Android phone on the cheap - its for work.

[DaveReading]

Built in obsolescence by locking the consumable battery inside a fixed case, plus not updating after 2 or 3 years.

To be fair, I think the inability nowadays to change a battery easily is at least partly due to the market demanding phones with a much slimmer form factor, where it's no longer feasible to provide user access to the battery.

The fact that it helps to sell more phones is a spin-off benefit, of course.

 

[Alex321]

Galaxy s2?!! Still working? I had one when first came out. Top end phones were a lot cheaper back then, £400-500 I think. I went to a couple of towns looking for one but nowhere had one until I got one in another town. I then found out that it was the first week of release and most were pre order hence low stock. I didn't know much about the phone business then so bought it too early perhaps.

5 or 6 years, then LG G2 which had the best camera of its day. Then honor 8 and finally galaxy A70 bought 2 or 3 years ago.

I find phones last for shorter times now than before. Actually but true my s2 lasted that long because I bought a replacement battery at 3 years. Now internal batteries are too much hassle to replace even if you can. So 2 or 3 years sees the battery losing charge quicker and not taking a much in neither. Built in obsolescence by locking the consumable battery inside a fixed case, plus not updating after 2 or 3 years.

I'm actually finding phones lasting longer now than they used to.

I've always had contract phones - the first 2-3 were on 12 month contracts, and were having problems charging by the time the 12 months were up. Then most of the deals started to be on 2 year contracts, but since going t those, my phones have lasted comfortably. And since USB-C, I haven't seen any signs of issues - and my current S10 is on a 3 year contract, currently close to 2 years on it without the slightest signs of issues (and of course still getting updates).

Obviously the S10 is out of your budget, but in your position, I would try and push it to £150 and go for the Samsung A12. It is a 2021 model and is running Android 11 out of the box, so should have a good few years of updates available.

 

[Reynard]

Galaxy s2?!! Still working? I had one when first came out. Top end phones were a lot cheaper back then, £400-500 I think. I went to a couple of towns looking for one but nowhere had one until I got one in another town. I then found out that it was the first week of release and most were pre order hence low stock. I didn't know much about the phone business then so bought it too early perhaps.

5 or 6 years, then LG G2 which had the best camera of its day. Then honor 8 and finally galaxy A70 bought 2 or 3 years ago.

I find phones last for shorter times now than before. Actually but true my s2 lasted that long because I bought a replacement battery at 3 years. Now internal batteries are too much hassle to replace even if you can. So 2 or 3 years sees the battery losing charge quicker and not taking a much in neither. Built in obsolescence by locking the consumable battery inside a fixed case, plus not updating after 2 or 3 years.

I think the S2 made Samsung's name. The LG G2 was a really good but indifferently received phone. Imho better than anything else out back then. Best camera of its day.

Yep, it's still chugging along.

To throw you a curveball, if you really need a decent camera, why not get something like a Canon Ixus to stick in your pocket? You can pick them up secondhand for not a lot of money, and they actually do a reasonable job for what they are. Just remember that the older ones will only take a 1Gb memory card.

I love mine - of course, it's no substitute for my pro DSLRs and glass, but it does a good job as a visual notebook.

 

[Time Waster]

Yep, it's still chugging along.

To throw you a curveball, if you really need a decent camera, why not get something like a Canon Ixus to stick in your pocket? You can pick them up secondhand for not a lot of money, and they actually do a reasonable job for what they are. Just remember that the older ones will only take a 1Gb memory card.

I love mine - of course, it's no substitute for my pro DSLRs and glass, but it does a good job as a visual notebook.

That's just another item to carry around in already overloaded pockets.

The whole camera market has shifted away from small point and shoots simply because the capability of phones have reached the level those cheap ixus types are not as good.

There's phones with cameras that have better lenses, larger sensor and better image processing engines. A few are actually budget priced too.

 

[keithmac]

My S20 camera is excellent but you are going to find it hard work getting a decent camera phone new for £200.

Why don't they put you on a contract?.

 

[Reynard]

That's just another item to carry around in already overloaded pockets.

The whole camera market has shifted away from small point and shoots simply because the capability of phones have reached the level those cheap ixus types are not as good.

There's phones with cameras that have better lenses, larger sensor and better image processing engines. A few are actually budget priced too.

Fair enough.

Although I'm speaking from the perspective of someone who takes photos with all the modes on her cameras turned off.

 

[Time Waster]

My S20 camera is excellent but you are going to find it hard work getting a decent camera phone new for £200.

Why don't they put you on a contract?.

New sim only contract with everyone using their old phone. One guy uses his own phone with work sim as second sim card. The others have a newer model iPhone than me.

