Contract is up in January and I'm starting the hunt for a new phone now (Android). I've not really looked at phones recently and all I can tell is that pretty much any Android flagship from any company seems to be a solid phone now, it's just personal preference for features and aesthetics. My current phone is a Sony Xperia Z5 Compact. I'm not bothered about getting another 'compact' phone but I won't be looking at massive handsets either. What are people here using and what is good/bad about it?
In the same position myself, was liking the looks of the razer phone but after reading reviews it doesn't seem that good but I do like the aesthetics of it. Not a fan of the Samsung curved screens myself and they tend to be at the higher price point. I've mostly gone for Motorola phones the past few years due to a good price for the features you get but they have gone a bit rubbish since Lenovo took over The LG G6 seems like a nice phone if not a little bland. Not a lot out that really jumps out at me at the moment, the s9 is rumoured to be out early next year so might be worth a wait if you like the galaxy phones.
IMO - avoid HTC, their wares are utter ****, as is their customer support. And the reviews of the current Pixel models seem to be - 'it's a decent enough phone, but don't buy one'.
Consider SIM only and this https://uk.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_615749.html Every now and then a deal comes up taking it down to £120, just look at hotukdeals for “redmi” and wait a few days. It’s got basically the same hardware and spec as all the leading brand phones only it’s not £500. Usually has a bigger battery and less bloat to boot.
Best value for money among current design trends: Elephone S8 Leagoo S8 Pro Oukitel Mix 2 Doogee Mix 2 Vernee Mix 2 Blackview S8 If you prefer the old school design of phones: Vernee Apollo X Xiaomi Redmi 4 Vernee M5 Ulefone Gemini Ulefone Power 2 Oukitel U11 Plus Coolpad Cool 1 Dual LeEco LePro 3 Doogee BL5000 Doogee Y6 Piano Umidigi Z Pro Umidigi Z1 Pro If you need ultimate battery life: Doogee BL12000
I bought the Global version of the Redmi Note 4 from Banggood for my wife. I'm very impressed with the build quality and the battery life is amazing as she's a light user so gets a weeks usage out of the 4000mAh battery. Neither of us play games so can't comment on performance in that respect but in normally use it feels very quick and 'snappy'. I particularly like the capacitive buttons as you don't have wasted screen space (and as a Samsung user feel more natural to navigate with). It comes with MIUI8 firmware (based on Android) which will immediately upgrade to version 9 based on Nougat 7.0.0 however MIUI doesn't deal well with some app notifications on Apps my wife uses and although they keep promising to change it they haven't so far. Which is a pity as in general MIUI is a pretty good interface and if not for the notifications issue is perfectly fine to use. In fact if none of the apps you use are affected sticking with the stock firmware is fine. Because of this I asked Mi for permission to unlock the bootloader (took 30 minutes but can take a few days), rooted it and installed the latest Resurrection Remix ROM based on Android 7.1.2 which is close to stock but with loads of customisation options. So far it doesn't seem to have affected battery life and is easier for her to manage. It does mean though that you can't use some apps that rely on a locked bootloader for security, notably banking apps. Bear in mind if buying from Hong Kong or China that the phone will be liable to import VAT of 20% and there will also be a handling charge of up to £15 from the shipping handler. However it's hit or miss whether you will, firstly get charged anything and secondly even if you do that it will be the full amount based on the price you paid. If you choose the DHL shipping option you will always pay the full charges, if you choose normal post/airmail you may not but it'll take a bit longer to arrive.
Thats the downside, but luckily there a quite a few chinese shops around these days that ship phones in bulk to some warehouse in Spain or wherever and then reship to the customer from there which avoids those problems.
After 4 screen failures in 20 months on my beloved galaxy S7 Edge, I started looking for a new phone. Put off by the price of the latest flagship models (800 for a phone!?), I opted for a Huawei P10 plus. Which are now so by carphone warehouse and get a 2 year UK warranty. The p10/p10 plus are £400/500 respectively. Some down sides compared to the S7 include a lack of ip67 water proofing and no wireless charging but at nearly half the cost and with 128 gig of storage and 6 gig of ram with a 3750 mah battery to power a 1440 x 2560 screen, it just all seems great bang for buck. I hope the IPS neo lcd screen is more reliable than the Super AMOLED on the S7 edge but so far I have been really impressed with the p10 plus.
Bought a Redmi Note 4 awhile back and more than happy with it, not for me the overpriced iPhones,Samsung's etc thanks very much.
I always keep a SIM only deal with the phone provider and purchase my phones without a contract. Yes it's a bigger up front cost but saves over the long run paying more and being locked into contracts. Currently I'm rocking an s7 non edge and it's fine. I also don't like the curved screens / direction the note 8 went in. I picked it up at a bargain price off of another forum. Prior to that I was rocking a Note 3 for about 3 years. Unfortunately my work MDM solution only works with Samsung / Apple devices so I'm locked in to those. I do the same with my wife's Apple phones and get a minimum of 2 years out of the phone before upgrading. Depending on your use you may wish to take a look at the Samsung J5 2017. It's about 240 from cpw. It's not a flagship phone, good feature set for the price. Been buying loads for work recently and the users are pretty happy with them.
Well you lot haven't made it any easier. Having had a browse round the shops at the weekend my main two choices were the OnePlus 5T and Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact. Opposite ends of the spectrum in terms on size, that's for sure. I like having a 'compact' phone, but I find myself doing more on it when on my commute and so a bigger screen would be easy to use in that sense. Looks like I have a fair bit more research to do!
