I’m currently using a 32GB iPhone 6s Plus. The battery is beginning to go (again) and I’ve been out of storage for a good while now.

So thinking about an upgrade. It won’t be new. I’ve lost track a bit of what’s what, so would like advice please.

Aside from the basic phone/email/web browsing stuff, the most used function is the camera, and something with a 2nd telephoto lens (and possibly optical zoom?) would be quite desirable. An X- generation looks about the starting point?

Thinking 128GB as a minimum.

Max of £300, ideally £200.

…and where from…? The last few phones have come either off the STW classifieds or from personal contacts. I’m aware of Backmarket?

Thanks!

GiffGaff sell secondhand phones and have a very good No-Quibble warranty (we got one last year that was meant to be in excellent condition but had a small mark and they changed it without question). CEX can also be very good.

GiffGaff iPhone 11.

Nothing less than an iPhone 11 I’d say.

Seller – don’t know, only every had new.

2nd Giffgaff, they seem to have some decent SIM free bargains.

CEX.

I’ve bought plenty of electricals from them over the years. Good warranty on used electricals. I’ve found condition is always better than described too. My recent iPhones have come used via friends or others I know, but I wouldn’t hesitate to try CEX for one.

iPhone 11 Pro I bought used 2+ years ago and great handset. Think it’s around 4 years old now and original battery still great.

Also if you use iCloud you won’t need a 128GB phone which opens your options up – £2.49 a month for 200gb of storage.

You’ll need a Pro model if you want optical zoom – 2x on the regular, 2.5x on the Max IIRC. Definitely worth having IMO if you’re using it as a camera a lot.

Agree that you can easily get away with the minimum storage now by using cloud storage/streaming etc.

We’ve had a couple of phones from iOutlet which have worked out fine:

https://www.theioutlet.com/product-category/refurbished-iphones/iphone-11-pro/

their screen protectors weren’t great though so perhaps go for a decent one from spigen or similar.

MoneySavingExpert has a comparison tool which will find the best deals (including refurb) for whatever model you choose (the search will alow you look for sim-free)

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/contracts/

CeX and Giffgaff are good shouts. Thanks.

Hmm. Not a fan of cloud stuff. A combination of liking my bits where I can see them, not distributed randomly around the planet; plus previous experience is that it can all vanish as easily as it becomes available (had cloud storage backup through work, pre-covid. When work went bust, storage vanished. Fortunately I had most stuff also on physical drives). I also do my utmost to minimise signing up to monthly subscription services – I much prefer to own stuff, not rent it. Streaming just feels like a way to burn through data.

Also – I’ve just noticed no home buttons on these – fingerprint or facial recognition only? Again feels like another level of **** I really don’t want to get into. I spend too much time with gloves on, and I don’t really see a need for apple to know what I look like. (possible paranoia alert!). Currently I don’t even run a password to unlock. Or am I missing something?

…this is getting more complicated…!?

I use the ebay seller LoopMobile

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/loopmobilestore

I’ve had three phones from CEX over the last 6ish years and would happily recommend them. The first 2 developed problems and CEX gave me a refund at the current value both times without hesitation. The third is still going strong after 18 months.

…this is getting more complicated…!?

Sounds like iPhones (and indeed the modern tech world, no offence 😉) are not for you. I’d be looking at Android in your situation.

(to elaborate, IME there are two ways of doing things – the Apple way, and the hard way! The former revolves around biometrics, passwords, cloud, subscription services etc. IMO if you’re not fully on-board with the Apple way of doing things it just becomes frustrating)

I’ve just gone from a 6s to a 128gb 11. It’s loads better. FaceID works really well, camera and video is leaps and bounds better. I just bought a new one from John Lewis for £400 rather than mess about with second hand lottery.

In fact the camera is so much better, I wish I’d splurged for an even later pro model.

The extra ram and speed makes browsing much smoother.

Lack of physical home button on newer iPhones was a worry for me but its a total non-issue in use. I repurposed my old iPhone 8 as a MP3 player and it’s more of a faff to use than my 11 Pro.

Or am I missing something?

