[HonestAbe]

After doing more research I'm caught between the Lumia 735 and the LG G3. Anyone know which would be a better phone overall? (I don't mind the windows OS)

Update:
So I ended up getting the LG G4 as there was a special promotion going on for it. I remember reading early reviews about the sound quality not being as good as the LG G3 but I'm hoping that was because they were an early batch.

 

[thepooh]

After doing more research I'm caught between the Lumia 735 and the LG G3. Anyone know which would be a better phone overall? (I don't mind the windows OS)

Update:
So I ended up getting the LG G4 as there was a special promotion going on for it. I remember reading early reviews about the sound quality not being as good as the LG G3 but I'm hoping that was because they were an early batch.

My colleague just bought the G4 last Monday from the official dealer, it was out of stock 1 week ago so I assume that it's a newer batch but, still the same output quality as the one I auditioned about two months ago. It's not bad in anyway, the SQ is pretty descent and on par with the Galaxy S6 SQ but it's a small step behind my G3 and a huge step behind the best audiophile smartphone on the market, the Xperia Z3. So you end up with a good sounding device but not really among the best regarding benchmarks. If you don't own the other two you won't find any complaint.

 

[LuckyNat]

  I've got an (old) Nokia N900, it has best built in soundcard for a phone that I know even better then iphone/samsung..
 

 
I would second that with the qualification that some recent phones may be better now...  Sadly mine now refuses to switch on 

 

[LuckyNat]

Does anyone have experience of the Blackberry Passport SQ at high res e.g. 24/192k?

 

[Duncan]

There is a blast from the past, the N900, I had one, and hated everything about it (it was Nokia's first experimental phone, moving away from their original 'smartphone' firmware that was fully locked down) but strangely I never used it for music, maybe I missed a trick.

 

[LuckyNat]

There is a blast from the past, the N900, I had one, and hated everything about it (it was Nokia's first experimental phone, moving away from their original 'smartphone' firmware that was fully locked down) but strangely I never used it for music, maybe I missed a trick.

 
If you hated everything about it (was it forced upon you?) then you probably missed a lot of tricks with it.. It was so hackable with it's Linux based OS, that so much could be done with it and the community of users came up with a lot of good stuff. Could even overclock it to run at 1GHz from it's 600MHz spec (it's contemporary the iphone 3S was also 600MHz ).
 
Nokia had a LOT of experimental phones over the decades, not just the N900. Only problem with it was Nokia's lack of support as they changed direction chasing the market.
 
You could port Ubuntu onto the N900 and have it running fully as a desktop machine with the video out:
 

 
This painting app is a great example of what could be done with it and making full use of the physical keyboard :
 

 
 
The N900 keyboard opened my eyes to what more you can do with a physical keyboard regarding shortcuts and control etc and has me looking at the Blackberry Passport at the moment after a year + long break away from one and still missing it (I hate on-screen keyboards, such a pain in the arse as they take up half the damned screen, so backward).
 
Then the browser was great too and the real multitasking.
 
I guess what you missed out on with it was showing mates the latest gimmick iphone app to make people laugh or the latest cool, slick app to impress people with. I'm not much of a latest app person myself, just pick things to get a certain task done. And not into social media either - I guess the iphone and android had those types of things covered well instead.
 
Amazing how people differ so much in their choice of phones. I do find myself loving the phones that so many hate, like currently using a Blackberry Z10 and loving the BB10 OS (actively find both iOS and Android a bit annoying )

 

[thepooh]

If you hated everything about it (was it forced upon you?) then you probably missed a lot of tricks with it.. It was so hackable with it's Linux based OS, that so much could be done with it and the community of users came up with a lot of good stuff. Could even overclock it to run at 1GHz from it's 600MHz spec (it's contemporary the iphone 3S was also 600MHz ).

Nokia had a LOT of experimental phones over the decades, not just the N900. Only problem with it was Nokia's lack of support as they changed direction chasing the market.

You could port Ubuntu onto the N900 and have it running fully as a desktop machine with the video out:




This painting app is a great example of what could be done with it and making full use of the physical keyboard :





The N900 keyboard opened my eyes to what more you can do with a physical keyboard regarding shortcuts and control etc and has me looking at the Blackberry Passport at the moment after a year + long break away from one and still missing it (I hate on-screen keyboards, such a pain in the arse as they take up half the damned screen, so backward).

Then the browser was great too and the real multitasking.

I guess what you missed out on with it was showing mates the latest gimmick iphone app to make people laugh or the latest cool, slick app to impress people with. I'm not much of a latest app person myself, just pick things to get a certain task done. And not into social media either - I guess the iphone and android had those types of things covered well instead.

Amazing how people differ so much in their choice of phones. I do find myself loving the phones that so many hate, like currently using a Blackberry Z10 and loving the BB10 OS (actively find both iOS and Android a bit annoying )

Damned, I also missed that one I think that I was running on iphone 2G or 3G at that time. As the 16Gb versions cost me an arm and a leg I didn't changed device frequently within this particular era. However, I did used most music edition devices from Nokia, starting with the N91 and they were awesomely good at that time. AFAIK the N91 is still the loudest phone ever released, it can easily best the Htc M9 which is the actual benchmark killer in terms of amplification. Additionally, the Nokia 5310 was the best sounding non-smartphone I ever auditioned with usual lossy mp3 at 192-320kbps, I use to paired it with the all time famous Koss Porta Pro and to me it sounded better than my ipod classic video 30Gb version. I really miss those devices that brought me so much satisfaction.

