Mobile Phone Thread S2

[Blobcat]

I am a smartphone noob and I need some recommendations

I REALLY need a new phone and contract, I have an iphone 5s who's screen is failing and the battery lasts less than an hour. It was 2nd hand and I had a crap contract of 2GB for £17 with unlimited texts or something. In any case I rarely use it to call but the data is way smaller than I need now and my contract is now something stupid like £27 for my rubbish phone. I've always been with Orange which changed to EE.

I seriously know nothing about phones, I am looking to probably changed to some larger android with decent battery life and a contract with plenty of data. Really want a new phone and to pay preferably under £25 a month.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I am a smartphone noob and I need some recommendations

I REALLY need a new phone and contract, I have an iphone 5s who's screen is failing and the battery lasts less than an hour. It was 2nd hand and I had a crap contract of 2GB for £17 with unlimited texts or something. In any case I rarely use it to call but the data is way smaller than I need now and my contract is now something stupid like £27 for my rubbish phone. I've always been with Orange which changed to EE.

I seriously know nothing about phones, I am looking to probably changed to some larger android with decent battery life and a contract with plenty of data. Really want a new phone and to pay preferably under £25 a month.

If you're going to definitely switch to Android, you could do a hell of a lot worse than the Asus Zenfone 8.

Not a massive phone, but plenty of top-range power and getting good reviews. Decently priced too.

Written review: https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_8-review-2266.php

[wakka]

@Blobcat

Well, the good news is that pretty much any phone you can buy in 2021 will have a much larger screen than your iPhone 5s. And you'll certainly be able to get much more data for your money, too.

I've suggested two below and included links to reviews of each from The Verge because I think their reviews are clear and well written evaluations by people who've actually used the phones in question.

For Android, you might consider a Google Pixel 4A:

Official website, where you can buy it for £349/£14.54 per month over 24 months

Review from The Verge

Or if you decide you'd prefer to stick to iPhone, the iPhone SE:

Official website, where you can buy it for £399/£16.62 a month over 24 months

Review from The Verge

For your service package, I just changed provider myself and I think one of the current best deals around is Vodafone Basics:

Vodafone Basics

They offer 12GB data for £8 per month, or 20GB for £10 per month, both on a 12 month contract, plus unlimited minutes/texts.

They are 'no frills', but that just means that you lose EU roaming and the 'VeryMe' app, which offers a few discounts off random products (frankly no loss at all). I recently dallied with a budget provider in the shape of GiffGaff, but found the coverage and speeds much worse than Vodafone, who've been reliable over the years i've used them - so as a consequence I've switched back to Vodafone.

If you combined the above, you'd get the new phone and the 12GB data for inside your £25 p/m budget

I hope that's useful!

[briareos_kerensky]

I've got a Pixel 4a and I'm pretty happy with it. The lack of a mSD slot might be a fatal flaw if you plan to store a lot of thing on it though.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Can vouch for Pixel phones - I own a Pixel 4 XL at present.

The 4a is excellent bang-for-buck - got it for my mum for Xmas last year. If you want a larger phone, the Pixel 4a 5G might be the way to go...only £100 more than the 4a.

[wakka]

To add to the good advice from the guys above, if you wanted an iPhone that was a bit bigger than the SE I suggested above, the next step up would be the iPhone XR, which is £499/£20.79 per month:

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-xr

Which happens to be the phone I have, so I can vouch for it being a good one to own

[kryss]

I am a smartphone noob and I need some recommendations
...
I seriously know nothing about phones, I am looking to probably changed to some larger android with decent battery life and a contract with plenty of data. Really want a new phone and to pay preferably under £25 a month.

Consider the OnePlus Nord phones.

[teddymeow]

[MENTION=16665]Blobcat[/MENTION] if you can, buy the phone outright and get a SIM only phone

Like [MENTION=9333]kryss[/MENTION] says, the OnePlus Nord is good value for money.

[Cassius_Smoke]

A lot of phones these days are good. I'm still using an S9 and it holds up well. Like the only issue I have is I'd like a bigger screen. Pretty sure you'd be able to pick one up cheaper now.

[Nu-Eclipse]

[MENTION=16665]Blobcat[/MENTION] if you can, buy the phone outright and get a SIM only phone plan

This all day long, but if you feel like you'd prefer to sign a phone contract that comes with a phone, make damn sure that it is just a 12-month one, tops.

As for the OnePlus Nord phones, they might have better hardware specs but Pixel phones have better after-sales support and are far better for firmware/security updates.

Personally, I'd swerve the Nord.

[Anpanman]

Deffo with buy a phone sim free then get a sim deal separate.

We like Moto and Nokia, good value with decent specs and no annoying bloat. If you buy through Quidco you can usually get some cashback too on both the phone and sim.

Oh, and they usually come with a clear case which you can use until you buy a more personal one.

[kryss]

This all day long, but if you feel like you'd prefer to sign a phone contract that comes with a phone, make damn sure that it is just a 12-month one, tops.

As for the OnePlus Nord phones, they might have better hardware specs but Pixel phones have better after-sales support and are far better for firmware/security updates.

Personally, I'd swerve the Nord.

We're on our 3rd OnePlus.

The 3T I used for a couple of years and passed it to the wife when I got a 6T (3 years ago). It still works fine but we just replaced hers with a Nord N10 5G (not available in the UK for some reason).

Honestly, I would go with a Pixel as well, but the budget-ish models weren't around when I was getting a new handset in 2018.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Honestly, I would go with a Pixel as well, but the budget-ish models weren't around when I was getting a new handset in 2018.

Yeah, I hear that.

The budget models have definitely been the best sellers of the Pixel series thus far.

Google just can't seem to get the premium end of Pixel hardware right. Hopefully that will change come the Pixel 6 and onwards, as Google are expected to go the Apple route and start putting their own custom silicon in Pixel handsets which should improve things.

[Asura]

Can someone advise me what's better out of...

Samsung Galaxy Note 9

Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus

My RAZER 2 phone, which was already a replacement to a defective one last November, has fried my SD card and refuses to read my SIM card. THREE will replace it but they want a £100 excess which I'm not happy about given that it's literally 6 months old, when I look after my kit very carefully (my iPhone 4 still looks new and I used that for ~5 years), and they've said that they no longer carry the RAZER 2 and can only offer a replacement.

I know ****-all about Android phones and don't want to learn. Can someone just tell me which of these is better, and if they're comparable to the Razer 2? Like do they have a 120hz screen, front-facing Atmos speakers, etc.?

[fishbowlhead]

Ear piece went on my iPhone 12 2 days ago now everyone is super quiet, i think condensation got into it in that rain and humid weather. Really don’t need this hassle right now.