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iPhone 4 vs Galaxy SIII Mini vs Bear Pro vs HTC One Mini

P

PajamaPants

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 2, 2013
74
0
I would like to upgrade my iPhone 3G but I am on a low budget and the above are my options. I would like a phone that would last me some time, with a better camera and a good and large screen.
The one I am most find of is the Bear Pro, but how it compares to the HTC one is unknow.
The HTC one mini if its true might be a good buy. [EDIT] And another website says it will cost about 400$ so.. Nope.
My opinion on the Galaxy S3 Mini is just meh.
And finally I love iOS but am afraid that the phone will become outdated very quickly and in some time I will have to settle only with the calls like on my old iPhone. And probably I will fill the 8GBs in the first two weeks. :p
Wouldnt mind waiting until about the middle/end of August but the sooner the better.
Thanks in advance!
 
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I'd stay away from the "Bear", that looks like an HTC Ripoff and a lawsuit waiting to happen. My money would be on the Galaxy S3 Mini or HTC One Mini depending on your personal preferences.
 
I know that the Bear Pro is a knock-Off from a unknown company but I fell in love with the screen, and specs I will wait until a see a review of it because the build quality could be awful.... What would exactly happen if the company got sued and if I had bought one?

And (IDK how to edit the title) what are your thoughts about the Sony Xperia L ?
 
Stay away from Touchwiz, and don't buy a device with AOSP that isn't supported by Google.

Both the HTC One Mini and Sony Xperia L would be nice choices. I haven't used either, but I have used Touchwiz. And you don't want to use AOSP when it's probably built by someone who may or may not ship a good working build. Because it can have the greatest specs ever, but if the drivers are completely horrible, the phone is useless.
 
Just realizes that I can get a different discount soon so :D.

New options by order of preference:

- HTC One X

- Sony Xperia T - skyfall phone :p

- Samsung Galaxy SIII - and this has Touch Wiz so... not?

Thoughts anyone?
 
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PajamaPants said:
Just realizes that I can get a different discount soon so :D.

New options by order of preference:

- HTC One X

- Sony Xperia T - skyfall phone :p

- Samsung Galaxy SIII - and this has Touch Wiz so... not?

Thoughts anyone?
Click to expand...

Can't go wrong with any of those options as they were all last year's flagship devices. I'm not overly familiar with the xperia T but I do own a One X and have played with the S3. The One X has average to good battery life out the box but if you root and install a custom kernel it goes from average to exceptional, plus there's a very strong development community so you can always have the latest and greatest software version if you so choose. The display is better than the S3, camera quality is about the same but there's no removable battery and it lacks sd card support. 16 gigs with about 12 usable is the most you'll have available to you.
 
Out of those three I'd probably go with the S3. Samsung has a better history of backing their phones and the S3 is still pretty solid.
 
PajamaPants said:
What would exactly happen if the company got sued and if I had bought one?
Click to expand...

You would lose the ability to have any warranty work done, they wouldn't provide updates, etc. I'd stay away from them and pick the One mini over the SIII mini as it is a year old already.
 
Jessica Lares said:
Stay away from Touchwiz, and don't buy a device with AOSP that isn't supported by Google.

Both the HTC One Mini and Sony Xperia L would be nice choices. I haven't used either, but I have used Touchwiz. And you don't want to use AOSP when it's probably built by someone who may or may not ship a good working build. Because it can have the greatest specs ever, but if the drivers are completely horrible, the phone is useless.
Click to expand...

I'm not a big fan of TouchWiz either but the millions of people buying the Galaxy line of phones seem to have a different opinion from us.

I used the Google Edition ROM on my i9505 and it worked flawlessly other than the home button lag which is due to the recents needing a double press of the home button.
 
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Don't quite know how but since this morning I no longer like knock-Off phones. For the best.

Now I like the Sony Xperia T the most, it is a flagship device introduced September, in about a month I can get it at the price of a entry-level smart phone. The specs arent that good but the build quality seems pretty good (every sony device that I owned still works perfectly until today) and I quite like the NFC tag things. And don't know how but I actually started liking the futuristic 007 design!

Anyone here can tell me why I shoulder buy it and buy other thing?
 
PajamaPants said:
Don't quite know how but since this morning I no longer like knock-Off phones. For the best.

Now I like the Sony Xperia T the most, it is a flagship device introduced September, in about a month I can get it at the price of a entry-level smart phone. The specs arent that good but the build quality seems pretty good (every sony device that I owned still works perfectly until today) and I quite like the NFC tag things. And don't know how but I actually started liking the futuristic 007 design!

Anyone here can tell me why I shoulder buy it and buy other thing?
Click to expand...

