Got a Samsung Galaxy S at the moment, just coming to the end of an 18 month contract. From what I can tell I can upgrade to pretty much any high-end phone for free apart from the Galaxy Note which is £99 (if anybody thinks this would be worth it as an alternative, let me know as I'm undecided).

The SGS2 looks like it's the best around at the moment and so I figured I'd go for that, however upon research I discovered there may be an S3 in the making. Should I wait for this to come out? I'm sceptical that I'll be able to upgrade for free - which is quite a bonus with the S2 seeing as I'm a student with little money.
I've also been told by a few people that I could haggle for a free upgrade regardless due to being a good customer (been on Orange for about 7 years now) but I'm not particularly good with persuasive powers and I have no idea how I'd go about this.

Additionally, I don't know how much better the S3 would actually be - my current phone is dying a bit so I'm impatient to get a new one and don't want to wait around if it's not a big improvement, or has some weird unnecessary feature like being bendy/3D/locking as soon as you take your eyes off the screen (read this and thought it sounded like the most pain in the arse thing ever).

Additionally if anybody can recommend an alternative that would solve my dilemma that would be awesome - I've been looking at the HTC One X but it didn't seem to have reviews that were quite as positive, and I saw techradar mentioned some lag on the touch screen which drives me up the wall on my current phone.

Sorry for the length - any help is appreciated!

The Galaxy SII is not the best phone at the moment, The HTC One X is.

I don't think there will be much difference between that and the SGSIII.

I have the Galaxy SII and it's brilliant, highly recommended.

Could be the end of May or June till the S3 is out.
There's an announcement early May from Samsung.

The S2 seems to be getting much cheaper now
The S3 will be expensive at first.

Hmmm, kind of considering that. Something like my last 5 phones have been samsung so it might be nice to branch out a bit.

It helps that it doesn't look like there'll be a better HTC out any time soon either - I seem to suffer the curse of getting things about a month before their superior version comes out.

My first smartphone was the HTC hero, i then upgraded to a SGS, now back to HTC. I do like HTC more.

The S2 will be cheaper once the S3 is out. If you can wait a couple of months, the S2 will be cheaper and you will the option of getting an S3.

If you cant wait, the One X would be my choice.

Couple of things to bear in mind, depending how important they are to you...

- The One X has no microSD slot and only 16Gb of flash storage, so if you like to have lots of media on your phone this may be important.

- HTC and Samsung both put their own spin on the Android UI - Samsung have Touchwiz and HTC have Sense. These can be changed, of course, but again probably worth trying both to see which you prefer.

Another option that might be worth a look, if you'd prefer the as-Google-intended Android experiece, would be the Galaxy Nexus, though that also suffers from not having a microSD slot. Also the camera on the Nexus isn't as good as the one on the S2.

One X has 32GB onboard + 25GB dropbox storage
S2 has 16GB but i micro sd slot capable of 32GB (48GB Max)
(s2 will also accept a 64GB card as well)

If you can get an SII for nothing on Orange, then I'd go with that.
I've been on Orange for about 10 years and I couldn't get an SII for nothing without hugely increasing my monthly plan ( I have an incredible deal from Orange but it can make upgrades a little complex if I want "a top of the pile" mobey which until recently was without question the SII)
I'm loving the SII, my previous phone was a Hero, a good phone in its day but well past its sell by date now.

will it access all 64 gig? I could stick a 16 gig card in my hero but it only ever saw 8.

I have the HTC One X and have non of the issues that some other users have faced. It's a fantastic handset and really capable. I would highly recommend it.

Whatever you do I would advise to stay away from the HTC One X

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pho...1069319/review

On the review summary one of the against points is 'Awful battery life' not sure how it still gets four and half stars out of five. A smartphone that is dead before midday, no thanks! Also helpfully HTC have taken a page out of Apple's book and the battery is sealed in the phone so you can't swap it for a spare battery, even better!

HTC phones are dreadful when it comes to battery life, just look at the Desire range!

Not sure about the awful battery life. I have a Desire HD, with average use, I still end up with around 30% battery life at the end of the day.

If the S3 doesnt live up to the hype, then the One X is the phone I will get. You have to go through the charge/discharge cycle a few times before the battery works as it should do.

I am a bit annoyed, that the battery has been sealed and there is no external micro SD card slot.

My mistake

Haven't tried a 64GB card in my S2, 48 total seems to be enough for now lol

What are you finding the battery life like? I know it's pretty bad on any smartphone but I've heard it tends to be a bit more dire on HTCs.

(Edit: wrote this before I saw the above comment posted but yes, battery life is my main concern!)

Honestly, it has been typical. I had the Samsung Galaxy S2 before this and it wasn't better or worse. I charge the battery every two days on moderate use and every day with heavy use.

What do people get out of their phones?! Both the HTCs I've had managed two days battery life on light-moderate usage and one full day on heavy.

If I was you I would wait for the s3.

The s2 is great but not perfect, the s3 will no doubt have issues - we just dont know yet.

However you may regret getting the S2 once the S3 is out and people are walking around with one because you couldn't wait another 4-8 weeks.

just out of interest (and something i have noticed with several people who own HTC phones) can i ask if you have you turned off all the features that actually make it a smart phone (gps, wifi, notifications etc) and lowered the screen brightness so that its barely visible?

i can then see how you could get two days usage out of it!!

I always turn off stuff I don't use, since the longer between charges the better as far as I'm concerned.

My Desire HD was always on lowered brightness (and it did look shit in the sunshine unless I turned it all the way up), but always had wifi on and any relevant notifications. Generally, on light to moderate use it made it to the end of the second day with charge left over. No point in going for a third day though, it would've died halfway through.

Haven't had much chance to test my One X, but screen is on auto now, and again wifi is on and any stuff that I use. Even on low brightness the screen looks fantastic, so I might lower it in the future. For now though it always makes it through 1-2 days, so I'm not bothered.

Go for the Note. At least it adds some innovation to the mobile market with its S-pen, has a stupendous screen, will happily take a 64gb memory card and ideal for lounge surfing.

If you're willing to accept the 4.7" screen on the HTC One X, it's not that much of a stretch to accommodate the Note. At least three S2 owning colleagues of mine desire the Note because of it's screen. Worth considering.

Another vote for the note here. Gorgeous screen, very fast and very good camera. I love mine!

I have put a custom rom on mine, which helps quite a bit. I also use juice defender, which turns on wifi every 30mins to sync my data.