Phones...not at all PC related :-)

[Tony1044]

After a few suggestions for a replacement mobile phone.

Currently have a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with Lollipop but it's failing in ever more unique and entertaining ways. For example, app crashes are commonplace now but for the last few days all calls made or received default to speakerphone unless I am in the car when they do go via bluetooth.

So I am thinking the time has come to replace it.

I am a relatively low-power user of phones. I don't play high res games for example but I do have a few criteria though.

Android only - done the iPhone dance and don't want to go back;
5+" screen (I like my 'phablet' form factor )
I'd like a decent screen. I am a bit spoiled by the Note 3;
I'd rather like to keep a stylus. It's not something I've used a lot but it has been a lifesaver on a couple of times (appreciate that this is a fairly unique use case for me but it's one I have);
Want it to be supported for as long as possible - whilst I like the new OS's I am more concerned it'll get at least security updates (Samsung are pants for this);
I'm not too bothered about the internal storage but I want it to have a micro SD card slot.
If I can get it in the £200 ball park, then ideal (I've seen the LG G3 and G4 Stylus for this price point).

I've considered the LG G4 Stylus but the screen is a bit offputting at "only" 720, so not even full HD (I will occasionally watch something on it).

So...any suggestions?

 

[newmy]

At this price you won't get anything world beating, and you'll probably struggle to find anything even half decent with a stylus, but there are dozens of options out there if you can overlook that one rather niche spec. Here's a few that come to mind initially:

Google Nexus 5X - A little over budget at £299. You'll remain up to date with your OS and security updates quickly as it's a Nexus. 5.2" 1080p display, great camera, No SD card slot may be a pitfall.

Motorola Moto X Play - £250. Moto mid ranger from 2015. 5.5" 1080p display. MicroSD slot. Customisable through motomaker.

Motorola Moto X 2014 - £200. Really great flagship phone from 2014. Spec probably better, or just equal to the X Play from 2015. Stock android experience with added Moto features. 5.2" 1080p AMOLED display. Customisable through motomaker

Motorola Moto G 3rd Gen - £150. 5" 720p display. Solid mid ranger device at budget price. MicroSD card slot. Customisable through motomaker.

Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 - £150. 5.5" 1080p display. Again, solid mid ranger at budget price. Probably fairly weak for update support. MicroSD card expansion.

Wileyfox Storm - £200. 5.5" 1080p display. MicroSD card expansion. Relatively unknown company, but am pretty sure they're a small UK startup.

Oneplus 2 - £250. 5.5" 1080p display. Probably the best specced in terms of processor and ram of all these devices. Some exclusions such as no NFC. No MicroSD but comes in 64GB version.

Also worth considering phones from Huawei/Honor such as the P8 Lite, Honor 7, Honor 5X. Reasonably priced for what you get.

Worth checking reviews from the likes of Android Authority, Pocketnow, Technobuffalo, Mobile Tech Review, Kevin The Tech Ninja, Detroitborg, OT4Tech etc...

Anyway, time for me to stop geeking out about phones.

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

I can vouch for the Nexus 5X, great phone, my wife bought this one and shes really happy with it. Front Facing speakers are a must for me which the Nexus 5X also has. The updates the latest firmware is also great as i hate having technology where you cannot update the firmware.

 

[Tony1044]

Thought I'd return to this thread. I eventually opted for the OnePlus 2.

Generally a great phone for the money. 64GB, no microSD but dual-SIM which is actually handy for me.

The build quality is generally high but their support isn't great and OP themselves are more of a marketing machine that just happen to make phones.

True to their word though, they released Android 6.0 in March/April (albeit as a beta) and did a full release of it last week.

My old man has just bought a Nexus 5X and that's also a nice piece of kit but compared to the OP it does feel somewhat flimsier.

Time will tell for the longevity of both but so far, we're both happy.

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Glad you got something you are happy with.

I know what you mean about the 5X flimsy, i have the 6P and handing the wife her 5X you can tell the build difference, think she has a crack in the camera lense already too.

 

[Tony1044]

Glad you got something you are happy with.

I know what you mean about the 5X flimsy, i have the 6P and handing the wife her 5X you can tell the build difference, think she has a crack in the camera lense already too.

Yeah for the money I paid (£249.99) I am really happy with it. The 'features' it doesn't have I can do without (such as no NFC chipset for Google play).

The screen could be a bit more dynamic in terms of its colours (but to be fair the 6.x upgrade improved that).

And I do prefer the front-mounted fingerprint scanner and the physical buttons which don't steal from the screen estate.

