Phone recommendation for daughters christmas present.

GTanny

GTanny

GTanny

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My daughter has asked for a phone for Christmas so my wife and I are looking for ideas.

She's 9 this month so we won't be trusting her with a top spec phone and obviously don't want a phablet. looking good around the £150 mark, only real requirements is its not on Vodafone as we don't get a signal near our house for when she's outside of WiFi range.

Ideally would like it to have a decent camera as she likes making her videos and taking photos and the option for an sd card is a big plus as I don't want her constantly running out of storage.

As it will be for Christmas and most likely her main big present I would prefer to go new.

I don't have much knowledge of phones in this range so will be relying on this forums knowledge:)
 
Moto G either 3rd or 4th gen. I'm on 3rd gen and it's absolutely brilliant. My wife has one too and has had no issues.

4th gen will get next update but 3rd will get marshmallow. Both can take microSD cards.

Just buy the phone from somewhere like Amazon and will be unlocked for any telco.
 
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Phablet is a definite no go im afraid?

Alcatel is out of price range plus we already have a headset if needed

Moto g4 defiantly looks the part and also reviews very well... I'll see if I can get my hands on one to give it a play.
 
Sugnid said:
Moto G4 is a Phablet no...?

http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_g4-8103.php
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It seems it may be just on the boundary as the voda phone would be too... this does make the voda phone much more tempting especially reading the 6 is just as good as the 7.

I'll have to go and actually get hands on with them and see the availability of a good case.

Another one that has popped up but a bit high at the new price is the oneplus x but it seems it may also be very hard to get hold of.
 
I have a smart ultra 6 and my sister has a moto g 3rd gen. I would say that the best thing about the smart ultra 6 is the massive screen but it also has decent battery life. My sisters moto g 3rd gen feels nicer in hand. The smart ultra 6 feels cheap, like it's made from more brittle plastic. My sis has dropped her phone loads of times but that hasn't cracked the screen. I haven't dropped my smart ultra 6 so can't comment on it's robustness but the moto g 3rd is robust. The screen, despite the lower resolution looks really nice too. I think you should get the smart ultra 6 if you want a big screen for not much money, but if you don't the moto g 3rd gen is a better all rounder imo.

edit: also, have you held a 5.5" phone in your hand? they are pretty huge for small hands and small pockets.

edit: You could consider the "Motorola Moto G4 Play". £120 from vodafone, plus topup I guess.
 
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Dumbnub said:
I have a smart ultra 6 and my sister has a moto g 3rd gen. I would say that the best thing about the smart ultra 6 is the massive screen but it also has decent battery life. My sisters moto g 3rd gen feels nicer in hand. The smart ultra 6 feels cheap, like it's made from more brittle plastic. My sis has dropped her phone loads of times but that hasn't cracked the screen. I haven't dropped my smart ultra 6 so can't comment on it's robustness but the moto g 3rd is robust. The screen, despite the lower resolution looks really nice too. I think you should get the smart ultra 6 if you want a big screen for not much money, but if you don't the moto g 3rd gen is a better all rounder imo.

edit: also, have you held a 5.5" phone in your hand? they are pretty huge for small hands and small pockets.
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I'd be looking at the moto g 4th gen just for longevity which is still 5.5" screen, I have an s7 edge and the moto is 4mm wider so it is definitely a large phone, it does seem that going anything below 5" is compromising on specs somewhat at this price point unless I'm missing somthing.
 
GTanny said:
I'd be looking at the moto g 4th gen just for longevity which is still 5.5" screen, I have an s7 edge and the moto is 4mm wider so it is definitely a large phone, it does seem that going anything below 5" is compromising on specs somewhat at this price point unless I'm missing somthing.
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Yeah, I don't think you're missing anything. The 5.5" phone's definitely have better specs for the money. My sis uses a task killer app on her moto g 3rd gen before she games, otherwise the gameplay can be choppy. The problem is it only has 1Gb of ram. Then again she doesn't disable any unneccessary apps that are running in the background.

