The traditional cell phone market has really changed in Canada. Going to 2 year contracts was an excellent excuse to boost rates. If I choose to upgrade early I can spend $277 to buy out my S4 plus I have to pick a new plan. I currently spend $63. If I upgrade the plan is $85 for the same amount of data. Yikes. My S4 has an intermittent flickering band along the bottom of the screen. While it's working ok I don't want to be left without a device.
So, what to do; there are so many choices. I could get an Nexus 5, track down an invite to a One plus One, or I could by outright from expansys.ca which seems to have the most current phones unlocked and costs a bit less than purchasing from Bell outright. Problem is I want a smaller screened device without sacrificing performance. Short listed right now are the S5 mini, Alpha and Z3 compact. Maybe a table will help me out. I like to use my device as my main camera unless I am on holidays, I want water/dust proofing and wireless charging capability.
| Galaxy Alpha | S5 mini | Z3 compact | |
| screen size/display | 4.7" SuperAMOLED | 4.5" Super AMOLED | 4.6" HD IPS |
| weight | 115g | 120g | 129 |
| Processor | Exynos 5 1.8GHz | Exynos 3 1.4GHz | Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz |
| RAM | 2 GB | 1.5 GB | 2GB |
| Memory | 32 (no SD) | 16 GB | 16GB |
| Camera (B/F) | 12/ 2.1 | 8/2.1 | 20.7/2.1 |
| wireless charging | yes | maybe | magnetic |
| DLNA | yes | no | yes |
| IP | n/a | 67 | 65/68 |
My requirements have apparently changed. At one time I wouldn't have gotten a device without a removeable battery but with my tablets I've learned to live with it. I have a ton of wireless charge plates, including a Tylt one but the main thing is not to have to plug into a microUSB port. It seems that the Alpha is out since it doesn't have the water proofing I would like and even though it has a lot of memory, I'm kind of attached to SD cards.
While I'm partial to Samsung - I've contributed a lot to their profit margin between phones and tablets - I like the Z3 compact. Both +Tom Grey and +Mark Lastiwka like their Sony devices (Z2) although it seems to me that Mark has had some problems with a variety of them.
I guess there's no rush to decide since my S4, which I love, is still working and the Z3 compact isn't out yet. Any thoughts?
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