Urgent need of new phone. - Smashed mine today. S24U, S23U, Other?

413x

413x

413x

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unfortunately i cant really wait for a deal to come up.

For a phone with the best camera setup, which would you choose?

Im coming from an S21U and i have to say i quite like the samsung pic look.
I know the pixels are popular too

I probably need to order within a week as i only have a really old phone as a backup.
 
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Used s23 ultra might be best bang for the buck, or if you want new there were some 25% off deals and decent trade-ins on the Pixel 9 Pro
 
As far as I remember only hardware change to camera setup between S23U and S24U was the long telephoto lens changing from x10 to x5 (albeit heigher pixel count and lower F stop), everything else just software.

S24U does get the 7 year of software support compared to 5 on S23 which is also a year older, everything else is incremental really.

With S25 line being another update that's incremental at best, toying with the idea of jumping to Pixel 9 Pro for a year myself.

Google are currently giving £200 minimum for some really old phones so check the list and student/work discount sites doing 25% off too.

With Sony XA1 and code, can get Pixel 9 Pro 256GB for £576.25 as an example or there's quite a few tasty deals around with iD mobile and Vodafone at the moment if you don't mind a contract.
 
thanks for the responses,
seeing as i need this urgently, ive gone for a s24u 256gb refurb for 599, looked cheaper than ebay.

was a close tie with the pixel 9 pro, but after looking at some camera comparison vids where one would say the opposite to the other, i thought it much of a muchness which one to get.

I do like the idea of the spen, in wnter i find that touchscreen gloves are rarely good, and spen will help me take pics without having to take off gloves (if it works like i imagine)
 
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neoboy said:
As far as I remember only hardware change to camera setup between S23U and S24U was the long telephoto lens changing from x10 to x5 (albeit heigher pixel count and lower F stop), everything else just software.

S24U does get the 7 year of software support compared to 5 on S23 which is also a year older, everything else is incremental really.

With S25 line being another update that's incremental at best, toying with the idea of jumping to Pixel 9 Pro for a year myself.

Google are currently giving £200 minimum for some really old phones so check the list and student/work discount sites doing 25% off too.

With Sony XA1 and code, can get Pixel 9 Pro 256GB for £576.25 as an example or there's quite a few tasty deals around with iD mobile and Vodafone at the moment if you don't mind a contract.
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google refurbs dont even take broken phones, and all my old phones have heavy damage, as thats usually when i change them!
couldnt see a way to get it down as low as that.
Also, cant do vodafone as they have terrible signal out in rural wales
 
neoboy said:
Yeah S24U sounds a good enough deal for £599 seeing how need the phone pronto.
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yeah couldnt find anything better with warranty.
Ive never had a phone break thats not my fault however.

Should have it tomorrow, need a better case case for this one.

Dropped my phone on mountain in the cold, somehow it got me back home on satnav, with a green line on screen. but when i took it off the charger the screen went black and that was that. Managed to connect to pc via OTG so at least could check pics were still there from the day

seems like even with refurbs im having to spend 100 more per generation, but s21u is 4 years old! its done well.
 
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413x said:
yeah couldnt find anything better with warranty.
Ive never had a phone break thats not my fault however.

Should have it tomorrow, need a better case case for this one.

Dropped my phone on mountain in the cold, somehow it got me back home on satnav, with a green line on screen. but when i took it off the charger the screen went black and that was that. Managed to connect to pc via OTG so at least could check pics were still there from the day

seems like even with refurbs im having to spend 100 more per generation, but s21u is 4 years old! its done well.
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How was the 24u when it arrived?
 
If you haven't ordered yet, I would check Samsung's trade in programme, as last time I checked (2 years ago), I seem to remember that Samsung will accept broken phones. On samsung.com's ordering page, there were drop-down menus with popular phone models to choose from (mainly Samsung S-series and iPhones). Then there was another drop-down menu to pick if it was broken or not. If Samsung no longer offer this, CEX will have it off you for cash or voucher if you pick broken grade (rather than grade A or B etc).
 
Spudgun said:
How was the 24u when it arrived?
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As expected.
I picked B grade so there are some tiny tiny marks on screen. Ones you can only see in bright light tilting the screen with it off. And a mark on one of the camera rings.

My phones get marked anyway and usually broken when I replace them.
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
If you haven't ordered yet, I would check Samsung's trade in programme, as last time I checked (2 years ago), I seem to remember that Samsung will accept broken phones. On samsung.com's ordering page, there were drop-down menus with popular phone models to choose from (mainly Samsung S-series and iPhones). Then there was another drop-down menu to pick if it was broken or not. If Samsung no longer offer this, CEX will have it off you for cash or voucher if you pick broken grade (rather than grade A or B etc).
Click to expand...

So looked like could get 100 for my busted phone. So the s25u would be way more than I want to pay for a phone.
Also, not even sure if my phone is too broken. Because it says 'powers on mine does, but the screen is black

Besides s25u doesn't come with a Bluetooth S pen? That was a quite a big selling point for me
 
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I'm between the OnePlus 13 and Pixel 9 XL. My S22 Ultra has just come back from repairs today after a fried motherboard. Spent a while googling and loads of other Sxx Ultra users had the same issue after an update late 2024. Degraded WiFi/cellular, boot loops for hours, dead connectivity and eventually a boot loop forever. Luckily it's within 90 days of warranty expiry because the cost would've been £331 to repair it. That's more than what I've got left to pay off.

I'm trading it in while it works. Even if the issue is fixed, it's not the first time Samsung have done horrendous os updates. Shame because the hardware is nice and the design is perfect.
 
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