Inexpensive smartphones in the Black Friday sales?
Discussion
At the other end of the market to Google Pixel and Apple / Samsung, there seems to be quite a few really cheap smartphones around now, with very decent memory and storage.
e.g.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 4GB/128GB - 6.67" 120Hz AMOLED, Snapdragon 685, 5000mAh £109
Huawei P30 6GB/128GB from around £150, or £100 on Ebay.
I guess with export regs, they both use their own dubious OS? Anyone know of a good cheap Android phone? Preferably in the sales and around £100. Ones to avoid?
e.g.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 4GB/128GB - 6.67" 120Hz AMOLED, Snapdragon 685, 5000mAh £109
Huawei P30 6GB/128GB from around £150, or £100 on Ebay.
I guess with export regs, they both use their own dubious OS? Anyone know of a good cheap Android phone? Preferably in the sales and around £100. Ones to avoid?
I bought one of the Redmi note 12 4gs a few days ago with the 20% off ebay code.
Had a quick play with it, seems OK, especially for the price. Screen seems decent, 120hz is nice, but it doesn't scale back at idle, so might eat battery life. Seems fast enough, but was a bit laggy after the first boot.
You really need to run one of the miui debloaters though, there's 4gb of removable preinstalled apps and then a bunch of useless system apps you can only remove with adb or the debloater scripts.
Had a quick play with it, seems OK, especially for the price. Screen seems decent, 120hz is nice, but it doesn't scale back at idle, so might eat battery life. Seems fast enough, but was a bit laggy after the first boot.
You really need to run one of the miui debloaters though, there's 4gb of removable preinstalled apps and then a bunch of useless system apps you can only remove with adb or the debloater scripts.
I've been using a Ulefone Armor 3W for the past 3 years. It was about £200 new, with a 10,000mAh battery, waterproof, drop proof etc etc. Has led a hard life but still performs perfectly.
Downside is that the lesser known brands are not supported with software and security updates. I'm probably taking a risk using this one for so long, but thus far, nothing untoward has happened.
Downside is that the lesser known brands are not supported with software and security updates. I'm probably taking a risk using this one for so long, but thus far, nothing untoward has happened.
a p30 is quite old now, but still a very good phone.
Saying that I got rid of mine as Huawei backdoor their own DNS server into the OS, so when I tried to route all my traffic through my pihole it refused and after googling and reading that yep they do it I got rid of it!
Got a friends old Oppo Find X3 Pro now and it's amazing
Saying that I got rid of mine as Huawei backdoor their own DNS server into the OS, so when I tried to route all my traffic through my pihole it refused and after googling and reading that yep they do it I got rid of it!
Got a friends old Oppo Find X3 Pro now and it's amazing
Much appreciated. A lot has been made in recent years about Chinese phones, and their dubious security, but short of buying Korean or (Chinese made) Apple, I'm not sure there's an answer. I didn't realise that Xiaomi were running "real" Android, I had thought it was a Chinese OS. I didn't realise they were capable of having bloatware stripped out!
Anyway, I'll keep an eye out on Friday/Monday and see if any good Xiaomi deals come up. Although they seem to compete with sofa warehouses when it comes to sales. I only really needs to read PDFs and (cough) Pokemon Go. Not going to watch movies or TV.
Cheers!
ETA: The Huawei P30 would have been a refurbished one. Wanted mainly because its camera has a very good reputation.
Anyway, I'll keep an eye out on Friday/Monday and see if any good Xiaomi deals come up. Although they seem to compete with sofa warehouses when it comes to sales. I only really needs to read PDFs and (cough) Pokemon Go. Not going to watch movies or TV.
Cheers!
ETA: The Huawei P30 would have been a refurbished one. Wanted mainly because its camera has a very good reputation.
Edited by Zad on Wednesday 22 November 07:45
You're maybe already aware but the Hot UK Deals website has a very active mobile phone section where people regularly post deals they've spotted.
https://www.hotukdeals.com/tag/mobile-phone
Some require voucher codes etc but these are usually included within the individual deal details.
As you mentioned there is a bewildering selection of Xiaomi phones and these regularly appear there.
https://www.hotukdeals.com/tag/mobile-phone
Some require voucher codes etc but these are usually included within the individual deal details.
As you mentioned there is a bewildering selection of Xiaomi phones and these regularly appear there.
I had an expensive samsung something on contract, fell over with it in my pocket and totaly smashed it, wasnt insured.
So went to , i think curries, as needed a phone then and then, got the cheapest smart phone they had, its moto of some type, no idea what, but was around £130 odd.
Thing is it has all the features i need on it, and if anything the battery lasts longer, it may not have the best camera, but its fine for snaps, never wasting a fortune on a highend phone again, as at that price its almost disposable.
And as a result that im not stressed about breaking it, its lasted around a year fine now, and will probably go on for a few years yet, if i havnt now jinxed it.
My oh has a all singing and dancing phone, think its an ipone, and tbh there doesnt seem to be alot between them, maybe the camera is better, and maybe more storage, but it serfs the web, does emails etc and even works well as a phone, so really dont miss the old phone, i didnt even shop around for deals, and im sure i could have got cheaper, but needed it there and then, as was about to travel with work.
