[Closed] Help getting a new phone contract

so I’m back to a Samsung. No idea which one

Note 9 or 10.

moto power (whatever G is the latest) if battery life is a concern.

We are with EE on a family plan. All been on S10e for the last 2 years and have been impressed, especially the camera. Its the only thin we use for photos and videos.
They rang us last week as we were coming out of contract and offered us all the S20fe on for the same price and an upgrade on data to 100gb a month each. Phone seems good so far. Just a little bit bigger in size.

I just stick with Samsung

Got an A50 as my own and a S21 as a works phone

I normally buy whatever the middle of the range Samsung is but last time I looked I think the middle had doubled in price and the top was more than I used to spend on a car.

As for contracts I'm on Giffgaff and it's 8 quid a month for 3gb of data. I don't need loads as I'm always at home or work but I can bump it up for a month if we're going away and we can hammer spotify, iplayer, Google maps etc. Plus I can leave whenever I want.

I normally buy whatever the middle of the range Samsung is but last time I looked I think the middle had doubled in price and the top was more than I used to spend on a car.

Actually the price in UK is not very much more than in Far East for Samsung Note 9/10. I think is only about £100 to £150 more in UK.

I am with ee, I got an Oppo something or other. Seems good enough, Samsung like, battery is very good.

Edited..its an oppo A9.

The Google I got last time was shite, and I don’t want to be spied on, or learn how to use something new, so I’m back to a Samsung. No idea which one.

You do know they both run the same software? Samsung has their own skin and bloatware on theirs, but otherwise identical.

I gave up on contracts a few years ago. Pixel 3a cost me about £300 and I pay Plusnet £8 month for unlimited text and calls with 8gb of data.

They piggyback of EE so coverage seems perfectly okay.

Cheaper over the usual 2 year period and way cheaper when you go beyond that. The 3a wax regarded as a very repairable phone so I can this getting a new battery one day and just keep chugging on.

I think you missed some key information - do you want to buy the phone and then pay less per month or get the phone "free" or nearly free in return for getting shafted on the monthly fee? Are you a big data user, budget etc...

The Google I got last time was shite,

what was shite about it? Generally, feedback is pretty positive on the Pixel's because they use Android how it was intended whereas many people get frustrated by Samsungs attempt to make Android better but make it worse...

...who are you worried about spying - the Chinese with a Huawei etc stealing your state secrets or Google advertising to you? There's an argument if you really care about privacy that you should bite the bullet learning something new and go Apple - within a week you'll be used to it. Not that iOS users are not spied on but Apple try to put your privacy first and aren't scared to upset Facebook etc by forcing them to tell you what nefarious sharing they are up to.

Oh, and they are probably all running a newer version of Android so you'll still have to find your way around!

I've got a Poco X3 NFC. Had it for a couple of months. Nice phone, battery life is epic. Only thing you have to do is disable the ads in some built in applications, which is all of 10 minutes following a YouTube video. So may not meet your needs.Cost me £170.

I've been using android since my HTC Hero, through various iterations of Samsung, Google and Huwawie. This is the best phone to date.

I've just got an a52 to replace my ageing s9 seems good so far

Top tip - buy your phone from Samsung on 2 years interest free credit, then get a sim only deal from EE. I got an S21 and it was much cheaper than getting it from EE, and I get a better package as well.

If you have a Samsung store you can check them out. I was just looking, and as soon as the guy thought I might be walking out he got a bit of a desperate look and gave me a ridiculously big discount on a latest model phone, I could hardly refuse. They must've had a slow year or something.

I wonder if the OP has become annoyed/confused with the new gestures for navigating the phone rather than the buttons at the bottom of the screen? The gestures are part of stock Android, but I think they can be disabled and buttons restored. At least they could on my last phone.

Google "Android One" and buy something on their programme.

I despise Samsung phones. I had the original Galaxy and it was such a hateful piece of crap that I successfully blagged a replacement out of O2 six months into a contract. I currently have an... A12? I think, as a work phone, and the hardware is decent enough but Samsung's shitware still irritates the proverbial out of me. Why they're so popular I cannot fathom.

