What are YOUR top 5 factors that you consider when buying a new phone?

[cp24eva]

So Verizon has a good selection of 4G smartphones available for us consumers to pick and choose what fits our needs. There are quite a few things that factor it what makes the phone ALMOST just right for you. Each of Verizon's 4G phones has man good features, but non are all around perfect. Some of these things are a matter of taste and opinion. Some of the factors are simply facts. Although some people wear rose shaded glasses and do a lot of willy wonka candy coating to their favorite companies.

No matter which way you look at it, none of these phones are horrible. They may not work all the time when you want them to, but they aren't horrible. Some folks don't mind having to do the occasional battery pull or reboot. Others find it blasphemy to do such a thing (iphone users). None of the 4G phones on the Verizon lineup totally blows another out of the water. There are things that are more preferred though. What are your top 5 factors that you consider when buying a new phone in order of importance? I ask this because around the forums I see so much trash talk about rival phones. Some people take offense when another member critiques their phone and sometimes leads to some semi heated debates. It's all a matter of taste and personal experience.

Mine are:

1. Reliability - I can 99 percent of the time depend on it to work (be powered on and stay on) when showing off something for my friends
2. Reception - I can make phone calls and get on the web in many places
3. Speed/transitions - I can navigate through my phone without major hang ups
4. Screen - my videos and pics look pretty nice
5. Build - The phone feels nice in my hand and has the right amount of durability for me.

 

[dezymond]

1. Screen quality. I have to look at it everytime I use my phone so if it's a screen that isn't up to par with my expectations I already look away.
2. Speed. Nobody likes lag
3. Build. Can't feel all plastic-y. Yes I have a Nexus, but it feels very solid and sometimes I forget it's made of mostly plastic, it doesn't feel cheap
4. Size. It's gotta feel nice in the hands and I have to be able to operate it with one hand.
5. "Extra" hardware. LED light, qwerty keyboard, removable battery, etc. Some of the phones don't have all these options, but most importantly for me was an LED, I really missed that about my OG Droid and the Nexus has it

I agree none of these phones are bad, they're all good. You just get a buncha different opinions because we all look for something different, which is where variety of Android kicks in. The Nexus was the most right for me so I went with it.

I would have added a 6th item; life cycle. However, support for Android has grown so much that I believe every Android phone has at least a 2yr cycle if not longer. Even the OG Droid can last that long if you can tolerate the lag, the phone that started the Android movement still runs strong for me

 

[MissionImprobable]

1) Keyboard. No keyboard, no go. There are too many phones out so no one has developed attachable keyboards that look like OEM gear except for the iPhone and that ain't ever gonna happen :happy3:
2) Screen. I have good quality now, and no doubt I will want something nice with 720 resolution and no visible pixelation on my next device
3) Dev support. I definitely will not grab my next device unless I know it will be well supported for rooting and Roms, though that's a relatively large number of top phones now.
4) Removable battery. Maybe once batt tech hits new levels and hardware decreases drain this won't matter, but stock batteries just usually don't get it done. Flexible on this if necessary.
5) Build. Needs to feel substantial in my hands. I don't want to worry about it breaking every time I touch it or slide the keyboard out.