Saw Nexus 4 recommended on here. Google Play seem to have sold out though. Any more suggestions? Nexus 4 was about my budget £160ish. Looked at eBay but second hand smart phone could spell trouble I thought…

Anybody? Like the Nexus 4 recommendation but one that is still available to buy. Am going GiffGaff and need handset. What’s good and not stupid money?

I assume a Nexus 5 will be along soon – should also be good value. My advice would be to wai for it. Before Christmas would be my guess.

Generally accepted that the Nexus 4 was reduced to clear space for the Nexus 5 which should be out very shortly. Shame you missed the 4, though – that was a serious bargain reduced. OP, I might be tempted by a second hand Android phone that someone’s shifting to get the latest stuff – my Galaxy S3 is doing well so far and I don’t see any need to replace it.

Any of the lower Nokia Lumias are worth a look 520, 620, 625 and may be even the 720 could be had for your budget.

Nice thing about WinPho (believe it or not given Windows for PC’s) is that it is fully optimised for running on lower spec phones so runs really well even on the Lumia 520 which can be had for around £80 sim free.

Thank you! I knew daytime people would be more helpful 🙂 Yes, should have bought Nexus 4, oh well.

the flatboy – how old is your Galaxy s3? I would be quite happy to buy a second hand smartphone, but my experience of my only smart phone to date – HTC, the little one, (wildfire? desire?) is that it was utter complete incapable crud, and hasn’t even lasted the length of the 2 year contract I was on. It stopped working 6-8 weeks ago, contract expires end Nov.

Nexus 5 when it comes out at the end of the month. Top of the range specs at a very good price. Also, guaranteed updates within a week or so of release.

Nexus 5 is rumoured to be around £300-350 mark, so a little over your budget.
You should be able to pick up a second hand nexus 4 fairly cheaply. I imagine they will be even cheaper when the nexus 5 comes out and those that have the N4 want to sell them on.

Nice thing about WinPho (believe it or not given Windows for PC’s) is that it is fully optimised for running on lower spec phones so runs really well even on the Lumia 520 which can be had for around £80 sim free.

That is quite good to know, especially since Apple will turn my not that old iPhone 4 into an useless brick if ever I upgrade to iOS7 👿

It’s 1.5 years old – I too am switching to GiffGaff in Nov, now my extortionate contract is up, and have no intention of ever getting a contracted phone again. Sticking with this one until it needs replacing, then probably a sim-free Nexus or something similar as and when. I have seen the light!

I have a THL W8 beyond, Chinese phone.

Specs here

works a treat, comes with spare battery, charger spare flip case etc etc. is only 16Gb (but takes an SD card too) and has 1g ram, but runs the mediatek turbo quad core processor and is nice and speedy. excellent screen too and a 13mp camera on the back. Bit of a S4 clone, but a good one.

Support from THL is not bad either, emailed an inquiry and got a response about 4 hours later!

Phone cost now is about £160.

Or you could go for the upgraded one, 32Gb and 2G Ram for an extra £30!

Here

Only downside I can find so far is that the only GPS tracking software that works is Runkeeper, but that’s more to do with mediatek chips and the way the other apps handle the GPS data.

Nexus 4’s going from £160-£200 on ebay, Expansys have a product page up for Nexus 4 but it says Ordered on Request. Bound to be a flood of N4’s on ebay when the N5 comes out, possibly including mine.

Never heard of THL, thanks for that! Can you buy from a UK site, or do you have to order in $$? Thanks for suggestions all, really helpful.

You can get them on Amazon uk, but the price is a bit different, especially for the 2G ram models.

Ordering from THL’s webshop (you can show prices in GBP too) is fine. They arrive in a couple of weeks from order, which is pretty standard for anything from china.

THL – Technology Happy Life.

made me smile.

Have you ordered you giffgaff sim?

http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/wysiwyg

Click thru me if not 🙂

Anyone have experience with Acer smartphones?

A lot of Acers are badged Chinese phones running them thar mediatek chipsets. but it does depend upon the model.

Lovewookie: so is that THL one going to struggle, GPS wise, with GoogleMaps and MMTracker then?

All set to buy the THL, but good qu. from IHN. I used my HTC as car satnav, could I with this? Not sure what GPS tracking software is, is it just for calculating run/cycle as you’re out?

Got my mum a Nexus 4 when they were on sale and she loves using it. This is someone who has never been able to figure out a phone before as well. I’d probably have one if I didn’t already have an S3.

The THL works well with google maps navigate etc, just doesn’t work with any sports tracker software other than runkeeper.

There are a couple of posts on the android forums suggesting GPS is way off, but mine has never been a problem, always as spot on as a phone can get.

EDIT- not sure about memory map tracker.

Have you ordered you giffgaff sim?

http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/wysiwyg

Click thru me if not

Have just done this, thank you wysiwig 🙂 hope you get free credit too!

Look on the Three website at the Motorola RazrI. £150 (+£10 top up). It’s not locked to Three so will work with any Sim card.

So, lovewookie, my THL W8S just turned up. Thanks for the recommendation. It looks lovely. Currently on charge, looking forward to getting my giffgaff sim in it and trying it!

No brainer at the price is the Motorola Moto G.

As above (moto G) As soon as places start stocking the 16gb version I’m in

Phones4u are doing the moto g sim free already. Got my eldest one for her birthday in a couple of weeks which arrived Monday after ordering it online Saturday.

8gb or 16gb?

Anna, you probably need a different ‘hacked’ version of MM Tracker to run it on Android 4.2. Can discuss next time I see you 🙂

16gb

Looks like they’re out of stock now. Back in mid December.

link

OK Dave. nice big screen now, so may get there with the maps thing 🙂