What is the Best Android Phone to get?

Hello fellow readers and welcome once again to another edition of El Toro’s Wrestling Blog.

I’ve had a few friends ask me about Android phones and the most common question I get is “which one is the best”?

Being an Android phone user, I have tested and seen several models so when it comes down to it, there are certain factors I like to get into first.

I always ask the person one of the most important question first, and that is “what do you want to do with the phone”?

It may be a silly question to ask, but think about it. Smartphones today have several functions that some people want where others are like “eh I will never have a need for that”.

There are even the small pack of folks who might not even know what they can be used for, or have no clue what they want to do.

I figured the best way to know what type of Android phone you want to get is to put together a list of the things it can do, so you can pick and choose what you would like, go to your favorite wireless provider, tell them what it is you want in the phone, and go from there. It is very important to know that no matter what phone you do get, if you have a crappy cell phone provider, then there is no phone in the world that will make up for their crappy phone service. Just wanted to make that very clear. So let’s get started.

Now for me, a phone needs to have storage space. not just any storage space, it needs to have the internal and external, meaning I should also be able to insert extra memory any time I want.

The HTC One is a terrific phone and some providers have a 32GB phone, however it does not give me the ability to add more memory with a Micro SD card. So to me, that’s a deal breaker. But for some people it isn’t, so just remember to always check what the storage on a phone is and if it has the option to add more by way of a microSD card.

I love taking pictures with my phone. It makes it so much easier than to have my big ass Nikon around unless I absolutely need it. So it is important to me to have a phone that takes great pictures, not just during the day, but indoors, with and without flash, decent zoom, and have dual camera support, one in the back of the phone and one in front if I want to take a group selfie (yeah I got no shame saying it LOL). The nice thing at most cell phone shops, you can test the phones and take pictures. Also, use the camera to record video. After all, you want to record those silly moments of your friend drunk and doing karaoke right? you need proof of that to post on YouTube. Test these out and use this to make your deciding a bit easier.

I like to hold a phone in my hand and have some sort of assurance that if I sneeze, and the phone is in my hand, the screen wont crack. I am talking about, does the phone feel cheap like something that came out of a 99 cents store? Check out the YouTube videos online on the phone you want to look and search for the break test. If it can survive all the torture the people in the video put it through, then it should survive a light bump on the side of the coffee table. If you hold the actual phone and it feels very plastic-y, then it’s probably not the thing you want to get. Yes, there are those sturdy cases called Otterbox or LifeProofs but that won’t stop the fact that it could still break while INSIDE the case or worse, explode.

I know the IN thing to do these days is “What’s the best brand phone out there cause I wanna get that”. You need to look out there and research what phone has the best reviews. I can harp all day and all night on how awesome the Samsung android phones are (being that I actually have 2, my personal and the one I chose for work) mainly cause I am partial with Samsung being a wonderful product. However, there are some people who don’t agree with me and will say LG has a better phone (although no one has been able to prove to me why). So it is very important you look at customer reviews and the best place to get those reviews is on a large platform that everyone in the US has heard of … Amazon.com. Just like people can rely on Yelp.com to get reviews on venues, Amazon has millions of people on their purchasing and reviewing the products. You will get an unbiased review that you probably wouldn’t get if you went to the wireless providers site. If you want a personal top wireless phone makers from me, then in no particular order here are my picks:

• Samsung
• Motorola
• HTC
• Nokia (yeah, despite the iffy-ness I have of windows phones, the hardware is actually pretty good)

Wait, what about LG, Pantech, Sony? LG and Sony were great phones … when they weren’t smartphones.  Somehow, they went all dumb when creating the hardware for the smartphones cause people had to constantly get a replacement to the point where they literally broke their phone in frustration and bought a new one from another maker. Oh, and don’t even get me started with Blackberry (Research In Motion or RIM for short). They once dominated the smartphone era, now, I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the coming year, the company shuts down. As far as the Asus phone known as the PadFone, I honestly don’t know enough about it or tested it. I do have an Asus Tablet and it is by far one of the best tablets in the market today, so in theory, I wouldn’t be too surprised if their phone is just as great. If an Asus rep gets to read this and is willing to have me try it out with the tablet, they are more than welcome to reach out to me. I would love to try it out, review it, and ship it back and post my findings in my blog.

So here is a summary:

1. Storage: how important is storage to you?
2. Camera (front and back): how good do the pictures and video take?
3. Durability: take the phone in your hand, does it feel sturdy or does the material feel like it could break? No case in the world will protect it if it gets dropped in just the right angle.
4. Reviews: do your research online to determine what people say is a good reliable phone.

I hope this helps you reach to a better conclusion on what to get, but as always, you can reach out to me at any time and I will help you in any way I can. That’s all for today. Until next time, Be Safe! =)