Best Android camera phone?

broona · 27 Mar 2023 at 03:37

I'm going to push the boat out and buy a new phone with a really good camera, preferably something with decent support and a long upgrade path too.

I'd like at least 256gb of storage, 6.5"+ screen (preferably flat, but not essential), and a fast processor.

I've been looking at the Honour Magic4 Pro, Pixel 7 Pro, OnePlus 11, Oppo Find X5 Pro, Xiaomi 12t Pro, possibly Samsung S23+, etc, any opinions or alternatives please? Thanks.

lmfy2k · 27 Mar 2023 at 04:57

S23 Ultra.

broona · 27 Mar 2023 at 06:27

lmfy2k said:
S23 Ultra.

I'd prefer to stay below £1000, I think most of the phones I've listed are between £600 and £800, although I appreciate that the Ultra is probably another step up from them all.

biron_w · 27 Mar 2023 at 09:56

Pixel 7 Pro is probably the best value for money.
I currently have an OPPO Find X5 Pro and it's excellent.

Pawnless Endgame · 27 Mar 2023 at 16:30

broona said:
I'd prefer to stay below £1000, I think most of the phones I've listed are between £600 and £800, although I appreciate that the Ultra is probably another step up from them all.

What are you upgrading from? That will influence some of the answers you'll get here. I went from the S20 Ultra to an S23 Ultra. While it was only an incremental upgrade in some ways, the camera is a definite upgrade for me.

Depending on where you work, you can get a 15%-20% staff discount. Ambulance, NHS, teachers, ScotRail etc. Stack that with handset trade-in and that brought my £1400 S23 Ultra 512GB model down to less than £1000.

broona · 27 Mar 2023 at 17:44

Pawnless Endgame said:
What are you upgrading from? That will influence some of the answers you'll get here. I went from the S20 Ultra to an S23 Ultra. While it was only an incremental upgrade in some ways, the camera is a definite upgrade for me.

Depending on where you work, you can get a 15%-20% staff discount. Ambulance, NHS, teachers, ScotRail etc. Stack that with handset trade-in and that brought my £1400 S23 Ultra 512GB model down to less than £1000.

I'm upgrading from a Poco X3 Pro, so most phones will be an upgrade in the camera department...

No work discount for me unfortunately, but I might be able to ask someone nicely, thanks for the reply.

iron_monkey · 27 Mar 2023 at 17:49

Really happy with my pixel 7 pro, the camera is amazing especially the macro and in low light plus it has a great zoom. I did get a great deal with the pre order and got a free watch which i sold for £200. But even at full price i would be happy with it. Im sure the £1000+ phones have slightly better cameras but i'd never pay that sort of price.

Personality+ · 27 Mar 2023 at 17:51

S21 Ultra 512GB model. 16GB Ram as a plan b option inferior front cameras to a few mentioned but the rear one would still compete with a few of them.

But save yourself a decent amount of cash.

grudas · 28 Mar 2023 at 11:03

Pixel 7 no questions. It’s just easy and returns best results.

kona786 · 28 Mar 2023 at 12:56

grudas said:
Pixel 7 no questions. It’s just easy and returns best results.

Yup. Can't agree more. I wouldn't even entertain anything else.

SexyGreyFox · 28 Mar 2023 at 14:07

After decades I now have the camera I want on an S21 Ultra.
Got to admit the quality on my mates Pixel 7 was a tiny bit better.

broona · 13 Apr 2023 at 16:47

I think I'm going to push the boat out and order the Honor Magic5 Pro next week, should be a decent upgrade.

kona786 · 13 Apr 2023 at 17:20

broona said:
I think I'm going to push the boat out and order the Honor Magic5 Pro next week, should be a decent upgrade.

For that money... Brave.

broona · 13 Apr 2023 at 17:41

kona786 said:
For that money... Brave.

£849 for the 12gb/512gb model compared to just about the same price for the 12gb/256gb Pixel 7 Pro, doesn't seem ridiculous, unless I'm missing something obvious?

grudas · 13 Apr 2023 at 18:59

Software over hardware imo. And software is where these companies lack. If you want to take a chance on Honor go for it.

Personality+ · 13 Apr 2023 at 19:07

broona said:
£849 for the 12gb/512gb model compared to just about the same price for the 12gb/256gb Pixel 7 Pro, doesn't seem ridiculous, unless I'm missing something obvious?

If you actually take a ton of pictures you'll need that storage space.

On my S21 ultra I've used nearly 440GB of my 512... mostly on Spotify and video recordings but it just opens up the phone to be used as intended for whatever purpose.

kona786 · 13 Apr 2023 at 19:21

grudas said:
Software over hardware imo. And software is where these companies lack. If you want to take a chance on Honor go for it.

This.

Honor are like OPPO and OnePlus etc. After 12 months they forget about the last gen phone for the next new shiny release. Updates become far and few between.

The Magic 5 pro isn't a bad choice at all. You just trust Honor more than I do.

broona · 13 Apr 2023 at 21:25

Fair point about the software, I was just concentrating on the hardware.

It would appear that Honor have promised that the Honor Magic 5 Pro will be the first of their phones to receive three major OS updates and five years of security patches, so hopefully that's a step forward.

For the price, it just appears to tick the most boxes, many thanks for the replies.

kona786 · 13 Apr 2023 at 21:35

Another thing to note about software updates is are the security patches monthly. Some OEMs do all sorts... Bi monthly... Quarterly etc. And are OS updates and fixes prompt.

At the end of the day all these top end phone are good, you have the returns period to make your mind up.

broona · 13 Apr 2023 at 21:52

kona786 said:
Another thing to note about software updates is are the security patches monthly. Some OEMs do all sorts... Bi monthly... Quarterly etc. And are OS updates and fixes prompt.

At the end of the day all these top end phone are good, you have the returns period to make your mind up.

Looks to be monthly, but only for their 2 newest phones, including the 5 Pro, not sure about the OS updates - https://www.hihonor.com/uk/support/bulletin/