I'm obsessed with Android. It's true; I admit it. I read several Android-related blogs in my RSS feed, I follow several Android key players (blogs and developers) on Twitter, I tinker around with my phone frequently, and when I had my original G1 I modded its software half a dozen different ways until I could finally upgrade my phone. I can read, analyze, and debug Android logs if a phone is having problems. While I have yet to dive into Android application development (as of this writing, anyway), it is certainly on my to-do list when I have more free time to properly dedicate to it.

Because of this knowledge, people frequently come to me when they're ready to either upgrade from their existing Android phone or enlist in the Android Army for the first time. Instead of repeating the common points over and over, I've decided to write and post this article. No phone is perfect for everyone, so this guide isn't meant to be a one-phone-to-rule-them-all post, since that would also date this post within a few short months, and my intention here is long-term advice to guide you to your own decisions and inform you of the key points in deciding on your next phone. I only mention specific phones and carrier trends in this post to discuss trends and provide example comparisons. And of course, this is all my own opinion. There's no research data here. Take my opinion or leave it - if you agree with me, great; if you don't, that's great too.

And here we go.

Part 1: Choosing a Carrier

Your first decision should be which carrier you want to be with. If you're already locked into a carrier due to a multi-line plan, you can skip this part. 

You will get dropped calls on all networks. You will get "no data" coverage on all networks. That's a fact of life. Some are more susceptible than others - AT&T is rumored to be the worst, though I have no hard data to back this up.

As part of your carrier decision, you need to decide how much you're willing to spend, and how much data you're going to use, because that makes a big difference. Will you be using light data such as Twitter, Facebook and simple Googling, or will you be a media consumption user with lots of YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, etc.? Different carriers have different data plans, but they're all moving (if they haven't all moved already) to a tiered plan. I'm most familiar with T-Mobile's tiers, so here they are: 200MB, 2GB, 5GB, and.. well you probably don't care about anything beyond that if you're reading an "introduction" post. You will also have to consider how likely you are to go over that limit, and what the carrier's policy is: do they throttle you to slower speeds, or charge you overages? If you care about tethering your laptop, tablet, or other Wifi-enabled device to your phone, what is the carrier's official tethering policy? How strongly do they enforce it (e.g., T-Mobile's official tethering option is not "free", it's just not enforced)?

Once you decide on a carrier, deciding a phone will be easier. All major carriers have at least one "good" phone, though some are better than others. T-Mobile has historically been VERY good with Android support. Most of their phones are HTC or Samsung, with the notable addition of the T-Mobile G2x made by LG (my current phone). Verizon has a strong "DROID" branding, which is how most people were introduced to Android [digression: but they are *not* the same - all "Droids" are Androids, but not all Androids are Droids. It's just a model series.]

Verizon's phones are hit-and-miss, and are more likely to be from Motorola, with HTC in second and Samsung in third. Verizon was the second major carrier to the Android party. AT&T has spent most of the last several years riding on the success of the iPhone, and as a result, have historically had pretty lame Android offerings and even weaker support. They've recently reversed most of their anti-Android policies (no side-loading, for example) to stay competitive after the exclusivity loss of the iPhone, however. They're still experimenting and learning. Sprint's only major phones worth caring about have been the EVO series, made by HTC. Sprint's game has been fairly mediocre, nothing terribly great, but not really a bad track record either. They're just middle-of-the-road. 

Verizon is generally the most expensive, but has the widest coverage area if you do a lot of traveling to "middle of nowhere". If you're sticking primarily to major metro areas, coverage will be fine with any of the big 4 (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile). T-Mobile is the cheapest, and I've been happy with them for about 9 years now, 2 of which have been as an Android user. Historically, they've had the smallest coverage area, but as I live near their U.S. headquarters and I don't leave major metro areas very often, I've never had a problem with their network or coverage. Their customer service is rapidly dropping in quality, however, and the still-in-debate merger with AT&T is likely to drop it even further. Speaking of AT&T, their network is congested with iPhones and inefficient network design, and their attempt to purchase T-Mobile (which may explain T-Mobile's dropping customer service) is claimed to help alleviate that (a hotly debated item). AT&T has repeatedly received acknowledgement as the most customer hostile service by several parties. Sprint is... Sprint. Again, they're fairly middle-of-the-road. They're average, and they're not innovative.

By now, hopefully you've chosen your carrier.

Part 2: Choosing a Phone

First, decide what features are a must-have, and how you wish to use your phone. Do you plan on mobile gaming? Then a high-end processor (preferably dual-core) is a must. How about photography? A good camera, preferably with flash, is also a must. Video chat? Front-facing camera. Lots of traveling without a charger handy? Good battery life (this is often a contradictory feature to other features listed above -- the higher end the phone, the worse the battery life; the HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon is VERY, VERY, VERY BAD on battery life).

Do you want a community-friendly (i.e., "hacker friendly") phone? If yes, avoid Motorola. HTC used to be super hacker-friendly, then started locking bootloaders, but has recently decided to start unlocking them again - your mileage may vary. Samsung has a decent track record in the community, but there's been a lot of negative stigma associated with them and they're not really trusted to stay "in the good" for long, because they go back and forth with the quality and availability of their drivers. They release the same phone on multiple carriers with slightly different software, and they all seem to have different bugs. Their software is hit-and-miss. LG's only phone worth caring about, the G2x, is hacker-friendly. They're still trying to make a name for themselves, and they've had some QA problems with both hardware and software, though they're trying to get better.

In fact, if you truly want a community-endorsed phone, you *must* go with a Nexus device. They're the official Google developer phones and are almost always the first to get new official updates. All other devices are a matter of luck and popularity as to how well they're supported. Note that with a Nexus device, regardless of manufacturer and carrier, it is *required* to have an unlockable, unsigned bootloader and a "stock" Android experience. The Nexus One is dated by now, but still a strong phone and many still swear by it. Even the Nexus S is dated, and there are lots of rumors of the next Nexus, the "Nexus Prime" (rumored name) to be available by the holiday season if you can hold out. Personally, I found the Nexus S lacking in enough ways that I don't believe it's worth getting at this point with newer, better, faster phones already out and more on the horizon, including the next Nexus. Unfortunately, if you want NFC *today*, the Nexus S is your only choice. However, more phones are rumored within the next couple of months to support NFC. I personally do not think NFC is ready for prime-time yet, so if you wish to be an early adopter, your options will be very limited on this factor alone.

There are lots of sites out there which help you choose your phone. One of the better ones is http://www.geekaphone.com. There's also http://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-research/compare-phones/ and http://www.phonearena.com/phones - they're okay, but take a more sales-oriented approach.