The Sony Xperia T is definitely a decent phone. However, first see if the poor viewing angles with the display is going to bother you (same issue as with the Xperia Z).
 
PajamaPants said:
Don't quite know how but since this morning I no longer like knock-Off phones. For the best.

Now I like the Sony Xperia T the most, it is a flagship device introduced September, in about a month I can get it at the price of a entry-level smart phone. The specs arent that good but the build quality seems pretty good (every sony device that I owned still works perfectly until today) and I quite like the NFC tag things. And don't know how but I actually started liking the futuristic 007 design!

Anyone here can tell me why I shoulder buy it and buy other thing?
Click to expand...

It's not really a knockoff phone. BLU is an American company based in Miami. If the T strikes your fancy though. More power to you.
 
TacticalDesire said:
It's not really a knockoff phone. BLU is an American company based in Miami. If the T strikes your fancy though. More power to you.
Click to expand...

Blu may be an American company but they design nothing. Like Micromax (a massive growth story in India) they go to the same factory in China, have the manufacturer slap on their badge, wallpaper etc and that is that.
 
I was more of adressing the Bear Pro but also the Blu, and Blu doesnt sell anything in my country and the Bear too... If I had a problem with the phone, no Blu or Bear Support will come easily.

But due to the fact that the Xperia T is dual core I am worried that it will become outdated more quickly... Or something.
 
PajamaPants said:
I was more of adressing the Bear Pro but also the Blu, and Blu doesnt sell anything in my country and the Bear too... If I had a problem with the phone, no Blu or Bear Support will come easily.

But due to the fact that the Xperia T is dual core I am worried that it will become outdated more quickly... Or something.
Click to expand...

As Peterg2 suggested, I'd worry more about the display quality.

Don't recall you saying where you live but is the Nexus 4 an option?
 
I will try to check them in person soon enough. Where I live only one online store sells it, and my providers discount doesnt apply there... So it is almost the double of the price of these three.
Here are the cheapest prices I can get (in euros). Say something if they are too damn high:

Nexus 4 - 400
HTC One X - 260
Sony Xperia T - 220 (one I am most fond of)
Galaxy SIII - 270

This while locked but not on a plan.
 
PajamaPants said:
I will try to check them in person soon enough. Where I live only one online store sells it, and my providers discount doesnt apply there... So it is almost the double of the price of these three.
Here are the cheapest prices I can get (in euros). Say something if they are too damn high:

Nexus 4 - 400
HTC One X - 260
Sony Xperia T - 220 (one I am most fond of)
Galaxy SIII - 270

This while locked but not on a plan.
Click to expand...

The Nexus 4 is very expensive where you are (irrespective of it being 8 or 16 GB). That works out to roughly US$520 which is way too high and locked? Really bad.
 
Actually the Nexus 4 is unlocked and has the perfect spec sheet for me but WAY out of my budget...:(
 
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PajamaPants said:
Actually the Nexus 4 is unlocked and has the perfect spec sheet for me but WAY out of my budget...:(
Click to expand...

I can imagine. In North America every nexus 4 is unlocked, no matter whether bought through the play store or from a carrier. I assumed that was the case worldwide but I guessed that wherever you were, for some reason, the carrier was able to sell locked ones.

In any event, way too pricey. A pity you cannot go and play with these phones yourself. Of the companies you listed, how is the support for each of these phones there?
 
Well from techdy (that makes the bear) and Blu we have NO support at all...
I guess I would have to ship the phones there or something...

Nexus 4 we have support but not that good one.
All of the others are sold by Vodafone and therefore I have good support on them. But I will have a hard time trying to see those in person... Oh well, the discount is about a month away so, let's wait and see.


About the Xperia T screen, I have been googling it but half of the people say it's worse than their entry-level phones and the other half say its one of the awesomest displays that they ever saw, crisp and vivid.
I think maybe there are defective screens out there of different versions or the screen protector they give is bad... But again, I want to see it and feel it in person.
 
Do not buy an iPhone 4. Please, just don't. Unless you want to spend the whole time you own the thing shouting at it and throwing it against various walls when it takes 10 seconds to load the text app only to crash and reboot itself.

Personally I recommend the S3 Mini but I am partial to Samsung. They do have unlocked bootloaders though, like the Nexus 4, and since it's been around for a bit there should be some nice custom ROM development going on for it.
 
0dev said:
Do not buy an iPhone 4. Please, just don't. Unless you want to spend the whole time you own the thing shouting at it and throwing it against various walls when it takes 10 seconds to load the text app only to crash and reboot itself.
Click to expand...

That option has been scrapped... Right now I have a iPhone 3G... So basically that is my life now. I feel lucky if the app actually loads :D.
 
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