Poco F3 or F5 if you're feeling flash. Amazing spec for the money. Battery life two days if you're easy on it. Failing that a 7a might be in my future as they're a bit smaller. Currently using the F3 having come from an F1. Good phones.
@cougar not being pedantic at all, maybe I've just been happy with budget - medium range phones. My present Huawei P10 Lite has been on the go for 6 years now and I paid 200odd quid for it, before that was a Microsoft Lumia (RIP lol) and before that a second hand Xperia X1 maybe?
None were what I'd call fast but neither were they slow as arse. If you were using it as a computer then sure, go for something higher end but for anyone other than a power user top tier has never really made sense.
Your analogy about laptops - see also phones, how much does a Fold 5 cost?!? I honestly paid less for my gaming PC than one of those, hell I could buy a Fairphone 5, a Steam Deck and a 2tb NVME upgrade and still have enough left over for umpteen other gadgets or a decent bike.
When madame's phone packed up I started a thread on here. Many suggestions and links to reviews one of which included:
Got a Xiami Redmi Note 10 pro – good camera, 2 day battery life (actually having owned it for about 2.5 years maybe only one day now). A little bit of their own software you can’t uninstall but for the most part I don’t notice it. All the Xiaomi’s review pretty well and are cheaper than a pixel. The entire range is massive though, tend to be 6.5″+.
It's changed her from an technophobic occasional smart phone user to addict. My place in the family hierachy has dropped one, I'm now fourth: Junior, horse, phone, me... unless there's something I don't know.
So if you want a phone you use occasionally when you need it I recommend a battered old glitchy Motorola on its second battery like mine, but if you want a phone that works faultlessly and will slowly take over your life - Xiaomi Realme.
See I'd rather have your Motorola as despite my prejudices against them for the original RazR being an expensive table leveller they have a very basic Android system like Nokia and Fairphone with no crap bundled in.
I'd steer away from Chinese phones after my experience with Huawei, aside from privacy concerns (also applicable to Google) the support for updates has been dire and the amount of crap I can't remove without breaking it is ridiculous.
I'd keep my pixel 4a forever, but it will probably be on its last legs in about 12 months...so I'm kind of looking out for a new one.. a 7a or 8a or whatever 'a' pixel phone is last season at the time, would be the obvious choice.
But not 3.5mm jacks on new phones, so annoying.
Tbh the jack isn't a deal breaker, it's handy but I'm pretty used to Bluetooth headphones now. I always imagined they would last no time but the crap ones I have go forever. It's also one less thing to break and get annoyed at.
But not 3.5mm jacks on new phones, so annoying.
Do these phones have a USB-C port? If so, unless you’re allergic to adapters, you can buy a cheap adapter to allow the use of ‘phones with 3.5mm jacks. I use them, along with different cables on earphones with replaceable cables. My Røde headphones have an Amazon Basics 3.5mm > Lightning adapter that cost just a few quid, and audio quality is much better because the adapter has a built-in DAC, so Lossless is available.
My next phone, thats coming in a couple of weeks, will be USB-C, so I’ll be looking for a couple of adapters for existing devices.
An alternative is a DAC like the Fiio JadeAudio KA5, which I’ve just ordered, which I’ll be fixing to my phone’s case with Velcro, so all of my headphones/earphones will have 3.5mm jacks, no bothering with adapters in future.
USB-C head/earphones do away with any adapter nonsense
Cheers all for the suggestions. Looked through a few of the models suggested here. Decision made and have went for an S23 Ultra.
Using various codes on the samsung website brought the 256gb model down to £764 from £1250 rrp! Seeing as the ultra is the ultimate android phone (at the moment anyway) thought I'd treat myself. Plus it has a big battery.
Plus samsung are throwing in free bud2 pros (apparently worth £220) which I can try and sell on and recoup a bit more money and bring the price down a bit more.
Using various codes on the samsung website brought the 256gb model down to £764 from £1250 rrp!
Very good price and much cheaper than my 128gb S22 Ultra (came with Bud).
Let us know if the camera has improved and no more shutter lag.
i bought into the fairphone4 on a deal for 500 quid.
Its massive.
The camera isnt great
but its fast by my standards, and works well, so its grown on me, which is just as well as i intend to be stuck with it as long as i can repair it, and they support it.
The day after i dropped 500 quid on the FP, Nokia released the G42 for 200 quid. very comparable spec, (possibly identical) and similar repairability (though remains to be seen how long nokia manafacture parts and offer software support for it)
https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_gb/nokia-g-42?sku=101Q5003H067
Those Samsung Buds are really good, plus if you go in the settings you can give yourself a hearing test.
I've got a Fairphone 4 and I like it, it's not a slim as a pixel but that's because you can repair and maintain it. No complaints for me, I don't really bother with the camera on phones because I'm rubbish at photos so can't comment on that, everything else works fine and because it's a plain install of Android with no vendor mods you get updates regularly and they work
I just checked out MSE after seeing their email from earlier in the week.
Some surprising, to me, deals out there like monthly deals that beat buying a new phone and getting a separate SIM.
Buying a used/refurbished phone and SIM is still likely to be cheaper than a new one.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/
USB-C head/earphones do away with any adapter nonsense
True, but if you already have decent ‘phones, then an adapter is a cheap way to keep them going. Quality headphones have always come with adapters, my Rødes have two. Also, a cheap adapter makes a flexible joint that relieves stress on the socket and plug - I broke any number of headphones when they were 3.5 jacks and the wire got stressed. Buying decent headphones or earphones with a replaceable cable allows the cable to be replaced if it gets damaged, or there’s a change in the plug format. With the forthcoming DAC all my headphones and earphones will be returned to 3.5mm jacks, I’m even getting a couple of pairs of EarPods with 3.5mm jacks, proper old-skool. Means there’s a bunch of Lightning cables and adapters going into the electronics recycling bag, though.
First full day with my P7P, on the go since 5am, plenty of use and now showing 7%.
Getting used to the different layout compared to my S20. Generally not so much a giant leap but the camera is noticeably better.
I would of held out for the Pixel 8 but by all accounts it'll jump up in price.
I bought a Samsung Galaxy A34 5G a couple of months ago and it has been great.
I paid £249 but not sure what the price is now but might be worth a look?
