Thinking of downgrading

willhub

willhub

willhub

Caporegime
Joined
3 Jan 2006
Posts
25,188
Location
Chadderton, Oldham
Hello,

I currently have a Galaxy S10+ in contract until next April.

I'm thinking either paying an amount of or just putting the different in savings, I can't see it working out in a negative way.

So I feel I could sell my S10+ for over £500 and look at phones in the £250 bracket and pocket the additional amount from my S10+, the differences between phones seems very subtle compared to where value goes up.

I like to take photos now and again generally just browse on my phone reddit and FB, I don't do anything that requires anything bar a smooth experience with tasks.

Any suggestions, or any comments that may look at this from a logical perspective explaining why this may be a bad move?


Thanks
 
I used to be on the latest and greatest band wagon for a number of years each time I re-newed my contract. However, about 3 years ago I realised that I was getting to about 18months into the contract and I would damage phone / crack the screen... leading to me using a backup phone such as one from a previous contract. I also felt that the monthly amount was spiralling upwards unnecessarily.

When doing that, I realised that in general, for my uses of actually calling numbers, basic messages, browsing and basic photos ... the old phone often worked perfectly well enough. Well enough that found myself asking why I bothered with the latest and greatest each time.

Net result was that I've ditched the contract phone and bought a Nokia 7 Plus outright ( £279 at the time ) and now on a simple 4Gb/mth contract with unlimited calls/texts. After at least a year now, I've found that:

- The phone still is fast and responsive
- The battery life easily goes past a day ( I charge each night, but can last nearly 2 )
- The camera has taken some brilliant shots.
- Its taken a beating and lasted really well ( touch wood! ).
- I feel like I've saved a fortune and not missed out.

So yeah ... the cheaper phones do do a decent job.
 
I was the same, after returning P30 Pro and Xperia 1 I also realised I don't like big phones anymore. Got S10e and very happy with it, apart from the awful Exynos LTE battery drain.
 
If you're selling so early into a contract you've already taken a big hit on the cost of the phone (which is rolled up in your monthly payments), so it would be a shame to swap it for a 250 quid phone unless you really need the money.

Keep it and go sim only when your contract is over.
 
I stopped this ridiculous monthly crap 4 years ago. I buy a new phone every 14 months or so. Axon 7 first (£280, then a Pocophone F1 for £240 and now a Mi9t pro for £305. All been brilliant phones and probably still have the Pocophone if I hadn't got some extra money lying around willy nilly and got Mi9t pro
 
I dont get SIM and handset contracts anymore either,

I have a Sim only contract, and usually by the phone outright with either a 0% credit card or a 0% paypal credit deal via klarna or paypal etc so i can spread the cost, usually save a huge amount.

Plus you can swap phones when you want and crucially for me, You can sell your phone when it's still worth a fair bit.

In terms of models, depends how low you want to go, My wife has an Honor Play, for the money its an unbeliveable phone. Xiaomi are good at the low end too.

Then you have the oneplus option, I mean, not as cheap as they were but still at a minimum 40% less than iphones or samsungs are now.

S10 Lite might be an option when released
 
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The Oppo A9 or the Huawei P30 lite are two crazy low priced phones with mental specs on them. The camera on both phones alone (Huawei are known for the pro level cameras and Oppo is an off shoot of Huawei) make them great value for money devices.
 
I'm another one who has a sim only contract and buys a £200 to £300 phone every few years. They do everything the top end phone does but with added freedom from debt thrown in.
 
What's the popular £200 to £300 phone these days? I'm thinking to replace my Lenovo P2 with either the Moto G8 Plus or Moto One Vision. Any thoughts on these two?
 
clv101 said:
What's the popular £200 to £300 phone these days? I'm thinking to replace my Lenovo P2 with either the Moto G8 Plus or Moto One Vision. Any thoughts on these two?
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The Samsung A50 is well within budget. Or A70 is slightly above budget.

Another option if you like a huge battery is the Samung M30s (make sure it's the s version). It has a 6000mah battery. But I have heard that, because it's a phone targetterd for the Indian market it might not get updates here. It's available on Amazon. Again make sure you get it from Amazon if you do buy it because not all models have NFC but that version does appear to.
 
I've been on SIM only rolling month contract for as long as I can remember - maybe 10 years or more. I used to buy a handset for around £300 and keep for at least 2 years.

Since Pixel came out I started to upgrade every year to the latest until last year as Pixel 4 is utter gash. I went with OnePlus 7T last year and it's highly likely that I'll skip an upgrade this year as I've realised 2 things.
  1. The upgrade from model to model is so minimal that I actually think Pixel 2 was better than 3, and definitely better than 4.
  2. Flagship models offer very little over mid range models, and in actual fact this current mid range model is better than the 3 flagships I've had prior.
@willhub I think you're doing what a lot are now doing - realising that function over fashion is the way to go with phones. When you can pay £500 for pretty much the same daily functionality of a handset costing £1,200 then you've got to start asking yourself some questions. :)
 
I was on sim only for a while, but an s10e contract came up where i am essentially paying about £18 a month for 50gb data and unlimited other bits for 24 months so if you look at the contract being around £10 a month i got the phone for about £190 or so.

Whilst i would still recommend people to go sim only and buy a phone, if you get it at the right time sometimes contracts including cashback and other crap are cheaper in the long run, you are locked in for the length though obvs.
 
I think the gap between £200 phones and flagship models is getting smaller and smaller and the features exclusive to flagships don't justify the premium.

I had a £140 wileyfox for 2 years that I replaced with a £200 Moto G7 Plus in November. The missus is looking to replace her phone soon and it'll likely be a Moto G8 Plus for the same price.

£2-300 is the current sweet spot for me, spending north of £500 is not a price bracket that I have any need or interest in.

If a phone was my sole device for banking, media consumption and everything besides I could see a case for a flagship phone, and even more so for the Apple ecosytem for the ludicrous ease of replacement - but I have multiple computers at home and work, so being without a phone for a couple of days would be a pain, but not a life halting inconvenience.
 
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