Some Phone Advice Please? :)

[articuno1au]

So I'm looking to get a new phone.

My current phone is a HTC Trophy 7 (a.k.a. HTC Sparc). The phone is no longer compatible with the network I am on.

I'm looking at 3 options:

Nokia Lumia 920: http://www.nokia.com/au-en/products/phone/lumia920/

Samsung Galaxy S3 (NOT the 4G version): http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxys3/

Motorola Razr HD: http://www.motorola.com/us/consumers/DROID-RAZR-HD-BY-MOTOROLA/m-DROID-RAZR-HD,en_US,pd.html

To preface this, I WILL NOT BUY AN IPHONE. I would however like some advice as to which way you all think I should go. Price isn't important as all of these phones are free on my contract.

So here's where I am at the moment.

Lumia 920:

Pros:

Ecosystem, I'm already on WP7, LTE, Battery Life, Nice Design, Good (basic) voice control (for calls and messaging in my car), wireless charging (kinda meh).

Cons:

App ecosystem blows, sub-par multi-tasking, No replaceable battery, dual core.

Samsung GS3:

Pros:

App ecosystem, compatible with my email etc, Battery life, Good community support (CM10 etc), strong processor, tons of ram, good storage.

Cons:

Sub-par shipping ROM, Most of the big features are specific to the rom, Screen is a bit meh, Voice control appears hit and miss at best.

Motorola Razr:

Pros:

App ecosystem, compatible with my email etc, BIG Battery life (25% more than both phones in battery size), really nice screen.

Cons:

Sub-par shipping ROM, Voice control appears hit and miss at best, It's a Motorola, dual core,

Regarding usage:

I use my phone to make phone calls a lot. I text a lot, but I'm pretty easy on my data usage (I'm mainly using wireless). I need to be able to use voice control via bluetooth in my car. I don't really stream media, I don't listen to music off of it unless I am running. I don't need LTE and I'll rarely be in locations that support it. I won't touch the GS3 4G because it has enormous battery drain issues.

I'm a bit shy of going WP8 due to what happened with WP7. I really like the voice control (it works well, reads me my messages and lets me reply etc). The app ecosystem doesn't worry me beyond that the apps I use are generally of lower quality on WP than on Android (Endomondo, FitBit) and it has terrible multi-tasking.

Moving to android isn't so much of a worry so long as voice control is still really good. Everything else I can work around, just not that.

So yeah. Any advice, first hand experience etc would be very much appreciated :)

[Muhammad Farrukh]

From these, I would suggest the 920.

Jelly Beans has brought much needed improvements, but, at least for me, I won't get an Android, unless its a Nexus device.

Razr just has a phenomenal battery, nothing else on its list is impressive.

Moving to Windows Phone 8, you will have the familiar and improved experience.

[ajua]

If you are already on Windows Phone, pick the Lumia 920. If you have purchased apps/games, you can install them on WP8. I've had the HTC Windows Phone 8X for more than a week now and I've been very pleased. I already love it :D

WP8 is a welcomed upgrade. The hardware (CPU, screen resolution and tech, etc.) is awesome. The performance is very noticeable coming from WP7. the voice control is still one of the best and the multitasking will improve a lot when more apps are updated to support fast resume and other WP8 features.

Like Muhammad said, Android has come a long way, but I wouldn't buy any phone that isn't a Nexus. The stock Android experience is really good. Between the SG3 and the Razr I would choose the SG3 because I think Samsung support for it's flagship devices is one the best of the Android OEMs. Also, the development scene is very active when it comes to Samsung phones.

You didn't mentioned it, but why not consider the Nexus 4? It is cheap and has Android in its stock form. I would choose this one after the 8X or the Lumia 920.

[articuno1au]

Still can't get your hands on them in Aus. They're sold out.

Also, contracts in Aus let me buy pretty much whatever I want and not pay any more than the contract price.

I only bought one WP7 app, and it's a navigation app :p I tend to write me own stuff for WP7.

I'm really torn. I'm using Viber at the moment to harass a friend, and it's next to useless on WP7, but it's brilliant on Android. If I close the app after hitting send, it doesn't allow it to send and the message fails. I have to leave my phones screen on while I wait.

I wouldn't have that trouble with Android. It's that kind of stuff that's really getting to me :(

Thank you both for the advice, any other advice is welcome :)