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best sub £150 android phone


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Old 28-06-2016, 11:37
jonmorris
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Three Wileyfox phones released this morning.
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Old 28-06-2016, 13:38
Michael09
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Any ideas on when the Spark X will be available for pre-order? Looks a decent device
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Old 28-06-2016, 14:12
jonmorris
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Looks okay but very disappointed by basic specs (1A charging, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, no NFC, only three LTE bands).

All three phones are pretty lacklustre to me. Cyanogen is great and always has been, but you can't ignore the basics just because of a nice build of Android.

I've come away with the basic Spark and a press kit so will look at all the details later this afternoon. I've got the detailed specs list and they're, erm, poor.
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Old 28-06-2016, 14:27
Michael09
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That's a shame, might go for the Honor 5C instead, read your hands on review and looks to have impressive specs, would you recommend that?

I currently have a Moto G 3rd Gen 16GB/2GB RAM
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Old 28-06-2016, 15:20
jonmorris
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I'm waiting to get the 5C to review properly, but it's faster than any of the phones I've mentioned above and the only real downside is 5.2-inch over 5.5-inch. I think it will be very good, even though not everyone is a fan of the Emotion UI.

Hopefully I'll get it before I have to give the Smart Ultra 7 back, so I can do a nice side by side comparison of lots of aspects.
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Old 28-06-2016, 15:50
mbsnr
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Alcatel Idol 3 4.7 Inch - £150 on Amazon. Runs 5.0.2 but will get Marshmallow in the next few weeks. The US version got MM 2 wks back.

I have the 5.5 version which is £185 on Amazon now. Have to say it's a very capable phone. Can't wait until MM but even with 5.0.2 I really can't fault the 5.5 anyhow.

There are some reports the 4.7 is a little sluggish but MM fixes this.
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Old 28-06-2016, 16:07
swb1964
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Wait, what? A new version of android actually makes the phone faster?
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Old 29-06-2016, 00:30
Michael09
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I'm waiting to get the 5C to review properly, but it's faster than any of the phones I've mentioned above and the only real downside is 5.2-inch over 5.5-inch. I think it will be very good, even though not everyone is a fan of the Emotion UI.

Hopefully I'll get it before I have to give the Smart Ultra 7 back, so I can do a nice side by side comparison of lots of aspects.
I've put a pre-order in for the 5C on the VMall site, so hopefully its better than my current Moto G 3rd Gen
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Old 29-06-2016, 00:43
El Cubido
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Alcatel Idol 3 4.7 Inch - £150 on Amazon. Runs 5.0.2 but will get Marshmallow in the next few weeks. The US version got MM 2 wks back.

I have the 5.5 version which is £185 on Amazon now. Have to say it's a very capable phone. Can't wait until MM but even with 5.0.2 I really can't fault the 5.5 anyhow.

There are some reports the 4.7 is a little sluggish but MM fixes this.
I brought my 4.7 version from the John Lewis website a few weeks ago for £100. Phone does everything you want (apart from VoLTE and fingerprint scanner), but battery life is poor.
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Old 29-06-2016, 09:45
mbsnr
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Wait, what? A new version of android actually makes the phone faster?
Yes. Their build of 5.0.2 isn't great (and 5.0.2 is known to be bad at battery management and app resources anyhow). The reviews of the 6.0.1 version on the same hardware show that the animations and app transitions are much speeder. Also with MM doze function the battery life is much improved. Look at the reddit forum /IDOL3 for some examples.

I brought my 4.7 version from the John Lewis website a few weeks ago for £100. Phone does everything you want (apart from VoLTE and fingerprint scanner), but battery life is poor.
Hopefully MM doze will resolve this. The reddit subforum /IDOL3 link above indicates that MM doze works well when the phone is unused overnight etc.
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Old 29-06-2016, 15:27
Jmac-25
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I'm in the market for the same thing at present (currently using a 1st gen Moto G, which has been an absolute workhorse, albeit with a really crap camera).

I just bought a 3rd Gen Moto G assuming it would just as good - and have been amazed at how awful it is. The screen is alternately jerky, laggy and massively oversensitive - its impossible to scroll on any app without opening links/pictures or 'liking stuff'. The whites also have an unpleasant washed out yellow tinge to them. Also (personal preference here) - I think its just a big too big. It doesn't sit comfortably in the hand the way the 1st gen does.

So about to send it back. Very disappointed.
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Old 29-06-2016, 16:57
jonmorris
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Sounds more like a screen issue if you were inadvertently selecting things when scrolling?

