Recommend a naff phone

[bcr5784]

My current phone a One plus 2 only runs android 6 which is starting to make it obsolete. I want a replacement which does the basics really well, has good battery life. However I have no interest in camera providing it has one and I don't play games,. Happy to buy new or secondhand. Any recommendations?

[mike9009]

I have an Oppo. Battery life is an easy two days with light use, plus this one comes with a rapid charger which only take about an hour or so to recharge. Does all the basics very well. Wife and daughter have various flavours of Oppo phones too, all without any issues.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2914479?clickSR=sl...ppo:7:39:1

[Scrump]

One of the Moto G range of phones.

[jm8403]

mike9009 said:

I have an Oppo. Battery life is an easy two days with light use, plus this one comes with a rapid charger which only take about an hour or so to recharge. Does all the basics very well. Wife and daughter have various flavours of Oppo phones too, all without any issues.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2914479?clickSR=sl...ppo:7:39:1

Fair play, didn't realise these phones would be acceptable.

[QJumper]

I've had a couple of Moto G phones, bought cheap (second hand) of Ebay, and have found them to be very good.

[craigthecoupe]

i had a g5 which was a good basic phone, upgraded last year to the g8 power, and although the battery does 2 days and about 2 hours to charge, the rest of the phone is nothing special. its ok, but only ok in my experience.

[mikef]

How about a Xiaomi Mi A3 with Android One (no vendor cr@pware, just Android)?

£185 new from Amazon, much less for used. No wireless charging or NFC and not a great camera, but otherwise a good little phone

[scoey1001]

I would also recommend Xiaomi. Good phones for the money.

[Riley Blue]

O/H has just bought a Realme 8 5G which, for £150-ish, disguises its naffness very well.

[greygoose]

Oneplus have £50 off their Nord CE 5g online at the moment, it seems a lot of phone for £250.

[Desiderata]

Scrump said:

One of the Moto G range of phones.

This, I've got a Moto G powerlite 8, about £80 from Argos. Does everything that I need from a phone, 3 days battery life.

Edited by Desiderata on Wednesday 21st September 07:52

[heisthegaffer]

craigthecoupe said:

i had a g5 which was a good basic phone, upgraded last year to the g8 power, and although the battery does 2 days and about 2 hours to charge, the rest of the phone is nothing special. its ok, but only ok in my experience.

I went from a Samsung S8 and other than the pitiful battery life of the Samsung, everything about the G8 was a step back. Mind you, if you only want a really basic and adequate phone with excellent battery life, they're ideal.

I actually ended my contract early and got a Sony Xperia 1 v3 which is absolutely fantastic.... And 4 times the price accordingly.

[Alorotom]

What are “the basics” needed - is a smartphone the answer here or is a dumb phone more appropriate (eg if it’s calls, sms and WhatsApp a Nokia dumb phone may hit the spot)

[bcr5784]

Alorotom said:

What are “the basics” needed - is a smartphone the answer here or is a dumb phone more appropriate (eg if it’s calls, sms and WhatsApp a Nokia dumb phone may hit the spot)

I need a fair few apps Airbnb banking etc so I do need a conventional smart phone. Given the obsolescence issue I'm inclined towards Samsung who seem to offer the longest support - up to 4 android versions on their more expensive models. Might make me spend more than I originally intended.

[smallpaul]

I've used a £150 samsung a12 in anger delivering amazon, dpd and dhl parcels. I've still to kill it or the battery.

[craigthecoupe]

heisthegaffer said:

craigthecoupe said:

i had a g5 which was a good basic phone, upgraded last year to the g8 power, and although the battery does 2 days and about 2 hours to charge, the rest of the phone is nothing special. its ok, but only ok in my experience.

I went from a Samsung S8 and other than the pitiful battery life of the Samsung, everything about the G8 was a step back. Mind you, if you only want a really basic and adequate phone with excellent battery life, they're ideal.

I actually ended my contract early and got a Sony Xperia 1 v3 which is absolutely fantastic.... And 4 times the price accordingly.

ha, working in the forest today, have a quick look at my phone, and the screen has shattered and bled. totally inoperable now, so back to the g5 for me......

[the-norseman]

If your using it for banking look for something with good OS/Security updates.

[paulrockliffe]

I have an S20+, I think it's brilliant. I bought a new one unused from eBay, it was about £400, but it's much more out of date now, so cheaper. It's due to get Android 13, the camera is really really good, I can't think of any issues at all with it.

My wife has the S20 FE which is similarly great, other than the noticeably worse camera.

Neither are naff, but a new one on eBay is probably going to be better value for money than a naff phone, so may be worth a look?

[pistonheadforum]

Am I right in thinking that most Android phones can take a stock version of Android with a modicum of faffing about?

[pistonheadforum]

Reason for asking is that I really can't bring myself to give Apple the money their asking for an iPhone 14 (any version!) so thinking of swapping to Android - one of the budget ones likely a Motorola G31 or similar - but don't want to pick something that's not getting updates regularly.

I understand that Motorola are really bad/slow at updating so was thinking I could just install a stock Android 12 and use that instead?

Thanks in advance.