appealing, but very durable. Probably not as good "in the hand" as say the X.


Maybe also give the G2 a look especially if you're not the type to be offended by a UI design as I feel it's pretty ugly, but it has a beautiful screen, outstanding camera, crazy good battery life. Really really great hardware.

But also waiting to see what the S5 is like may not be a bad idea. I'm just not a huge fan of Samsung phones ( I have a Note 2)

Read some reviews. A good time for phones. The syncing may be a pain compared to Apple, but really they are both great operating systems at this point. As long as your not too invested in iOS ($ on apps, iMessage, etc) it shouldn't be too much of a shock to switch

no, I am a Windows guy. I could use iTunes to easily sync music and contacts, and windows handled importing pictures fine. It is nowhere near as easy to do this with my S4. I have found apps that do the job, but it's not as elegant.

Here is what I do and its seemless easy.
If your contacts are in say outlook. Exprot them to a .csv.
Then import that .csv into Google Gmail
Then open gmaill app on phone...done

except I don't use gmail on my phone and I have contacts in gmail already that I don't care to have on my phone either. nor will that move the contacts I enter into my phone into outlook on my PC.

with the iPhone it was a checkmark in iTunes. and that's really my point - there are ways to do everything, but they may involve a few workarounds.

The easiest way for sure would be a windows phone.

What we did onmy wife's phone (same reason) is created a dupe gmail account. I.E. [email protected].
Import the contacts to that
Add that to gmail on phone, or use that as your andorid account ID. setup outlook to auto sync and done.

If space is an issue, go android, as most android phones can take a MicroSD card to expand space for cheap.

That's wrong, sorry. Most developers, including the well recognized ones take an iPhone first approach because that's where the revenue is.

With regard to games I agree that it's usually iPhone "first" - meaning they release an iPhone app and then a couple weeks later release an Android one. Whoopie doo. I think I can wait a couple weeks.

With regard to "service" type apps (mobile banking, weather, Pocket, news aggregation apps, things like that) they tend to release concurrently from what I've seen.

Besides - how many apps do you typically interact with on a daily/weekly basis? I think most people would be surprised at the number.

I can safely say I don't think there's one time where I've even noticed/been negatively affected by the availability or lack thereof of an app on the Android marketplace.

This actually is quickly going away. Samsung is pretty much the only brand remaining that takes SD

I like the iPhone 5s for two reasons:

1) Apple ecosystem
2) phone size

Apple store is easy, automatic updating is easy, everything I want is there. The physical size of the phone seems perfect to me and I use it all the time. I understand the storage issues, but I use Spotify and Dropbox and iCloud and don't have any issues. My wife uses iTunes and needs more storage.

edit: that's not to say that I don't have screen size envy. I do. I just can't reconcile carrying anything bigger than the footprint of the 5s.