Upgrading from my Nokia E51 to android...which phone to get?

[Praeses]

So I've finally decided that I need a new phone, although my E51 has served me really well!

I want a phone that's officially getting the ICS update and it must have gorilla glass (my phones endure a lot of rough times for some reason), but I don't want to spend an arm and a leg if possible. Also, I want to buy the phone cash. I don't have a constant income, but I have cash so really don't want to bother with a contract.

I see the SII is available from cacell for R5400, but that's a bit steep. Would prefer to pay around R4000, but if no proper phones in that range is available, I might have to get the SII or consider getting it on contract

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Ockie]

It is not in your price range...but I really recommend the Moto RAZR. ICS update for it has been confirmed by Motorola aswell. I heard looking at the 2nd Q of this year.

 

[g0nt4du]

Get a contract depending on how much you use your phone. Just put the cash aside for the debit order. Reason is that way you pay close to R 2500 for a phone vs 5000+ otherwise.

 

[Bryn]

I was in the same boat a week ago and bought the Samsung Galaxy Ace unused off Gumtree for R1.5k. Absolutely love the phone and I didn't spend half of what I expected to. It only has Gingerbread though. For a grand or so more you could look at the LG Optimus Black.

Alternatively, buy a used iPhone 4 for four grand and wait for a sucker trading a Galaxy S II.

 

[Praeses]

Thinking of importing a HTC Sensation. It's getting ICS...but is it a good phone?

 

[HapticSimian]

Thinking of importing a HTC Sensation. It's getting ICS...but is it a good phone?

Been very happy with mine, and been running ICS (custom ROM though) since the 20th of Jan. The only criticism I really have is that its reception isn't stellar - although that's judging purely by the indicated signal bars. I've yet to experience a dropped call. The GPS is rock solid, it's plenty fast and HTC's Sense interface is the only manufacturer's overlay that actually improves on vanilla Android as far as I'm concerned.

Just be aware that you'll have to adjust to piss-poor battery life with pretty much any of the higher end Androids - you'll get a day's use out of a full charge, but not much more if you use it as intended.

 

[PsyWulf]

There's frequently people selling their S2's new for around 3500 bucks over on carbonite forums if you're willing to go secondish hand ( some not even unboxed )

 

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

Might want to take a look at the SE Xperia Pro. Not sure what it goes for but the Neo went for about 4K so it shouldn't be much more. If you potentially might find yourself missing the E51's hardware qwerty this this would be the phone for you.

 

[LCBXX]

Galaxy Ace or Optimus Black of you like a bigger screen.