Best performing sim free phone for £400

Or so?

Android is a must please

Priority is decent screen strength

Camera must be better than the s21 I’ve currently got

Best for £400 (not the 7a as the glass isn’t very strong)

Oneplus 10 seems to be available around that price point.

Bear in mind that the best deal might be through a contract.

Hard to recommend anything other than Pixel or Samsung IMO cos of software updates. You could get a 256GB A55 Samsung for that I think if you can trade in the S21.

Samsung Galaxy A55 review: A long-awaited return to form!

The Pixel 7 or 7a is absolutely brilliant and you’ll get change back from £400 at Argos at the moment

(not the 7a as the glass isn’t very strong)

You just need to be carefull with them, you wouldn’t chuck around a £400 laptop the way some people chuck around thier phones and act all shocked when the screen cracks. No phone screen is particulary strong, regardless of claims made.

You can mitigate a fair bit though… a glass screen protector will add a bit of security and also a wallet style case provides a good amount of shock absorption. (I usually end up cracking at least one screen protector during the life of a given phone… it’s a sacrificial part) Don’t put it in your back pocket and sit on it, etc.

I have an active job, I ride a bike, I’ve 3 kids, I don’t try to break screens it just happens!! Hence asking for a tough screen but thanks for your sage words of advice

I have a 6a, which is Gorilla Glass 3, same as the 7a, and it has survived quite a few falls which I would have expected to be fatal.

One tip I have discovered…if you do have a wallet style case then a glass screen protector will also prevent abrasions on the screen from the edges of your bank cards that will develop over time.

Whatever Pixel you can afford, especially as it does not then have manufacturer bloatware which you can’t get ride of and never want/use.

I have a Pixel 7a. It’s great, Was a replacement to the Pixel 7 Pro which I killed. Hardly noticed the difference.

especially as it does not then have manufacturer bloatware which you can’t get ride of and never want/use

Some people use the Samsung/Microsoft ecosystem. I do, so remove all the Google apps I don’t need.

Pixel 8 here (see previous thread, by the time the cashback was claimed and the price of the sim card deducted it worked out at £100)

I have one gripe with it so far.  The rear of the case is simultaneously really quite grippy on your hand, feels grippier than my old Samsung which had a glass back. Yet is also the slipperiest material ever on hard surfaces. I’m in the habit of throwing my phone on a pile of scrap paper on my desk as that’s where the charger cable reaches from behind the monitors , which slopes a few random degrees. The phone will slide off it, and I can see it doing that onto the floor at some point.

Does it have to be totally new? Backmarket has quite the range of options and is easy to deal with. I’ve just got a new old iphone, my daughter got one a couple of years back. https://www.backmarket.co.uk/en-gb

I did have one where it didn’t turn up in the condition advertised (scratches on the screen made it ‘fair’ not ‘good’), and they offered me £60, a refund, or an exchange on the spot. Can’t help you on actual phones because I’m tied in to apple, but refurbs might broaden your options on budget.

To echo @stwhannah try Backmarket. I dropped my S21 Ultra and a fair condition one from Backmarket was cheaper than a replacement screen.

There are different suppliers and mine came from 4Gadgets. Apart from a couple of marks on the surround my “fair” phone had a perfect screen. £400ish gets you an S23. Do play with the options as sometimes a higher spec model is cheaper than a lower one, my fair 256gb ultra was cheaper than a fair 128gb for instance…

The S23 will get OS updates to A17 and security updates until 2028.

https://www.backmarket.co.uk/en-gb/p/samsung-galaxy-s23-128-gb-phantom-black-unlocked/3bd83a62-d359-44b0-b61d-481ae6f75710#l=12