It should not be this hard to buy a phone in 2021

[danlightbulb]

This is crazy.

I just want a good quality, mid to high end phone that will last a few years.

I dont want a premium top of the range monster. But i want a decent camera that takes good low light shots. I want decent non bloated software. I want good battery life for when Im out walking for full days on the mountains.

95% of phones are just far too big. Why would people want phones this big. They are idiots.

The 5% normal person sized phones that are left are not 'mid to high end' and have too many flaws, either cameras battery life or software.

So it basically leaves the iphone 12 or the pixel 5. Both soon to be replaced with larger models no doubt.

The iphone 12 is expensive and I prefer the cheaper build of the pixel 5. But the cameras are better on the 12 and its a more powerful hardware where the 5 has been skimped a bit there.

I wont be able to benefit from wireless charging because I always buy a leather style wallet case for my phones and I don't have a 5G tariff either.

Why cant they just make a good quality mid to high end phone that isn't the size of my shoes???

 

[danlightbulb]

Asus ZenFone 8.

Mainly I cant find it for sale easily (at least not from the more reputable places).

But reviews also don't rate the cameras for night shots nor the battery life.

 

[danlightbulb]

I would rather spend around £500 hence my desire for something mid to high end not ultra premium.

The IPhone 12 for example is £740 on the rainforest. That is (in my view) an ultra premium phone. So I would expect what Im looking for to be a couple hundred cheaper than this.

I feel the Pixel 5 is a little overpriced when compared to the IPhone 12 considering a) its EOL, b) its a middling spec.

I do like the sound of the Asus Zenfone 8 actually, but a little concerned over battery life and the phone is still nearly £600 which is not that far below the IPhone 12. But I also can't find it for sale.

 

[danlightbulb]

Ive had Samsungs a lot over the years and its the bloat that I dont like about them. Reviews suggest that is still an issue on Samsungs.

Might just go for Pixel 4a but Im not sure about the battery and the specs even though reviews have it as decent.

 

[danlightbulb]

You won't get much better than a Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra for around £500.

Far too big.

'Bloat' is overrated as an issue in my opinion. Sure enough I don't like a device preloaded with multiple stores, Facebook, Netflix etc, but you can disable most/all of those and in reality they aren't taking up more than a fraction of your available storage. But yeah, they're still there on your device.

If you keep your phones for a few years, consider spending the extra for an iPhone 12. You'll recoup some of the extra up front cost if you ever sell it, because they hold their value well, and it'll get day 1 updates for the next five or more years. I have an iPhone 6s and it will receive iOS 15, plus it's still perfectly usable as a phone. Of course Apple are about to implement on-device scanning for naughty things you might have stashed, so if big tech invasion of privacy is an issue for you, stick with Android.

The decent Samsung phones are all a bit big anyway. The IPhone 12 is the absolute biggest I want to go. At the same time, the 12 mini seems too closely priced to the 12 so I may as well go for the 12.

I get what you're saying about the IPhone. Whilst I can spend £750, its really got to be justifiable and the 12 doesn't have a high refresh screen nor the telephoto camera so in my mind it still has compromises at that price.

When there are compromises even on the premium level products then it makes me think sod it I'll just go cheap.

 

[danlightbulb]

Its bigger than I want. Reachability isn't the issue, its putting it in my Jeans pocket and my cycling bag for when Im tracking Strava.

 

[danlightbulb]

Just picked up a Pixel 4a. £279 from CPW with a free Google Nest hub which i probably won't use but which makes the phone about £200 can't complain for that.

 

[danlightbulb]

I think what is disappointing with the experience is that I was willing to pay double what I actually did.

I would have paid more for a better camera, better battery, better performance. Yet it did not appear to exist in a reasonable screen size.

So Ive ended up buying far cheaper, but slightly sacrificing camera versatility and probably battery life.

 

[danlightbulb]

But it did exist - exactly what you wanted existed in the iPhone 12 Mini. It's pocket sized, has decent battery life and has the exact same internals as the iPhone 12, barring a slightly smaller battery. It takes great photos, has zero bloat and will be updated for years. It is still available on Amazon for almost exactly twice what you paid for the Pixel 4a.

Decent battery life isn't good enough if I'm spending £500+ I expect brilliant battery life.

I appreciate the rest of the phone is very good. Switching to IOS from Android would have taken something quite special for me to make that switch and I don't feel the 12 mini was it.

Its a real shame about the Pixel 5 really. I think that could have been perfect if it wasn't gimped slightly on the chip and if it was reduced more due to being EOL, or if another similarly sized phone had been introduced in its place.

 

[danlightbulb]

I don't think 6" is small (oh err missus).

If you walk around with a 6.7" phone I guess you have a man bag or never go out.

