Mid-priced Smart Phone

[Rollcage]

Lots of suggestions out there, but no real serious analysis. I have a Galaxy S5 which I have factory re-set and cut to barebones on apps, but is now extremely slow, twitchy and seems to lose network all the time now. I no longer have the budget I did a couple of years ago when I bought the S5.

Needs:
Responsiveness within budget reason
Maps, notes, email, calendar -- regular stuff.
NO games. I played far better arcade games in the 80s than the games that are for mobile phones.
All day heavy use battery.
Not a fan of plastic, but I guess can buy a 'nicer' case (?)

Don't even mention Oneplus 3. It's now ~€500

Software and support problems (?)
Xiaomi Note 4 (3/64GB €229)
Xiaomi Mi5 (3/32GB €289)

Honor 8 (4/32GB €374)
Moto G4 Plus (2/16GB €234)

Thanks all very very much.

 

[Adam595]

The Motorola Z Play would be a good option (my suggestion is weighted towards your "All day heavy use battery" requirement) because it has fantastic battery life and also its construction is all glass and metal. Specs: 5.5" FHD AMOLED, 3/32GB, 3510mAh battery, finger scanner, Snapdragon 625, front facing speaker, headphone jack, almost stock android, £320. That's from memory, so sorry if any of that is wrong. I'm a heavy user and I wouldn't buy a phone with a snapdragon 615/617 (like in the moto g4 plus) again but the SD625 is meant to be pretty good, but it's still low end compared to the kirin 950 in the honor 8 and probably w/e is in the xiaomi phones you mentioned. Since you don't game it might not matter at all. Some reviews:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EI9dmj6eiVQ

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7bU-QGsJUoc

 

[Rollcage]

Thanks! Same price as honor 8 here (€370) and I think I'd take that instead (?)

 

[Adam595]

The honor 8 is a good phone with OK to good battery life and it has a better camera than the moto z play. But the battery life isn't that good (I have a huawei p9 and so I'm assuming the battery life on the honor 8 is similar as their specs are almost identical).

 

[Crono]

I have the Honor 8 (well, had ) and Z Play. Go for the Z Play. EMUI is a little frustrating, and the battery life on the Z Play is the best of any phone I've ever used (8-10 hours screen-on time is fantastic), even without putting a Moto Mod on it. Battery life on the Honor 8 is good, but Huawei put some aggressive defaults to manage power consumption (a very Apple like move and UI overall). Android on the Z Play is refreshingly clean.

 

[Rollcage]

well for €370 certainly I move up a notch to a better phone than the Z Play no?

 

[Adam595]

I would guess that the specification of the moto z play seems bad for the money but both the reviews I linked are very positive and they both comment on how good the performance of the SD625 is. In the first review he said if someone told him it was a SD820 in the moto z play, he wouldn't have guessed differently. Having said that, I suppose over time with many apps installed it might bog down. I think most people would recommend the honor 8 but the moto z play is a better phone than most people realize. The honor 8 is more rounded for sure ( better camera and gaming performance) but I thought the z play might fit your usage a bit better, but idk

 

[Crono]

I would guess that the specification of the moto z play seems bad for the money but both the reviews I linked are very positive and they both comment on how good the performance of the SD625 is. In the first review he said if someone told him it was a SD820 in the moto z play, he wouldn't have guessed differently. Having said that, I suppose over time with many apps installed it might bog down. I think most people would recommend the honor 8 but the moto z play is a better phone than most people realize. The honor 8 is more rounded for sure ( better camera and gaming performance) but I thought the z play might fit your usage a bit better, but idk

Yeah, the 625 in the Play doesn't seem to be any slower for normal (non-high end gaming, non-benchmark) use, though it gets lower scores in benchmarks. The only thing the Honor 8 (which has a Kirin 950, which is competitive with the 820/821 in CPU performance) may be a little faster in for everyday use is in launching apps thanks to Huawei optimizing or tweaking the filesystem, but that's a barely perceptable difference; the Play doesn't feel like a slow phone, regardless.

I would choose the Honor 8 over the Z Play if you want a smaller and more comfortable to hold and use phone. The Moto Z isn't gigantic, but the Honor 8 is better for one-handed use.

Either will be smoother than a Samsung phone with TouchWiz (especially compared to the S5) and my bet is the Z Play will age just fine over two years, though obviously I can't guarantee that. Sometimes a phone will benefit from a reset in that kind of time period (even for iPhones).

 

[MarkizSchnitzel]

I am not entirely sure that SD625 will pass the test of time. Had they put 650 there, it would be a no brainer. It's way overpriced IMHO.

PS: OP3 is still 400€, not sure what makes you think it's 500€. But, battery is mediocre. ~4.5h SOT, which is more than enough to get me through the day, but not really impressive.

 

[Rollcage]

you're right, found the OP3 on Gearbest (any opinion of them) for €413. Isn't that the one to take at this price?
No opinions on the Xiaomi's?

 

[hans007]

i have a z play and an S7 for work. have a nexus 5x as well.

the z play has super super long battery life. i'd say it feels faster than the 5x also. and really in normal use you can barely tell its slower than the s7 . camera i'd say is not as good as the 5x or s7 though. its close to the 5x. the battery life though if that is a huge concern, well its the best for that

 

[Crono]

OnePlus is announcing a new phone on the 15th. If you plan on getting the OP3, I'd at least wait to see what's coming out of OnePlus next, in case there's a price drop on the 3 or if it's maybe worth waiting for the next model.

 

[MarkizSchnitzel]

you're right, found the OP3 on Gearbest (any opinion of them) for €413. Isn't that the one to take at this price?
No opinions on the Xiaomi's?

I don't see what would be the point in buying OP3 from anywhere other than oneplus dot net. Why pay for middlemen?

I'll be pissed if they announce price drop (doubtful) or a much improved device for a small price bump now on the 15th. Just got mine last week :/

 

[Crono]

I don't see what would be the point in buying OP3 from anywhere other than oneplus dot net. Why pay for middlemen?

I'll be pissed if they announce price drop (doubtful) or a much improved device for a small price bump now on the 15th. Just got mine last week :/

It looks like it's a minor update to the 3:
http://www.ibtimes.com/mysterious-o...enchmark-site-probably-not-oneplus-3t-2445071

 

[Rollcage]

Oneplus has halted all EU sales, so ...

 

[Adam595]

There is a 20% off sale on today @ AliExpress and you can get the note 3 for £115. I don't know anything about xiaomi phones but the specs (SD650, 3/32GB, 4100mAh battery, 5.5" FHD screen, finger scanner) look really good for the money. Buyers from the UK say if you choose the slow delivery option you're much less likely to get stung by customs but idk if it's true for all European countries.
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32717858702.html?trace=storeDetail2msiteDetail&aff_platform=aaf&sk=Y7bAZbY:&cpt=1478864508806&af=207113&afref=http://www.hotukdeals.com/mobiles/deals/hot&cv=12&dp=12::207113::0b009g1wgk7t::::1478864508&cn=15727&&aff_trace_key=850503d6a6b6440e9fbe88f1dec89e87-1478864508806-01371-Y7bAZbY
The link is to the globel version of the xiaomi note 3 that includes more LTE bands than the regular model.

 

[Jembo]

Seriously, I'd 1st root it & install CyanogenMod. It's come a long way. The S5 is still pretty powerful.

 

[Rollcage]

thanks all. much appreciated.

 

[dark zero]

How about the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro (Snapdragon 650, 4000 mhz battery, Bands 1,3,4,7,8)?

 

[Rollcage]

Thanks Jembo ... unfortunately it seems I have the G900H with the Exynos chip and thus can't install Cyanogen