What is the current best phone?

kieran_read

kieran_read

kieran_read

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Hi All

Super out of the loop on phones, I don't care about them that much, but my OnePlus6 has finally died after 6 and a half years, I tried replacing the screen but the same issue happened lest than a month later and now the bloody screen doesn't come on so i'm just going to get a new one.

Budget is around 800 (paid £650 for the OnePlus6) so factoring in Inflation it's about the same value.

Currently i'm looking at the OnePlus12 which is around £800 or I can get a Samsung S24 Ultra new and unlocked for £770, I know Pixel phones are supposed to be decent but the last time I was looking at a google phone I think they were called "Nexus" that's how long it's been!

But I don't know anything about phones as it's not an industry I follow, does anyone have any suggestions or idea what is best at the moment? I'm not bothered about waiting for new launches as realistically they will be way above my budget and I do need a phone now as my back up is a 10+ year old Moto which doesn't support hardly anything on the Play store now.

Not interested in iPhones.
Not interested in contract phones (as they're move expensive in the long run)

Thanks!
 
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Best phone, and best phone for £800 are quite different things. ;)

For £800, something like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is probably about as good as it gets. I expect most brands have a similar specced phone for similar price.
 
Hawk Tuah said:
Best phone, and best phone for £800 are quite different things. ;)

For £800, something like the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is probably about as good as it gets. I expect most brands have a similar specced phone for similar price.
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Not considered Xiaomi, how does that compare to the S24 Ultra? Because I know the S24 Ultra is a flagship, same as the OnePlus 12 both of which I can get for my budget?
 
Even if it's just android there are very different phones

Best camera phone
Best gaming phone
Best AI phone
Best overall phone
Etc

All different phones, no one phone is best at everything no matter the price
 
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Grim5 said:
Even if it's just android there are very different phones

Best camera phone
Best gaming phone
Best AI phone
Best overall phone
Etc

All different phones, no one phone is best at everything no matter the price
Click to expand...

Best overall is probably more suited for me atm i'm seriously considering the S24 Ultra @£770
 
uscool said:
OnePlus 12 deals

OnePlus 12 16GB/512GB at £559.05, Extra £50 Trade-In Bonus at OnePlus | hotukdeals

www.hotukdeals.com www.hotukdeals.com

Or can get the Chinese version from here , only difference is no esim but can use adapter

tradingshenzhen.com

Buy OnePlus 12 - 12GB/256GB - Best Price

OnePlus 12 the fastest smartphone 2023 - Snapdragon 8Gen3 - 12B/256GB - 5400 mAh battery - 100W Charge - Hasselblad camera - buy cheap
tradingshenzhen.com tradingshenzhen.com
Click to expand...

Ill pass on that but thanks for the offer, the £550 would be a buy (I immediately went to do it!) unfortunately that's students only, so I can't get it.

With the Chinese Version there's only a £100 difference between that and the Ultra and Samsung have promised 7 years of support vs 4-5 that's a big selling point for me as my last phone I had well over 6 years.

I would have taken it for £550 though but student only :(
 
kieran_read said:
Ill pass on that but thanks for the offer, the £550 would be a buy (I immediately went to do it!) unfortunately that's students only, so I can't get it.

With the Chinese Version there's only a £100 difference between that and the Ultra and Samsung have promised 7 years of support vs 4-5 that's a big selling point for me as my last phone I had well over 6 years.

I would have taken it for £550 though but student only :(
Click to expand...

You said £770 what memory and storage?

OnePlus 12 CN 12gb / 256gb £547.67
16gb/512gb £572.67 , 16gb/ 1tb £631.02
 
uscool said:
You said £770 what memory and storage?

OnePlus 12 CN 12gb / 256gb £547.67
16gb/512gb £572.67 , 16gb/ 1tb £631.02
Click to expand...

12gb and 256gb so same as the Chinese one (110 more) £770 vs £657 but I think that's worth it for a few extra years of Android/Security support.

I don't know where you're getting £570 from, the website shows £657(unless the prices have just gone up)
 
kieran_read said:
12gb and 256gb so same as the Chinese one (110 more) £770 vs £657 but I think that's worth it for a few extra years of Android/Security support.

I don't know where you're getting £570 from, the website shows £657(unless the prices have just gone up)
Click to expand...

You probably have euros set for currency at the top you can change it

Example for the 16gb/512gb below the 12gb / 256gb is £547.67, shipping is around £13 but if you join the newsletter you should get discount also if you browse around with cart added you usually get another discount code pop up


GuUR1Km.jpeg


umkE88L.jpeg
 
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uscool said:
You probably have euros set for currency at the top you can change it

Example for the 16gb/512gb below the 12gb / 256gb is £547.67, shipping is around £13 but if you join the newsletter you should get discount also if you browse around with cart added you usually get another discount code pop up


GuUR1Km.jpeg


umkE88L.jpeg
Click to expand...

Oh you were right I didn't even notice that was set to Euros XD
 
Considering how long you had the OP6 for, I would go either Pixel or Samsung as they have much longer software support. Can't go wrong with either of them.

Personally not really a fan of the current OP phones as OxygenOS is now sharing the same base as ColorOS, and Xiaomi's recent HyperOS is getting a lot of mixed reception. But this is just my personal preferences, you might be fine using them.
 
kieran_read said:
Hi All

Super out of the loop on phones, I don't care about them that much, but my OnePlus6 has finally died after 6 and a half years, I tried replacing the screen but the same issue happened lest than a month later and now the bloody screen doesn't come on so i'm just going to get a new one.

Budget is around 800 (paid £650 for the OnePlus6) so factoring in Inflation it's about the same value.

Currently i'm looking at the OnePlus12 which is around £800 or I can get a Samsung S24 Ultra new and unlocked for £770, I know Pixel phones are supposed to be decent but the last time I was looking at a google phone I think they were called "Nexus" that's how long it's been!

