Best sub £150 phone?

iBSOD

iBSOD

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You can get a solid used phone for that price like a Galaxy S6. Fairly old now but still a good device. Also the HTC One M9 can be had for about £170 new.
 

UTmaniac

UTmaniac

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Person at work sat next to me has just recd a Cubot Cheetah 2 - it's very good! Available on all the usual places (GearBest etc).
 

UTmaniac

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Raymond Lin said:
Feedback? :p I am dying to know lol
Click to expand...

Not much to add from earlier yet, despite a day off work I've been zombied most of the day, until a quick cycle after a dinner... I've still yet to order a protective case and decide if Three's 3-2-1 PAYG sim plus a pre-paid data only sim @ ~£2.50 per GB is the way forward!:o

... I'm far from a big phone user for calls/texts, I wanted something I could hopefully use the web browser away from the pc, that also would be able to use the "live tracking" facility of my Lezyne Super GPS bike computer (so better half and others can click a link and see in real-time where I am, now I'm starting to do 4+ hour bike rides). Hence choosing a "phablet" over something slim, but I've yet to even install Amazon Video app to test streaming!:p

There are far cheaper ways of getting the Maze Alpha than the way I did through Amazon, for example http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/maz...r-with-band-20-support-15289-gearbest-2788709 (someone inside thread offering £120).
 

Raymond Lin

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UTmaniac said:
Have they arrived yet?

I've still yet to order a sim card for my Alpha... I'm very dependent on being able to make calls and texts! :D
Click to expand...

Yup, my Alpha has arrived and jumped in with both feet and put my sim card in straight away with a 32G microSD card i have laying around.

First of all, I accidentally ordered the 6G of RAM version so have a ton of RAM for it to play with, but weirdly it takes quite long to boot up for a new device. Once boot up though it is snappy as one expect, it its probably not Samsung Galaxy Note 8 speed but it is also not £900.

I will judge everything here from the perspective of a £165 phone compared to my experience of coming from a iPhone 6.

1 - Screen, this is HD, it is good sharp, colour is accurate and touch response is just like an iPhone. I can't tell the difference.
2 - Touch ID is fast, it unlocks the phone quickly and reliably.
3 - Battery life is VERY good. I used it the whole day and went to bed with 30% of battery left.
4 - Camera - it's sharp when it focuses but it does take time to focus, much longer than the iPhone.
5 - The glass back is a fingerprint and smudge magnet, you will constantly cleaning it and the only case that i can find is a cheap one from eBay for £5.

So after 2 day of Android use I am not only not hating it…I’m actually like it, I thought it would take much longer. One thing I thought I would hate is having used to the bubble of IOS and the uniformity of the skin, I thought it would be daunting to have this open style OS, however it feels like a breath of fresh air that I can change stuff around as I see fit. In one way I have no clue what a lot of the settings do but so far it seems fun just trying it. Once the usual suspects of emails, contacts, Facebook and Instagram are all logged in, it felt like home again. I am still fiddling however, perhaps that is a downside as I will constantly fiddling. For example, I am tying to figure out how to create a widget page similarly to one on the IOS when i swipe left with my normal stuff like Hue and Harmony remote.

It did take a few hours of setting it up to at least get it running with the basic, mostly remembering passwords. Google account took care of the contacts and emails and calendar syncing so the only thing I would say I am missing is iMessage with other iPhone users. That will just be on my Mac from now on. Most apps looks the same but some are less intuitive. I also need to get used to what everything looks like, like getting a text message is a different colour than what I am used to so at a glance I don’t know that is a text compare to a regular notification.

The biggest thing I am having to pinch myself with is how much of a phone I am getting for my money. Sure I don’t have wireless charging or water resistance but neither does my iPhone 6.

Not everything is amazing however. The sim tray feels cheaply made, the vibrate is not that strong and having self facing camera at the bottom really is not the best place for it although I never use it. The metal edges is EASILY scratched, in fact I have somehow done it already and its only ever been on wood and fabric surfaces. Then again, it’s a £150 device, not £1,150.

I still have the Elephone S8 on order that is due in 3 weeks and that’s supposed to be a better phone than this so I am totally sold on the Android and cheap Chinese phone idea. I can see myself in a year's time getting the Samsung S8 Plus when it gets to like £400.
 

UTmaniac

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You seem to like it, I do too, for what little I've used mine over 9 days.

There are a few different case designs on Amazon that start from ~£7 with Prime, but just like prepaid data sims and 3-2-1 sims, I keep looking at them but never ordering!
 
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