What's shore about it?

Google “Android One” and buy something on their programme.

We've two Moto Actions in the house on Android One. Superb things, even two years on.

We've also a Samsung S10e (superb as well) bought as box open but on contract. It was cheaper than handset + sim only.

I don't get why you think a Samsung will be not collecting as much data on you as a Google. Firstly they are all the same operating system underneath, Google, secondly Samsung have thier own suite if apps also quietly recording data. Don't look at what Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter grab from you and connect....

Also on an S10e and find it extremely good, using a Smarty 30gb plan for £10 (or £9 If you have more than more Smarty sim in the family/group)

Edit: I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this fully loaded S10e.

I always wonder what makes folk say certain platforms are shit, I've had apple, samsung and motorola phones, they were all much of a muchness really. The apple died in cold weather, so that was ruled out, the samsung lasted 6 years, when I looked at replacements they were eye watering (see that 'fully loaded' one above as supposedly cheap) motorola has been okay but it's not as fast - but it was 200 quid. Hey ho.

tenner a month for 32gb of data, my days of expensive contracts are long gone.

(see that ‘fully loaded’ one above as supposedly cheap)

They've all gone up. I bought my S10e 2 years ago from the same site for £359.

motorola has been okay but it’s not as fast – but it was 200 quid. Hey ho.

YMMV!

^ do hunt for S10e contracts - I'm £18 a month contract and nothing upfront which was cheaper than handset + sim separately.

It's yellow and was box open return, but mucho good value.

tenner a month for 32gb of data, my days of expensive contracts are long gone.

Who's that with?

underbatteried PoS

I get a sense this is an Android kind of thread, but my iPhone 12 Pro Max is currently on 50% battery, I last charged it fully on Sunday (apart from a few short trips in the car).

They are silly money though (I don't pay for mine) and HUGE.

Mrs Pondo just switched to Three, sim only, 12gb a month for a fiver after cashback, bought an A21 (maybe?) off of Amazon. I like Three - after years of phones never working abroad with Virgin, I switched a couple of years ago and to have it just WORK, as soon as you get off the plane... Bliss. 🙂

Samsung bloatware

Subjective as to what constitutes bloatware but don't know what all the fuss is about, takes a few minutes to get rid of the stuff you don't want or just disable it in the apps menu.

£500 for an S10e? that's shocking, they are regularly half that if you shop around.

Looks like the second hand market on S10e have gone up. Done a check on our old ones which have had glass screen protectors and silicone cases from new and looking at £175 + on the buying sites. Red, yellow and two green should get us circa £700

Who’s that with?

Virgin, wasn't that much data at first, but they keep chucking it at me.

YMMV

eh? it's just a phone that runs some apps with a reasonable camera, I know you have to analyse everything to the Nth degree, but some of us don't. 🙂

Samsung aren't nearly as bad as they used to be for bloatware. I'm currently using a S20FE 5G and it has hardly any Samsung apps on it compared to my old S6 and S7, and those that are on it can be disabled. Their new OneUI is decent too, although I'm a Nova Launcher fan.

Also, if going with Samsung try and find an Snapdragon model as they have much better battery life than those with Exynos CPUs (this is why I went for the S20FE 5G rather than the 4G version - I don't even have 5G enabled).

I had a Huawei P30 before the S20 and that was a great phone (fast, nice screen, excellent camera), but sadly it had an incident with the pavement. Would have happily replaced it with a P40 but they don't support Google services and it's a PITA to sideload them so I went back to Samsung.

Lots of good options from Oppo, Xiaomi and OnePlus too.

Also, if going with Samsung try and find an Snapdragon model as they have much better battery life than those with Exynos CPUs

I picked up on this particular nugget and ran with it for my own new phone travails, went for the Samsung A52. Early days (only arrived this afternoon) but well impressed - normally go with Samsung's cheapest which has generally been fine, but the A10 I had last time was really, frustratingly slow straight out of the box. The A52 feels supercharged in comparison, so thanks! 🙂