TR Forums

morphine wrote:

A used (maybe new?) Nexus 5X is probably the best Android option other than the models we've discussed. Updates straight from Google, that's a massive win.

The only problem is that it may be a little too dear, hence looking for a used one in good condition.

looks fantastic
but ARGH no sd slot no radio and small battery

Ethyriel wrote:

How much is the Xperia X running down there? It's only 5" and has a smaller battery, but Sony is typically excellent with power optimizations. It has an SD650, and an SD card slot. It's going for $250 here, and Sony isn't very focused on the US market so I'm not sure if that would be higher or lower over there...

They're good about updating their devices, too, though a little slowly sometimes.

i think this is the best recommendation so far apart from the small battery its only missing the radio, ill talk to her about it maybe i can get her a little radio for work or something
(edit:HOLY CRAP gsmarena says it has a radio - WINNER)

LoneWolf15 wrote:

I'm going to second what one other person said, and recommend a used iPhone 5s/6/6s.

You're guaranteed to get updates for a bit, and the 5S and later are 64-bit, so they'll make the transition to iOS 11.
Security issues are addressed more quickly, due to updates not being dependent on whether the carrier feels like it.

Even if you don't have Swappa, eBay AU exists, and I'm sure there's other options. Android might be nice --it would be my preference too, but Google really isn't ensuring consistency among phones, and a used iPhone is better built than pretty much any brand-new cheapie-vendor (read: not Samsung, Moto, LG, HTC) phones. It's also incredibly easy to find accessories for them.

The 5S should be going relatively inexpensive these days if your budget is tight.

absolutely cant have an apple device, she has had one in the past and doesnt like it, besides its missing a radio and sd slot and the display is too small on the 5s (i think it has a tiny battery too?) the 6 is too expensive for something missing the features she wants


the thing is she REALLY loves my phone (xiaomi note 3 pro) and all of its features, i was expecting something better would have been out by now (a year later) or i was hoping to get something just as good or even the same phone but i cant find one anymore
looks like im going to get her a xiaomi that might be missing a few features (like cell bands) or that sony xperia which looks fantastic apart from smaller battery
(edit: that sony is a winner now that i have seen it has a radio)

ludi wrote:

LoneWolf15 wrote:

morphine wrote:

The other problem is that the Nexus 5X is having hardware issues that are causing a lot of turnover. The phone has great specs, but they seem to break about 12-16 months down the road. It causes a never-ending boot loop issue.

I wonder if the H791 hardware is any safer than the H790? I picked up my Verizon-compatible 5X (used) around the beginning of February and so far it's been problem free. If it ever does go, a Pixel will probably be next.

Hard to say, but the Nexus 5X isn't the only HTC phone with the issue. There are several others with the same complaint.

My problem with the Pixel isn't the Pixel itself, though really, I don't like an Android phone that kind of looks like an iPhone (that's subjective). It's all about the price tier. With Pixel, Google officially killed the midrange pure Android phone, and there just isn't a phone out there that checks the boxes the Nexus 5X did. Personally, I think Google never should have let Motorola go if they continued the route their on; they'd have had a consistent production facility of their own at a time when it seems the major vendors have all had one or more struggles with some form of quality control issues, and not having pure Android either. Imagine if Google were behind the Moto X/G/E lines of phones but as Nexus or Pixel.

I had hoped Android as an experience would even out, and in the past couple years, it feels like it went in the other direction. I love the customizability, but I want security first, and a good service experience, and as much as I'm not that keen on iOS, Apple gives me those things without screwing it up too much. And this is from someone for who the Droid MAXX (first phone with Google Now and Moto Voice) and the Nexus 6 were favorite devices.

LoneWolf15 wrote:

It's all about the price tier. With Pixel, Google officially killed the midrange pure Android phone, and there just isn't a phone out there that checks the boxes the Nexus 5X did...I had hoped Android as an experience would even out, and in the past couple years, it feels like it went in the other direction. I love the customizability, but I want security first, and a good service experience, and as much as I'm not that keen on iOS, Apple gives me those things without screwing it up too much.

I'm annoyed by Google's dropping of the Nexus philosophy as a full-fat midrange offering, but if that's why you jumped to iOS then I don't follow. Apple has pretty much never had a midrange price tier unless you buy last-gen hardware in the used market (and to their credit, it tends to be well-supported for several years after release). Meanwhile my 5X has been getting regular security updates at about the same rate as my iPad and my wife's iPhone6. I'm mainly hoping that if my 5X eventually croaks, it does so after used Gen1 Pixels are below $400.

I have yet to own a phone that didn't end up in a protective case, so I'm agnostic to the looks. The one thing that Apple consistently seems to do better is build hardware that doesn't get hot when being both used and charged at the same time.

LoneWolf15 wrote:

Hard to say, but the Nexus 5X isn't the only HTC phone with the issue. There are several others with the same complaint.

The 5X isn't made by HTC.

Amazon suspends sales of BLU phones due to alleged spyware, BLU denies wrongdoing
BLU seems to have persistant issue with spyware.

