The time has finally come. You’ve waited with your old phone long enough. It’s time to purchase a new one. If this is the case, you have many excellent choices. Apple’s iPhone 5 is out and already a record-breaker, while the Samsung Galaxy S 3 has impressed many Android cynics. Either one would make a good next phone. But some people just want something different.

For those looking for a larger handset, Samsung will release the Galaxy Note 2 on all major U.S. carriers by mid-November. At 5.2 inches it’s one of the largest smartphones in existence. Maybe you’d like to wait for your carrier to release the Note 2 before upgrading. Google will also likely release its next Nexus device in the near future. Why get the S3, then, when there are so many great options in the near future?

Welcome to the smartphone waiting game. Unfortunately, it goes on forever.

The best, but not for long

Earlier this year, when the Samsung Galaxy from T-Mobile was released it was easily the best on the market. Its 4.8-inch screen dwarfed almost every other model on the market, and its screen resolution was unmatched by the competition. While Apple fans wouldn’t admit it, Samsung had just put out a phone better in nearly every way than the most recent iPhone.

That was back in late June. Three months later there are already two promising models on the horizon. The S3 was undoubtedly the best Android smartphone on the market for that three-month period, and it will likely get another month with the title. But soon after that we’ll see at least two more handsets that compare with it. There are many reasons to wait, then, until these new phones come out.

The best can only be the best until the next big thing comes along. And when it comes to Android phones, the next big thing is always just a few months away.

Starting all over

Let’s suppose you do decide to wait for a new device. The Nexus X sounds like a great idea, so maybe you’ll wait until November or December for that handset. But just as you’re about to make the purchase, you hear a new rumor about a phone that’s even better than the Nexus X. We might even know about one of them: Samsung is looking to announce the Galaxy S 4 in March of 2013, mere months after the Note 2 and the Nexus X are slated to be released.

What do you do then? Buy your Nexus X or Note 2, or wait for the next big thing? If you wait, then there might be an even bigger thing after the Galaxy S 4 — a new iPhone, perhaps. Heck, maybe the new BlackBerry 10 phones fits your fancy. Unless you decide which phone you really want, you could be waiting around forever.

Pick a phone and go

To answer the question in the headline, no, you should not play the smartphone waiting game. It goes on forever. The next big thing is always just a few months away. Rarely do we get to a point where waiting just a couple of months guarantees you a phone that is far and away the best phone on the market for years to come. There is just too much competition these days.

The only solution, then, is to target a handset and buy it when you’re ready to upgrade. If you can upgrade your phone now you will not go wrong by upgrading to the Galaxy S 3 or the iPhone 5. Waiting a few months for the Nexus X or the Note 2 can start a long series of events that has you stuck with your old, outdated phone for far too long.

The cell phone waiting game might seem like fun, but it results in way too much waiting. Act now. Get the best of what’s out and let the future take care of itself.