Also i really dont care if the chinese or who ever are tracking me, my life isnt that interesting.
I do think that phones have reached a bit of a peak atm as the cheaper makes dont seem much worse than the high end stufff, certainly not as far as the avarage user goes.
So went to , i think curries, as needed a phone then and then, got the cheapest smart phone they had, its moto of some type, no idea what, but was around £130 odd.
Thing is it has all the features i need on it, and if anything the battery lasts longer, it may not have the best camera, but its fine for snaps, never wasting a fortune on a highend phone again, as at that price its almost disposable.
And as a result that im not stressed about breaking it, its lasted around a year fine now, and will probably go on for a few years yet, if i havnt now jinxed it.
My oh has a all singing and dancing phone, think its an ipone, and tbh there doesnt seem to be alot between them, maybe the camera is better, and maybe more storage, but it serfs the web, does emails etc and even works well as a phone, so really dont miss the old phone, i didnt even shop around for deals, and im sure i could have got cheaper, but needed it there and then, as was about to travel with work.
Also i really dont care if the chinese or who ever are tracking me, my life isnt that interesting.
I do think that phones have reached a bit of a peak atm as the cheaper makes dont seem much worse than the high end stufff, certainly not as far as the avarage user goes.
Galaxy S phones are stupidly priced - looking for something SIM free to replace my ageing S10e which I got for £400 three years back and the cheapest S22/23 with 256gigs (necessary, since no more SD card support) that I could find is £549 for a 256gig S22. 256gig S23s are typically around the 750-800 quid mark. The S23 will be replaced by the S24 in a few months and the S22 is from last year (and is known to have a crap battery life).
Maybe on Black Friday itself there will be some good deals. However, as it stands I'm thinking about moving to a Google Pixel phone as they have a decent specs/value ratio and a clean interface.
Maybe on Black Friday itself there will be some good deals. However, as it stands I'm thinking about moving to a Google Pixel phone as they have a decent specs/value ratio and a clean interface.
Lucas Ayde said:
Galaxy S phones are stupidly priced - looking for something SIM free to replace my ageing S10e which I got for £400 three years back and the cheapest S22/23 with 256gigs (necessary, since no more SD card support) that I could find is £549 for a 256gig S22. 256gig S23s are typically around the 750-800 quid mark. The S23 will be replaced by the S24 in a few months and the S22 is from last year (and is known to have a crap battery life).
Maybe on Black Friday itself there will be some good deals. However, as it stands I'm thinking about moving to a Google Pixel phone as they have a decent specs/value ratio and a clean interface.
Well, Amazon are offering the S23 with 256G, unlocked, for £610 in their Black Friday deals so I went for that.Maybe on Black Friday itself there will be some good deals. However, as it stands I'm thinking about moving to a Google Pixel phone as they have a decent specs/value ratio and a clean interface.
It's more than I ideally wanted to pay but if I get over three and a half years out of it as with the S10e I will be happy enough. This time around I'll be using wireless charging from the start, so the USB port shouldn't get knackered.
Amateurish said:
My family have been using Xiaomi phones for years. I usually spend £100 - £200 per phone. They are absolutely fine.
Same here. I had a Xiaomi A1, which got upgraded to an A2, and then a Poco M4 Pro (same manufacturer, different brand name). Each has lasted me 3 years and cost less than £150. The Poco has got an alloy case, Gorilla glass, dual SIM, SD expansion slot and runs fast enough to do everything i want it to do. I honestly don't know what spending an extra £500 would get me.
The only thing i don't like is the very confusing naming structure between Note, Redmi, Pro etc models.
boyse7en said:
Amateurish said:
My family have been using Xiaomi phones for years. I usually spend £100 - £200 per phone. They are absolutely fine.
The only thing i don't like is the very confusing naming structure between Note, Redmi, Pro etc models.The other downside is that the kids occasionally moan about not having an iPhone; apparently all their mates have iPhone 15s...
Watching this thread with interest as my usually trusty OnePlus seems to be on its last legs.
I've mainly owned cheap Samsung models in the past but last two were Xiaomi and OnePlus; I've not been too impressed with camera quality on either but open to another Xiaomi as it took a beating and lasted quite a few years.
I've mainly owned cheap Samsung models in the past but last two were Xiaomi and OnePlus; I've not been too impressed with camera quality on either but open to another Xiaomi as it took a beating and lasted quite a few years.
Iphone X is now no longer getting major ios updates, so beware.
If you can unlock the bootloader on an android device and it's popular, then you have the option of a custom rom.
If you are stuck forever on an older ios version at some point you will be unable to install newer apps if the devs don't bother to support that version or just dont have that version listed in the manifest.
If you can unlock the bootloader on an android device and it's popular, then you have the option of a custom rom.
If you are stuck forever on an older ios version at some point you will be unable to install newer apps if the devs don't bother to support that version or just dont have that version listed in the manifest.
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