I was interested in the Iphone 4 but put off by the issues it's had and Apple doing little about it so £500 is too much of a risk to spend on one.

So should I go for an Iphone 3GS and sell it later for an Iphone 4 providing they fix the issues or get something else? The Samsung Wave looked not bad but there's little that catches my eye. Experienced too many issues with LG and Sony Ericsson touch phones. I don't like HTC touch phones.

Any ideas?

issues?

my phone is fine.

Issues,well the top 3

1) Reception

2) Reception

3) Reception

I have three issues:

1. Bad press: Reception, screen problems.
2. £500 price tag.
3. Three weeks wait on delivery.

Ebay prices of £600+ are silly money. I can buy a new 3GS there for £350.

You say that you don't like HTC touch phones in the OP and neither did I until I got the Desire. I had an original touch diamond and I've been on this board saying how it was the most unusable buggy pile of crap I've ever had the misfortune of owning. So I got an iPhone. Anyway I was up for renewal and a mate of mine had the Desire. I did a bit of homework and decided I'd get one.

It is a very good phone. More than the equal of the iPhone. The new 4 looks good but i'd already had the 3g and wanted something different. The Android OS is excellent. Highly customisable and very easy to download and install apps from the market.

OK, I've only had it since Saturday and I guess I'm still in the honeymoon period, but I seriously like this phone.

Maybe try eBay for a 16gb 3GS otherwise if 8GB is enough a new 3GS. 3GS great phone and iOS4 works perfect. Would see you until iPhone 4.1 next summer. Or better still get a 3GS and put the rest towers an iPad.

Does anyone know why they want a smartphone?

Every phone will have good reasons to buy. (if you have mney to waste)
For web use you need a decent high res one like the iPhone 4.
Here the iPhone 3 was out of date maybe 18 months ago,

The Samsung Galaxy S is a lovely phone, I'd reccomend you go look at that in a store.

I have the nexus one and highly recommend this phone too.

The iphone sucks. its very limited and doesn't have half the features that other phones have. Got a HTC Desire recently and it is definitely the best smartphone you buy in England today. Miles better than the iphone. It comes with free sat nav which when ive used has used next to nothing on internet data and battery life. a very good phone.

You might not like HTC phones but its genuinely the best phone out right now in the UK.

I third getting a HTC phone. I have a Google Nexus One which is essentially the same phone minus the HTC Sense UI. The iPhone 4 and iOS 4 weren't big enough leaps really to get me to upgrade. For less I could get the Desire or Nexus One which are pretty on par with the iPhone 4 with 1GHz processor and AMOLED screens which probably compare quite well to the Retina Display. Rather than doing everything on my phone I would prefer to get Froyo on my Nexus One with free tethering and get a Wi-Fi iPad to do most of my web surfing on. At the end of the day a phone is a phone, and there is only so much you can do with a 3.5" or 4.3" screen. My phone spends most of its time in my pocket anyway as I mostly use it for music, surfing the web on such a small screen always seems a hassle so I rarely bother. The only thing I miss is some of the games. Games like Doodle Jump aren't up to the quality of the iPhone yet and games like Angry Birds are not yet on the Android Marketplace.

As a previously obsessive HTC fan, I would advise against going with them. You may have the best thing since sliced bread right now, however your prize handset will soon be forgotten and replaced by a newer model while yours is phased out and ignored. I moved to the iPhone and whilst they may update the phone once a year, I know the product itself is worth the money and investment. Saying that, one persons outdated is another persons perfection...'tis all subjective.

Having both the Desire and the Galaxy S I can honestly say they are both great phones. If you need a camera flash then I would say go for the Desire otherwise IMO the Galaxy is the nicer handset. The screen is amazing and the live wallpapers are . You best bet is go in to your local shop and try them both.

I had HTC Desire but it didnt do it for me.
Its fast but I just missed my Iphone.
I sold my Desire last week on Ebay and now am waiting for Iphone 4 to come in stock in 2 stores.
Im currently without a phone....you know what? I kind of like it. Back to the good old days!

I plan to buy a Nokia next.

The N8 looks good.

Yawn. Change the record and get with the times.


Except for the fact that Google Navigation is horrible, and uses a lot of data. Also - don't dare stray off your route when you are without signal - it won't cope!

HTC Desire is nothing special to be honest. Its a nice phone don't get me wrong, but it just feels unfinished, much like Android itself.


You missed a very important statement there...

IN YOUR OPINION

Technically, the "best" phone out right now is in fact the iPhone 4.

And the reception issues have been greatly exaggerated.

the trouble with the HTC desire is that if you use all 7 screens your battery lasts about half a day.

Is this Soundburst in disguise????????????/
(just kidding soundburst)
Also I wouldn't say the iphone 4 is technically the "best" phone!


Anyway back to the op question, pretty much all the phones suggested on here would be a good alternative to an iphone 4.
I went for the galaxy s, but the nexus one and htc desire were very tempting and both good phones. Best bet is to pop in to cpw or somewhere and take a look and see what you think.

Define "horrible"? It gets me from A to B without a hitch, I love that I can search for destinations with the same general syntax that I use in Google Maps (ie. I don't necessarily need a street name or postcode for every business. How many other sat navs would get me to the Firdale PLC in Corby without me having to look up its address ). This ease and simplicity raises it miles above "horrible". As for it using lots of data, your source please? I had Google Navigation to work and back today - 50-odd mile round trip - and my total usage for today is 1.38MB, which also includes all the always-on data syncing that takes place. Hardly a lot of data. The maps are vector based and therefore tiny.

Yes its one flaw is that it can't find a route without a signal (though it can certainly guide you along one). But given the rarity of me not having a signal, this is easily balanced out by the advantages of the software.
Ah yes, a non-iPhone being the "best" is subjective opinion, but an iPhone being the "best" is technical fact. Mr Jobs, we salute you...


No, it doesn't.

If you load all seven screens with a tonne of widgets all set to update every nanosecond then yes, that will put a drain on the battery. But all of the screen lay dormant until you scroll to them (you see them 'update' quickly when you first move on to them) and therefore make zero difference in power whether you use one or seven.

If you're choosing to not buy an iPhone 4 because of media hyperbole reception issues that have minimal chance of affecting you then fine.

I would go with the galaxy. Samsung hardware is reliable and nice. Of course you will be running Android which is practically a clunky beta. I'd prefer Samaung to go back to a proprietary OS as they were always good phones, fast, stable and built from the ground up for the hardware on which they run.

I would advise against a Nokia. This isn't the 90's. Nokia and Symbian are good if you like the retro feel and enjoy wearing jackets with shoulder pads and glasses with bright orange rims.

I've had an iPhone 4 since launch and haven't had any problems with reception. The only issue I've had is with the proximity sensor, but hopefully that will be addressed in a software update.

One thing that puts me off HTC is if you have a problem with your phone, you have to send it back to them. They've had my friend's Hero for 3 weeks and counting now. When I had a problem with my iPhone 3GS, I took it to the Apple Store and walked out with a new one 15 minutes later.

Rubbish. I use all screens on my Desire and it would drop to about 50% battery by the end of the day with decent usage. That's including good use of wifi, bluetooth and having two Exchange aco***** running on push mail (as well as googlemail on push, too).

I also recently downloaded juice defender from the market and by the end of the working day today, my battery was at 89%.

Only thing that really kills the battery is if you game a lot. But that only tends to knock another 10-20% off the battery life, on average.