I remember how the older versions(pre 5) of Android worked(possibly even 5), were even flashing a factory image had no impact on root kits. Because of how the filesystems were made. Once one of the older OS phones was infected by decent malware, it was a goner. You'd think that would be a Android 1 pre launch consideration. It wasnt. Too much is made of Googles prowess. Until 4.2 most Android phones would have their information stolen over the USB cable because no protection was in place(the old adage to not plug phones into strangers power chargers).

Still give too much credit to Android. Simple low hanging fruit assumptions get corrected every major release.

Apps no longer need to ask for Internet permission, the reason the permission prompts are smaller/gone is because a lot of common stuff has been auto granted without user notification since Android 5. Its not because things got safer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I was going to mention HMD's Nokia 6, but that's probably a little above the OPs price range.

While I don't use my cheap smartphone as smartphone other then surfing the internet sometimes, I'm thinking that if I did I would want pure Android, reasonable performance and data speeds, and of course a good long battery life.

Really, how hard would it be to produce a phone like this? And I do not care for really thin phones especially if it sacrifices decent battery life and reliability among other things.

I too am looking for a replacement for my cheap smartphone that I brought in 2013.

f0d wrote:

looks like im going to get her a xiaomi that might be missing a few features (like cell bands) or that sony xperia which looks fantastic apart from smaller battery
(edit: that sony is a winner now that i have seen it has a radio)

Hey, have you checked that note 3 pro has like 3 versions, one with mt, and 2 with snapdragon 650, of those 2 (kenzo and kate), the later is 2mm longer and includes antennae for unsuported bands by the first one, some vendors call it global edition (for the extra bands support if i have to guess). Take a look:
http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-3-Pro-5-5-Inch-FHD-3GB-32GB-Smartphone-371104.html

Vhalidictes wrote:

I was going to mention HMD's Nokia 6, but that's probably a little above the OPs price range.

It seems a good contender though. Pure stock Android experience, like Nexus. They've pushed out the monthly updates at same time Google is pushing out to Nexus/Pixel. They've publicly stated updates are a main focus. Nokia/HMD has said minimum two years of OS updates. And it has a MicroSD slot.

Researched it a bit, the Amazon reviews of the US ATT/T-Mobile version were generally good.

whm1974 wrote:

While I don't use my cheap smartphone as smartphone other then surfing the internet sometimes, I'm thinking that if I did I would want pure Android, reasonable performance and data speeds, and of course a good long battery life.

Really, how hard would it be to produce a phone like this? And I do not care for really thin phones especially if it sacrifices decent battery life and reliability among other things.

I too am looking for a replacement for my cheap smartphone that I brought in 2013.

The Moto G5 is really this phone. 3000mAH battery, decent performance. It's $225 or whatever but if that's all you want, this is it.

derFunkenstein wrote:

whm1974 wrote:

While I don't use my cheap smartphone as smartphone other then surfing the internet sometimes, I'm thinking that if I did I would want pure Android, reasonable performance and data speeds, and of course a good long battery life.

Really, how hard would it be to produce a phone like this? And I do not care for really thin phones especially if it sacrifices decent battery life and reliability among other things.

I too am looking for a replacement for my cheap smartphone that I brought in 2013.

The Moto G5 is really this phone. 3000mAH battery, decent performance. It's $225 or whatever but if that's all you want, this is it.

Thanks I'll look that up.

derFunkenstein wrote:

The Moto G5 is really this phone. 3000mAH battery, decent performance. It's $225 or whatever but if that's all you want, this is it.

So long he knows that he's getting one software update, very late in the device's lifetime.

morphine wrote:

derFunkenstein wrote:

The Moto G5 is really this phone. 3000mAH battery, decent performance. It's $225 or whatever but if that's all you want, this is it.

So long he knows that he's getting one software update, very late in the device's lifetime.

Heh, I guess that's fair, but at $200 it's either that or an EOL iPhone. Either way there are no updates.

derFunkenstein wrote:

morphine wrote:

derFunkenstein wrote:

The Moto G5 is really this phone. 3000mAH battery, decent performance. It's $225 or whatever but if that's all you want, this is it.

So long he knows that he's getting one software update, very late in the device's lifetime.

Heh, I guess that's fair, but at $200 it's either that or an EOL iPhone. Either way there are no updates.

grrrrr!!! I think I'll keep the phone I have, since I can still use that as a phone. But thanks for mentioning that.

hey guys i got the sony for my GF and she loves it - i havnt had much time to play with it (got a new job so been busy) but it seems to tick all the box's and she has had no problems at all

i think i might even get a sony phone for myself in the future, they take great pictures have a great cpu fm radio and has a sd slot - the battery is on the small side at around 2600mah and screen isnt as big as she wanted (only 5 inch) but the major things like fm radio and sd slot are there (as well as not being only stupid a53 cores)

i definitely recommend a sony phone for those on a budget that also want a powerful phone

Hey, glad to see it worked out.

morphine wrote:

derFunkenstein wrote:

The Moto G5 is really this phone. 3000mAH battery, decent performance. It's $225 or whatever but if that's all you want, this is it.

So long he knows that he's getting one software update, very late in the device's lifetime.

The G5 and G5 plus are now getting semi-regular security updates. Yeah, not the Oreo update we're still waiting for, but it's actually really refreshing.

The G5 Plus is still a great phone, aside from being slightly chunky for one-handed users. It's my backup device.
(EDIT: Yes, holy Necropost, Batman)