Upgrade - help me decide

chris.tarry85 · 10 Feb 2021 at 07:29

It's upgrade season and I'm not sure what to do, currently have an S10 which I am happy with, but debating upgrading to either an S21, Pixel 5 or maybe even and iPhone 12 (always been Android so far).

The Pixel is about £10 a month cheaper than the other two, I don't use the phone for anything too intensive, good photography is a must though.

What do you think?

Slackworth · 10 Feb 2021 at 13:49

I'm in exactly the same situation as you. I was eagerly awaiting the S21 but left feeling a bit disappointed. The S21/S21+ I actually feel is somewhat of a downgrade and the Ultra is going to increase my monthly cost by over 30% and I'm not overly sure other than the camera what I'm gaining hugely as my S10+ has been updated with the Android 11 update. I'm not that bothered about the S Pen, only use the camera for general snapping (I can barely tell you what all the other functions do

) and battery life of the S10+ is enough for me to get a full day out of it.

Debated iPhone 12 Pro Max but against the S21 Ultra has the same price issue and isn't as good - Pixel feels like a downgrade in comparison as well although has the raw Android experience without the bloat.

I'm currently hanging fire and have just kept my S10+ on a cheap SIM only deal for now which is out of contract so can jump at any point. Debating the Sony Xperia 1 III when that comes out or maybe might splash out on the Galaxy Fold III when it comes as read on here it will have AMD GPU in it. To me none of what's on the market as things stand overly offers enough of an upgrade for what I use it for so blowing over £1K is crazy until I find "the one". I appreciate new devices are all realistically going to be over this price but for me they need to do more before I part with the dosh!

Adam Tench · 10 Feb 2021 at 14:25

Is the Xiaomi Mi11 available in the UK? Some phone that is!

DataVampire · 10 Feb 2021 at 16:14

Slackworth said:
I'm in exactly the same situation as you. I was eagerly awaiting the S21 but left feeling a bit disappointed. The S21/S21+ I actually feel is somewhat of a downgrade and the Ultra is going to increase my monthly cost by over 30% and I'm not overly sure other than the camera what I'm gaining hugely as my S10+ has been updated with the Android 11 update. I'm not that bothered about the S Pen, only use the camera for general snapping (I can barely tell you what all the other functions do ) and battery life of the S10+ is enough for me to get a full day out of it.

Debated iPhone 12 Pro Max but against the S21 Ultra has the same price issue and isn't as good - Pixel feels like a downgrade in comparison as well although has the raw Android experience without the bloat.

I'm currently hanging fire and have just kept my S10+ on a cheap SIM only deal for now which is out of contract so can jump at any point. Debating the Sony Xperia 1 III when that comes out or maybe might splash out on the Galaxy Fold III when it comes as read on here it will have AMD GPU in it. To me none of what's on the market as things stand overly offers enough of an upgrade for what I use it for so blowing over £1K is crazy until I find "the one". I appreciate new devices are all realistically going to be over this price but for me they need to do more before I part with the dosh!

Not picking holes in your post or anything but yous ay no to s21 ultra and iPhone 12 max because it increases your contract by up to 30%, Then the next line you're saying your thinking about the fold 3, in all honestly it doesn't seem like a money issue at all, its actually pulling the plug on an expensive device it seems. The way I see it you're after a flagship phone but like everyone else, you don't like paying the flagship price. It's a hurdle you will need to get over unless you wait 6 months or so for them to decrease in price. which by then the new ones are not long coming.

Slackworth · 10 Feb 2021 at 16:46

I actually don't have an issue increasing my contract price by 30% if I feel the device does something different to what it does now for the use I have and actually I have no problem pulling the plug on an expensive device - when I brought the S10+, it was the 512GB Ceramic which was £1100 at the time as I pre-ordered from day 1. Coming from my S8, it was a big jump in terms of screen, chassis materials, camera (although like I said in previous post not a game changer for me), fingerprint reader in screen etc. For the money it cost, I felt I was getting something for it. The S21+ screen isn't actually as good as the S10+ nevermind the S20!!!

Take the rumours on the Fold 3 - it's going to be closer to £1800 - I don't have an issue with this as such because potentially it will be AMD GPU, 3rd generation folding screen and hopefully slightly smaller frame than the existing Fold 2. Actually had the Fold 2 only just been released then I might be tempted but now I'd rather wait for the 3 later in the year at this point.

For me however, the S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max (as much as I like the new blue colour they've released

) doesn't feel enough of a jump to warrant £1.2K of a 256GB device I'd be after.

To look at it another way, it's like buying a Ferrari and then saying, you can have this new one which gets 0-60 in 0.2s more than your current one and it will go 5mph faster but it will cost you £20k more. At this point I walk out....However, next one comes along - this will go 30mph faster but it's £30k more - actually I'm interested....maybe not the best example but you get the idea.

biron_w · 11 Feb 2021 at 09:17

chris.tarry85 said:
It's upgrade season and I'm not sure what to do, currently have an S10 which I am happy with, but debating upgrading to either an S21, Pixel 5 or maybe even and iPhone 12 (always been Android so far).

The Pixel is about £10 a month cheaper than the other two, I don't use the phone for anything too intensive, good photography is a must though.

What do you think?

If it's mainly for photos then the Pixel is the way to go.