cybershot
Well-Known Member
Ditto, these cases are top quality, light and don't add much size to your phone either.
Cheap Android phone recommendations
- Thread starter treelover
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Ditto, these cases are top quality, light and don't add much size to your phone either.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Quite bulky though no? I've always favoured Tech 21 cases a middle ground. When I got the S8 I figured I'd go less bulky and got the official Samsung one with a screen in the front. Cracked the screen within a few months.
cybershot
Well-Known Member
I was worried I was going to find it bulky, but it doesn't feel it at all. I guess the reasoning behind the quality of a case is down to how valuable the phone is to you, and if you have any kind of insurance or not. If you have a spare phone your SIM fits into, then you might not care about being without your phone for several days if you have to send it off.
PS, those Otterbox cases are much cheaper on Amazon
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Yup, I certainly mind spending money on a decent case. When I get my screen repaired I'll certainly be getting something more sturdy.
Not bulky unless you prefer having a fragile/slim bar of soap as a phone
I buy them on Amazon
It is also good to have a case you can grip, rather than a slippery thin bar of soap
editor
hiraethified
What the hell do you do with your phone?! I just stuck a £4 rubbery/plastic cover around the phone and - *touches wood - I've never had a problem.
I've only ever broken a phone screen once* and that was when I accidentally dropped a metal coffee pot on the thing. I don't think an Otter case would have saved it then. Or even a Beaver one. Or any other smallish mammal-named case.
(*touches wood again)
Well done
I didn't think they still made that phone?
You're right. I'd not seen it before. It's been out for a while. 3 stopped selling it here.
Think he said the seller was based in Ireland but it turned up from Singapore.
Phone looks good, thin considering the size of the battery. If my old phone packed up I'd be tempted by one.
RoyReed
Must fly!
I just got my new Huawei P Smart phone. I think it's a bargain at under £200 (if you shop around).
cybershot
Well-Known Member
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Not that it helps that much in this case, but are we getting to the stage we should be running anti virus on our phones?
cybershot
Well-Known Member
Not that it helps that much in this case, but are we getting to the stage we should be running anti virus on our phones?
Google play protect should apparently pick them up if your phone supports it.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I'd not heard of that till now, so ran a Google
Google Play Protect is 'dead last' at fingering malware on Android
mhendo
Aussie in San Francisco
My old Samsung Galaxy S5 was getting a bit long in the tooth and slow, and I also wanted to try Google's Project Fi as my new service provider. The problem with Project Fi is that you can only use one of about five or six models, and I wasn't going to pay $700 for a new Pixel 2.
I decided to get a Moto X4 Android One phone, which is one of the cheapest phones available through Project Fi, and so far I'm really happy with both the phone and the service. The phone was $US249, and it's seems excellent for the sort of thing I use phones for. I'm not a gamer, so I don't need the latest octo-core processors, and most of the time I'm taking pictures with my DSLR, so I'm not too picky when it comes to the camera. The Moto X4 seems pretty fast and responsive, and the battery life easily gets me though a day and a half to two days. Had to get a case for it, though, because it's slippery as an eel.
I decided to get a Moto X4 Android One phone, which is one of the cheapest phones available through Project Fi, and so far I'm really happy with both the phone and the service. The phone was $US249, and it's seems excellent for the sort of thing I use phones for. I'm not a gamer, so I don't need the latest octo-core processors, and most of the time I'm taking pictures with my DSLR, so I'm not too picky when it comes to the camera. The Moto X4 seems pretty fast and responsive, and the battery life easily gets me though a day and a half to two days. Had to get a case for it, though, because it's slippery as an eel.
cybershot
Well-Known Member
I found myself needing an Android phone because I could hack Android Auto onto my car's infotainment system (mazda 3) which is obviously useless without an Android phone. I'm an iPhone user so wanted to spend as little as possible on a device without it being unbearably slow and too low on internal memory. A difficult ask.
Yesterday I went to Argos as I'm an impatient bugger, and picked up at first an Alba 4, it didn't even get to the choose wifi network screen on setup, just sat at the 'just a sec' screen for 2 hours. Good start, already finding Android to be a thorn in my side. Sent it back, didn't have another in stock, so they exchanged it for a Alcatel, or something. Turned out after I powered it on it had 4GB less internal storage than the previous choice, it was also terribly slow, the screen felt crap, and in the end I decided this phone was not worth £25, let alone £50 so back that went too.
Being slightly more patient as I have Amazon prime I ordered a Blackview A7 for £52.99 from Amazon. I think I finally made a good choice.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074M7S6CW/ref=psdc_356496011_t1_B07BCVWQ3X
For what I will use it for, which is basically, tethering data off my iPhone to run Android Auto with Google Maps/Waze/Google Play Music/Spotify & radio apps, it does the job. It would probably do social media fine as well. Camera is ok, has headphone jack, 2 sim card slots and can take micro sd to 32GB which I'd suggest you put something in there if you made it your daily phone.
Downsides: It's 3G only, but I'm not using a SIM in it, so I don't care. Seems you can move almost nothing to the SD card app wise. I have about 3GB free still after installing all the above. Android still seems too 'faffy' and while I can see the appeal for some, it's not for me.
If you're after a mega cheap phone and won't install loads of apps and don't need loads of internal storage space it's worth a look, and with distance selling regs or whatever it's called these days, if you don't like it before 14 days, just send it back!
Of course if you have a bit more patience than me, you can probably still get something even better for £50 if you're prepared to order from China!
