Reconditioned Phones - where, how much

kah22

I would appreciate your advice.

My wish is to buy a mobile, hopefully an iPhone, for a very close friend. In truth it will have to be a reconditioned one, if only because I simply couldn’t afford a new one and my friend is in an even worse position!  Her present phone is an iPhone 6s and you can hardly read an email on it!

I have several questions to ask

1 Realistically what memory do you need, the ones in my local shops seem to be 64GB.  Besides phone/email/text she does watch quite a bit of YouTube and BritBox on it. (How I don’t know).  I think top of the list would have to be a large screen

2 I know that the iPhone is quite different from Android and I have been told that switching from iPhone to Android can be difficult for some. True or not?  I was thinking of a Samsung but a shop I went into today showed me a new phone called OPPO it seemed to have pretty good speck, but I’ve never heard the name before!

3. And probably the most important, where to buy? There are numerous sites online selling mobiles, some not so good. I would appreciate some recommendations.

Price £300 - £350, but if I did find a bargain I’d stretch to £400

leonj

Most reconditioned phones are not reconditioned at all they are simply used, I would stick with what she has got or buy an iphone XR maybe

[Deleted User]

I bought a 64gb iPhone XS max for £330 from Amazon renewed. Battery health 88% which is still good enough and the phone was spotless.
I can’t recommend it highly enough. This phone retailed for £1100 not so long ago.  

dreamypuma

I agree with the previous poster. Reconditioned, from less reputable sellers is just a term for used.

You could try GiffGaff or Argos eBay outlet. At least these offer a warranty and have a reputation to maintain. 

Without getting into an emotive debate around iOS and Android - if your friend is open to switching to Android, I'd recommend buying an OPPO as new. 

Whilst a relatively new brand in the UK, internationally they are huge. They are part of the same group that manufacture OnePlus and Vivo, and will probably fill the void left by Huawei. (I think they are now ranked as 3rd biggest supplier of phones in the world)

Their Android ColorOS is increasingly becoming more like stock, and they offer a good ongoing software updates.

Spec wise you get a lot for your money. Huge batteries, vooc fast charging, plenty of RAM and Storage. 

Cisco001

For £300 - 350 Android phone, I would suggest have a look at Poco F3 or Pixel 4a.

Poco F3 has good hardware spec.
Pixel phone with good android experience. 

Neil49

Cisco001 said:

For £300 - 350 Android phone, I would suggest have a look at Poco F3 or Pixel 4a.

Poco F3 has good hardware spec.
Pixel phone with good android experience. 

I agree about the Poco F3 made by Xiaomi. Excellent specification for the price and brand new. Large screen for watching YouTube and britbox etc.

Currently £299 to £309 on the Xiaomi website depending on the spec with free security camera.

www.mi.com/uk

Alter_ego

Music magpie

mgfvvc

I have an iphone XR (supplied by work), my daughter has a Redmi Note 9, which is £150 new. For me the Redmi Note 9 has everything needed and I can't see what you gain by paying the extra for an iphone, new or used.

ballyblack

Neil49 said:

Cisco001 said:

For £300 - 350 Android phone, I would suggest have a look at Poco F3 or Pixel 4a.

Poco F3 has good hardware spec.
Pixel phone with good android experience. 

I agree about the Poco F3 made by Xiaomi. Excellent specification for the price and brand new. Large screen for watching YouTube and britbox etc.

Currently £299 to £309 on the Xiaomi website depending on the spec with free security camera.

www.mi.com/uk

much better than a second hand iphone with a battery possibly on the way out!

kah22

Bought her a renewed iPhone 8 Plus for £225 at Amazon.  Possibly could have bought cheaper and better with Android but both of us have iPhones and well she’s not into learning a new phone

oldagetraveller1

Neil49 said:

Cisco001 said:

For £300 - 350 Android phone, I would suggest have a look at Poco F3 or Pixel 4a.

Poco F3 has good hardware spec.
Pixel phone with good android experience. 

I agree about the Poco F3 made by Xiaomi. Excellent specification for the price and brand new. Large screen for watching YouTube and britbox etc.

Currently £299 to £309 on the Xiaomi website depending on the spec with free security camera.

www.mi.com/uk

Poco X3 NFC is much cheaper than the F3 and I own both. I find the X3 NFC to be far superior. Specs. are not everything.