Yeah, I think my problem is that while I love the bigger screen (I got an iPad mini for my vacation and I love the size), I don't like holding it up to my ear to make phone calls.

Me neither, that's why I bought this to go with it:

[link]

(Works a million times better with Android than iOS, btw.)

I've got a GS4 as a business only phone and use an iPhone 5s for my main phone. There are aspects of the GS4 that are really nice. It is still a really big screen with a very sharp image on it. Most of the apps that I need and use are pretty much the same across the two platforms.

I find that with Android I'm always hunting for the feature I need, mainly because each version of Android is just a little bit different, and there there's all the customizing that manufacturers do. I also have a GS3 and an HTC One that a couple of my employees use when we are busy. Very nice solid phones, but even between the GS3 and the GS4 the OS feels very different, and I think they are just different flavors of Jelly Bean.

On a different front, is anyone else using the Mail App under OS X Mavericks with Gmail? My business and personal domains actually have the email handled by Google Apps in the background and it looks like Googles non-standard implementation of IMAP has completely frelled things. I run a ton of filters to move messages into specific mailboxes as they hit my Inbox and not what Mail is doing is making a copy of the message into the filter location and leaving another copy of it in my Inbox tagged as unread.

gmail with Mail on Mavericks is broken I hear.

I have not upgraded to Mavericks because I understand that a lot of Pages functionality has been removed as well. That's a non-starter.

I just ordered a set of Bluetooth headphones that are 50% off. What's the easiest way to use them while I watch TV? A standalone Bluetooth transmitter? Are there any stereo receivers that have built-in Bluetooth transmitters? (Many have a Bluetooth receiver but no transmitter.) Any TVs have Bluetooth transmitters?

Jessica, you should also consider the Moto X if it's available on your provider. It's not quite as high-powered as the HTC One and the GS4, but according to most people it feels snappier because it's got less bloatware (it's closer to "default" Android) and some pretty cool capabilities. If I were getting a non-Note-3 phone right now I would probably get that one; I find both TouchWiz (Samsung's additions to stock Android) and Sense (HTC's additions) to be bloated and annoying.

The only reason I haven't installed a more streamlined Android on my Note 2 is to maintain Multiwindow, T-Mobile's Wifi calling, and the handwriting keyboard, and I honestly might give them up soon anyway and install a non-Samsung Android version. (I don't really use multiwindow as much as I thought I would, and if Hangouts gets voice capabilities with Google Voice soon then I won't need the wifi calling. And there are probably other handwriting keyboards out there).

If you're wedded to the GS4 vs. HTC One, I definitely recommend the One. It's prettier on the outside, and Sense may be bloated but at least it's pretty software. TouchWiz isn't even that.

If you're willing to pay full price, the Google Edition of the HTC One is one of the best phones you can get: all the phone with none of the annoying HTC or carrier bloatware. But it's only available unlocked for $599 from Google directly. (However, if you buy it outright you can use it on T-Mobile for $50/month - we're loving them in Nashville right now and I loved them in NYC when I lived there.)

And there are probably other handwriting keyboards out there

If you find one, can you tell me? My searches have been fruitless--or keep ending up with Asian languages.

They should drop the s in Mavericks and do a run of James Garner character names.

I also came up empty on handwriting keyboards. Shame. The graffiti keyboard has potential though -I did like graffiti back in my palm days.