Yesterday I went to Argos as I'm an impatient bugger, and picked up at first an Alba 4, it didn't even get to the choose wifi network screen on setup, just sat at the 'just a sec' screen for 2 hours. Good start, already finding Android to be a thorn in my side. Sent it back, didn't have another in stock, so they exchanged it for a Alcatel, or something. Turned out after I powered it on it had 4GB less internal storage than the previous choice, it was also terribly slow, the screen felt crap, and in the end I decided this phone was not worth £25, let alone £50 so back that went too.
Being slightly more patient as I have Amazon prime I ordered a Blackview A7 for £52.99 from Amazon. I think I finally made a good choice.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074M7S6CW/ref=psdc_356496011_t1_B07BCVWQ3X
For what I will use it for, which is basically, tethering data off my iPhone to run Android Auto with Google Maps/Waze/Google Play Music/Spotify & radio apps, it does the job. It would probably do social media fine as well. Camera is ok, has headphone jack, 2 sim card slots and can take micro sd to 32GB which I'd suggest you put something in there if you made it your daily phone.
Downsides: It's 3G only, but I'm not using a SIM in it, so I don't care. Seems you can move almost nothing to the SD card app wise. I have about 3GB free still after installing all the above. Android still seems too 'faffy' and while I can see the appeal for some, it's not for me.
If you're after a mega cheap phone and won't install loads of apps and don't need loads of internal storage space it's worth a look, and with distance selling regs or whatever it's called these days, if you don't like it before 14 days, just send it back!
Of course if you have a bit more patience than me, you can probably still get something even better for £50 if you're prepared to order from China!
cybershot
Well-Known Member
That's... a pretty specific use case. I've recycled phones better than that!I think in your case having a fresh battery is probably worth it. Anyone else would be better suited to buy a used phone if that's all they could afford.
I did ask several mates if they had an old phone knocking about, but alas none did, I was too impatient for eBay and couldn't be arsed going to somewhere like Cash Converters. Samsung Mini's and an LG of some sort seemed the eBay price equivalent? But yeah, a rather specific use case.
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
I figured I'd check on what's in my recycle pile that needs to go to the tip.
This isn't a knock for or against it, I was just curious to compare.
Huawei Y300 (launch price £60-£100)- The Blackview is better. But it was a cheap phone 5 years ago, so no shocker.
HTC One S (£21/mo contract) - A midrange phone from 6 years ago. It's tight. More storage, only 2 cores, very nice build. The Blackview having an actual recent OS wins it.
Moto G 2nd gen (launch price £150) - Cheap phone from 4 years ago. Very, very similar in spec, though built nicer. Only goes to Marshmallow, so the Blackview wins on updated OS again.
Nexus 5 (I paid £280)- High end phone 4.5 years ago. Not. Even. Close. Shits on the A7. Though the N5 had middling battery life when new, and it's atrocious after 4 years.
Samsung GS 5 (no idea, probably really expensive) - High end 4 years ago. Similar to Nexus 5, with better camera and battery life. Not in the recycle pack as the ween is using it for Pokemon Go.
Out of the current phones, the Xiaomi A One is a bit better than the GS5 and cost £160 new a year ago. I've got an Honor 8 which is nicer than the lot, but I did pay £295 for it so it had better be nice. So it's not a bad showing when you consider price. It's more that I'd put it at a level where it's so cheap that it becomes annoying to use. Anything under £150 new is so shite that it's going to get to you and it's better to go used. (except in your case, where you've probably bought the perfect fit)
This isn't a knock for or against it, I was just curious to compare.
Huawei Y300 (launch price £60-£100)- The Blackview is better. But it was a cheap phone 5 years ago, so no shocker.
HTC One S (£21/mo contract) - A midrange phone from 6 years ago. It's tight. More storage, only 2 cores, very nice build. The Blackview having an actual recent OS wins it.
Moto G 2nd gen (launch price £150) - Cheap phone from 4 years ago. Very, very similar in spec, though built nicer. Only goes to Marshmallow, so the Blackview wins on updated OS again.
Nexus 5 (I paid £280)- High end phone 4.5 years ago. Not. Even. Close. Shits on the A7. Though the N5 had middling battery life when new, and it's atrocious after 4 years.
Samsung GS 5 (no idea, probably really expensive) - High end 4 years ago. Similar to Nexus 5, with better camera and battery life. Not in the recycle pack as the ween is using it for Pokemon Go.
Out of the current phones, the Xiaomi A One is a bit better than the GS5 and cost £160 new a year ago. I've got an Honor 8 which is nicer than the lot, but I did pay £295 for it so it had better be nice. So it's not a bad showing when you consider price. It's more that I'd put it at a level where it's so cheap that it becomes annoying to use. Anything under £150 new is so shite that it's going to get to you and it's better to go used. (except in your case, where you've probably bought the perfect fit)
cybershot
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I've used it a few times now just dicking around. The main thing for me is it's responsive, boots up at an acceptable speed and the screen and response time to pressing stuff is pretty good. Android Auto works well, again using the car's touch screen it responds quick enough and isn't frustrating.
Compared to the crap I was getting on the high st for the same price.
A shame no one I knew had anything spare Samsung or Nexus knocking about, as I'd have been happy to just get a new battery for it, but I did read this version of AA on the head unit seems to only work well with Android 7, which was another reason for the purchase which I failed to mention originally.
kazza007
Bunned
See my Nexus 6p battery thread. Love the phone, but battery now is crap! Not up with phones these days. Is there another model that has replaced it? Need screen size as big or a touch bigger, type c Cable, super duper screen and camera and speakers. I use it for net, camera, films etc. Vanilla Android and not hundreds of poubds. Any reccs to research?
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
kazza007
Bunned
I think the technology is dated now...looking at a Huawei mate 10 pro ..any owners?
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Of course it is, but if it still works for you...
If you are half techie you could try buying a battery for a fiver and doing it yourself.
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