Hello all, I am looking at upgrading from a dumb phone to a smart phone and would like some advice. I am currently looking at the Google galaxy note 2, does anyone have one or know anyone who has one and can give me their opinion on it? It's quite expensive, but it has alot of nifty features and the large screen size could be useful for when I don't have my laptop.

I'm also looking at the latest (LG) Google nexus, as I have been told it is the best semi-budget, good quality smart phone out there.

Anyone got any advice on smart phones, either particularly good ones or phones people would advise me to avoid?

Que in everyone proposing their smart phones.

Well, let me be the first to break the ice:

Samsung Galaxy S3 (or S4, I guess)

I won't, because I doubt it's still being sold. On the other hand, I'm not about to recommend anything else either, because I don't know enough about anything else. My gut feeling today though, would be to choose a Nexus, as I understand those are Google's reference phones and get the system updates directly from Google rather than from the phone maker (which are often late or even completely absent).

Or Galaxy Note (whatever), with a stylus. I rooted my tablet and do fine without a Google account.

My wife has one and she seems quite happy with it. Ive not used it much, but i wouldnt mind owning one :)

I use Lumia 920 (from work) - its decent, except the store is still kinda luke warm compared to android. Hoping it will improve with time, but we'll see. If i could, id swap this one to note2. I like the even bigger screen, stulys + android in general.

The two best smartphones out there are the HTC One and the Sony Xperia Z. I would personally choose the HTC One as HTC has made many phones and had more experience IMHO

The Galaxy Note 2 is excellent but large. Make sure you get a feel for it first if you choose to get it

The Nexus brand is a great phone, particularly the Nexus 4

The Galaxy III is also awesome. Has a nice screen and some great features. They're really easy to use

All in all though, it comes down to you actually picking one up and having a look and play with it. That's my advice

I personally have a Samsung Galaxy S2 and love it. I've hacked the crap out of it so it runs how I want it to run

You might be interested in reading:

~ XDA Developers.com
~ XDA Developers.com forums

Nexus 4 hands down. It's a great phone, you'll have the last and shiniest update from Google, and a horde of devs in XDA working to make it even better. Add to that that's darn sexy.

Oh, and it has 2GB of RAM. Great for future updates.

If you don't like it, take the Nexus 4 as the bare minimum to compare specs. Google launches the Nexus as standard, so the next Android version will be designed to fit the new nexus and run at least well enough on the two previous (or previous two... or how whatever is said).

I would like to buy this .

God I love living in a dead zone. :D

As long as it isnt an Iphone you should be ok.

I use a sony xperia something or other, my parents (who share a phone) just got a Motorola G but cant use it cause it takes a micro sim which they are waiting to have delivered.

But yeah, just not an Apple product IMO.

Considering that you're in the UK I'd go with the Nexus 5 (disclaimer, I own a N5 and it's an amazing phone), especially if you're off contract and on a PAYG sim (plus monthly options).

From what I remember Carphone Warehouse are selling the 16 GB Nexus 5 for just £240 now. In the UK at least you can boil down the whole Android phone question to either the Moto G or Nexus 5, no other phones are even remotely close to the value of those.

Was never a fan of Samsung's Touchwiz, nor their hardware in general, and having a Nexus also has the advantage of either getting updates from Google themselves, or the easiest process to root and install a custom ROM out there.

I went for a note 2 : )
The large screen makes it useful when I am writing emails.

General tip for anyone wondering which smartphone to choose:

Some smartphone manufacturers (certainly Samsung) have a tendency to make a couple of "flagship models" in each generation, and a plethora of derived "non-flagship models", usually with slightly lower specs. Here's the advice: Stick to the flagship models! The derived models may seem tempting if you don't have a pressing need for maximum performance, or you can't afford the latest flagship model, but they are not tested as thoroughly as the flagship models are, and their software is not updated nearly as frequently, or for as long after release as it is for the flagship models. If you can do with less than state-of-the-art, or just cannot afford it, get the flagship model from the previous generation instead. You'll be much better off with that in the long run.

I have experience with chinese phones, and I can assure you that while they're good phones, they always have one or two gripes which give you a headache. It could be the screen, the battery, the wifi reception... something will be substandard (not -bad- but not enough to say is good, just barely acceptable).

The only MTK based phone which I can safely recommend is the Xiaomi Hongmi (Red Rice). Inexpensive, good hardware, nice software, and it 'nearly' works (every chinese phone will have to suffer one or two tweaks to work as you want it to work. Root is usually needed).

Newsflash: There are no smart phones.