No company makes a perfect phone

[neiltc13]

I was looking around phone stores (with live demo units) to see what phone I might get when my contract ends soon.

I noticed that no company seems to make the "perfect" phone - they all seem to have at least one fatal flaw:

HTC One X
+ Great screen
- Too big

HTC One S
+ Great build quality
+ Amazingly thin
- Awful screen

Sony Xperia S
+ Great build quality
- Very bulky

Apple iPhone 4S
+ Lots of third party software
+ Great build quality
- Tiny screen
- Buggy Apple software (eg alarm clock, App Store)

Nokia Lumia 800
+ Good software
+ Great build quality
- Too thick

Samsung Galaxy Nexus
+ Great Software
- Too big
- Plastic feels cheap compared to HTC/Nokia/Apple

Samsung Galaxy S II
+ Great screen
- Plastic also feels cheap

I noticed that HTC really seems to have won the "thinness" stakes at the moment - the One S in particular felt great to hold, and the metal back was good too.

I wonder if any company will get everything right without putting it in a huge body like HTC has?

[r.j.s]

Is the Lumia 900 available where you are?

[jessica.]

This is true & not news but I don't get the buggy alarm clock and app store. I don't seem to have issues with either.

Have you tried all of these phones? I'm guessing not.

[neiltc13]

Originally Posted by r.j.s

Is the Lumia 900 available where you are?

Soon but we don't have LTE in the UK and I think the screen in the Lumia 800 is better (same res but smaller, so will be sharper).

Originally Posted by jessica.

This is true & not news but I don't get the buggy alarm clock and app store. I don't seem to have issues with either.

Have you tried all of these phones? I'm guessing not.

I don't trust my iPhone to wake me up. It has failed on two occasions in the past due to some DST bug (I don't know if they fixed it yet, and I am not trusting it until I find out).

App Store crashes a lot on my iPhone 4. I just load up the top 25 list and scroll down a bit and the app closes itself. Not only that, but I also get a weird message every time I purchase an app saying that it was unable to purchase other apps that I already own.

Yes I tried them all in the shops, they had live demo units and I have used some of them owned by my friends as well.

[boss.king]

No one will ever make the perfect anything, because no one will have exactly the same wants and needs. To some the iPhone screen might be the right size, to others the One X screen might be too small. Some like a pretty device, others like one that's comfortable to hold.

Unless companies start custom building phones for every person, there will never be a 'perfect device'.

[0dev]

Arguments over the "best" or "perfect" phone are pointless. The best phone is whatever phone you like.

For many people I know, a BlackBerry is the best phone. Many people on here will laugh but they fill a lot of people's needs and keep those people perfectly happy.

For others, Android phones are the only ones worth having because of the level of customistion, ROMs, etc.

And of course many believe iPhones are the best because they integrate with Apple's ecosystem and are easy to use, and Microsoft fans will say the same about WP7.

If you own a smartphone and you like it, that's what matters. If you feel the need to berate other people for their purchases you're either justifying your own to yourself or need to get a life.

[Tinyluph]

"The Perfect Phone"

"for me"

[Gav2k]

Originally Posted by neiltc13

Soon but we don't have LTE in the UK and I think the screen in the Lumia 800 is better (same res but smaller, so will be sharper).



I don't trust my iPhone to wake me up. It has failed on two occasions in the past due to some DST bug (I don't know if they fixed it yet, and I am not trusting it until I find out).

App Store crashes a lot on my iPhone 4. I just load up the top 25 list and scroll down a bit and the app closes itself. Not only that, but I also get a weird message every time I purchase an app saying that it was unable to purchase other apps that I already own.

Yes I tried them all in the shops, they had live demo units and I have used some of them owned by my friends as well.

The alarm bug was fixed along time ago and as for the app store glitch I've not has this issue since ios5.1.

A lot of errors come from restoring from corrupt backups!

[Tarzanman]

Did you not look at a Droid Razr Maxx anywhere?

[0dev]

Originally Posted by Tarzanman

Did you not look at a Droid Razr Maxx anywhere?

Sounds like a mix between a shaving company and a porn magazine, why do American networks rebrand their phones with such silly names, why‽

[r.j.s]

Because marketing thinks exotic names sells more phones.

[0dev]

Originally Posted by r.j.s

Because marketing thinks exotic names sells more phones.

Why haven't they realised it just doesn't? Part of the reason Apple's marketing works so well is they have one name for all their products - this is probably the reason they're not putting numbers on the end of iPads anymore.

Customers just get confused if you offer them a choice between the HTC Evo 4G LTE (the actual name for a phone on Sprint!) and the HTC Super One X Pro 4G+ (that one I made up but it could very well be real).

How the hell do they expect customers to be interested in their products if they make it a challenge to even remember what they're called? They should just leave the naming of devices to the manufacturers and focus on being the guys who provide signal to the phones.

/rant

[Tarzanman]

Originally Posted by 0dev

Sounds like a mix between a shaving company and a porn magazine, why do American networks rebrand their phones with such silly names, why‽

I don't think you have any room to talk, "iPad" anyone?

What's that? A device you use when you (or your computer) has that 'not so fresh' feeling?

[0dev]

Originally Posted by Tarzanman

I don't think you have any room to talk, "iPad" anyone?

What's that? A device you use when you (or your computer) has that 'not so fresh' feeling?

At least it's not a Super iPad Maxx 2

[smoledman]

From all accounts, the iPhone 4S is perfect. Stop the lies!

[*LTD*]

No, but they do make one that tops consumer satisfaction reports year after year.

If "perfect" doesn't exist, then the above is really the best we can do. And it's certainly better than one person's anecdotal evaluation.

[maflynn]

Originally Posted by neiltc13

I noticed that no company seems to make the "perfect" phone - they all seem to have at least one fatal flaw:

You can say that about any product. I recently went through an exercise of buying a new camera. There's lot of competition in that sector and many great cameras but there was no one perfect camera.

Back to the phones, you need to pick the platform that best fits your needs, and then from within the platform pick the model. With iOS, you're limited to a single phone but can be an advantage as the resale value of the iPhone is relatively high.

[r.j.s]

Originally Posted by *LTD*

And it's certainly better than one person's anecdotal evaluation.

No, it isn't. If everyone in the world agreed that the iPhone was the perfect phone, except for one person (who was looking to buy a phone) - then everyone else's reviews don't mean jack - because the phone is not good enough for that consumer.

[Melrose]

Originally Posted by neiltc13

I noticed that no company seems to make the "perfect" phone - they all seem to have at least one
fatal flaw for the way I personally use my phone:

Fixed that for ya.

The fact is the reason there are so many variations - er, make that "flaws" - is because not everyone uses a device the same way. What might be a flaw to one person can be a bonus to someone else. Granted, certain things like low resolution or bad color are almost universal, but other things - bulk, screen size, software compatibility... might not be flaws depending on needs, wants, and usage.

We vote with our wallets and buy what we need. Thank goodness for the free market.