I'm on 5s which overheats and the camera is poor so I can't really use it anymore. I use my Samsung galaxy a70 camera but when the new sim got given out I asked for a new android phone instead of another iPhone or the old 5s. I expected the director to simply get the phone. He's into gadgets but it seems he's apple only so I have to get my own.

It has to be new, not too expensive and I need a decent camera for my job. I'm the sort of person who sees something that'll do, then sees another with a slightly better feature for another £10, worth it right? Only then something better for just another £20, also worth it. Then eventually I find myself on a budget blowing price but I've got an android 11, 8gb/256gb 48 or 64mp 1/2" sensor size camera for £219 and over budget.

Think I'll suggest a xiaomi poco x3 Pro 6gb/128gb for £189 or 8gb/256gb for £219 from Xiaomi UK direct. I think it's a decent phone. Also looking at xiaomi redmi note Pro with 108mp camera. Better camera but lower performance chip for £229. All direct from xiaomi UK.

 

[Cycleops]

Think I'll suggest a xiaomi poco x3 Pro 6gb/128gb for £189 or 8gb/256gb for £219 from Xiaomi UK direct. I think it's a decent phone. Also looking at xiaomi redmi note Pro with 108mp camera. Better camera but lower performance chip for £229. All direct from xiaomi UK.

As I said earlier the X3 pro is a good phone , I have one. The camera is adequate and battery life is excellent. If you wanted a better camera you could go for the Poco F3, more pixel. You won’t get any better phones for the price.

 

[biggs682]

When i started working for a newly formed company a few years back they supplied a second hand I phone 7 still going strong now 2 and a bit years later .

 

[Time Waster]

When i started working for a newly formed company a few years back they supplied a second hand I phone 7 still going strong now 2 and a bit years later .

That's how I got the 5s but it's definitely not doing well. Even diehard iPhone fans thought it was bad.

Stock email kept uploading 599 emails from my work email server and marked them all unread. To delete them I had to select each one manually because there was no option to select all.

Even those iPhone users couldn't work out why this phone was different to all other iPhone mail apps. Every time I deleted 599 emails it downloaded another 599! I got through 11980+ old emails before I gave up and stopped using it for emails. Unworkable!

Now it takes blurry photographs, it was never any good in the first place. The battery doesn't last long at all if you're actually using it, which I have almost stopped using it because of how useless it is. Oh and anything over 10 to 15 minutes results in a phone that's either burning your ear or too hot to handle. After less than 5 minutes taking awful photos I put it in my pocket and it is rather hot.

If iPhone are all like this once they get a bit old then I'm definitely sticking to android phones. I thought iPhone were the best for user experience.

Autocorrect kept trying to change user to used! So right!

 

[Cycleops]

If iPhone are all like this once they get a bit old then I'm definitely sticking to android phones. I thought iPhone were the best for user experience.

Apple have a far better record with regards to supporting their phones than Android. Your 5 has done pretty well considering it was released in 2012.

Id say iOS gives a better experience too having a Android phone and iPad. The only annoying thing is Apple charging for extra storage once the internal memory tops out and Charing too much for it in the first place.

 

[Alex321]

Apple have a far better record with regards to supporting their phones than Android. Your 5 has done pretty well considering it was released in 2012.

Apple are a manufacturer, Android aren't. Which of course, means Apple are in control of both the device and the OS, while manufacturers of Android phones aren't (apart from the bloatware some add on top of stock Android).

Some manufacturers of Android phones support their models better than others do.

 

[Time Waster]

Apple have a far better record with regards to supporting their phones than Android. Your 5 has done pretty well considering it was released in 2012.

Id say iOS gives a better experience too having a Android phone and iPad. The only annoying thing is Apple charging for extra storage once the internal memory tops out and Charing too much for it in the first place.

Late September 2013 and I got this one 2015. It's been overheating since 2017 or 2018. Three years. My androids have never overheated even when 6 plus years of heavy use. I've had a few people replacing early as in 12 or 18 months instead of 24 months because of overheating. That's with a top end iPhone not the 5s "budget" iPhone version.

Director and apple fanbois bought an inadequate for work use. Apps like iAuditor started on ios but moved to android as well. Always worked better on my android tablet despite being a cheap Samsung and not apple ipad got twice as much.

Director apple fanbois every admits that when he tried android he thought it had overtaken apple. Just that he's committed to apple so won't change now. Work stuff is all non apple but for phones.

 

[midlife]

I think cyclops has mentioned a used Pixel if you are concentrating on using it as a camera rather than a phone as such.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

That's just another item to carry around in already overloaded pockets.

The whole camera market has shifted away from small point and shoots simply because the capability of phones have reached the level those cheap ixus types are not as good.

There's phones with cameras that have better lenses, larger sensor and better image processing engines. A few are actually budget priced too.

…and cost 20 times as much as a compact with equivalent quality.