Advice Needed Which Android phone?

[rolfw]

Now that looks interesting.

 

[sonnetpete]

Sorry for reviving/hijacking an old thread, but I'm thinking of replacing my old (as in well over 5 years) mobile with something more modern. 4G or 3G connectivity isn't important but I'd like it to be able to use it for the web when we travel to Spain in October (via wifi in our apartment and hotspots in Barcelona and Granada), mainly for maps, Facebook and emails. I did think about a tablet PC but ideally want something smaller.

I'm looking at cheap Chinese makes or second hand as I really don't want to pay over £100, am I being realistic LOL??....any suggestions??

 

[pgh13]

I bought a Cubot Note S about 3 months ago from Amazon. It's dual Sim, so I've got UK and French Sims in it; the battery lasts about 3 days, and it came with silicone sleeve and screen protector. The GPS seems a bit flaky but I've seen lots of comments that Google maps is causing problems

 

[excollier]

I want the Ubuntu phone, get away from Android

 

[Lazarus]

Android is, of course,based on a Linux Kernel. But I do agree that the Googlification rather spoils it.

 

[sonnetpete]

It's dual Sim, so I've got UK and French Sims in it

I've got a UK PAYG (Vodaphone) sim, as I only use my present phone for texts and extremely occasional calls. Really, all I need is something for light use as a phone with some internet capability...

 

[2cvbloke]

I got a Cubot Z100 from Banggood and it's an okay phone, the touch sensitivity on the screen is a bit weird in that it has distinct bands of high sensitivity and low sensitivity, so sometimes loses "touch" so thinks you tapped somewhere when you were in the middle of a swipe...

Runs stock android, has a dual-SIM setup (so good call plan on one SIM, good data plan on another), 16GB built in storage, MicroSD expansion for more storage, basic, does the job, works nicely, I only paid £40 for mine, think they're back up to about £60 now, but still a good enough deal...

http://eu.banggood.com/Wholesale-Warehouse-CUBOT-Z100-5-inch-1GB-RAM-16GB-ROM-MT6735P-Quad-Core-1_0GHz-OTG-4G-Smartphone-wp-Eu-1035865.html

 

[battenfan]

Look for fdd-lte if you want 4g to work in Europe.
This aging phone has dropped under £100

http://www.oppomart.com/xiaomi/xiaomi-redmi3s.html

 

[2cvbloke]

I've yet to work out where the floppy disk drive is located in my two 4G phones......................

 

[Lazarus]

Next to the Tape Reader.

 

[2cvbloke]

It's okay, I found it...

 

[sonnetpete]

Having been rather confused by all the cheap chinese phones and their successively numbered models, I more or less picked one at random :

https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0168FH346/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

In the end my choice was based on two criteria, that it was cheap and I liked the name....

 

[Lazarus]

Don't forget to fettle the valve heaters when you first turn it on.

 

[sonnetpete]

Don't forget to fettle the valve heaters when you first turn it on.

I have a blowtorch on standby....

 

[2cvbloke]

Having been rather confused by all the cheap chinese phones and their successively numbered models, I more or less picked one at random :

https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0168FH346/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

In the end my choice was based on two criteria, that it was cheap and I liked the name....

If you haven't placed the order yet, banggood have the same phone on sale!:

http://www.banggood.com/DOOGEE-X5-5-inch-Android-5_1-1GB-RAM-8GB-ROM-MTK6580-Quad-core-Smartphone-p-1010480.html

 

[sonnetpete]

If you haven't placed the order yet, banggood have the same phone on sale!:

Phone arrived about 2pm my time, but thanks for the link anyway. Initially, the phone seems to be very good. I've even managed to cut down my old sim card and get that working. Downloaded Chrome, Skype and Facebook apps thus far and all seem fine. Will have to wait and see what the battery life is like...

 

[2cvbloke]

Don't know how the DooGee fairs, but my Cubot Z100 has a pretty decent battery life (granted I barely touch it in a week!!! Only got it cos it was £40!) as it can last a week before complaining that it needs a recharge, though I did pull the battery down a tad last night trying my floppy drive on it (doesn't work on the Cubot like it did on my S5, just says the USB device is damaged and needs formatting), nice phone apart from the touchscreen issues I've mentioned before, and stock android is definitely a lot lighter on the CPU...

 

[Channel Hopper]

A bit late I know, but Aldi is currently selling these in the local store at just on £70.

ALDI Smartphone August 2016 MEDION® LIFE® E5005 MD 99915


I also took a chance on replacing the wife's aging Lumia for a newer model and found a virtually unused / unlocked model 630 with box in the carboot sale for £30. It has a battery inside that looks double the normal physical size and she is happy with the camera since it doesn't require the Zune software. Windows o/s though which isn't for everyone, but this has 8.1 which she can get on with. Not sure if there will be an offer to move up to Win 10 though.

 

[Ghostleader]

A heard the windows phones are to be rebranded with the "Surface" naming they use for their tablet P.C. range, maybe the shedding of the 1400 jobs worldwide pays for some of this rebrand? Talk about flogging a dead horse. Seen the Aldi phone myself in store the other day, not a good enough spec to steer me away from my Chinese brand phones personally, but not too shabby neither the less.

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