The Phones Show 157 (Top 5 Phones, Christmas 2011)

[jotah15]

steve, a question. what theme are you using on theN8? thx!

[stevelitchfield]

@jotah15 On my own one, I use Midnight or Rush Hour - they're my most uses Symbian themes...

[matttrd7]

Thanks Steve for your recommendations, I managed to buy a Nokia N8 from Amazon over the xmas period for £199 and I'm very pleased with it.

[barrellos]

I agree 100% with the choices, but in terms of future proofing iPhone's are probably the worst, as proven by the 3G fiasco

[Shawshank00]

Steve, Nexus S (SAMOLED version) for £199 from CPW. Good deal?

[amiraseri]

i just switched to N8 from iPhone4. The N8 hardware is awesome and gorgeous. How i wish more developer and more more apps. But overall i'm satisfied. Thankz Steve for the top 5 list. Happy new year.

[Rewesmac]

Thanks Steve! Good stuff as always. I'm loving my Nokia Lumia 800. It's a breath of fresh air after four years in the iPhone world. Highly recommended!

[g00nther]

How is the Lumia better than the N8? I really disagree with that selection.

[stevelitchfield]

I was hoping for 720p too... Ah well. Seems like Samsung cheaped out on the camera electronics.... Shame. Still a great Android 4.0 option though...

[geozec]

I did get a Nexus S for just 199€ and I am happy with it. BUT I heard it won't get 720p video with the ICS update as the hardware does not support it. Do you know something about that? Previously I had the older Sysmung Wave I and it had quite good 720p recording on a similar (I thought identical) 5 MP sensor. Why shouldn't the unit in the Nexus S be able to record 720p?

[MotorSportsFan46]

To be honest I was being a little tongue in cheek. You are right about the need to consider how future proof a device might be. Definitely worth an article. However as you started by saying this was an answer to normobs I wonder if current ability is not more important than future potential?

[stevelitchfield]

@MotorSportsFan46 Future potential is even more important for normobs, who will be keeping their phone for longer, surely?

[MotorSportsFan46]

I thought it interesting that 3 of your top 5 were selected based on their potential future upgrades. OK we know what to expect from Belle and ICS but in the case of WP7 that was just a wishlist. At the opposite end of the scale the N9 is a dead end.

Were you really struggling to put together a top 5 phones for what they can do TODAY as well as tomorrow?

As you know I'm an S2 and iPad user so with one foot in each camp I can't fault your choice of 1st and second.

Happy Xmas, regards Chris

[stevelitchfield]

@MotorSportsFan46 I was trying to indicate that phones aren't just for today. You buy them now and they've got to last you a year or so (at least), so you've at least in part got to take a medium-term view of the device as an investment in its potential.

Heck, that sounds pretentious of me! Maybe worth me expanding on, in an editorial!

[Tams80]

@MotorSportsFan46 I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but that really came out rather confrontational and somewhat fanboyish.

[MotorSportsFan46]

@stevelitchfield I've yet to meet a normob who was even aware that updates were possible. Big UI updates like ICS or Belle would probably have them running back to the shop thinking something was broken.

If it works on day one and keeps going to the end of their contract they're happy. That certainly applies to the users I'm responsible for at work. They all hate it when things change.

[stevelitchfield]

@MotorSportsFan46 but both Belle and ICS are being PUSHED to the phones. Users will get notified and will just say 'yes'

[MotorSportsFan46]

@stevelitchfield I'm sure that most will have no idea what they are saying "yes" to and even fewer would care if they were never given an update.

It's only the likes of us that eagerly await the next update, the rest of the world just isn't interested. I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for ;-)

[ibunkatraining]

Happy christmas, Steve! I am still in love with my S2 as I love tinkering and I never felt it ran out of steam yet.



[jml191]

I had a nexus s and hated it for the stupidest reason, that damn orange pulse that happened whenever you scrolled to the end of a page drove me nuts. I bought one second hand after my LG Optimus 7 was stolen, and promptly traded it for a Samsung Focus, and I know it may be beating a dead horse but the Samsung pentile displays drive me nuts, I find myself missing the plain LCD on my now gone Optimus 7.

