It's driving me mad looking at all the different choices and features, not only deciding what's important now but in the near future. My area has no 4G coverage at present but will have shortly, so should I get a phone with 4G on it or not. Endless questions like this.

Was it an easy choice for you?

There's no point getting a non 4G device because it won't have the technology in the future at least you'll have a future proof phone.

Well I spent the better part of a month waiting on mine.....in the end I succumbed to the charm of a phablet.....after months of saying I would only go small I ended up with a Galaxy Note 4.

Well I'd almost decided to get a Moto G 4G, then they introduced the 2014 version of the G, with a 'better' camera and two SIMS etc, making me wonder what the updated one would be like. With them updating so often, I usually make a phone last at least five years if not more, I want to make the right decision.

21 years. I love my Sony Mars Bar! I am looking forward to ordering a Ericsson T28s soon (one of the best phones ever!)

sony ericsson t68i is much better

Blimy - is that how old they are?

I remember my now wife having one just after we met.

I'm the least decisive person ever. I have to buy a phone this week. Z3, Z3C, S5 or LG G3.
Believe me, that's a narrowed down list too. Hopeless.
My nexus 4 has been effectively dead for 2 months while I dithered.

i like ericsson gh688 was not even sony that time.

Ah, the T28 - the first phone with a Lithium Polymer battery, and with a battery meter that said how much time you had left in hours and minutes!

But the Mars Bar.. well, it's a shame they were so unreliable and of course analogue only (so nobody can still keep using one, as they could with a T28) but they were SO popular at the time. I sold loads of them.

People loved them, but hated the successor (the CM-R111 square phone with the flip down mic).

Phones annoy me because most seem to have a deal breaking issue that makes me overlook them.

The Sony phones would have been great with their massive battery life, excellent camera and waterproof ability, but their slow (if any) OS updates and reliability record put me off.

The Nexus phones are generally great all round, except for diabolical battery life and no expandable storage.

LG G2/G3 - I like, but can't help but feel they've ruined them with a rubbish interface. The QHD screen slows down the G3 and worsens battery life, a problem that the G2 with its pathetic 16Gb and no SD card doesn't face.

Galaxy phones - good all rounders spoiled by a hideous, laggy interface, plastic build quality spoils them.

Apple iPhones - good cameras, good sound quality, until recently, too small, and frankly, I'd feel like a bellend / sheep using one.

Windows Phones - technically they can do most things, but the app thing, while I am certainly not a heavy app user IS an issue, and I hate that I can't do much customisation, also google support (which I need) is virtually non-existant.

I ended up going for an HTC One M8 and putting Google Play Edition on, as its the best compromise for me at the minute despite having a rubbish camera.

Why can't someone just make a phone that has good everything and stock Android? I will pay more for it!!

I take months deciding any new technology. The choices overwhelming. Also reading others views on forums can be confusing. Just as you decide the device to go for there is someone who finds fault with it and you are back to square one.

From the way you've described, well, everything on the market right now - I think you should stick with a landline phone. But even they're not perfect.

You make good points though. But you need to compromise in some places and draw up a list of priorities, from total deal breakers to niggling issues you could cope with.

There was a GSM version of the Sony Mars Bar. I know because I loved the pop-up earpiece on the analogue version, I upgraded to the GSM version the following year. Wish I still had them!

I spent quite some time deciding and then went with an almost unknown make directly from China. It has all the latest features needed, but I didn't have to pay "My knob is bigger than your knob" pretty badge prices.

Already Rooted and made to do what I want.

And what big name phone does it look like?!

Who is selling this Sony Mars phone? I've looked on Carphone and Amazon but can't find it.

If you invent a time machine and go back to 1993, you'll find it.

Might be a little too late now. Feature wise, it's also quite limited in functionality, rather like the first version of iOS (well, maybe not that limited).

Why is it being discussed then as it's a viable choice now? Bit odd.

Thread drift. Sigh.

Now don't be silly

I decided on the HTC mainly because I listen to music more than I take pictures, and I have a decent (but fairly dated now) compact for when I need to take something better, so that was the compromise I reached there...

BUT all I want is a good camera, good SQ, vanilla android, plenty of storage, a decent screen, decent performance and reliable and good battery life. We both know that IS possible, but we're always so near yet so far!

I would go for the Sony Z3 but not for £500.

It took me a week to decide to trade in my S3 mini for a 'as new in box' S4 mini at a near by local phone shop. Paid a hundred quid for the trade up. The S4 mini flies along compared to the S3 - made me realise how damn slow it was! Much lighter in the pocket too.

Well my nexus 4 just died. I decided I wanted the Sony Xperia Z3 compact, only to find it out of stock. I've ordered the S5 off amazon. Just hope I can work out how to disable or work around the bloat ware as I want it to mostly run google apps.
Disappointed about the Sony as think it'll get Lollipop faster. However the revamp of Sony's phones every six months worries me. Clearly aren't meant to last or retain value.
Hope I finally made the right decision (that would be a first !)

So... just to complicate things, would a 64-bit quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU be any real benefit than a Qualcomm MSM8226 Snapdragon 400? And is it better to wait for Lollipop or is OK to update an existing KitKat? Decisions, decisions.