 

[bixby]

  Yes they are but other than their main function aren't as good as their dedicated counterparts...just like a swiss army knife. Screen is small for a tablet, sound is generally meh for a DAP, etc. They can measure fine but still wont sound as good as better DAPs. I have an Iphone 6 and have heard the latest Androids before getting it. I don't use it much for music. They're fine if they meet a need but not up to the better dedicated DAPs. 

just curious, are any of these dedicated daps you refer to ......... under $200 - $300?

 

[bixby]

I don't know how the regular size 640 sounds like but don't take it for granted in anyway, soundstage doesn't only comes through headphones but from both headphone plus dap. I own several devices and can do A-B comparisons on demand, the 640 XL delivers a very good SQ with emphasis on clarity but the soundstage is my concern, it's not that tiny but it's not wide neither, I would say on par with most mid range smartphones but narrower than flagships which is NOT bad considering it's non-flagship status. This device is better than most iPods out there and kick the Zune players out of the audiophile boundary. It won't be my daily driver but occasionally perfect for pairing with my wireless speakers in the office, with nfc as a God's gift in it, I have no more complaints

I'm not very impressed with the regular Lumia 640 for audio.  I love the fact that as a phone it has the new 700mhz band 12 that T-mobile is rolling out in many markets.  Works great indoors where before the higher bands had spoty coverage like in my house and other locations.  And I like that I did not have to spend $500 + to get this band since for now only mainly flagships offer it.  And I don't think even the new iphones have it.
 
As for sound, meh.  It sounds okay and different from my old Moto G 2nd gen.  Whereas that phone was a bit dark and not quite as open in the midband, even with OTG and HRT Microstreamer, the Lumia 640 is bass shy, thinner in the mids, and has a stepped back layered quality to highs that sounds a bit artificial to me.  Soundstage width seems okay but not outstanding, no worse than many others.   Even adding a cheap thick sounding amp like the Creative E1 does not satisfy, although it is bassier.
 
I suspect I will hold out for Win 10 and OTG support but for now I am actively trying to find an Android to use on my walks for music listening.  The 640 does not cut it for me.  Any ideas on a cheap $100 or so used android that supports OTG and that may sound better than the Moto G.

 

[thepooh]

I'm not very impressed with the regular Lumia 640 for audio.  I love the fact that as a phone it has the new 700mhz band 12 that T-mobile is rolling out in many markets.  Works great indoors where before the higher bands had spoty coverage like in my house and other locations.  And I like that I did not have to spend $500 + to get this band since for now only mainly flagships offer it.  And I don't think even the new iphones have it.

As for sound, meh.  It sounds okay and different from my old Moto G 2nd gen.  Whereas that phone was a bit dark and not quite as open in the midband, even with OTG and HRT Microstreamer, the Lumia 640 is bass shy, thinner in the mids, and has a stepped back layered quality to highs that sounds a bit artificial to me.  Soundstage width seems okay but not outstanding, no worse than many others.   Even adding a cheap thick sounding amp like the Creative E1 does not satisfy, although it is bassier.

I suspect I will hold out for Win 10 and OTG support but for now I am actively trying to find an Android to use on my walks for music listening.  The 640 does not cut it for me.  Any ideas on a cheap $100 or so used android that supports OTG and that may sound better than the Moto G.

Thank you for this feedback. I paired a Fiio E11k with it and WOW ! The magical trick showed up and the SQ seems to be much more better than my G3 unamped with so much juice as a bonus. This really makes me change my thoughts on how I perceived Windows phone in general, I'm quite convinced to buy the next Microsoft flagship if the audio department keeps improving. I heard about an upcoming Lumia 940, I just can't wait to see and to hear it

 

[thepooh]

Thank you for this feedback. I paired a Fiio E11k with it and WOW ! The magical trick showed up and the SQ seems to be much more better than my G3 unamped with so much juice as a bonus. This really makes me change my thoughts on how I perceived Windows phone in general, I'm quite convinced to buy the next Microsoft flagship if the audio department keeps improving. I heard about an upcoming Lumia 940, I just can't wait to see and to hear it

For the $100 dap go for Fiio X1, there's nothing better at this price tag.

 

[LuckyNat]

Damned, I also missed that one

I think that I was running on iphone 2G or 3G at that time. As the 16Gb versions cost me an arm and a leg I didn't changed device frequently within this particular era. However, I did used most music edition devices from Nokia, starting with the N91 and they were awesomely good at that time. AFAIK the N91 is still the loudest phone ever released, it can easily best the Htc M9 which is the actual benchmark killer in terms of amplification. Additionally, the Nokia 5310 was the best sounding non-smartphone I ever auditioned with usual lossy mp3 at 192-320kbps, I use to paired it with the all time famous Koss Porta Pro and to me it sounded better than my ipod classic video 30Gb version. I really miss those devices that brought me so much satisfaction.

 
16Gb ! The Nokia N900 was carrying 64Gb as standard with a microSD card slot too. Ahead of it's time in 2009!

 

[HonestAbe]

Do you know a good place to to get the Xperia Z3? I believe they discontinued it.

 

[Baroninkjet]

  Do you know a good place to to get the Xperia Z3? I believe they discontinued it.

 
Amazon and  Newegg both have listings for it in the US. Be careful with cellular bands if you live here though; typically GSM phones don't work with US LTE so you get slower internet.

 

[thepooh]

Amazon and  Newegg both have listings for it in the US. Be careful with cellular bands if you live here though; typically GSM phones don't work with US LTE so you get slower internet.

I got that issue with many devices I owned, it mainly happens when I purchase overseas, LTE doesn't work and gsm shows only 2-3 bars maximum out of 5 even in cities where you're supposed getting full range networks. Except from the Galaxy S6, most Samsung I used,including Note 3 LTE and S4 i9505 didn't show the 4G icon.