Cheap andriod phone for music playback

malachi · 19 Oct 2017 at 21:11

My Moto E 2nd gen which I use at the gym for playing music has giving up on me and is running too slow even for basic playback now. I decided to replace it with another cheap android phone, the Cubot Magic 5. Perfect for the gym so I can watch videos now while on the treadmill only problem is the volume is too low compared to my Moto E when using my earphones so I might have to return it. Now Im looking for cheap alternative for media playback with good volume. I only need some requirements.

Must be around the £100 mark, less than £100 would be better. Any brand will do, Chinese or not.
No less than 2GB Ram.
Able to take SD cards.
No less than Android version 6.

Any suggestions? Thanks

hornetstinger · 19 Oct 2017 at 21:14

I would recommend one with stereo speakers, I think one of the Moto G's had stereo speakers

malachi · 19 Oct 2017 at 21:19

I was looking at the Moto Gs but the recent models are way above the £100 mark.

Sp00n · 20 Oct 2017 at 09:11

hornetstinger said:
I would recommend one with stereo speakers

Why? I hope OP doesn't listen to music in the gym on speakers.

C.R.A.Z.Y · 20 Oct 2017 at 09:24

Yeah sod the speakers, one with a half decent DAC is far more important imho.

malachi · 20 Oct 2017 at 09:50

Nope, I only listen to my music with earphones.

paradigm · 20 Oct 2017 at 11:15

I'd check that there isn't some daft volume limit that can't be removed/raised by rooting first.

Casterina · 20 Oct 2017 at 11:28

Root the Cubot Magic 5 and install Arise Sound System with Dolby Atmos, that should be loud enough even with 2-3 volume step.

FishLicker · 20 Oct 2017 at 11:31

Try and get an HTC M8 or M9 second hand.

I still think my M8 (which I use as an 'iPod' and spare phone) has great sound quality.

Orcvader · 20 Oct 2017 at 13:45

Slightly off topic, but wasn't Cubot caught with having preinstalled malware?

malachi · 20 Oct 2017 at 18:36

paradigm said:
I'd check that there isn't some daft volume limit that can't be removed/raised by rooting first.

Casterina said:
Root the Cubot Magic 5 and install Arise Sound System with Dolby Atmos, that should be loud enough even with 2-3 volume step.

Tried rooting but I cant get the flash tool to download anything. Followed the instructions but given up on trying to troubleshoot

FishLicker said:
Try and get an HTC M8 or M9 second hand.

I still think my M8 (which I use as an 'iPod' and spare phone) has great sound quality.

Thanks, looked at this but finding a decent nick condition for less than £100 is proving to be difficult

Orcvader said:
Slightly off topic, but wasn't Cubot caught with having preinstalled malware?

Yeah but this model is malware free apparently.

subbass · 20 Oct 2017 at 19:30

Do you need to it support SD cards larger 32GB?

The problem with the cheap phones is majority of them do not support cards higher than 32GB. I was looking for phones around that price mark with no less than 2GB of ram not so long ago. The best I could find for brand new is a Moto G4 Play and Xiaomi Redmi 4x (both support higher than 32GB). I ruled out the majority of the no name Chinese phones except the Xiaomi as it's more known and more importantly has better community support etc (ROMs etc).
G4 Play is about £130 though. The Redmi 4x price range varies wildly due to the different versions. I bought the Global version which cost me about £105 and delivery took about 8 or 9 days. If you are strictly using it as a music player and not a phone then you can get a different version (which probably doesn't support band 20) for much less.

Having said that, the volume is quite low on 4x but can be adjusted by modifying a file if you have root. I don't think you can get a better phone than 4x for that price.

I'd mention also that unlocking the bootloader is bit of pain in the butt due to the process (you have to create xiaomi account and wait for a unlock code..if you manage to) and not technical difficulty

malachi · 20 Oct 2017 at 23:20

Thanks, i have a 32gb sd card in there already as it's spare so i don't plan to replace it.

SexyGreyFox · 20 Oct 2017 at 23:30

Get a second hand Note 3 and put Poweramp on it and then it will go as loud as you want.