They did manage to brick it for me with their OTA update last week and it took some work to restore but in fairness to them, and contrary to what I wrote earlier, it would seem they've been quite quick to post instructions on how to recover from it.

Compared to the 5X which is considerably lighter and just feels flimsier I feel I made the right choice.

I might have been tempted by the 6P but as I buy my phones off-contract outright, I didn't want to pay that much. I was also a bit nervous about moving from the Samsung front-end (flow?) which I really rather liked to a pretty much vanilla Android which was another reason I didn't want to pay over the odds.

The main reason I ditched Samsung though wasn't anything to do with the hardware or their add-ons it was their complete lack of care to customers about sending out updates. I don't much care one way or the other beyond "it's nice to have" the latest OS but I do want security patches which so far, OP have been pretty good about.

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Yeah i like the freedom of phone choice too much i steer away from contracts too, i like to change each year so i usually just trade in my old one.

Thats what i like about Android too you can find any phone that best fits your style, i used to be a hardcore Apple fanboyeee till we fell out about an ipad and i went and sold all my apple stuff and went for Android and Windows instead and never looked back.

I went Samsung first GS2 and GN3 i think and they were good but i like to have the most up to date software and i found samsung a bit slow.

Then i went Sony Xperia Z and it was pretty well polished, great camera and felt like it was unbreakable till i was showing off its waterproof feature at work to then find out it had a broken seal, they had great after sales though and gave me a refurbished one within a week.

After that the Nexus 6 as i liked the Vanilla Android then went for the 6P a few months ago.

I haven't played with Cynagenmod for a while, is that what the OP phones run on? It does look nice though.

 

[Tony1044]

Apparently they had some kind of fallout with the CM team when they (CM) started being courted by some of the big manufatcurers out there...OP apparently felt they'd got some kind of exclusive deal whereas CM didn't.

The OP2 has their own OxygenOS on it which is very close to vanilla Android but with a few minor mods around security and customisation. Compared to the 5X there are some really nice little tweaks without being invasive or full of bloat.

I was an Apple user for years too, after having Blackberry handsets for a few years before that and I find Android far and away more intuitive and usable.

Yeah i like the freedom of phone choice too much i steer away from contracts too, i like to change each year so i usually just trade in my old one.

Thats what i like about Android too you can find any phone that best fits your style, i used to be a hardcore Apple fanboyeee till we fell out about an ipad and i went and sold all my apple stuff and went for Android and Windows instead and never looked back.

I went Samsung first GS2 and GN3 i think and they were good but i like to have the most up to date software and i found samsung a bit slow.

Then i went Sony Xperia Z and it was pretty well polished, great camera and felt like it was unbreakable till i was showing off its waterproof feature at work to then find out it had a broken seal, they had great after sales though and gave me a refurbished one within a week.

After that the Nexus 6 as i liked the Vanilla Android then went for the 6P a few months ago.

I haven't played with Cynagenmod for a while, is that what the OP phones run on? It does look nice though.

 

[Wozza63]

Thought I'd return to this thread. I eventually opted for the OnePlus 2.

Generally a great phone for the money. 64GB, no microSD but dual-SIM which is actually handy for me.

The build quality is generally high but their support isn't great and OP themselves are more of a marketing machine that just happen to make phones.

True to their word though, they released Android 6.0 in March/April (albeit as a beta) and did a full release of it last week.

My old man has just bought a Nexus 5X and that's also a nice piece of kit but compared to the OP it does feel somewhat flimsier.

Time will tell for the longevity of both but so far, we're both happy.

I loved my OnePlus One, not sure why I changed to my Moto, its a good phone but not as good as my OnePlus, still considering changing back.

 

[Tony1044]

I loved my OnePlus One, not sure why I changed to my Moto, its a good phone but not as good as my OnePlus, still considering changing back.

The OP3 is released imminently.

 

[Wozza63]

The OP3 is released imminently.

Yeah, I noticed it and it looks nice. One of the main reasons I never went for the OnePlus 2 was the lack of NFC. Since Android Pay was released a couple of weeks ago I've been using my phone to pay for almost everything. I think it was a mistake for them not to anticipate the use of mobile payments so soon, especially as NFC was in the One.

Still got my One, but it's just the hassle of having to sell the Moto X that I can't be bothered with. Could probably get £200 for it but I paid £400 not even a year ago.

Oh and quick charge is definitely a bonus of the Moto over my One, and its even faster in the OnePlus 3. So handy getting 50% charge in half hour.