We're not talking the older 4.5-5" phones anymore. 6" is quite quite reasonable for a 'portable' phone.

 

[danlightbulb]

TBH there are plenty of phones both new and second hand what compounds the choice is the individual searching for a new or different phone. As in there can be way to many choices which make it a lot more difficult than it needs to be. ie price style/size and features. Sometimes I feel we as consumers expect way too much for the money we are prepared to spend to get the features. In this day and age, we are overwhelmed by choice.

I agree the market is saturated, but for example Google has proved it can make a phone that has all the essential features at a reasonable price. Problem is its now un-doing its own progress.

It really is quite simple:

1. highish end SOC each gen (eg Snapdragon 8xx)
2. 6" screen/device size
3. double camera setup with great software
4. good screen (but all screens are good now)
5. clean OS
6. Biggest battery you can physically get in the device.

There is your £500-£600 phone. I mean, that is *almost* the Pixel 5 except they skimped on the SOC.

Anything above that (very top end chips, bigger sensors/quad cams/lidar, bigger screens, glass covers/stainless steel bezels etc) the price is in the ultra bracket.

Below that you pull back on the SOC slightly (Snapdragon 7xx series), maybe pull back to 1 camera. There is your £300 phone, which is basically what I just bought.

I would say there is room in the middle for a £450 phone too, maybe better camera but last gen SOC.

People buying premium (Iphone 12) will be happy with bigger screens hence why the mini isn't selling. It doesn't mean everyone else doesn't care about essential SOC performance or a good camera system.

 

[danlightbulb]

Thing is, you can't compare the latest phones physical dimensions by looking at screen size. The P10 mentioned above is the same size as a the P30. It's just that more of the phone is screen instead of bezel. A 6.5in screen isn't a big phone.

No need for any significant bezels on any phone these days unless you deliberately want a physical button or keyboard. So 6" is essentially device size vertically. My 4a measures 5.75 x 2.75 inches in its new leather case and the screen fills most of that.

 

[danlightbulb]

This Pixel 4a Ive just bought is the perfect size for me. Its 5.75" long and 2.75" wide in its leather wallet case that I just put it in. The Pixel 5 is similar in size I believe.

So why not make this size 'the' size (give or take 0.25") and just make different specs.

Pixel 4a as it is is good value at £280 which is what I paid.
So next model up should clearly be around £400 and have a better SOC and camera.
Then next model up should be £600 and have nearly top end SOC and camera.
And finally make a model for £900+ or whatever and made it 10" long and out of shiny stainless steel and glass with 10 camera lenses if you want to.

3 models in the normal person price range, solid specs in all but incrementally better cameras and performance, but otherwise basically the same.

 

[danlightbulb]

Don't see why it's crazy, the vast majority prefer bigger phones. It's completely normal for there to be limited choice in a niche market as it wouldn't be profitable to release a bunch of different models that don't sell. These days they tend to have much thinner bezels and a wider aspect ratio, so if you compare them to older phones the difference in actual size isn't as much as it appears.

Do they though, really? Or is it that that is what is available and people need phones so have to buy them? Companies make people think phone X is better than phone Y because it has a 0.1" bigger screen and it's snowballed upwards.

I get what you're saying about size, agree that screens now take up nearly the whole front which is good and efficient. I dont measure screen size, I measure device size and as I said, something bigger than 6" vertically would really struggle to fit into jeans pockets.

 

[danlightbulb]

i dont think the iphone mini/12 is the issue. The 12 standard is a nice size. Its the huge number of phones larger than this that's the issue. It is hard to get a well specced new entrant phone (realme, oneplus etc) in a <6" size. im not talking 5" phones.

 

[danlightbulb]

The Pixel 5 is overpriced at £599 for the hardware it offers, especially compared to the competition. Google cheaped out - they could have included a faster SoC and taken a knock on their profit margins in order to maintain their reputation in what was clearly a stepping stone year to the Pixel 6. Instead, they fitted a slow SoC and actually downclocked it as well.

Had they fitted a faster SoC, I'd have likely bought a Pixel 5 as the phone is otherwise solid. As it was, I bought an iPhone 12.

Absolutely how I analysed it too. The Pixel 4a at £280 and the Pixel 5 at £599 - far too big a price jump given the hardware spec increase. Not sure whether that is because the 4a is underpriced or the 5 is overpriced. I'd have bought a Pixel 5 at £600 if it had faster hardware, or I'd have bought it at £450 in its current spec form.

 

[danlightbulb]

I've had a 4a for about a year.. Can't fault it.
I'm not going to upgrade until the battery is kaput or I break it.

Yeah I've had mine for just over a week now and it's great. it's fast enough, battery lasts well and it takes a nice photo. It's easy to get hung up on the premium features but reality is I don't need them.