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The other $300 phone Jun 13, 2014

ByrdDroid , Jun 13, 2014 :

I dropped my Galaxy S4 in the lake at Memorial Day, and decided 'That's It! I'm no longer spending $650 on a phone that can be lost, dropped, or killed with a single slip.' Good thing I kept my old HTC G2 to get me by until I get a new one.
So I started looking for an alternative at a reasonable price. I ran across the OnePlus One discussion at CNet, and started checking it out. I love the idea of a flagship killer, but I just want to be able to buy a phone without giving the company my Facebook friends' names, and giving up other privacy info just for the slim hope of being able to buy a phone. Information is worth money, and they are getting a lot of info for free.
I decided to just go ahead and get the other $300 smartphone, the Ascend Mate 2. It uses Android 4.3 instead of 4.4, but is supposed to be upgradeable. The specs are close, but not quite as good, except for the huge screen and never-ending battery... It basically uses components from last year's super phones....last year's superphones are today's bargains.
It's a huge phablet that is probably not for everyone, but I never did love the Galaxy S4, bc the onscreen keyboard was too small, and The number of typing mistakes was frustrating... I missed my physical kb. But I'm going to try the phablet, it is big enough that the onscreen kb should be usable. The bottom line is that it's got good, but not super specs for $300, and most importantly it is available to order. I ordered mine yesterday... We'll see about whether a phablet is the way to go...
When the OnePlus One is for sale without jumping through hoops and giving up friends and personal info, I will probably buy one. I can buy both for less than what I paid for the Galaxy. But in the meantime, I'm giving the other $300 slightly-less-than-super-phone a try...