[jml191]

I had a nexus s and hate

[stephenquin58]

Nice Christmas Edition Steve, enjoyed it thoroughly, I'm using 3a and 3b at the moment, liking both, but really not loving Zune !! Think the main downfall with WP is the inability to drag and drop media, but as the number 1 phone has been walled in since it's inception , guess the majority of users don't have an issue with restrictive SW ? Happy Christmas and looking forward to the first Phones Show of 2012 :)

[Brasso182]

N8 for xmas,,,,,,, i wish,  :o(

[TheSjheywood]

samsung galaxy s2 nuff said. Still the best.

[wideheadofknowledge]

@TheSjheywood well, except for the iPhone.

[tribalmasters]

I chose iPhone as my number one too! Not because I particularly like being in a walled garden or a phone made of glass but because it can be used by blind and partially sighted people such as myself thanks to it's included large fonts, zoom and screen reader which are separate and cost hundreds on other platforms!!

[filthyj24]

Alright Steve, Question...I bought a Nokia N8 and absolutely loved the hardware and camera, but I HATED Symbian3! Coming from an E71 for 2 years the split screen t9 simply was not working for me. Reluctantly I sold it on ebay and bought the Atrix. I absolutely love android but can't stand the plastic build of the Atrix after the N8 and E71. Anyway, from a heavy texter's standpoint how does the n8's portrait compare to say thumb keyboard or the stock moto keyboard? Anna in general? Thanks!

[stevelitchfield]

@filthyj24 Not as good, certainly. The thing about the N8 though is that some of the things it does are just about unique and worth living with a few UI quirks for....

[filthyj24]

@stevelitchfield This is true. I suppose I'm going to be selling my Atrix and investing in another N8. Thanks again for the reply.

[shohid1234]

Merry crimbo steve, thanks for an another year of the PS and PSC! As a GS2 user, the only other phone that I have really been smitten by was the SEX arc, best LCD screen ive ever used, good camera and sexy design, and an android version close to stock.

[stevenojops]

Super Amoled

[MrMVPAssassin]

Someone please tell me the full name of the AMOLED version of the Nexus S.

[okl1970]

Interesting choices. Absence of a business oriented phone - E6, E7, RIM? Am not quite sure about the choice of 2 Samsung phones in the top 5. Nexus S is too niche a phone but SGS2 is a solid choice. IP4S tops? Arguable ... For me N9 and Lumia800 are tops for having the freshest UX.

[stevenojops]

Thanks Steve happy 2012.

[fe55ter97]

Great review just one quetion I just got the nokia n9 tranfering from the galaxy s whats the best way to tranfer contact s and other info and also fastest. I don't really have access to a pc or laptop so need a phone to phone solution. Thank s and happy holidays. Fester!

[stevelitchfield]

@fe55ter97 Why not just go via Gmail contacts - the N9 should sync to that?

[iotatau]

Thanks for the show. I understand the reasons for your ranking but I just love my recently acquired Samsung Galaxy Note. It easily fits into my standard jeans pocket. I will probably never be able to go back to a 4-inch or smaller screen, too tiny and cramped after enjoying the 1280x800 resolution of the Galaxy Note.

[shivamgupta974]

Very nice video. One of the best we have seen

[JackDuran]

Those were some really good recommendations. Thanks Steve!

[megaloskardia]

Nice recommendations. And its true that for the less geeky family members i do recommend as well the iphone, ipad, u cant go wrong if you just dont want to hassle with it. Myself i prefer the qwerty blissfulness of the Nokia E7 (although the original phone arrived with a dead camera, then Nokia switched the device keeping my blue covers) which i have installed Anna thru navifirm+ and phoenix as a USA unlocked phone will take forever to get the "official" update. Cheers and Merry Xmas 2 all.

[marksapollo]

Happy Christmas to you Steve :) and surprised to see you place the iPhone at the top again! I've stuck with my iPhone 4 as I'll buy the iPhone 5 what ever it is. Hopefully they won't increase the physical size too much.