But obviously the size isn't something you can fix!
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Old 29-06-2016, 17:15
Michael09
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I'm in the market for the same thing at present (currently using a 1st gen Moto G, which has been an absolute workhorse, albeit with a really crap camera).
I totally agree, my first gen was an awesome phone (albeit rubbish camera), which still runs like a dream today, even with MM installed. I'm not as impressed with the 3rd Gen one which I've had for about 9 months. Camera on it is actually pretty good and takes great HD video. Battery Life seems to be it's main weakness, for me anyway. The software, since updating to MM has caused random restarts despite clearing the cache and resetting the phone. Shame as I have always had a soft spot for Motorola phones, nevertheless time for a change.
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Old 30-06-2016, 08:27
swb1964
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But obviously the size isn't something you can fix!
Yes. Personally I prefer a 5 inch or even a bit bigger but those who prefer 4 or 4.5 inches are running out of options.

Obviously a second hand iPhone is something to consider if 5 inches is too big.
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Old 30-06-2016, 08:42
Jmac-25
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I totally agree, my first gen was an awesome phone (albeit rubbish camera), which still runs like a dream today, even with MM installed. I'm not as impressed with the 3rd Gen one which I've had for about 9 months. Camera on it is actually pretty good and takes great HD video. Battery Life seems to be it's main weakness, for me anyway. The software, since updating to MM has caused random restarts despite clearing the cache and resetting the phone. Shame as I have always had a soft spot for Motorola phones, nevertheless time for a change.
If only it had a better camera, I'd never change it. Would love to get marshmallow on it but I'm too scared of knackering it.
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Old 30-06-2016, 08:43
Jmac-25
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Sounds more like a screen issue if you were inadvertently selecting things when scrolling?

But obviously the size isn't something you can fix!
I worked out it was the glass screen protector - I took it off and its fine now. But I still find it hard to use one handed because of the size.
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Old 30-06-2016, 15:56
Michael09
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Just had an order acknowledgement from vMall to say my Honor 5C has been dispatched
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Old 01-07-2016, 08:33
Jmac-25
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I'm thinking of downgrading my Moto G 3rd Gen (primarily because its too big) to a 2nd Gen. Is this advisable?
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Old 01-07-2016, 08:44
Michael09
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If only it had a better camera, I'd never change it. Would love to get marshmallow on it but I'm too scared of knackering it.
Just realised I didn't install MM on it still on 5.1 Lollipop, I won't be be updating it anymore . I did that to my Nexus 7 Tablet and it slowed to a halt
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Old 01-07-2016, 09:13
corf
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I recently bought a Xioami Redmi Note 3 snapdragon (no 800mhz lte, but i am using ee so not a big issue right now - there is reported a 800 mhz version due out soon)

After testing for a couple of weeks, i havent gone back to my iphone 6 so far - its pretty impressive for less than £130 for a snapdragion 650, 3gb ram, 32gb storage, fingerprint scanner.

Purchased via aliexpress from a vendor called dreami, took about 12 days to arrive. No warranty to speak of - maybe only for the brave.
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Old 01-07-2016, 16:03
Faust
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Can anyone recommend an android phone for £150 or less. Wanting to move back from Windows phone. I been searching but can not make my mind up.
Buy cheap you buy twice - old but true saying.
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Old 01-07-2016, 20:26
jonmorris
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Buy cheap you buy twice - old but true saying.
Depends what you buy. There are now phones ranging from £100 - £300 that offer a perfectly good user experience depending on needs.

A decent screen, acceptable camera, good battery life - £100-200
An exceptional screen, camera, battery life and performance - £200-300 (able to give phones costing £500-600 a run for their money).

There are also some sub-£100 phones that will suit a certain type of user, who may just want a basic phone that's still capable of running (Android) apps, like iPlayer or online banking, can take advantage of 4G (including operating as a hotspot) to hook up a laptop or tablet to the net, and supporting HD Voice for calls etc.

Increasingly, I'd say that many people no longer need to spend £500 or more on a phone unless there's a particular aspect they can't live without (which may well be more down to style over substance in some cases).
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Old 02-07-2016, 07:03
swb1964
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Is there an update to the Galaxy J5 due this year? Last years model got good reviews.
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Old 02-07-2016, 08:53
Michael09
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Is there an update to the Galaxy J5 due this year? Last years model got good reviews.
According to GSMArena it says upgradeable to Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 so it should get it soon
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Old 02-07-2016, 10:11
dellzincht
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Wow, just checked that out actually and you're right. An amazing phone for the price.

If they could squeeze an NFC chip on to it, maybe in the next incarnation, and keep that low pricepoint, it could arguably blow the other budget phones out of the water.

OP, get the Smart Ultra !
Late to the thread, but the Smart Ultra 6 DOES have NFC.

Well, mine does and I got it the week it came out
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