My current Android phone is a few months out of warranty and is going wrong again (having gone back under warranty a couple of times). What’s out there that may suit me? Some things I’d like:

[list][*]Micro SD card slot. I use my phone as an mp3 player so I’ve got a 128GB micro SD card in it.[/*]
[*]Decent music playback, though I don’t know how much that’s down to apps and earphones rather than phone hardware.[/*]
[*]Not huge. The current one’s a Sony Z3 Compact, I wouldn’t be bothered by something a bit larger but I don’t want some Dom Joly-esque slab.[/*]
[*]Not some horrendously expensive flagship phone. I didn’t get my Z3 (my first smart phone) until it was about 250 quid I think, flagship prices do not appeal to me.[/*]
[*]Preferably not Sony, as that’d be rewarding them for building something with a lifespan barely longer than its warranty.[/*]
[*]Are manufacturers still skinning Android with horrible bloatware? If so I’d prefer not to have to deal with that.[/*][/list]

Any suggestions?

Wileyfox swift 2

Nonidea how that compares size wise.

Interesting – I have had my Z3 compact for three years and I wont be replacing it soon. It’s been fantastic and reliable.

My wife has had one three years and just broke the screen so she’s “upgraded” to an Xperix X compact or something. Got to say I have had a play and it’s no different to the z3 compact.

As far as I was aware the Z3 was a premium machine at the time of launch and still holds it’s own.

Probably doesn’t help you but I know a lot of sony handset users and don’t know of anyone having issues with build quality.

Probably doesn’t help you but I know a lot of sony handset users and don’t know of anyone having issues with build quality.

My last one died when I dropped it. Insurance replaced it.

Latest, XZ I think, is flawless.

I finally ditched android this year and got an Apple Iphone SE. Honestly it’s absolutely mint, it is far superior imo. It meets all your needs bar the sd slot. but the music player is better, the display is ace, the UI is better, facetime is brilliant. it’s all better.

Wife just bought a Moto E plus I think. 2gb ram, 16 GB internal, SD slot, latest android, 5″ screen. Does everything a phone needs to do for £120. And it’s rose gold which looks nice apparently.

I have a Motorola Moto-X Play which has been perfect for my not especially demanding needs. Software not overly messed with and build quality appears good for a lower end phone. Don’t know what Motorola are selling currently but my experience with this one would make me look at them again when it needs replacing

I know a lot of sony handset users and don’t know of anyone having issues with build quality.

Exact opposite here. Several people in our group have had them. All have had issues, coupled with poor support from Sony. Never again. They are particularly bad for bloatware as well IME

jekkyl – Member
I finally ditched android this year and got an Apple Iphone SE. Honestly it’s absolutely mint, it is far superior imo. It meets all your needs bar the sd slot. but the music player is better, the display is ace, the UI is better, facetime is brilliant. it’s all better.

…in your opinion. I have both (iphone from work) and prefer my three year old droid (Oneplus One).

OP: how’s about a Moto G5 3GB?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MZCWGYB

Pretty much stock android
micro SD card slot
3gb mem
fingerprint sensor
£165

sas78 – Member
Interesting – I have had my Z3 compact for three years and I wont be replacing it soon. It’s been fantastic and reliable.

Mine had the headphone jack go wonky twice and the second time that happened coincided with the screen’s proximity sensor giving up. There’s some really irritating thing where the calendar app just won’t bother to give notifications for some events.

And now the home, back and app soft keys are largely unresponsive, despite that bit of the screen working fine when the lock screen is on or a full screen app is running. Some Googling indicates that people have been reporting this as an issue for 2 years now, but there doesn’t seem to be any consensus on what causes it or how to fix it and Sony haven’t said anything about it either. I’m glad you’ve had better experiences but it doesn’t help with my frustration sadly.

I’ll look into the Wileyfox and Moto options, though the change of ecosystem and loss of the MicroSD slot put me off getting a Jesus phone.

Moto G5

Samsung A3 if small size important

Moto X Play here too. My requirements are identical to yours and it’s been great

Moto G5 added to the list for consideration.

ebygomm – Member
Samsung A3 if small size important

Not huge is important, rather than small size being important. Also isn’t Samsung one of the main offenders when it comes to own-brand cruft and bloatware being added to Android? Or is that an outdated impression?

Also isn’t Samsung one of the main offenders when it comes to own-brand cruft and bloatware being added to Android? Or is that an outdated impression?

I had thought the same (previously owned a Galaxy S2) but after seeing the newer ones I was convinced enough to get an S7 (when my Sony z1 compact went pop) and I’m pretty pleased with it.
It has less bloat than Sammys used to do, but they def tweak the UI, although so far I’ve found most of the tweaking useful rather than irritating.

The G5 is often considered the goto budget mobile under £200, but as someone looking for a mobile that doesn’t cost more than a kidney, it does have spec weaknesses (such as a lack of a hardware compass and NFC, if memory serves me right).

A few I’ve heard good things about but cannot decide whether to buy myself include…
Maze Alpha
Doogee Mix
Huwaei 8 Lite

Well worth keeping an eye on http://www.hotukdeals.com/tag/mobiles to keep in the loop of what deals are out there, including those three I’ve mentioned that are well under £200.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I really wish I had bought a Lenovo P2 earlier this year, but back then a new mobile was not essential for me. I also though the price would go down once Three lost their exclusive selling rights in the UK, but the model has been made EOL since mid summer!
There are deals like http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/levovo-p2-phone-nfc-dual-sim-amazing-battery-life-4gb-ram-64gb-55-amoled-display-169-gearbest-2782701 , but you need to be clued up on what model differences there are between countries such as “band 20” lacking on many non-UK spec mobiles.

