Need help choosing an Android phone

[Foxi4]

Just wanted to assure you that the xperia m will be vastly superior in power consumption as well as performance per core. The cpu on the xperia m is built on a smaller fabrication process and should be more power efficient. Also a simple overclock to about 1.2~1.3 will close the gap against the htc. The a5 on the htc is inferior to the cpu on the Xperia. Also, In terms of developer support for custom roms and such i would go for xperia.

Yep, I figured as much, the phone will be at my doorstep Tuesday.

 

[Chocolina]

If gaming is even your concern, just go with the better GPU. If they're nearly the same class of phone, I'm sure your overall experience will be the same outside of gaming.

But what are your choices if you spend just $10 more? $25 more? $50 more?

Sell some your old things, broken or not. I sold two broke Nexus 7's and a LG Optimus G for like $230 to go towards a Nexus 5, pretty good for things I don't need anymore.

 

[Foxi4]

If gaming is even your concern, just go with the better GPU. If they're nearly the same class of phone, I'm sure your overall experience will be the same outside of gaming.

But what are your choices if you spend just $10 more? $25 more? $50 more?

Sell some your old things, broken or not. I sold two broke Nexus 7's and a LG Optimus G for like $230 to go towards a Nexus 5, pretty good for things I don't need anymore.

The other choices ranged between very underwhelming single-core phones based on chipsets from 2006 and the top-of-the-line phones that I'd have to pay a fortune for. I used to be quite the phone geek back in the day, but with the rapid advancements in the field I no longer care nor do I wish to have a cutting edge device, just a device that fits my needs, and the Xperia M seems to do just that with very little extra cost (I chose a cheaper plan and paid whole $30 for the handset ).

 

[Chocolina]

The other choices ranged between very underwhelming single-core phones based on chipsets from 2006 and the top-of-the-line phones that I'd have to pay a fortune for. I used to be quite the phone geek back in the day, but with the rapid advancements in the field I no longer care nor do I wish to have a cutting edge device, just a device that fits my needs, and the Xperia M seems to do just that with very little extra cost (I chose a cheaper plan and paid whole $30 for the handset ).

I'm personally probably going to sell my Nex5 when the next generation of Snapdragons start rolling out.

Gamecube emulation is possibility just around the corner on mobile (1-3 yrs)

 

[Foxi4]

I'm personally probably going to sell my Nex5 when the next generation of Snapdragons start rolling out.

Gamecube emulation is possibility just around the corner on mobile (1-3 yrs)

Dolphin's already working relatively well on stronger tablets.

 

[Chocolina]

Dolphin's already working relatively well on stronger tablets.

I see Youtube videos displaying how good one or two games run but still struggle with games that have alot of frames or alot of objects.

Now if your definition of well means limited support of games @<15 fps then I totally agree.

 

[Foxi4]

I see Youtube videos displaying how good one or two games run but still struggle with games that have alot of frames or alot of objects.

Now if your definition of well means limited support of games @<15 fps then I totally agree.

By relatively well I mean 1-15FPS without (or with minor) artifacting, which practically means that "the emulator is fine, it's the specs that aren't there yet".

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Because I just said that I'm getting an offer from a provider, I'm getting the phones for next to nothing for the sake of "staying with them".

I don't need an alternative, I need a clean-cut choice between the two.

You should just get a pc.


seriously though, I had xperia phones, I wouldn't recommend them, especially for gaming. They tend to chug quite a bit despite the hardware inside.

 

[Foxi4]

You should just get a pc.

seriously though, I had xperia phones, I wouldn't recommend them, especially for gaming. They tend to chug quite a bit despite the hardware inside.

As if I'm going to keep the bloated stock ROM for any longer than absolutely necessary.

Ain't gonna chug no more when I get rid of everything that's useless - the problem you're mentioning is a plague on with branded phone, not just Sony's and not just with Android on-board.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

As if I'm going to keep the bloated stock ROM for any longer than absolutely necessary.

Ain't gonna chug no more when I get rid of everything that's useless - the problem you're mentioning is a plague on with branded phone, not just Sony's and not just with Android on-board.

What are you doing taking a picture of Kirito-kun's ass?

Anyways, it's your call. I didn't know much about phones so I never dabbled with them. But with my Xperia, when I first got it, first day I downloaded a game called Yoo Ninja, one of those endless runners. Very small program, after about a week, my phone chugged like a bitch.

 

[Issac]

My gut feeling says you've made the right choice. I have no facts to back that up.
I had the first xperia x10 mini pro (with that fold out keyboard thing), and it was great to start with, but got really slow eventually and eventually I couldn't even play angry birds. However, that's an old phone, apps evolve, etc.
I believe it's the graphics capabilities that's the most important for emulators etc. Since you're going to settle with GBA at most, you should be good. I'm playing PSX games on my Galaxy S4, and it runs smoother than smooth. If I turn of the frame limiter, it runs with 4x speed (final fantasy 8, for example). And I'm not sure that that emulator uses more than one core of the cpu...

 

[klim28]

I vote S4. It has all I need for a phone.

 

[Chocolina]

A good response when people bring pc into an android topic.

 

[Chocolina]

I vote S4. It has all I need for a phone.

Should read the topic and what it's asking abit more (If you didn't already know he picked Xperia).
S4 is clearly way out of the suggested price range.

Its like "I want a $500 laptop" and someone comes in and says "You should get that $1600 entry line Mac instead"

 

[klim28]

Should read the topic and what it's asking abit more (If you didn't already know he picked Xperia).
S4 is clearly way out of the suggested price range.

Its like "I want a $500 laptop" and someone comes in and says "You should get that $1600 entry line Mac instead"

Oh sorry. I didn't read the entire thread.

 

[Foxi4]

I guess we'll all find out whether I made the right choice or not tomorrow in the afternoon - that's when the phone's going to be delivered. I'll post my comments after I fool around with it a bit.