Android smartphone advice? [Passing For Normal]

My local BFF and her husband are now able to put me on their AT&T cellular plan at very low cost to me (previously anything more than a very simple un-smart-phone with basic voice & text was prohibitively expensive). So I'm finally going to join the rest of y'all and get a smartphone with a data plan.

Because Dan the Man smells a new tech buying opportunity and becomes a runaway horse -- all you can do is hang on for dear life and make sure you're still there at the finish line -- I have to make a decision on which smartphone I want by 10am tomorrow morning. I spent several hours yesterday reading about the damn things until my eyes crossed and my brain hurt and I couldn't remember which was which and which did or didn't do this or that thing... but at least I have it narrowed down. I think.

It will definitely be an Android phone. Because reasons.

I'm leaning toward either the LG G2 or the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Galaxy Pros: 16 GB + has micro SD card slot for up to 64 GB additional.
Galaxy Cons: Apparently a battery hog; often needs mid-day recharge.

LG G2 Pros: Great battery life; doesn't need mid-day recharging. 32 GB of internal storage (22 GB of user available storage). Optical stabilization for video camera.
LG G2 Cons: No data card slot.

Both are supposed to be great cameras, voice phones, texters, etc. Doesn't seem to be much difference there. They're roughly the same weight and similar in size. Both have plastic bodies, not metal. Price is not a factor in this decision.

Does anyone have strong opinions about either of these? Love? Hate? Best thing ever? Should be thrown into nearest large body of water?

Haaaalp???

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I'm sadly an iphone lady, but K has that galaxy & loves it.

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Many thanks! All input is helpful. :-)

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Mal, my last phone was a Galaxy II and it got to the point where I needed to have it plugged in virtually all the time to keep it from failing. And I don't use many minutes at all; it was mostly just on standby. If it had to think too hard to web browse it would think it was critically low and shut everything off and I'd have to plug in to get it to start again and when I did I'd have 40-60 percent battery. Super annoying. Wound up paying the penalty to get to trade it in early. Tried a different android (an HTC) but didn't like that at all. I have an iphone now.

In all honestly, there are things I miss about the Galazy but the frustrations were just too much.

Ah, see, that's what I'm afraid of. My friend D is a heavy user and she's had serious problems with keeping her Galaxy charged enough to be functional. She recently dumped her Galaxy 3 and is trying a Galaxy 4, but it's too soon to know if it will be any better.

Thanks ever so! This is a major concern for me, so your input is very much on point.

I would go with battery over storage - it's a big problem for me with my current phone (not one you're considering, whew).

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, too. Much appreciated!

My brother works for at&t, and he's had both the Galaxy and the G2. He wasn't a fan of the Galaxy, mostly because of the battery life; I don't remember what he thought of the G2, but I do remember him saying that unless you need your phone to function as a tablet computer, 64 gb is pretty excessive.

(WIth that said, I'm mildly frustrated whenever I realize that my 16gb phone doesn't have some of the music I want loaded on it. But given the size of my music collection, the phone hasn't been invented yet that would fix that, so mostly I think it's just a case of me stomping my feet and demanding things like transporters and fangrrl communes. The world isn't perfect, and I don't know why I expect my cell phone to be the exception to that rule. *shrugs*)

ps. HI. How've you been? *g*

Yeah, it's storage capacity for music, audiobooks that's got me pondering that factor. Even my iPod can't hold anywhere near all my media -- or even all my music. This would be a fraction. And there's also storage capacity for recording videos with the phone in the camera, which is something I expect to do occasionally, though each one would be pretty short, certainly under five minutes. I have no idea what that would translate to in file size.

But yeah... battery life. That's kind of feeling like it should be one of the top three criteria. Being on the road and having your phone die when you have no way to recharge it... that would suck mightily, since that's when you (I) need it most anyway.

Anyway: Thank you! That was helpful. :-)

And hi to you, too. <3

Me, I'm... well. It's midwinter, so my chronic depression is in its annual downswing, but no worse than usual at this time of year. I'm just sort of riding it out, you know? Waiting for my enthusiasm to wake up along with all the spring flowers, as it generally does. *wry grin*

I have the S3 and it's a massive improvement over my old S2 (which did have battery issues - my S3 is now 14 months old and still great). I am a VERY heavy user with twitter especially, and basically so long as I'm not playing candy crush (which is def a battery hog), I don't need to charge mid-day, so I would offer that as a counter point to the battery worries. Two of my flatmates have the S4 and both love it, use their phones a lot and are generally pretty happy with them, so take that for what it's worth too. <3

Oh, and in case this is relevant to your decision - flatmate also dropped her S4 down two storeys onto concrete (fell through bleachers at a sporting event), and it survived with a teeny tiny scratch and no other damage at all; we were all stunned.

I have no advice for you, since I don't have a smartphone (by choice), but this made me laugh: Because Dan the Man smells a new tech buying opportunity and becomes a runaway horse -- all you can do is hang on for dear life and make sure you're still there at the finish line

I so know that type. There's a family we were close to growing up, who are still neighbors with my parents, where the dad is just that sort of tech-enthusiastic engineer type. He recently waved his newest smartphone at me and told me I was irrational for not getting one, and preferring a separate mp3-player and a separate ereader and a separate non-smart phone and a separate laptop. Heh.

You are SO not irrational. I also have a separate mp3 for my music and podfic and I think I always will. I need my phone for phone-y things.

Passing For Normal

Android smartphone advice?

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