I just got a Nokia 6 a couple of weeks ago and I quite like it. 5 inch screen, 16mp camera, stereo speakers, 4GB of ram and a clean install of Android Nougat.

I think it sells for £199, but I got it free on an EE contract.

Thanks for the advice, though I suspect my need to create a thread likes this means I’m not clued up on the minutiae of mobile phone specs and model differences. 🙂

Another vote for the Samsung Galaxy A3 here – number 1 child and wife have both got one and are pretty happy with them. Specwise the performance is about equal to the Z3c (3 years progress), and it’s not huge (the main reason for our purchases). Meets all your other criteria too, I think.
Personally, I’m hoping that my Z3c lasts long enough for the new XZc to come down a bit from the launch price of £499.

I recently bought a Moto G5 for £166 from Amazon,

Awesome phone for the money.

Son has a Moto G5 plus, I’d get one tomorrow if it was my money.

Edit:plus has more ram and/or faster processor but worth the money over the G5 simply from a future proofing perspective.

https://www.giffgaff.com/mobile-phones/pre-owned

Giff Gaff pre-owned, some good phones at good prices with 6 month warranty.

Edit:plus has more ram and/or faster processor but worth the money over the G5 simply from a future proofing perspective.

I’d agree with the latter and processor, but just to note that Amazon version of the G5 is the dual SIM 3GB ram.

Probably doesn’t help you but I know a lot of sony handset users and don’t know of anyone having issues with build quality

Sadly I think the Z3 was a bit of a bum for build quality – screens especially which easily break or “unstick”. I’m on my 3rd – I know, I’m a sucker but its the only phone that meets my requirements, mostly a decent camera and not phablet-esque. Dunno if the Z5 is any better but that’s probably my next phone and CEX was a good tip-off from this forum to get decent phones cheap with a warranty.

Xiaomi mi 5 ticks almost all your boxes but no sd card, though if you shop around you can pick up large memory versions for not much. The only thing I didn’t like was the stock launcher but nova launcher fixed that.

G5s and splus being released imminently, might be worth holding out for a deal on the g5

One plus 3T

I think it may fail your size requirements, but other than that, it’s an extremely good phone that just gets on with it, without being flashy

Huawei P9 Lite.

Or as suggested above, the Xiaomi phones are great value and can be bought for much cheapness from somewhere like GearBest.

And the best phone you can swap the battery on is….?

I had various issued with my Z3 compact, finally retired it last week and bought a Samsung A3 (2017). Its a shame as I liked the Z3 features but it had a growing list of faults and I’d had it dismantled a few times to replace bits, and it had also been fixed under warranty two or three times.

The A3 ticks all the boxes with the exception that it only has 16gb internal storage, I would have preferred 32gb. My wife has the 2016 model which has proved to be a solid phone…I like the 2017 though has it has got rid of the glass back.

I also looked at the Hauwei (sp?) Nova, it looks like a good contender (slightly pricier) but its got no water resistance whatsoever (even the Moto G5 has a coated circuit board I think) and there were some doubts over software being glitchy.

Both the A3 and Nova are only a tad bigger than the Z3 Compact. The only thing I’ve missed so far is the Z3 had stereo speakers on the front, and the A3 now comes with a USB C connector, which means with personal and work phones, my wife and I now have Micro USB, USB C, Apple 30 pin and Apple Lightning leads! So I’ve had to do some ebay purchasing to get a couple of new leads, and some leads with adaptors tethered on them that will do two types of phone.

Another vote for a OnePlus 3T. Mine is awesome, no bloatware, fast and reasonably cheap too.

Just purchased the Moto G5 off Giffgaff for £139.
Most of the reviews say its about the best for around £150.
It will be fine for the wife as my One plus2 is still working.

Upgraded my c.2015 A3 to a 2017 A3 mebbe three weeks ago, not that bothered about a phone but seems a lovely bit of kit, no bloatware (std google/samsung/microsoft apps but all hid in their own folders), nice and quick, really liking whatever version of Android it is, good battery and charges super quick. I likey. 🙂

zippykona – Member
And the best phone you can swap the battery on is….?

An original Nokia 3310? Battery life and reliability seem to have been shown the door in the mad stampede for features and fancy designs in the smart phone market, sadly.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I’ve got a lot of phones to look into!

I have had my Z3 compact for three years and I wont be replacing it soon. It’s been fantastic and reliable.

Loved my Z3, sadly dropped it. Oops. Faultless until it hit the pointy rock.

Replaced with a Z5. Same but better.

Sony phones FTW

me my androld is quite ostrich, even though the market and rumors about their lags. but as for me they work well

OP, are you me? My Z3 compact has given up this week after 26 months , with unresponsive navigation buttons. Went with samsung a3 2017 instead. Annoyingly it has a different charger jack so all old chargers obsolete.

Moto G5:

it does have spec weaknesses (such as a lack of a hardware compass and NFC, if memory serves me right

That’s correct. The other problem I find with it is that the ringer isn’t very loud so for a deaf old git like me that is a problem. It’s linked to my watch (vivoactive) though so that helps. Other than that it is a brilliant phone though. Would buy again etc.

Annoyingly it has a different charger jack so all old chargers obsolete.

Only the cables, not the chargers. Usb type c as on your a3 is far better than micro USB anyway – much stronger connector and the ability to put it in either way up saves having to orient the connector.

Would highly recommend the Motog G5 plus, it’s that little bit faster, more ram and better processor and also has NFC for android pay.
It’s dual sim as well so i have my work one in there too, but i can flick that off whenever i want