I think a lot of it comes down to preference, I'm fine with a 5" HD screen for myself. The full hd phones mentioned have more powerful graphics to handle their full hd screens but the performance in gaming is actually pretty simular to the lesser powerful moto g or moto play. I suppose 1GB of ram on the moto g 3rd gen is pretty weak though. The camera specs are better on the moto g4 too.

So, you are right, I just figured that she might be better off with a smaller phone, but idk =)

Edit: When I suggested the moto g4 play I thought it had 2gb's of ram but it turns out there are two varients, one with 1gb and one with 2gb's but I can't find the 2gb varient for sale anywhere, oops. My bad.
 
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No way would I get a 5.5 inch phone for my kids when they're 9, recipe for disaster that much screen. They're clumsy as ****, kids :D
 
There is option for £200 that's well specced for the money. The huawei p9 lite. £199 from giffgaff atm but it would have to be unlocked. Annoyingly it was on sale for £150 +£10 topup from vodafone until recently. I guess that sale could come back before christmas, it seems to come and go. Right now they are selling it for £225. The huawei p9 lite's specs: 5.2" FHD screen, kirin 650 cpu/graphics (it's a little more powerful than the snapdragon in the moto G4), very good fingerprint scanner (one of the best), 3gb's of ram, good battery life (3000mah), nice build quality for the price (metal frame around the sides) and a good camera.

There's some time before christmas, if you want I could message you if it goes back on sale for £150+£10 topup or you could look on hotukdeals yourself. It always get posted there when the deal is on.
 
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cheesyboy said:
No way would I get a 5.5 inch phone for my kids when they're 9, recipe for disaster that much screen. They're clumsy as ****, kids :D
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She's managed with an 8" tablet the last 2 years and never had an issue until the battery has decided to start rapidly draining on it. She won't be taking it to school as we still take her it would only be for of we go out, we have tried to persuade her to get a new tablet but she is adamant she would prefer a phone.

I'll keep an eye out for the p9 and with black Friday still to come I may hold off for now anyway.
 
smilertoo said:
The christmas adverts will tell her if she doesn't get a 256gb iphone 7 plus, you don't love her.
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This 100%, absolutely superb and makes Facebook, Whatsapp and texting go a lot faster. If you want to go Android then an S7 will be fast at Facebook.

It's my bugbear, I know so many people with top class phones who only do these three things.
 
took her to have a browse at a few handsets and shes set on a samsung phone as shes used to it (wife and i both have S7 - and yes it has uber facebook speedage :))

the J3 2016 seemed nice enough to hold and camera was good enough but looking into it i might be able to get a decent price on a 2016 A3/A5 if the 2017 models get announced/released in the next couple of months. I am sure she will be happy with any phone so won't be concerned if her phone isn't the latest android or top spec model but she seemed very much in favour of a samsung.
 
GTanny said:
took her to have a browse at a few handsets and shes set on a samsung phone as shes used to it (wife and i both have S7 - and yes it has uber facebook speedage :))

the J3 2016 seemed nice enough to hold and camera was good enough but looking into it i might be able to get a decent price on a 2016 A3/A5 if the 2017 models get announced/released in the next couple of months. I am sure she will be happy with any phone so won't be concerned if her phone isn't the latest android or top spec model but she seemed very much in favour of a samsung.
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Those sound like great choices.
 
GTanny said:
took her to have a browse at a few handsets and shes set on a samsung phone as shes used to it (wife and i both have S7 - and yes it has uber facebook speedage :))

the J3 2016 seemed nice enough to hold and camera was good enough but looking into it i might be able to get a decent price on a 2016 A3/A5 if the 2017 models get announced/released in the next couple of months. I am sure she will be happy with any phone so won't be concerned if her phone isn't the latest android or top spec model but she seemed very much in favour of a samsung.
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Incase you haven't bought your daughter a phone yet, there is a good deal for the huawei p9 lite on atm.
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hua...-top-up-free-unlock-from-ee-delivered-2536436
£139.99 delivered (from EE)
 
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