[robbra]

[quote=Mark in Essex;79913015]Vodafone is not too bad as long as you keep in the main towns.

Vodafone and O2 are great in towns, but not too good out in the sticks (villages etc).

Again, a generalisation, depends where you live. I'm in a tiny village in Dorset, miles from a town and around and about only Vodafone works. Not a glimmer from any others.
When I'm in east London visiting my Z10 is on maximum the whole time.
Good luck Samantha.

[sotek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aye Up

I find it a great devicem the "Edge" screen is just an expensive gimmick, whilst it has little notifications attached when the screen is off, I don't take any notice so have disabled the feature. That aside, Samsung has really pulled back on the bloat, it runs smoothly and is lag free. A lot of people complain about TouchWiz, now it has a theme engine meaning you can change the look of the phone right down to the icons. I run the Material Design theme, it looks like a nexus and runs like one, so no complaints there.

Have a good look at the standard S6, it has the same features as the Edge save that screen functionality. The cameras are amazing, the screen is the best on the market in my opinion. At least if you went with the entry model of each handset, you start off at 32GB so plenty of space for photos and films to some extent.

The only draw back is the battery life, its a bit limp. Fast charging is great when you're near a plug socket, not so much while out and about. Again as I say go for the S6, its cheaper and imho better looking.

I have an Edge Plus but, other than that, this is also my experience almost word for word.

I've returned to Samsung after several years away and, with minimal effort, TouchWiz can now be made to be all but invisible. This alone has removed my main concern about Samsung. Battery life isn't great but probably no worse than a lot of other phones out there and, with the ready availability of a car charger and a battery pack, I've never even come close to running out.

I would agree about the utter uselessness of the 'Edge' feature though. It might make the phone look striking but it adds nothing to the actual phone experience. Beyond the visual appeal there's certainly no reason to choose the Edge over the standard S6 / Note versions.

[ihatemarmite]

so many phones, all expensive with no returns policy once you've tried them out, so understand how hard it is to choose.
OH's nexus 4 is now definitely snuffing it (keeps turning on the camera flash in sleep mode, thus flattening what's left of the battery??!) having unexpectedly revived with the lollipop update.
So now we're also looking at S6, Samsung Note 4 (maybe too big) LG, Sony, even Nexus 5X. Screen, battery, camera key things. Sadly so is budget!

[sotek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ihatemarmite

so many phones, all expensive with no returns policy once you've tried them out, so understand how hard it is to choose.
OH's nexus 4 is now definitely snuffing it (keeps turning on the camera flash in sleep mode, thus flattening what's left of the battery??!) having unexpectedly revived with the lollipop update.
So now we're also looking at S6, Samsung Note 4 (maybe too big) LG, Sony, even Nexus 5X. Screen, battery, camera key things. Sadly so is budget!

If you're not absolutely set on getting one of the latest handsets, have a look at either the Sony Z3 or Z3 Compact. I'm sure you can pick one of those up for a really good price now and it will definitely meet all of your key requirements; battery life is amazing, screen is good and the camera, whilst not perfect, is still better than average.

[goldenface]

I'd say it was the Xperia Z5, that is until the Z5 Premium launches, with its 4K screen and Sony phones have excellent battery life.

[BKM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldenface

I'd say it was the Xperia Z5, that is until the Z5 Premium launches, with its 4K screen and Sony phones have excellent battery life.

Just where has this fad of totally unnecessary screen resolution on a mobile come from?????

[engineermoore]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BKM

Just where has this fad of totally unnecessary screen resolution on a mobile come from?????

People who don't understand technology fully and assume a bigger number is better. The mobile phone manufacturers are simply making big number so people assume it is better. Same thing happened with the ghz race in PC processors or the megapixel race in cameras.

[alanwarwic]

I wonder if you are mixing up needs and technology. I recall arguing the case for HTCs lower resolution megapixel camera.

Many cases are down to need, even if that need is simply to be seen with the highest spec kit available.

[finbaar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BKM

Just where has this fad of totally unnecessary screen resolution on a mobile come from?????

is a bit of a fad, . But the higher resolution screens are key in rendering logo graphic scripts properly. And that is a very big market.

[alanwarwic]

A lot of the population might find an ultralight compact low spec cheap phone 'best' for them.

There simply is no single best.

[jlkjane]

I just got a samsung galaxy s5. Reason being you can change the battery and add extra memory card. I am really happy with my choice. It takes amazing photos and have a 125gig memory card installed

[finbaar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

A lot of the population might find an ultralight compact low spec cheap phone 'best' for them.

There simply is no single best.

Well it might be but they don't want that. Phones are status symbols.

[catsaregrey]

going to have a look at the blackberry priv. Quite like the idea of a slider once more and a physical keyboard.