Looking for a "new" phone

[DerStrom8]

So I've had about enough of my current phone. It's a Samsung Epic 4G running Android 2.3.3, and I've had all sorts of issues with it lately, namely freezing, crashing, and random rebooting. I've been doing some application development for Android over the past month or two and I've gotten to the point where I would really like a newer version of Android. Does anyone have an old Sprint device running version 2.3.5 or higher that they no longer need? Ideally I would like version 4.x, must have a clean ESN and not have significant damage. I may end up buying one brand new from the store if this doesn't work out, but I wanted to try here first.

Thanks guys!
Regards,
Matt

 

[tunedwolf]

If you had an old PC lying around spare, or could get your hands on a working one from the local dump, you could run Droid KitKat on that instead and do your test cycles there. If you do decide to go for a new phone, I was recently tasked with choosing a new mobile phone for myself. Here's my experience:

Having had all the "geeky" phones in the past, my most recent oldie being the N900 Nokia, I decided it was time I tried out something a little more socially acceptable this time. I couldn't believe the rubbish companies were churning out, bigger screen this, more memory or widgets that, all I really wanted was something that rang and wouldn't get me thrown out the local pub if I tried to use it to call a taxi. After much testing, faffing around in phone shops, asking questions and reading reviews, I finally settled on the 1st Gen Moto G with LTE as being the best bang for buck out there just now, albeit it's one of those pesky, in my mind, "Android" devices. It's reasonably quick generally, has decent cameras front and back, a really good screen and feels great in the hand. Now don't get me wrong here, I dislike Motorola as a company, based on past experience with their Semi's, so choosing one of their end user products was difficult for me to justify in my head. I have only had the device for 3 Months, but so far it has exceeded my expectations in every way and is a real joy to use. In fact, I really don't know why I didn't do it sooner. No, I still haven't changed my mind about Motorola, but I feel like I may just have to accept that they really pulled a rabbit out the hat with this phone. At least now I'm one step up from rotary dialling, so to speak

 

[DerStrom8]

Hi tunedwolf,

I have Eclipse running the ADT plugin, so I have plenty of emulators to work with. However, I've gotten to the point where I'm ready to finish the project and load it onto a phone, so emulators really won't do me any more good. I broke down not long after I started this thread and bought a Galaxy SIII. Soon after that I decided to go all out and install CyanogenMod on my old (Epic 4G) phone. I successfully loaded it up and am running Android 4.4.4 on that one, but the limited RAM prevents it from running smoothly. Overall I'm glad I got a new one.

Thanks,
Matt