I think this is what you are after – HTH!… 🙂

…but Face ID, iCloud and all the other modern gubbins really is a piece of piss to use.

Good trade ins at CEX.
Very surprised at how much they gave me for my old Samsung.

and I don’t really see a need for apple to know what I look like. (possible paranoia alert!)

All security stuff is processed on the device. Apple are incredibly anal about privacy and data sharing – often to their detriment (eg. no BBC radio streaming as they won’t share the listening figures with the beeb).

I used Music Magpie to get a used iPhone XS for my son at Christmas. Very happy with the condition of the phone, was classified as “Very Good” and was physically flawless. Battery health was reasonable – >80% IIRC.

fwiw, FaceID isn’t a photo as such, it’s projecting thousands of little IR dots and using the camera to pick them up and make a depth map of your face. It’s why a photo of you won’t unlock your phone. It works well, it’s a really good idea to have some kind of authentication on your phone and it’s the least faff option especially if you wear gloves a lot.

iCloud free tier gives you 5GB, if you’re not dumping photos on there then it’s plenty – just handy to have backups of any reminders, calendar, contacts, app settings, etc. It makes switching to a new phone really easy, just sign in and restore a backup and everything is back how you want it.

If you really want to keep a home button / touchID then the only choice really is the SE, second gen (2020) or later. Anything else won’t be getting future OS updates. They’re fine if you just want a newer version of what you have.

But really, the faceID / swipey interactions way is the better one, you adjust to it very quickly and then the old home-button way feels really clunky in comparison. iPhone 11 or maybe 12 if you can get it would be perfect. Pro is worth considering if you can find in budget just for the better camera.

I have an 11 Pro – worth the Pro upgrade for the camera. Never had a problem with iCloud – 2 phones, 2 laptops and an iPad all in-sync. When you get a new device and log-in it automatically uploads all your shared files etc.

no BBC radio streaming as they won’t share the listening figures with the beeb

Ermm – BBC Sounds works just fine on my iPhone – live or catch-up

Ermm – BBC Sounds works just fine on my iPhone – live or catch-up

Sorry, you’re right. To clarify, I was alluding to why you can’t ask a HomePod to “Play BBC 6 Music”.

and I don’t really see a need for apple to know what I look like. (possible paranoia alert!).

The FaceID stuff never leaves your phone (neither does the fingerprint for TouchID). In fact, there’s a separate subsystem on an Apple chip that secures all that data and doesn’t let the main CPU see any of it. Someone may well be out to get you, but it’s not Apple via FaceID.

I was alluding to why you can’t ask a HomePod to “Play BBC 6 Music”.

It’s a faff, but if you want this to work you can set it up with Siri Shortcuts.

It’s a faff, but if you want this to work you can set it up with Siri Shortcuts.

Yep, aware of the workaround, but the messages the BBC are injecting into the feed “the way you access BBC radio services on your smart speaker is changing, blah, blah, blah…”, suggests to be they are intending to break it soon.

11pro (pro for the telephoto) from CEX.

That’s what I’m on now, have been for a few years, still going strong.

Edit: oh, and it’s so good I’ve sold my canon slr and l series lenses.

I use the ebay seller LoopMobile

+1 for LoopMobile – used them to get an iphone for Daughter#2 – wasn’t a straight swap

My current iPhone is a 14 Pro Max, my previous one was an 11 Pro, which was three years old when I traded it in to O2, and got £300 for it. There was no problem with it, other than lack of storage; it was a 500Gb, and it was close to capacity. My 14 is a 1Tb, because I try to keep as much music as possible on the phone.
Yes, I use iCloud for photos, and everything backs up automatically, but streaming music is a PITA, because there’s no 5G, except in Bristol, 30 miles west, or London, 100 miles east. And even now, it’s not uncommon for my phone signal to drop down to 3G! And that’s even in the centre of Bath, and Chippenham – walking into town I find a track will suddenly stop playing, or stutter, because it’s not downloaded and I haven’t enough bandwidth to stream. I’ve just done a signal check of my local O2, and as I’ve got one of their masts about 100 feet away, it’s pretty good. Elsewhere, pretty average.