Topic: What brand should my new mobile be Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, Nokia & What to buy for reading e-books Kindle, Fire Tablet, IPad?

My current mobile is the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 but I'm planning to change it although still by today's standards is a perfectly cabable portable electronic mini-PC machine. I'm reading a lot of e-books on it through the Kindle application and surf the web, YouTube etc.

I'm still not sure what brand to buy and my budget sits at around 350 to 400 USD. I'd like to support the American economy by buying an American manufactured phone like an Apple or a Nokia (since it's Microsoft behind it). I was thinking also of a Lenovo mobile since my work laptop is a Lenovo Ideapad (8GB DDR3, FULL HD 14', 248 SSD).

Second, I'm really considering to buy an Amazon Fire HD mostly for reading e-books and being able to read articles online and pretty much micromanage my e-mails without having to turn on the laptop. Maybe I'll go with a iPhone & the Amazon Fire HD.

If anyone can suggest something I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

You could find some good deals on eBay. I got a near perfect iPhone SE for around £120 last November.
But yeah, I recommend going with Apple, since they have the most secure devices around.

@Peace-Boy Thanks. I was thinking of the SE too. Since I will buy a reading tablet I don't see the reason to have a mobile with large screen.

You could get either the 6, 6s or 7, which are slightly larger, depends how big your hands are really.

Hey, good morning, nice to meet you! I've been lurking and decided to make an account to tell you that I recently moved from an Apple iPhone 5S to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, and have been really happy with it. The Redmi Note 4 is only about $160 (on Amazon, unlocked, new with no warranty but apparently cheap to fix if it breaks). It has really great battery and performance. This is India and China's biggest brand and I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of this phone. The camera could be better but everything else is so great for the price. I got a Straight Talk GSM SIM card and it was pretty much plug and play for me. Be wary of Apple though. Their iCloud system is pretty frustrating, and once you migrate your phone number to their iMessage system, it's a pain in the ass to get detached from it. I have had to send a request to Apple to remove my number from their system, otherwise I can't receive text messages from Apple phones on my Android, and they aren't very straightforward about how long it takes to fix. Also, iPhones don't allow emulators and have a few other weird restrictions - spotty VR support, no memory expansion options, limited OS customizability, etc. This stuff gets aggravating the longer you own the phone. Then again some people aren't bothered by these factors and swear by the brand. Anyway, that's my experience for you. As for e-readers, I really think the E-ink Nooks and Kindles are the way to go. It's pretty close to paper and they are tough little lightweight devices with good battery life. Cheers.

@Gamurse Nice meeting you too. Thank you for your answer and FYI I've also considered the Xiaomi brand lately. But I'm not sure whether the Xiaomi phones will still remain solid after years of use or will get buggy. I must admit though that here www.mi.com/in/note4/ it looks sexy and upgrade to my Galaxy Note 3. By the way, is the Xiaomi Note 4 based on clean Google OS or wears custom? Second I know most of these issues about Apple and honestly I don't care about emulators since I buy retro games from the Wii U store. As for the e-readers I will probably go with the Kindle since I truly read a lot of e-books. I haven't considered thought the Nook so thanks for suggesting it to me.

If you plan only reading, then the Kindle is perfect.

There's ways to add add books from other services and other documents to it. You just need to be a bit crafty.

For general-use tablets, apple is basically the only company still investing money on that market. Their recent updates make the iPad very useful. I recently got a mini 4 and even though it's a tiny bit outdated by now in terms of specs, I'm loving it.

@TheCurator Honestly I couldn't tell you much about the Redmi OS, other than it's an Android mod by Xiaomi called MiUI and I've read some people say it lacks customizability relative to some other branded Android versions. So far it seems pretty snappy and stable. Coming from iOS, which is a relatively responsive and intuitive interface, I haven't yet been disappointed.

Thank you once again for your answers. Thing is I will most probably buy a mobile with small screen and some Kindle to read my e-books since currently I study Calculus for hobby (don't ask) and on the Note 3 screen I barely can see the math problem images.

I would suggest ASUS. I have had good experience with them over the years and they tend to be cheaper than bigger names like Apple and Samsung. Which model really depends on your size preferences, but with 300-400 dollars, you shouldn't have any issues.

@Heavyarms55 Thanks but I want to support an American company. The only Asian I would consider is Lenovo since they acquired IBM.

@TheCurator I am not trying to be rude by saying this so please don't take it that way, but you understand that the overwhelming majority of computer electronics are not manufactured in America? Not even Apple. Even Apple and Microsoft aren't American companies, they are multi-nationals. Most consumer electronics are manufactured in places like China and Taiwan and most consumer electronics companies are major multi-national corporations with only nominal connections to their home countries.

I'd say buy Microsoft but as far as I know they've stopped the production of phones and no longer support the Windows Phone. So... Apple.

@NightBeast That's was my original thinking too. I know now that Microsoft is using the Nokia brand to re-enter the mobile market after their failures with the Microsoft branded phones but I'll probably go with Apple from the moment Nokia hasn't convinced yet for the quality and durability of their mobiles.
@Heavyarms55 You're not rude at all. Maybe they're not manufactured in the USA anymore BUT they still belong to American corporations and behind these devices lies some American engineer or designer. I don't see why people shouldn't support their local economy and corporations. Personally I always buy products made in the USA (or at least American designed) or Greece (since that's where I'm living currently). If I were a Chinese I would buy Xiaomi blindfolded.

@TheCurator I understand where you are coming from, but you are assuming those companies are American, or Greek or Chinese. They are multi-nationals, they don't care about whichever country they originate from.

I ended up buying the iPhone 6s 64GB model in Titanium Gray. I'm completely satisfied with it.

I have a Moto e4 plus and fire tablet 7 and a chomebook

Congrats on your iphone.

If we are gonna share our mobile devices models, then I recently replaced my phone with a Moto X4, still have my iPad mini 4 up and running, and use a Kindle Paperwhite to read ebooks.

Personally I am only sticking with mobiles that stick with 3.5mm jack

I prefer wired headphones and it's disappointing seeing so many follow what apple do.

@Yosheel Strong choice on the MotoX4. Some minutes earlier today it arrived my Kindle Paperwhite as well! It's so good this electronic ink they're using. It's like a real book. I wonder why did I refuse to buy earlier in my life a Kindle e-reader. It's totally amazing!