[ratballbag]

@marksapollo you are a capitalists wet dream.

[marksapollo]

@ratballbag I'd rather be Jessica Biel's wet dream ;)

[GTjunkyjump]

Great show as always Steve;)

[rugbystu08]

well, last week i changed my old n95 8gb with the mighty n8 and it is indeed a great phone! i'm very happy for my choice! love the camera and all the connectivity, and symbian it's much more faster on anna! sory for my bad english but i'm a romanian who lives in france! happy holidays for everyone!!!

[MrKozeljko]

Nokia for design and camera

Apple for prestige and iOS

Google Galaxy Nexus phone for best Android experience

Samsung GS2 for same as their cheap phones, but with better hardware. Same lame design lol

[aznfratboy]

Couple of questions Steve, I got the Nexus S for my sister. Couple of questions though.

a) She had a microSD card with all of her music on it, how would you suggest getting that music from the card to the Nexus S, seeing as it lacks a card slot.

b) How would you get Ice Cream Sandwich onto Nexus S?

Thanks Steve.

[ratballbag]

@aznfratboy in reply to a) try dropbox over a wifi connection... or surely it has a usb cable to transfer from a pc? and b) over the air update or via usb cable

[ratballbag]

Hey Steve, great show as always! I was wondering if you have heard of any physical qwerty keyboard (any form factor) android devices coming out soon? The only other thing I really care about is the freedom to use custom roms (to stay up to date with android). I am currently still running a Moto Milestone (modded to 2.3) and didn't feel like the HTC Desire Z was enough of an upgrade and so am waiting patiently for something a bit better. Any ideas/rumours? Maybe something I haven't heard of?

[djyxu]

This is a great review Steve. I totally agree with your choice as the iPhone 4s as the number 1 choice. It is the perfect phone for the really not geeky because of the simplicity of the phone. Heck, even my mom figured out how to use one.

[zoolanderhansel]

i gotta say, jumping from n82 to iphone 4s was a huge upgrade. But to be honest IOS got boring after 2 weeks. Yes everything works fine and dandy (with the exception of Siri). However, other OS (android/meego/windows) seem more fun. Good thing iphone has a pretty good resale value. When nokia comes out with a powerhouse smartphone with an awesome camera, then i'm moving back!!

[lipa90]

i love my N8

[airjaff]

iphone! lets just stop talking about that phone, im sick of all this free promotion crapple keep getting!

[2Thumbs0402]

Nexus S user here, got it for a bargain from someone who was desperate for the cash. Best phone I've ever owned, love it to bits, and that's with Gingerbread on it...

[rmappita]

I've had the iPhone 3GS, 4 and now the 4S. But I'm in love with Nokia 800 clean design, and objectivity + Windows 7.5..... Thank You for the video. Rodrigo ( Brazil )

[config2000]

IPhone is surely just plain boring now. The cow has been milked drier than the sarara desert. That does not stop Apple though. They know lines of numpties buying the same thing again and again will never dwindle.

[kingcartwright]

Great Show Steve, I have a HD7 and not sure weather to get the Lumia 800? what would you say was better? I really like the exclusive HTC Apps on Windows Phone

[stevelitchfield]

@kingcartwright Interesting. Which apps? The HTC ones aren't that special, surely...?

[kingcartwright]

@stevelitchfield HTC Hub is the main one and also the flight light... I love having my location and the weather as a large tile than if I just download an app and have a single tile... basically I've won the Lumia in a competition so not sure if I should keep one or sell the other or sell the both and have the Titan and some money or even get an iPhone 4S

[kingcartwright]

@kingcartwright flashlight rather hand torch

[adtrea]

Great Top 5, Steve. I'm looking into buying a new phone and can't decide between the Lumia and the SGS 2, I'll probably go with Windows Phone though, Android has been getting on my nerves lately.

P.S. Seeing that The Phones Show has been going since 2006 made me feel really old. I wonder if I still have my Nokia 3250 somewhere in my "junk" / old tech drawer...

[gavrilaeugen]

my n8 is still my mayne phone after 1 year end 2 months , good job steve