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Welp, high time for a smartphone.

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DeviantProtagonist:
Greetings. Time and again I find myself surrounded by people -- whether family, friend or otherwise -- glued to a smartphone. I was indifferent for a time, simply amused with the fact they'd rather socialize by phone whilst they're near each other. Conversely? What I have now is a Kyocera -- an old numpad cellular that runs on minutes. Yeah, verily unlike what might as well be the modernized Swiss army knife. Those old man feels. :P

While said people gave me funny looks, it's now I'm finding virtue in that notion myself. That occurred to me after speaking with dad, who recently replaced his smartphone with a Fido Nexus 5. Something changed in me then, like a snap; people got by so well because of the multitude of things to get along their day. Not only that, work can be boring as fuck and it's lenient with activity lulls as is. This alone makes a buying incentive.

Moving on to the brunt, how should I finally invest? I imagine many of you have years upon years of experience with this, so what brands should I familiarize myself with? I know Iphones and Androids are a thing, but not much else. What I'm looking for in particular is a WiFi service that provides Facebook, Youtube and a music player. Anything else is a bonus, but given the plethoric nature of smartphones, it's probably a given.

Another thing to consider is that I'm from Canada, so anything easy on CAD would be nice. To give an idea, my dad pays a monthly bill of $50, which seems like a fair price. Maybe the Fido Nexus 5 is a worthy one? Still, I give very much appreciation in advance, as I'm very new to this concept as a whole. All that aside, feel free to indulge your experiences with smartphones and share if you happen to be in a similar position as I.

Scotty:
You've asked the right person.

I don't know much about Canadian Carriers, but that's where my lack of knowledge ends.

Smartphones are tools in this day and age. At work, they help with simple menial tasks, and are essential for smoke breaks. Hell, they ARE the modern 'smoke break'. In your daily life, they're very empowering. You have a computer in your pocket. You can't get lost no matter where you are in the world, you can translate any language, and communicate with anyone relevant in your life at any time through an innumerable amount of ways. Of course, all of these perks apply to iPhone and Android phones. I won't be talking about Windows, it's a dead platform for mobile.

I'm an Android fanboy, and will die with my Nexus phones. What makes a Nexus phone so great is the fact that they run pure Android. Free from carrier limitations and bloat, or any skins on top of the OS from manufacturers that bog down the system. Plus, they're the first to get neat huge updates. So look for a pure Android experience as your first Android phone. That's what I'll recommend. iPhones are super smooth and stable. You'll find little to no lag throughout the system, it's Apple's greatest strength, since they're in charge of the hardware AND software. Camera quality is top notch, and the quality of build ensures good resale value.

It sounds like you've taken a liking to the Nexus 5, and that's a fine phone. Most of my friends have one. Don't expect the best camera and battery though. It's a little aged. If you're looking for a cheap, but great phone, I can never stop recommending the Moto G. $180 USD gets you a 5 inch phone with a near pure android experience, coupled with stereo front speakers and great support for quick updates. Again, not the best camera, but it's a sub $200 phone. Also, Micro SD card support. Can't go wrong there.

Ask all the questions you need to.

altuixde:
I've been an iPhone user since 2011 and an Android user for three weeks. I switched to save money and I think I've achieved that, in the short term at least. My Verizon iPhone 4 from 2011 stopped getting security updates from Apple and I figured it was due to Apple using planned obsolescence to drive more iPhone sales. The planned obsolescence thing could be true, but later I read that Android phones can become obsolete even faster than iPhones. Oops. Well I can't return my Xperia Z1 compact because that deadline has passed. Selling it is an option, but it's not such a bad phone, so I'll just hang on to it unless I run into a significant reason to sell it and move back to iOS.

One of the things I miss about iOS is the privacy controls. On my iPhone, I can deny apps access to location services, conacts, photos and the microphone. On Android, the Google Play Store warns you about what services the apps will have access to before you download them, but if you choose to use an app you can't deny the app access to anything that it's given permission to access by default. Apps could read my contacts and then my contacts will get spam and calls from telemarketers. For this reason I haven't installed many apps on my Android phone yet. I've read that Android had a hidden feature called "App ops" that granted users privacy controls similar to what iOS users have, but that feature has been removed; hopefully Google will bring it back in the future.

Some minor things about my Xperia Z1 compact:
You have to tap a little bit higher on the screen compared to iOS in order to have your tap register in the location you want.
The colors aren't as accurate as on my iPhone (for example, the background behind the words "project-imas.com" on the top of this page should be greenish blue; on my Xperia it's just blue).
The battery life isn't as good as on my iPhone 4. Granted my new Xperia has 4x the processor cores and 4x the RAM.

Issues about iPhones:
They cost more and the price of internal flash storage is higher than it should be.

As you can see I'm heavily favoring the iPhone. Of course I'm also biased because I'm used to using Apple products. If you do decide to get an iPhone, don't get anything less than an iPhone 5S; I think that the fact that it has a 64-bit CPU will give it more longevity. My Core 2 Duo (64-bit) MacBook can still run the latest Mac operating system even though it was released in 2008; while 32-bit Macs have been stuck running an older OS since 2011. When making your decision, also take into account whether there's an Apple mall store near where you live; the staff at the Apple stores are usually very helpful to Mac and iDevice owners when they have questions and problems.

Well, that's all I can write about smartphones for now. There are things that I like about Android but so many more cons have been coming to mind than pros. Maybe that's to be expected since I'm still getting used to it.

SakuraMaxX:
I'm right behind Scotty's recommendations regarding the Nexus 5 or one of the Moto devices.  I switched from a Nexus 5 to a Moto X 2014 and while I love both of them to death, the Moto X is just a tad better in my opinion (with the exception to speedy updates, N5 gets them earlier).  Do yourself a favor and get a Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Moto X, or Moto G.

Scotty:

--- Quote from: altuixde on April 29, 2015, 07:08:17 am ---As you can see I'm heavily favoring the iPhone. Of course I'm also biased because I'm used to using Apple products.

--- End quote ---

I would add that you're also comparing a relatively old phone with no more support from Sony at this point. One of the many cons of getting an Android phone that isn't Nexus, or close to pure Android. But I will agree that if you get an iPhone, don't go below a 5S.

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