Choosing correctly in a saturated market.

Temujin · 31 May 2019 at 22:21

My OP3 i bought at release has served well, but is suffering from the camera focus issue and it's as good an excuse as any for a new phone.

I had decided on a 6T and was waiting for a good deal, now the OP7 is imminently releasing, but also there's the other options such as the Xiaomi K20 Pro, Huawei, Pixel 3a, etc etc.

I've found the 6T for £399 new uk stock, which is tempting but i'm not sure whether the extra £100 when Op7 releases is worth paying to be brand new spec, but then the K20 is likely to be much less for specs on par with the OP7 pro.

Realistically i'd like to stick <£500 and i don't really use the phone for anything taxing, but future proofing is generally good since i tend to keep phones for a long time. Haven't gone the custom ROM route on the OP3 but have done with all previous phones so i guess stock OS isn't too problematic.

I know i haven't really posed much in the way of questions but do you have any advice/suggestions? Thanks!

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 1 Jun 2019 at 01:06

Providing that Trump does not ban BBK(the company behind OnePlus,Realme,Oppo and Vivo) or Xiaomi,have you considered the Xiaomi Mi8 or Mi8 PRO for under £300??

joffy · 1 Jun 2019 at 07:04

I'm in the exact same boat. Been very happy with my 3t and been waiting for the standard OP7.
People go on about the camera spec in phones so much these days, but I want a phone that can take photos, not a camera that's also a phone and not a mini tablet that you can't slip easily into a jeans pocket.

Looking into the Xiaomi's the thing that puts me off is their os is full of ads, which can disabled, but apparently ones in default apps can't? But guess there's always an alternative app for everything. It's enough being spied on by Google without adding another evil empire!

More info; https://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-miui-ads-hamper-user-experience/

Galaxy S10e looks good, except the small battery. Another is Zenfone 6.

edscdk · 1 Jun 2019 at 07:24

I went from a s8 plus to a Samsung a70 great phone

joffy · 1 Jun 2019 at 07:33

edscdk said:
I went from a s8 plus to a Samsung a70 great phone

Yeah does look great, just too big for me.

AndyCr15 · 1 Jun 2019 at 07:36

I think a lot of people said the OnePlus 6 was almost the same phone as the 6T... so you could go that route and save a little more £££

I wonder going from OnePlus to a Xiaomi would be a bit jarring software wise?

Temujin · 1 Jun 2019 at 08:52

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
Providing that Trump does not ban BBK(the company behind OnePlus,Realme,Oppo and Vivo) or Xiaomi,have you considered the Xiaomi Mi8 or Mi8 PRO for under £300??

I'm UK based, would Trump's actions really affect us, or am i ignorant of something? I think i did look at the Mi8 a while ago, but since the K20 is the mi9 would it be better to go for the newest incarnation?

joffy said:
Galaxy S10e looks good, except the small battery. Another is Zenfone 6.

I had seen on some of the threads on readit that it was only some parts of the world that got the ads, and apparently EU wasn't one of them. I think there's a pretty big mod community for them too since MIUI isn't that well received so the option of a customROM is likely the best route
S10e was something i was looking at, can get the global version for just < £500. When i had a galaxy long ago the OS wasn't great though i'd assume it has improved!

AndyCr15 said:
I think a lot of people said the OnePlus 6 was almost the same phone as the 6T... so you could go that route and save a little more £££

I wonder going from OnePlus to a Xiaomi would be a bit jarring software wise?

Yeah, that's an option i suppose, then i get to retain a headphone jack too! I suppose specs have gotten that good that a yearish old phone really isn't old hat. I think you're correct on the move from Oxygen to MIUI though.

-- I'd assume not, but if you bought a global ROM phone would the company honour warranties as though it was a UK handset? In the case of OP, Xiaomi etc.

LEK-89 · 1 Jun 2019 at 09:09

I was in a similar boat as well, and this was when I was looking to move from a OP5T earlier on in the year. In hindsight I've tried a variety of handsets from Xiaomi, Honor & now OnePlus.

Xiaomi's hardware, you really cannot go wrong at all - very well built phones. They do cheap out on certain components but generally they do serve the purpose and do a good job. The one main gripe as mentioned is their OS, MIUI. It has come a long way in the last year or so but in my opinion it still isn't a patch on the likes of OnePlus's OxygenOS, the trouble with MIUI and this also applies to Xiaomi phones in general with the way they are designed is that both platforms were created to look and feel just like Apple phones. This is why I struggle to stick to these phones and because of the look & bugs that follow within the OS as a result, the fact of having to app draw on their OS as well is a big let down for me (but can be sorted by installing the likes of Nova Launcher, but this really shouldn't be the case every time). I like to think though that hopefully soon if MIUI is drastically revamped and heads in the same direction to feel like stock Android - then we are onto a true winner... Xiaomi just really need to start listening to their customers more.

