Best new Android phone? (not Samsung!)

Haggisman

Haggisman

Haggisman

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As title, my GF is looking for an upgrade in a few weeks, wanting to stick with Android, but avoiding Samsung due to bad experiences in the past.

What are the best flagship phones available at the moment (or happy to wait another few weeks if there's anything imminent?) I currently have a Huawei P20 pro, which is great, but the last I heard, their new devices don't support Google play apps, which is a bit of a killer really, otherwise a P30 pro would be perfect!

Otherwise, what am I looking at in terms of LG/Sony/Pixel? I heard the Pixel 4 doesn't have that great battery life? (one of the best features of my P20 pro is the battery which lasts for days!)
 
As far as I'm aware, the P30 Pro is not going to lose google services, it's only the more recent Huawei devices that are affected.

Otherwise, check out the Oneplus 7T or 7T Pro. If your girlfriend likes them (they aren't small phones but neither is the P30 Pro), wait for the release of the Oneplus 8 series in a couple of months.
 
wesley said:
you do get google app on p30 pro as it was released just before the ban
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Awesome, that's good news then :)

mulpsmebeauty said:
As far as I'm aware, the P30 Pro is not going to lose google services, it's only the more recent Huawei devices that are affected.

Otherwise, check out the Oneplus 7T or 7T Pro. If your girlfriend likes them (they aren't small phones but neither is the P30 Pro), wait for the release of the Oneplus 8 series in a couple of months.
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I'll get her to check out the Oneplus handsets, thanks for the suggestions :)
 
Haggisman said:
I'll get her to check out the Oneplus handsets, thanks for the suggestions :)
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It just occurred to me to mention that OnePlus aren't offered by many of the main carriers (Three and EE so far, depending on the phone model). This means that if you want to buy on contract, the price is NOT competitive and you get stiffed, given that the sim-free price of the phones isn't as high as other flagships.

Unless OnePlus get their phones out to more of the main carriers when the 8-series comes out, the contract deals will likely be very much overpriced owing to the lack of competition, which means sim-free is the best way to buy. And I know that not everyone has a few hundred quick knocking about for a new handset.
 
If she like battery life, the moto g8 power looks to be as much of a beast as the G7 regarding battery life. My middle daughter has the G7 power, never charges her phone but this one gets her 2 days of pretty heavy use as she loves to use drawing apps. It's well enough supported to have loads of cases and accessories as well as tempered glass. £130 and to me the only thing it lacks is wireless charging, does have fast charge via USB-C.
Another option I went with for my eldest daughter was the Xiaomi Note 8, big screen, reasonable battery and plenty of storage and funky colours, comes with a clear case too. Tempered glass and covers are common too.
 
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hornetstinger said:
Does she actually need a flagship phone?
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How come when someone on the Hi-Fi subforum creates a post asking for advice on which £150 soundbar would suit them best, you pop up telling them about how you wouldn't get out of bed for anything less than a pair of £3000 subwoofers, yet here when someone wants a flagship phone, you want to know why they don't just buy a cheap one?
 
hornetstinger said:
Does she actually need a flagship phone?
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Probably not, in the same way no one actually needs a 55" TV or a BMW, but she currently has an S8, so a budget phone would likely be a downgrade. Besides, it's her money to spend as she wants (and she'd probably slap me for telling her to get a cheap one ;))

mulpsmebeauty said:
It just occurred to me to mention that OnePlus aren't offered by many of the main carriers (Three and EE so far, depending on the phone model). This means that if you want to buy on contract, the price is NOT competitive and you get stiffed, given that the sim-free price of the phones isn't as high as other flagships.

Unless OnePlus get their phones out to more of the main carriers when the 8-series comes out, the contract deals will likely be very much overpriced owing to the lack of competition, which means sim-free is the best way to buy. And I know that not everyone has a few hundred quick knocking about for a new handset.
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Yeah, I noticed that Vodafone (who we're currently with) doesn't have them, which is a bit of a pain :/
 
brendy said:
To be fair to these models, they surprised me by how capable they are, I compared opening speeds etc with my galaxy note 9, there were no appreciable differences.
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Yep, I'm not knocking cheaper models at all, and most flagships are silly money, but there is a difference between top models and lower models for those willing or happy to pay the difference. The laws of diminishing returns definitely apply.
 
mulpsmebeauty said:
How come when someone on the Hi-Fi subforum creates a post asking for advice on which £150 soundbar would suit them best, you pop up telling them about how you wouldn't get out of bed for anything less than a pair of £3000 subwoofers, yet here when someone wants a flagship phone, you want to know why they don't just buy a cheap one?
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Not the same thing at all. Flagship phones are what £1000, a cheap one £200 ish. If op wife using it for fartbook, does she need 512gb storage, 128gb ram, octo core 4ghz, high end GPU, 100 megapixel quad camera, more computing power than seti?

1) a phone is a personal carryable item, screen can be smashed and phone damaged. Dropped into a puddle. You will never drop your £3000 subwoofer into a puddle. And as such common sense is to be used, depending on income. I've dropped phone twice breaking the glass screen protector.

2) phones go out of date, subwoofers do not. A £3000 sub will be a fantastic sub in ten years. In ten years a £1000 phone will no longer get os or security updates, new apps no longer work and be worth nothing.

3) unless have a need for ultra high end phone, a good but cheaper (and not bargain basement) will be plenty for most people. Even for me my £150 is octo core never experienced slowdown.

4) a £150 soundbar is very much like the bargain basement touchscreen £60 Alcatel phones. Crap at time of purchase Slow, low memory. A Moto g much like bk xls400.

5) comparing to audio isn't fair analogy. If wife wants a pc for word processing and wants to quad GPU, water-cooling, sixteen core overclocked, 10x4tb SSD and 4tb nvme ssd isn't a bit stupid to say "yeah go for it"
 
Problem is, if you want the best camera & screen, they tend to only be on the high end models, even if you don't need all the processing power/Ram etc.
 
Camera yes as she takes a lot of pictures with it, screen is debatable, but she isn't going to be happy with a massive drop in quality from what she currently has!

Besides, as I posted before, no one actually "needs" any of these things, who needs a 4k screen when 720p exists? Who needs a Ferrari when a Nissan Micra will do the same job? Who needs a £3,000 subwoofer when you can make do with the built in speaker in your TV?

The G8 Power does actually look pretty good spec wise, but GSM arena suggests it isn't out yet?
 
Haggisman said:
Camera yes as she takes a lot of pictures with it, screen is debatable, but she isn't going to be happy with a massive drop in quality from what she currently has!

Besides, as I posted before, no one actually "needs" any of these things, who needs a 4k screen when 720p exists? Who needs a Ferrari when a Nissan Micra will do the same job? Who needs a £3,000 subwoofer when you can make do with the built in speaker in your TV?

The G8 Power does actually look pretty good spec wise, but GSM arena suggests it isn't out yet?
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Apologies, I bought her the G7 power but had recently been reading up on the new g8 power and brainfarted (edited my post now), the G7 power is a very good handset too but the new g8 power looks to blow the G7 out of the water with its newer cameras and cpu.
 
Of you so not want to spend too much then how about a xiaomi mi 10/pro? Just been announced Global version should be released in the next coming weeks.

Or Oneplus 8/Pro they should be announced /released in the next month or so. Its what I'm waiting for. (Pro version)
 
P30 Pro or Honor 20 Pro would be ideal or as previously member has mentioned the Xiaomi MI 10 series.

Also consider the Realme X2 Pro which is a rebadged OP7T
 
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