But I don't know anything about phones as it's not an industry I follow, does anyone have any suggestions or idea what is best at the moment? I'm not bothered about waiting for new launches as realistically they will be way above my budget and I do need a phone now as my back up is a 10+ year old Moto which doesn't support hardly anything on the Play store now.

Not interested in iPhones.
Not interested in contract phones (as they're move expensive in the long run)

Thanks!
Click to expand...
What do you like to use the phone for? Just a general all rounder? I'd also personally stick with a Pixel or a Samsung device. (I have had OnePlus before however)

Perhaps a mid-range option if you don't need raw gaming power? The Samsung A55 5G 256GB is just £489 direct. 6.6" 1,000 nits 120Hz screen. 5,000mAh battery. IP67. 5G, WiFi6, Bluetooth 5.3. Security updates to 2028. No Wireless charging - and wired charge speed of 25w.

I've had my A54 5G for just over 18 months now. Been spot on. I don't game on it however. I did find a carrier issue - with a Three SIM, WiFi calling would not stay on. Moved to EE and that has fixed it and I get WiFi calling all the time.
 
I've used both oxygen and hyperos never understood the grapes both work fine for what I use phone for and run as quick as any other phone , guess it's preference also for me it's about getting as much hardware as possible for the money the OnePlus 12 was going £380 earlier in the year

But I would probably go with Samsung if you looking to keep it for a long time , I like that they offer long software support but would be great if they made the batteries easily to replace because after 3 years the health drop will probably be noticeable

The pixels from looking at battery life comparisons they are not as good so probably wouldn't be my choice
 
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Orcvader said:
Considering how long you had the OP6 for, I would go either Pixel or Samsung as they have much longer software support. Can't go wrong with either of them.

Personally not really a fan of the current OP phones as OxygenOS is now sharing the same base as ColorOS, and Xiaomi's recent HyperOS is getting a lot of mixed reception. But this is just my personal preferences, you might be fine using them.
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This was my main thinking how long i've had it, both the Pixel and Samsung devises seam to have longer software support and I can see myself not upgrading for at least another 6+ years.

I never had an issue with OxygenOS but then again it's also not been updated in 3 years so I've no idea what the current one is like.
Firegod said:
What do you like to use the phone for? Just a general all rounder? I'd also personally stick with a Pixel or a Samsung device. (I have had OnePlus before however)

Perhaps a mid-range option if you don't need raw gaming power? The Samsung A55 5G 256GB is just £489 direct. 6.6" 1,000 nits 120Hz screen. 5,000mAh battery. IP67. 5G, WiFi6, Bluetooth 5.3. Security updates to 2028. No Wireless charging - and wired charge speed of 25w.

I've had my A54 5G for just over 18 months now. Been spot on. I don't game on it however. I did find a carrier issue - with a Three SIM, WiFi calling would not stay on. Moved to EE and that has fixed it and I get WiFi calling all the time.
Click to expand...

I have considered a mid-range one tbh any phone £100 plus is probably more powerful than my OP6 these days, but thinking of going for a more high end one, recently had to pull an old Moto out and half the stuff is no longer compatible while I can't see more recent phones going the same route with the way companies are trying to shoehorn AI in absolutely every thing I think the S series are more likely to be more future proofed than the A series though I don't think it will matter I'd rather have that.

I'm not worried about the Sim, i'm currently on Smarty which is on the Three Network, but considering I just use those online networks (Smarty/Voxi etc) Ill just change networks if I need too, I have 0 loyalty to a phone network!
uscool said:
I've used both oxygen and hyperos never understood the grapes both work fine for what I use phone for and run as quick as any other phone , guess it's preference also for me it's about getting as much hardware as possible for the money the OnePlus 12 was going £380 earlier in the year

But I would probably go with Samsung if you looking to keep it for a long time , I like that they offer long software support but would be great if they made the batteries easily to replace because after 3 years the health drop will probably be noticeable

The pixels from looking at battery life comparisons they are not as good so probably wouldn't be my choice
Click to expand...

With Google being an all spying master and enjoying my cookies, when i was on Youtube earlier I was being fed S24 Ultra videos, the one from JerryRigEverything come up and the batteries are apparently every easy to replace now on the S24 and pull right out (you still need to melt the back off but you need to do that with all phones these days)

For now i'm planning on the S24 Ultra, i'm going to wait until Tuesday though as there's a "Special Sale" day on, so ill see if anything else goes to silly prices and might consider something else.

No phone for 3 days has actually been quite liberating with 0 doom scrolling lol.
 
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It's a good phone (the ultra 24) but you are stuck with One UI on Android 14 which has one killer feature only - AI enhanced telephone translation for both incoming and out going calls. Android 15 ? you'll be lucky to see it on the S24 Ultra before March.

If you don't need this feature, you are therefore stuck with two main benefits of the S24 Ultra - the peerless anti reflective coating and the support and coverage options for maintenance but I can't recall if they cover accidental loss.

I think that a PCB blue pixel 8a, official blue jelly case with Android 15 and the Google extended support is currently the best phone out there, as a bonus it's not made in China and neither is the software.
 
I bought a Samsung A52s for £219 in May 2022, and it's been the best phone for me. It has an amoled screen, and 120 hz refresh rate. I have not found it lacking in performance for browsing or youtube use. I use a PAYG contract, as I rely on WiFi a lot, so I save a lot in overall phone costs compared to other people I know. I'd rather buy a phone that is only good enough for my usage, so I can prioritise something else in my budget. If buying a modest phone means I can upgrade my graphics card to a 4070 Ti Super instead of 4070 Super, (if i buy a high end phone), then I'd prioritise the former.
 
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