Other Recommend me a 'smart' phone

Hey all,

A while back (In the Era of the Samsung Galaxy S2), I ejected myself from the cycle of contract phones due to dissatisfaction with the cost and increasing contract length of ever more average phones.

I decided to cash buy a cheaper smart phone (an LG G3S) for about £160 in early 2015. It was much better than the the buggy as hell Galaxy S2 (the LG having a nice IPS screen and good battery life with a 2540mah Removable Battery and expandable storage) but it is a cheap smart phone and quite slow, with just 1 gig of ram and presumably a much slower processor.

I stumbled across an article talking about the Galaxy S7 Edge (coming out very soon I think) and lessons learnt from the S6, the S7 looks like it could be a good phone but I was put off by the cost and/or the insane £60 a month contracts.

So I started looking for a middle ground between the top end stuff and my current low end phone.

I came across two that look like they could fit the bill:

The OnePlusTwo - looks amazing hardware spec wise, with a quad core CPU and 4 gig of RAM and 64 gig of stroage. At £250 it seems to offer great bang for buck, however, I have discovered that the Snapdragon 810 processor it uses overheats, which leads to throttling slowdown and read the firmware/OS current version has stability issues.
https://oneplus.net/uk/2/specs

The Nexus 5 - This one looks slightly worse on paper spec wise and is more expensive at between £300-340 depending if you go for the 16 or 32 gig version but apparently offers a stable experience with the 'closest to android' OS experience.
http://www.google.co.uk/nexus/5x/

Can anyone offer some practical experience of of either phone, or suggest any decent alternatives?

Thanks

 

Can't fault my 5X, it's not slow and easily compares to my colleagues 6P in normal use.

Also having a fingerprint sensor excellent

 

I Recently 'downgraded' from an S6 to a Nexus 5 (normal version not x) and can honestly say I notice no difference from the S6. Bought it on here from one of the mods for £100.
Smart phones are much of a muchness these days IMO and unless you use it for really intensive operations (why would you?) go with something like the LG G4. Also, I am on Marshmallow and my S6 was still stuck on Lollipop...advantages of getting a Nexus..you get updates first and no manufacturer bloatware.

 

Currently using the OnePlus One and can recommend it. OnePlus two reviews seemed to suggest it was on power maybe a step backwards from the One due to the processor problems. Camera is also poor and the software can be buggy, like not being able to clear your missed call log. Minor but annoying. Nothing worse than my previous experience with Android.
I would also throw out the Asus Zenfone 2, Another great value phone.

I'm also a fan of Windows phone ahead of android but gave up waiting on them to release something. Loved the UI, I had less problems than with Android, continuum looks interesting and fairly good value at the time. A few rumoured devices coming but nothing I would jump at currently.

 

I loved my Windows Phone but the Windows app store is sadly lacking. More a corner shop than a store really.

 

I was "gifted" a Microsoft phone, a 535 wich is an effin cheap device, but for that it works really well.
The App Store is lacking in some ways though, most stores and offices simply don't develop for this. I miss very little.
Might have changed with Win10 though.

There's a silly issue where you are not able to copy stuff from anywhere bu the "given" folders, means for instance if you have multiple devices (we do) you can't copy the offline maps (one of the great benefits) around.
Also I'm not sure if it is possible to move maps to the SD-card, again, this SHOULD have changed with Win10.

I'd have preferred a Nexus device, simply for the very fast SW-Upgrades, but the current ones are just too dear for me

 

Until I picked up the Nexus 6P to replcae my failing OPO, the Nexus 5 was my favourite phone.

Timely updates, straight Android, lovely screen, sound was a bit weak on videos as memory serves but not enough to stop me using it.
Good battery life too.

My boss has a OnePlus Two on his desk right now, he's had no issues with it bar one occasion where he had to reboot it. We think it was a dodgy app, but it's not happened since.

 

The S7 does look a nice phone but yes the monthly costs on contract are high for the S7. I have just upgraded myself and have gone windows 10 with the 950.

In my opinion it's a great phone lacking apps but I have this feeling this could be the year of the underdog and hoping for more quality apps.

I still do have my S5 as back up and Huawei mediapad 2.0 for my android fix.
I would still recommend the Galaxy S5 as a good smartphone.

 

I recently picked up a 32GB 5X for the wife for £280, and another £10 or so tracked on quidco, so there are definitely deals to be had out there.

32GB for £275 - http://www.ebuyer.com/729684-lg-nexus-5x-32gb-phone-carbon-black-lgh791-a3gbbk

If you can live with 16GB - £204 and you get a "free" call/data package for 2 years - http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/nex...ntract-8-50p-m-204-mobilephonesdirect-2408294

I personally, and her, would never have an android phone running it any way other than how Google intended.

 

Thanks for the replies all - info much appreciated.

The Nexus 5x is in pole position right now. I did contact O2 directly as a current customer, they could give slightly better deals on 5x or S7 contracts but nothing amazing.
They explained they are locked into a pre-order contract with Samsung over the S7 and once the phone 'goes live' there should be some potentially better details available.

Was not massively impressed with the deal they offered on the 5x, given the phone is less than half the price of the Samsung phone to buy outright, the contract would have been only a third to a quarter less overall.

I'm gona keep a close eye on things and then strike when I see a good deal.

 

I really like the Nexus 5x - that said is there an annual refresh dual from Google soon with better tech/battery?

 

It's usually November, so there's a while yet.

 

Same here - having used a couple of Samsung & LG phones / tablets and now a Nexus 6 (and Nexus 9 tablet) I would never go back from stock android to touchwiz or whatever...

 

Nexus 5 for £204 on hot UK Deals at the moment

 

Problem with buying phones on contract, The phone is a tiny portion of the contract price in most cases.

O2 split there contracts these days on o2 refresh so your paying device and tariff seperately

If you got a credit card that does 0% for a few months your better buying it out right then paying it off in monthly installments.

Even using the Top end Iphone 6s plus 128gb which is £789 you can have it paid off in 10months and save a small fortune on contract prices for it. Around £400 in the 2 years of ownership all contracts are.

I have a Sim only deal for my own I pay £12 a month for unlimited calls / Messages and 4gb data, Which is about double the data I use each month. Thats with O2

Theres big savings to be had this way.

 

Having only used a Nexus and a Moto G - does something like Nova launcher allow you to fix most stuff or is it lower level?

 

Nova allows you to hide the 'My magazine' crap and choose a more muted colour scheme but the Settings and Notifications are Samsungs own, I happen to like them. You don't need a Launcher to change the most annoying notification sounds in the world, ever though.

 

Yeah that's what puts me off, I had a galaxy s2, which every other update gimped the battery life until they fixed it in the next patch.

As well as all the application bugs and bad performance.

I guess I am fooling myself to think things have improved any...!

I will hold out a little longer yet, see how the launch of the S7 goes and see if contract prices become a little more acceptable post launch.

 

As the owner of a "chinese special", specifically the old Jaiyu G3s and the newish Elephone P7000 I can say that they're worth the money you pay. There's usually a couple bugbears with them, for example both my phones had a small black bezel around the screen under the glass and the elephone gets pretty warm near the camera after heavy usage (between 35-43C depending on ambient temps).

However, both are dual sim come with a micro SD and removable battery (quite decent, the G3 came with a 3000mAH battery in 2013 and the P7000 has a 3450mAH battery).

One thing I've found that nearly all Chinese specials share however is their atrocious lowlight camera performance and often, a lack of auto stabilisation. So if you're into photography but only want a phone...the big name flagships are a field apart. That said, with a £150 phone you still have change leftover to buy a camera!