new phone recommendations

[Deleted User]

toshi wrote: »

You have got a little brother (sister?) of Mi A2. Xiaomi is so clever to cut the cost without sacrificing the performance, Mi A2 Lite uses Snapdragon 625, instead of the latest Snapdragon 660. Probably you don't see any difference a lot between them for daily use. How much do you pay for Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite ? Please post your review once you have receive it.

To put it into context my phones normally last 3 years and I've always bought them outright. This will be my fourth Smart phone:

Orange San Francisco (ZTE Blade, CyanogenMod 7, hackers delight )
Orange San Diego
Vodafone Smart Ultra 6
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (4GB RAM, 32GB ROM)


So the review is easy, it's way better than I'm used to

Annoyingly the price has lowered by a fiver since I ordered but it's being processed so I don't want to mess it up now.

boatman

Colin_Maybe wrote: »

This will be my fourth Smart phone:

Orange San Francisco (ZTE Blade, CyanogenMod 7, hackers delight )
Vodafone Smart Ultra 6

Snap.......

83dons

Hello. I was hoping someone can offer some advice on the best mobile phone for me as I don't want to have to trawl through pages of tech specs online. My requirements are for a decent smart phone that will be used as a sim only deal with giff gaff as I don't phone or text much and use wifi for most data. So not looking for a decent phone off the back of a contract. Have a budget of up to about £300 to buy the handset. My main requirements for the smart phone in order of importance are as follows:

1. New/unused or at a push refurbished in mint condition
2. Under £300
3. Long lasting battery
4. Top notch camera
5. Small (hate the big phones you get these days totally impractical)
6. Fast processor
7. Lots of storage space for Apps/photos etc
8. Not bothered whether apple or android as long as the usual array of Apps are available
9. Needs to have the usual GPS options for navigating

steviebabes

I've had a Huawei P10 Lite for nearly a year now and its been a great phone in all respects. They are down to around £200 now.

ballyblack

Huawei good phone

[Deleted User]

£300 is a decent budget, just google best smart phone under £300 uk, visit 3 or 4 different websites. Then google a particular phone for the best price.

toshi

The Xiaomi Mi A2 is a crazy good deal...

Unlike A2, A2 lite has a a headphone jack and bigger battery. Wow, they are what the majority of people want?

Xiaomi Mi A2/Lite will get official Android P (Android 9) or even Android Q (Android 10). As Xiaomi Mi A2 & Mi A2 Lite kernel source code now available :beer: now, A2/lite would be supported to Android T (Android 13) and beyond via Opensource Android OS (custom Rom). You will be able to keep updating this smartphone with the latest Android OS for 5 years at least, thanks to smart (Indian) open source programmers.

If you want to keep your smartphone more than 2-3 years, don't buy a disposable smartphone, including flagship Samsung, LG, Nokia, Huawei which give you only 2 years software support. Then Get Xiaomi, OnePlus to get longer software support, provided by Open Source community.

More detail on this issue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv8OxzTqAto

If you are not sure about Custom Rom etc, it is fine at the moment, but if you do get Xiaomi, OnePlus etc, your device have the option to keep updating your OS after the OEM support ends (usually 2 years or so)

List of Android Pie (Android 9) ports for smartphones and tablets
Oneplus, and Xiaom devices are well supported.

2018 mid range smartphones are fairly powerful, you don't have to worry about hardware performance, just keep the option for software support for 5 years at least. Definitely this will save money as well as planet (less eWaste). :A

83dons

steviebabes wrote: »

I've had a Huawei P10 Lite for nearly a year now and its been a great phone in all respects. They are down to around £200 now.

That looks bang on to me thanks for the tip. Anyone else recommend anything in the same bracket?

toshi

The mid range smart phones have been treated as "easy to sell, and easy to damp", accordingly the most OEM manufactures don't care about software update, as users are supposed to dispose them in a couple of years. Unfortunately, Huawei P10 Lite is the typical case. Huawei P10 Lite was released with Android 7.1; Huawei dropped Huawei P10 Lite from the software support. (Disgracefully Huawei P10 Lite only Chinese users has got Android 8.0)

The problem of Android phone is that software update is very slow; also you don't get a long term software support. Some tech enthusiasts and environmentalists have been concerned about this issue. (I will try not to bore you too much here.)

But Google has attempted to improve the situation. Since Android 8, Google changed the software upgrade procedure completely. (Project Treble) Technically it is far easier for OEMs to upgrade Android Software. (Well it doesn't guarantee OEMs will actually perform Software Upgrades)

In addition, Google directly offers fast and efficient software update support to the OEM under "Android One" hardware. If you use Android One Smartphone, you will get no bloatware with faster software upgrade from the OEMs. Android One devices will get a similar Android experience with Google Pixel devices.

It does not guarantee longer software support, but Android Oreo and Android One hardware will improve software obsolescence situation significantly.

The last couple years, the Smartphone hardware performance has been improved significantly. The typical current (2016-18) mid range phone Snapdragon 625/636/660 offer better performance than top end (2014) Snapdragon 801. I myself use 2014 OnePlus One Snapdragon 801, this phone is extremely comfortable for my daily use. Even I recently have replaced the battery to use it for another couple of years.

Summery
The users are forced to give up their device due to Software obsolescence. 2018 mid range Smartphone is fairly powerful. It is better to get an Android One device with Android 8 (Oreo) preinstalled. Avoid Android 7 smartphones! Basically OEMs/resellers attempt to get rid of them cheaply as you are forced to give them up quickly.

A hardware suggestion
Xiaomi A2 Lite 64GB / 4GB RAM

Xiaomi A2 Lite is the more or less the same Huawei P10 Lite performance, and size, but heavier and [FONT=&quot]thicker[/FONT] due to a large battery.


(Edit: added the spec comparison link)

https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=9247&idPhone2=8598

Pros
Android One device
Android 8 (Oreo) support, upgradable to Android 9 (Pie) at least
4000 mAh battery

Cons
Camera department: If you really want to get "Top notch" - you really have to spend 500 pound + (but it is too silly for me to pay such a premium for disposable Smartphone devices for 2-3 years use...)
Availability issue: Xiaomi is still relatively unknown in the West, (4th largest in the world). You don't get Xiaomi phones easily yet in the UK. But Xiaomi partners with three to sell phones in the UK, so I would expect this would happen sometime 2018?

https://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-phones-three-uk/

Some Smart MSE members (@boatman @Colin_Maybe et al) have already used /ordered Xiaomi Smartphones.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/57834824

Please do your own research. Xiaomi A2 Lite may not be your choice but I would like to insist on the importance of software support issue very much.

References:
Software development: Android 8 (Oreo) /Project Treble
https://www.androidauthority.com/project-treble-818225/

Hardware: Android One
https://www.androidcentral.com/android-one

isabellac

I personally really like the Huawei P20 Lite (around £269-299) which is a very recent release - fulfils basically all the criteria on your list... If you shop around you might even be able to get an Honor 10 for around about your budget or a smidge more.

If you're not a Huawei fan you could look at a Samsung S7 which should be around £300 new at this point since it's a couple of generations old now but still a good device with a nice camera and not too large physically. There have been a couple of other recent Samsung releases (A-series, like A6/A8) that are nice too but I'd personally take the S7 as I feel that it offers more quality - better screen res, dual pixel, OIS, faster processor, wireless charging etc.