Tried and Tested: Smartphones…Samsung Galaxy S3, Nokia Lumia 900 and Motorola Razr i

When it comes to mobile phones, I always used to want the latest thing. And get it…pretty much the day it came out.

I’m a bit of a sucker for shiny new gadgets. Functionality wasn’t even the most important thing for me. As long as it was desirable, looked nice and would make my friends a teeny bit jealous, I’d have it.

Now though, things have changed a little. New models are released so often that it’s often hard to keep up. Contracts are longer, with 24months being the norm, yet during that time the phone you wanted so much will become old news, with newer, smarter handsets arriving on the scene accompanied by flashy adverts and queues around the block.

So, how do you decide what’s right for you? I live with a phone geek, who gives me a lot of the technical information, but for me, there’s a lot more to choosing a phone that that. It has to look right; feel right in my hand; be easy to use and have a great range of apps. (Which is the only place my trusty BlackBerry 9900 fell down. Fantastic phone for emails and useability – but no apps. Rubbish).

So, I have spent the last couple of months using three of the latest and apparently best smartphones on the market to see which I would like to use longer term. And here are my thoughts:

Nokia Lumia 900

I first wrote about the Nokia Lumia 900 a few months ago. I liked it, but after a week or so became frustrated with a couple of things. Firstly, the size. The phone measures 127.8mm x 68.5mm, which is probably quite normal for handsets these days, but for my hands (which are a little faulty) it’s just too large to handle easily. One hand texting or emailing  is completely out, as is walking and typing on the move. Compatibility is also an issue. Many of the apps available on Android and iPhone aren’t made for Windows Phones – most notably for me Instagram and Feedly. The camera is OK but you definitely have to fiddle with the settings for low light photos, despite the flash. In daylight though? The pictures are really good.

But, apart from that, it’s a nice phone. It’s attractive (I have the white one) and sleek looking, with a large screen that has a good resolution (even better on the 920). It has never crashed on me, the battery life is good and it’s really fast. The front screen, with the customisable tiles and colours, means you really can have the apps that suit you to hand in a moment, and despite the lack of some recognisable apps, there are others that work almost as well (Lomogram is an acceptable replacement for adding filters to your images) and the app catalogue is huge. Plus, if you’re an XBox fan, you can sync the two and play games on your handset – which is great for some.

Personally, I wouldn’t keep the Lumia 900 long-term, but the newer 920 model (which annoyingly came out almost straight afterwards) is definitely worth a look. It’s still big and has the same issue with the apps, but everything else is highly improved. The camera is incredible, everything is quicker and it has lots of new features. I’ll have a play with that soon and report back.

Samsung Galaxy S3

I was seriously considering purchasing a Samsung Galaxy S3 after reading so many fantastic reviews about the phone. I’m not eligible for an upgrade yet, so wanted to test one out before shelling out my hard earned pennies on the handset, which is expensive (around £450).

I’m really glad I did. The Samsung S3 runs on Android, so was really easy to set up, had an amazing selection of apps (including Instagram and Feedly) and worked really, really fast. The front screen is customisable, although some of the options are really ugly. You can set up a few different screens with your required apps and then swipe between them, so I kept the ugly but necessary (such as calendar reminders) options hidden. Even with the clock and just the essential apps on the front screen though, it annoyed me as I like things to be neat and tidy…and this wasn’t.

It’s also MASSIVE. Ridiculously so, at 136.6mm x 70.6mm. People have of course commented on the size of the Samsung Galaxy Note, which is what the press are referring to as a “phablet” (Horrid word), somewhere in the middle of a phone and a tablet. But the Galaxy S3 is also huge – something no-one had warned me about. My hands are a little damaged so I appreciate that most won’t experience pain while using the phone, but I did! I physically had to stretch my fingers to hold the phone and use two hands for everything. A little frustrating.

I started to fall in love with the Galaxy S3, but there was one other thing stopping me. Auto-correct. It is INSANE. Trying to type simple words like “and” would turn into “abducted”. How many people write “abducted” on a daily basis, hmm? There were hundreds of examples of this, and I think my friends started to think I was overdoing it on the tramadol with some of the strange, unchecked messages I sent them. I thought it may learn and improve with use but no, in the month I used it there was no change, so I had to spend a long time editing messages before I sent them. Not something I really have the time, energy or inclination to do. Most phones will recognise when you have perhaps hit the key next to the letter you were trying to type and change it to the correct word. Not the S3. It will change it to something with completely different letters and words you would NEVER write in a million years. I’m not sure who programmed it, but it needs a lot of work. As you can probably tell, I found this really frustrating and nearly threw the phone out of the window a couple of times. The only option was to turn off predictive text completely, but that’s not something I want to be forced to do now.

So. Personally, I wouldn’t buy the Galaxy S3. I think it is an excellent phone – it’s quick, has an excellent range of apps, a great sized screen and an OK camera. However, the poor battery life, huge size and predictive text spoilt it for me.

Don’t write it off completely though. Through speaking to Twitter, most people loved their S3. Many said they had bought spare batteries to counter the draining problem, and most had got used to the predictive text eventually. And…Samsung have brought out a mini version (which I would love to try) which would fit my little hands perfectly and looks beautiful. Definitely an option to consier.

Motorola Razr i

I didn’t know anything about this phone until my other half brought it home and was gushing about it. He has always been a Nokia fan, and loves the Lumia, but was really impressed with the Razr i. After a few weeks, he got his paws on the Lumia 920, so I got to test the Razr i.

This is by far my favourite phone of the three. Sizewise (at 122.5mm x 60.9mm), it’s perfect. It fits nicely into my hand and I can operate it with one hand, rather than needing both to do everything. The screen goes right up to the edges of the handset, rather than wasting space with edging, which is nice, as you don’t feel like you’re losing out to the bigger handsets in this regard. The resolution is not perfect – but it’s perfectly acceptable.

App wise, you have the full Android catalogue, which means pretty much everything. It’s super-speedy and I found the battery life to be OK – it lasted me from morning to night without any issues. Predictive text here is great too – it usually recognises the right word, and it’s easy to cancel or swap a suggestion when it does get it wrong. This makes emailing using the phone a doddle.

The home screen is of course customiseable and looks OK – I’ve found that with most Androids, the home screens are a little ugly so only keep the essentials on the front page and move the rest to the second or third screen. Apart from that though? This phone is brilliant. I used it for 2 months (until James broke his screen and “borrowed” it back) but I want to get it back ASAP, as I have no complaints at all. The camera isn’t brilliant, there are better options out there, but it does the job OK.

Out of the three, this would be the one I would spend my money on. It’s speedy, has great apps, a decent camera, great battery life,is easy to use and comfortable to handle. Just about everything I need!

Please comment below letting us know;

• Which phone you’re using at the moment, and what you love/hate about it
• If you have any of the phones listed above…do you agree with my thoughts?