Been looking for a phone

FoxEye

FoxEye

FoxEye

Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
On a budget of £200.

I've been phoneless for a couple months since giving my Blackberry back to the council (they can keep it - useless thing!).

I don't think I want a screen bigger than 4.5 ish inches. 5.5 is just too big to be practical for my uses. It will be used a lot outdoors, with GPS and looking at maps on screen. Might get the odd drop of water on it!

Battery life is something I'm very keen to have a lot of. Although I do have a mobile battery pack/charger (100% necessary with the Blackberry), it is a PITA to have cables coming from one pocket to another, as you're moving around :p I would like a phone that can have GPS turned on, and screen in use, for 8-10 hours.

I would like a half decent camera. The BB had a 5MP camera, and it's wasn't awful, but it wasn't close to good either! Don't really need front facing camera. Selfies? Yeah, right!

A 720p screen would be nice for map viewing. Will not do much browsing on it. Hardly any. No idea how much data Google maps uses, but I don't think it's much?

Ruled out some phones from reading reviews. The Moto G 1st ed isn't great on battery, apparently, the 2nd gen is too large at 5.2". The 4.5" Moto G 4G could be an option?

The Z3 compact has issues with screen cracking, so ruled that one out.

Was briefly tempted by Moto X but it's just too big.

I'm not set on Android, and the Nokia phones have half decent battery don't they? But you don't find much love for them online.

Think I'll avoid the Chinese phones. Good value but should anything go wrong no warranty. And build issues, niggles... Talking about YaiYu, iOcean, Meizu, etc.

Won't be playing games on it, that's for sure. Won't be watching movies on it either. Screen is only important for maps and very occasional web browsing.

Open to contract or buying off-contract, whichever works out better value.

Will not need talk time, just a bit of data. Will not need texts.

It's also *essential* that whatever network I go with they allow barring of mobile terminated SMS, and "charge to account".

Any suggestions? Is the Moto G 4G (2015) really the best option out there?
 
Z3 Compact cracking issues have been dealt with at the root and Sony have changed the internal support for the screen to prevent cracking, I would deffo be looking at that as an option.
 
Space Monkey said:
Where did you hear this? (genuine question)
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm interested in that, as the Z3C ticked all my boxes. There were lots of theories about the phone overheated causing the cracks to appear, and it seemed that people were reporting issues just a couple months ago.
 
Having looked at the Moto E 4G, it is certainly a decent phone, but the display is worse than the G 4G, being qHD instead of 720p. Slightly better CPU and better battery. Same camera by the looks of things. Slightly more expensive. Hmm.

Is the 2014 Moto G 4G still the best phone you can get for £10/month?
 
LOL, phoned Tesco to see if they could resurrect the (recently expired) deal they were doing on the Moto G. (The deal expired <4 days ago).

The girl said "no, we can't bring the deal back or improve any deal you might find in store on online."

After I said that other places could improve their deals, she retorted with "you wouldn't come instore and try to haggle the price down of a loaf of bread, would you?"

To which I thanked her for her time and said I'd be buying elsewhere.

**** annoying that the phone was £20 cheaper just a couple days ago. And my local ASDA doesn't have the £80 deal either.

Bloody thing isn't worth £110, and the tesco pay monthly tariffs are **** too, unfortunately.
 
id look at the nokia lumia 735 (nice camera and great oled screen for outdoor use) or a lumia 830 (even better camera )
 
emu said:
id look at the nokia lumia 735 (nice camera and great oled screen for outdoor use) or a lumia 830 (even better camera )
Click to expand...

Hmm, the 735 is £50 more expensive than the Moto G 4G, or £5 more p.m. Read that it suffers from instability and crashes? I know that there's no such thing as a perfect budget phone, but crashing would drive me mad.

Antony101 said:
OnePlus one can be had for £170/180?
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Too big :eek: Specifically after a 4.5 (ish) phone, the OPO is 5.5".
 
boxman2000 said:
I'd still opt for the Moto G, couldn't be happier with mine.
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Yeah I was ready to pull the trigger but the deals on it are either expired (Tesco) or not in my area (Asda).

I hate buying something knowing that it was significantly cheaper just a few days ago. One of my bugbears :p

Guess I'll wait for the next offer - by which time they'll be discontinued and I'll have to go through this all again :p
 
Shame you ruled out the Z3 Compact, as that sounds perfect from the perspective of size and battery life.

Not many phones will give 8+ hours screen on time, especially if using GPS and away from Wi-Fi. A Moto G/X almost certainly won't.
 
Mattus said:
Shame you ruled out the Z3 Compact, as that sounds perfect from the perspective of size and battery life.

Not many phones will give 8+ hours screen on time, especially if using GPS and away from Wi-Fi. A Moto G/X almost certainly won't.
Click to expand...

Yeah I revised my budget down a bit now, to say £100 ish. Having thought more about it, this phone will not be getting a lot of use in the conventional way. Hardly any browsing, no games, no watching films on it.

Frankly it's not going to be a toy or something to pass the time when I'm bored. It will be for incoming calls + satnav (on the ground rather than in car) + taking pictures.

I really don't need a £250 phone like the Z3C. Even without the numerous reported self-cracking problems ;)
 
The OnePlus One is barely bigger than a Moto G, a friend was in the same boat recently and ended up going for the OnePlus and hasn't had an issue with the size, the only real change is the OnePlus in 1cm taller.

You say 4.5" but the Moto G is 5".
 
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