OT - decent Adroid phone ?500 or under?

[David]

Following on from the other phone thread, now looking at a replacement phone.

Preferably £500 or under.

Average for camera, SD slot, frequent updates, that kind of thing.

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Dave R

[Andy Burns]

for frequent updates you can't beat a Pixel, they're kinda pricey compared to their Nexus predecessors, camera is particularly good due to smart software rather than having umpteen lenses.

I'd at least wait to decide until the rumoured Pixel3 "lite" is announced.

Google dropped the idea of SD slots ages ago.

[Chris B]

There must be dozens that meet that spec. I am quite happy with one of these

But without knowing what you value most I suspect you will get a multitude of suggestions.

[S Viemeister]

I'm pleased with my new Nokia 6.1. It comes with a dual-SIM slot - the second slot can be used for either an SD card or a second SIM. I bought it as Oreo, but it was updated to Pie as soon as I started to set it up. Decent size screen, but not stupidly big. Does wi-fi calling, too. Charges very quickly.

[Tim Watts]

The Huawei P20 Pro has nice hardware, but I don't trust Huawei with software that has access to my data and they did break all 3rd party launchers with some idiot update the other month (need to run an adb shell command to "fix" it).

Sadly Huawei's are not good candidates for open source Android as far as I can see - ironically Samsung is very re-flash friendly if you don't have or care about warranty.

[AnthonyL]

Lots but I've been happy with Moto G, may wife has the G4, I've got the G6+, both dual sim at no extra cost. Up to 128Gb SD card, can be formatted as system memory rather than just storage memory. *comes with caveats if you have a fault with the SD card though.

SIM free, so SWMBO has Giffgaff in one and Three data sim in the other. I have 321 in one and Three data sim in the other.

Not sure about the frequent updates, some Lenovo users complain but then they always have to be on the latest. I've just had a security update but not the latest Android.

[nothanks]

Why buy new? There are lots of used phones available at good prices. I've been using a Note 4 since it was new and would probably look for a used replacement if it died.

[newshound]

I am NEVER buying any hardware from Google again (certainly not directly), after they bricked my wife's expensive Pixel C with an upgrade. Their customer service is appalling, I gave up out of sheer frustration in the end. This was a known, generic fault.

Well under your budget, but I have had a series of Moto phones (currently G5) and been very happy with them.

[newshound]

IIRC my G5 is dual sim although I have not used it, also has a removable battery (not that I need that either). I don't normally use much phone memory but the ability to format SD as system sounds great.

[Andy Burns]

As in can't even boot into recovery mode wipe and sideload a factory ROM?

[R D S]

Redmi Note 4, got a few in the household, love them.

Approx £130-150

[David]

Lots of suggestions is good!

That is an interesting phone; the price is far lower than I expected.

Cheers

Dave R

[newshound]

Correct

[Andy Burns]

Pretty poor show. I will accept that Apple are more likely to sort that type of problem if you take it to the genius bar. But wouldn't they replace/refund? I don't think I'd accept a manufacturer firmware upgrade bricking a device then turning their back.

[David]

Expanding the requirements a bit:

SD card slot More than 16 GB internal memory Prefer exchangeable battery NFC USB port (I think they mostly still have this?)

Would quite like dual SIM (but this could conflict with SD card slot). Noting that 2.26GB of the SD card are currently used so a 32GB internal memory would cope. Internal memory shows as 9.24GB with 8.54GB used.

Everything else on the standard specification list for the Galaxy S4 seems either ubiquitous or not used.

Cheers

Dave R

[David]

Reposted because Pan screwed the line feeds.

Expanding the requirements a bit:

SD card slot

More than 16 GB internal memory

Prefer exchangeable battery

NFC USB port (I think they mostly still have this?) Would quite like dual SIM (but this could conflict with SD card slot). Noting that 2.26GB of the SD card are currently used so a 32GB internal memory would cope. Internal memory shows as 9.24GB with 8.54GB used. Everything else on the standard specification list for the Galaxy S4 seems either ubiquitous or not used.

Oh, and full HD screen - the S4 has this and I wouldn't like to go back to a lower resolution.

Screen is allegedly 5 3/8" (136.6 mm) high so a 5" plus vertical screen size. My S5 is only marginally bigger but I wouldn't want to go any smaller.

Cheers

Dave R

[Pamela]

[DerbyBorn]

I have had a Doogee for about 2 years. Absolutely great.

[Paul Welsh]

Huawei Honor 8X.

Pros Cheap, Good screen, quick processor only £200, works with Google Pay.

Cons Old style USB port, you will be at the mercy of Chinese spies as well as the USA spies.

Friend recently replaced a failed Nexus 5x and is very happy.

Dunno about software updates, but if you were willing to pay £500 pounds, after a year or so you could update the whole phone rather than just a software update.

[David]

I have a Moto X4 which meets all those specs, I think. A really nice phone, which was around £200 SIM-free six months ago.