Honor is practically the same in terms of feel and build quality to Xiaomi, I really have no complaints with their phones at all. I've not long sold on my Honor View 10 which has been my daily on / off the past four or so months and it's been a cracking device - even though the model itself is now knocking on 18 months old. Honor's EMUI OS is simply way ahead of Xiaomi's EMUI in terms of the feel, performance and general usability. It was definitely designed in mind to look and feel just like how an Android OS should be but with their extra implementations. My only complaints with the OS is at times the tricky parts of the menu to navigate such as certain settings which appear to be scattered. Also Honor's own implementation of auto brightness which sadly cannot be controlled in any way shape or form - by this depending on what you are viewing on the phone, the brightness will slowly adjust to suit what is being displayed - this is regardless of any brightness settings being turned on / off. However, in time I've got used to it and it does generally help out in the battery life department.

I'm now back with OnePlus and using the OP6 currently, for me their phones are the best all round Android devices - excellent build quality, flagship components and OxygenOS is the icing on the cake with it being so close to stock Android and if anything, possibly better than stock Android with how much work has been put into it. I did consider the 6T but not really a fan on the teardrop notch, not really a fan of these new tall 19.5:9 aspect ratio phones and not really a big improvement over the standard 6 to be honest. You can now get the standard 6 for £399 new if you look around, and no doubt price will slowly fall again shortly with the release of the OP7 variants.

Liam.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 1 Jun 2019 at 09:26

akaFonzie said:
I'm UK based, would Trump's actions really affect us, or am i ignorant of something? I think i did look at the Mi8 a while ago, but since the K20 is the mi9 would it be better to go for the newest incarnation?

Yes his actions does affect us - look at the 100s of millions of people worldwide affected by the Huawei ban who is the second biggest smartphone seller. In 6 months if the ban is not rescinded everyone in the world using Huawei phones won't get any non open source Android software updates,have any access to the Play store or replacement parts.The general order he put into law covers dealings of any Chinese and US firm,or foreign firms which use US tech.

He does not give a damn. If China does not back down or Huawei fails in court he can push an executive order to ban the other companies if he feels China is not doing what he wants. Remember Chinese companies outside Lenovo/Motorola have very little share in the US so it really has little impact over there.

I keep phones for at least 3 years if I can so want a new one as my old one is from 2016,and I was considering a Mi 8 but dunno now if say next year he decides Xiaomi is bad. So would need to root the device and run an open source distro but not all applications I want to run support rooted phones.

I even asked on here for non-Chinese alternatives under £300 and nobody has a clue apparently even with LG phones.Shows how much of this market is Chinese.

BTW,Honor is also Huawei.

Temujin · 1 Jun 2019 at 11:28

LEK-89 said:
like to think though that hopefully soon if MIUI is drastically revamped and heads in the same direction to feel like stock Android - then we are onto a true winner... Xiaomi just really need to start listening to their customers more.

I'm now back with OnePlus and using the OP6 currently, for me their phones are the best all round Android devices - excellent build quality, flagship components and OxygenOS is the icing on the cake with it being so close to stock Android and if anything, possibly better than stock Android with how much work has been put into it. I did consider the 6T but not really a fan on the teardrop notch, not really a fan of these new tall 19.5:9 aspect ratio phones and not really a big improvement over the standard 6 to be honest. You can now get the standard 6 for £399 new if you look around, and no doubt price will slowly fall again shortly with the release of the OP7 variants.

I wonder if Chinese consumers prefer the look of IOS and they are actually listening to their largest demographic? I base this on no evidence however, so i could be talking out of my bum, just seems possible!

As i said in OP the 6t is obtainable at 399 new now hence my predicament. The notch doesn't really bother me so much, but again i base this on not having one currently. I'll have a look at the 6 and see if it's obtainable cheaper!

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
Yes his actions does affect us - look at the 100s of millions of people worldwide affected by the Huawei ban who is the second biggest smartphone seller. In 6 months if the ban is not rescinded everyone in the world using Huawei phones won't get any non open source Android software updates,have any access to the Play store or replacement parts.The general order he put into law covers dealings of any Chinese and US firm,or foreign firms which use US tech.

Hmm, yes it looks quite the debacle. Since pretty much all smartphones originate from, or at least use a lot of components that do, China i don't think it's going to be something that can be pushed on all manufacturers. That's why i've discounted any Huawei options but if i were to extend that to all others that originate in China i don't think i'd be using a smart phone any longer!

Temujin · 22 Jun 2019 at 11:11

Still not really any closer to deciding, i'm sure you were all waiting for this update! I was about to pull the trigger on the great s10e deal (£29 up front, £25 a month and £65 cashback) but then it went up to £49 up front and £31 a month which is still good but an additional £164 across the term is too much imo.

Still hovering around the OP7 but after holding the s10e i want a smaller handset, even if the specs aren't quite as good as the 7.