UKH

Evening All,

So in short, my phone is dying and I just want a cheap phone (ideally under £100) that:

- is Android

- has 32gb ram

- has a half decent speaker (good enough for watching a movie on when parked up in the van)

- has decent battery life

- is smallish (under 150mm tall by 75mm wide)

Not bothered about fingerprint whatever or facial recognition. Not bothered about having the latest this or that on it either. Just want good battery life and fairly solid phone.

Has anyone got one that fits this bill that they can recommend?

Someone recommended a Ulefone Note 7 but I'm a bit concerned it may be a bit big and I've never heard of them.

Thanks

Frank

In reply to Frankie boy:

I use a Ulefone. I can't remember which model. It is big and heavy, which I don't like, but it is also waterproof, shockproof, has a good battery, dual SIM and cheap. It ticked enough of the required boxes that I put up with the weight and size.

In reply to Frankie boy:

oneplus are good, you might be able to get the 3t second hand for under £100

In reply to Frankie boy:

If you have specific requirements such as these then the phone finder at GSM arena is very good: https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3?

I think you can get more focused feedback from people if you ask for benefits of x vs y phone rather than a more general "what is good?" question where you will get quite a wide range of responses!

In reply to Frankie boy:

Xiaomi's are pretty good value great battery

In reply to Frankie boy:

Use a bluetooth speaker, or bluetooth it to your van's stereo.

In reply to Angrypenguin:

Thanks I'll have a look at that.

In reply to Toerag:

Yeah I considered something like that but my vans radio doesn't have bluetooth or even an aux input.

In reply to girlymonkey:

Thanks, its the size that concerns me, my current phone isn't that big and it already bugs me in my pockets and feels a bit restrictive when walking etc.

That said, with phones going the way they seem to be, it won't be long before we have to push the thing along in front of us in a wheel barrow.

In reply to Frankie boy:

Mine fits in the thigh pocket of most walking trousers (girly trousers are never designed to have phones in the normal hand pockets, so even my older smaller phones never went in there), but is not so good in the back pockets of jeans now (again, maybe not a problem on blokes jeans with sensible pockets!). My husband got the same phone and has found it works well in the extra flappy pocket on his work trousers (think tradesman trousers with the external extra flap pockets).

When I have my waterproofs on in the hills I don't like it in the thigh pocket, so it goes in the map pocket on my jacket or in my rucksack. I do find it a little annoying, but for a properly robust phone which actually survives the abuse I give it, I have found work arounds and it's not too bad. I find it criminal that in today's age of trying to be more green and create less waste that anyone makes phones which aren't waterproof and shockproof. It shouldn't be so hard to find!!

In reply to Frankie boy:

IMHO it'd be much better to upgrade your vans radio, you should be able to get a B/T one for under 50 quid and there are all sorts (even from halfords for 30 quid) that work with aux and andriod.   and many will charge your phone via usb.

also that way you can listen to podcasts/content on your phone  when driving along

worth having a look around and thinking about, you then can get a phone with cheaper speakers

In reply to girlymonkey:

Thanks for that advice, I'll have another look at it.

I do agree about creating less waste. In reality, If the battery hadn't failed in mine, the charging socket also played up and the speaker dying, I would have like to have kept it forever. It is frustrating that phones are just not built to last and it almost seems that people are almost being forced into upgrades due to limited lifespan of non removable batteries, software becoming outdated etc. Seems there's too much obsession with having the latest this and that.

In reply to lithos:

Thanks, I did also think about replacing the radio in the van as it's not very good anyway. The only downside is that it's linked in with the dash display (which apparently can't be connected to a non stock radio) and also the steering controls (which I believe can be connected with extra bits). 

Overall, it just seemed like a lot of hastle.

To be honest, my wife has pretty much the same phone as me (the same but the year newer version) and the speaker in that is absolutely fine, and that was similarly a cheap phone so fingers crossed there should be plenty more out there with similarly adequate sound .

In reply to Frankie boy:I bought a Samsung S8 at a cash converters a  few years ago for £250 and it is still going strong. Over your budget then but you might find a good one in budget now or another second hand branded phone in a place like that, and you will be helping the environment too.

In reply to Frankie boy:

yeah I hear you, i guess radios are not what they used to be,

to go back to your OP  I have a Motorola Moto G3 (so quite old) which i bought 2nd hand for 70 quid 3.5 years back.  It's been brilliant apart from running out of memory meaning deleted unused apps (i think it has 1Gb internal). It's smallish and waterproof (ish) slowish. Ive been looking at replacement (im consider  the same with bigger memory) but it won't run any andriod past 6(which so far hasn't been an issue) but I'm prolly 6 months away before the battery gives up

In reply to lithos:

I've got a MotoE2, which is a bit smaller than the OP's requirements. I got it 3.5 years ago from a mate who had it supplied on contract, but used another phone. Battery life is reduced, but it's still going. I have a 256GB uSD card in it. Used for navigation and a small, mobile computer and media player. Only thing it lacks for me is a compass.

i recomend this one Xiaomi Redmi 8 (32GB) dual sim - android - 3gb ram - 12mp cam