I have a baby coming in September so my wife and I will both get new phones for the increased storage, improved camera and waterproofing. My wife will go with an iphone 7 (upgrading from an 5s) and I will get a S7 (upgrading from a S4). I'm tired of messing with Link2SD every time I want to install updates. My S4 is rooted and unlocked running 5.0.1 - I can probably get £100 for it (maybe a bit more as it is unlocked?). Where do you buy phones from? We are both with giffgaff and don't want a long contract as we will leave the UK when our studies are finished. I've read that S7 prices drop by 25% after a couple months of release. With google shopping I'm seeing they recently dropped from £425 to £411-415 for the Samsung Galaxy S7 32GB 4G LTE Black Onyx (SM-G930F) Unlocked. Trouble is I don't know any of these sites. This is a large purchase to trust with a company I've never heard of. venturedirect ValueBasket.com Simply Electronics ONEdigitals (has nearly the same price for the edge)
I took a bit of a risk with a Blackberry Passport around 15 months ago. It was new and sealed but I got it from a private seller on Ebay. It lasted well and I used it a lot but I feel the battery is starting to run out a lot faster than it used to and replacing it is quite difficult (it's glued in and getting to it is hard). So again I bought from a private seller on Ebay (Oppo Find 7a for £170 new and sealed). I always buy unlocked unbranded phones because I use PAYG only. I have been on Three for about two years and have spent a total of £70, because everywhere I go there's WIFI (mum, friends, family, restraunts etc) so yeah hardly use it for phone calls. Be careful using those sites. Some provide completely fake handsets (if you can believe that, but they are rife !) and some provide euro spec phones which are not the same as the UK ones. Always use Paypal either way, that way you have recourse should you need it.
Apple direct from apple store, I'm usually travelling back and forth to the us. My note 3 was an upgrade, prior to that it's been direct from a retailer offline / sim free. Usually carphone warehouse as it's conviniant
My last few phones I bought in China. I know a bit about version numbers. Not sure if the UK version would have anything different other than the adapter.
They're selling for £75-125 on eBay so £100 is a good target price. Back to your main query, I usually use eBay or Amazon though I will buy direct if there's reason to - the Lumia 950 I got last week was a US import since the US model is dual-SIM and the UK version is not. It also worked out cheaper after shipping. Never had a problem with eBay and carphone warehouse is surprisingly competitive on price. Otherwise I usually avoid other online stores unless they have a retail store too - I bought a netbook years ago from an online store as they had a shop on Tottenham court road and was a good a transaction as any I've had.
I wouldn't trust any of the sites you listed, they will be grey imports and won't have any official warranty - it will be a basic warranty direct from the supplier. Depending how long it will be until you leave the UK this might not be an issue? Giffgaff sell phones, they are all unlocked and you can pay monthly or buy the phone outright: https://www.giffgaff.com/apple/apple-iphone-6/phone-details https://www.giffgaff.com/samsung/samsung-galaxy-s7/phone-details
I don't have a set place for purchasing phones, rather I choose the model I want then go searching for the best deal...last phone I bought in Argos, of all places. For your budget and requirements, have you considered the Nexus 6P?
Gumtree is a fantastic place for finding discounts on phones, people just sell their upgrades instead of using them for a bit of extra money. Generally always new still in the box with the protective screen still present. If you want to buy outright that is...
I bought my Xperia Z5 from Carphone Warehouse and Laura's Kazam 348 from eBuyer. I just go with the cheapest legit seller I can find online.
I bought my HTC One M8 from the marketplace 'ere, and a second for the misuse from SecondHandPhones.com via Fleabay. The former was cheaper and came with several cases and a charging stand plus the original box, but the latter came with a free bag of Haribo so I'm calling it a wash.
The last retail boxed new phone I bought was my Lumia 535 from Tesco, it's unlocked straight out the box, I ended up giving it to the ball and chain but she now wants an Android phone so looks like it might be coming back to me. I bought an LG G2 on Ebay recently which came unlocked, rooted and loaded with Cynagen mod already, paid £78 for it. Only purchased because my Nexus 5 had an unfortunate accident with a curb a few weekends ago
My last couple of phone where bought while I was living in China, grey market imports. My s4 was in russian. I've not had any issues with any of my smart phones so I'm not concerned with warranty so much. I do want to receive the phone within a reasonable amount of time though. If I can save £120 I can afford any repairs I would need with that money. Besides, warranty is only a year right? ebuyer is £543.99 carphone warehouse is £549
Sounds like what you get when you buy online in China, microSD card reader, keychain, cases, screen protector, screen cloth, the thing to open apple SIM slot. Which marketplace shop did you use?
Got my G4 from www.gadgetmonocle.com Fair enough no UK warranty but I'm not really worried about that and the price was worth it (£230 at the time). Delivery was under a week.
Don't think its been offered as a choice but I've always had good luck buying from Expansys, bought a Hero and my red Nexus 5 off them... Other than that I went with the google play store for my other Nexus phones
