Reasonably priced smartphone for serial iphonist

[Farmer Geddon]

My latest in a string of iPhones has just given up the ghost. Fortunately I'm one month away from paying off my contract. I've looked at upgrading or taking out a new contract on the iPhone 7 but the prices are frankly more than i am willing to pay.

Personally I think £50-57 per month for the data and hard drive space I need is far too much. I'm keen to explore the idea of a sim-only deal and buying a phone outright, but the iPhone's are just too expensive for me to justify.

What I need from my phone/what I use it for:

Not too big, iphone 5S was great but perhaps too small, iPhone 6 the sweet spot if a teeny bit big
Used 45gb of 64 on iPhone so would like min 64 or lower with an SD slot to expand
Good support should it break (rules out oneplus perhaps, and anyway, it's too big for my liking, and more than I'd ideally pay)
Fast loading apps
Good user interface
To just work, and work well & quickly, like the iPhone
General picture taking, nothing amazing, reasonable quality holiday snaps, selfies, etc
Browsing (PH, other internet sites and forums)
Decent app availability
Facebook, twitter, Instagram, youtube, Ebay, autotrader, Amazon
Easy to text with
Decent customisation, notifications etc
Good streaming/4g capability for spotify, radio apps like LBC, etc,
Reasonable sound quality
Good battery life


So as you can see I don't exactly use a phone to its full potential, I don't game or watch films or anything, but I do use it an awful lot.

It's not that I 'need' to save money, but I'm just beginning to begrudge being bent over by the networks for the latest phone when I suspect there's something decent out there I could buy outright for 1-200 quid that would do the job. Not knowing much outside Apple, any advice on a suitable phone would be much appreciated.

I've heard about the wileyfox models, any one have one? Anything else worth considering?

Edited by Farmer Geddon on Thursday 19th January 02:19

[slow_poke]

I'm in week 1 of my new Wileyfix Swift 2 which has replaced my beloved old Nexus 4.

So far, so good. No major issues, no regrets.

If you do try it, check that the SD card will work out to 64. Phone is supposed to go 32 only but some folks are putting in 64.

[Silver940]

What are you willing to pay monthly out of interest?

128gb iphone 6s is about for 40/month?

There is lots of good Android stuff for under 200 quid, your need for good support narrows it a lot though as many are chinese imports.

Moto G4 would do the job though in budget but it is bigger - about same size as a oneplus 3T

WileyFox is UK based so better for support at a guess, their latest one 2X is just over 200quid and released and of the month

https://www.wileyfox.com/store.html

I am looking for something to replace my z3 compact currently but not settled on anything yet

[rednotdead]

slow_poke said:

I'm in week 1 of my new Wileyfix Swift 2 which has replaced my beloved old Nexus 4.

So far, so good. No major issues, no regrets.

If you do try it, check that the SD card will work out to 64. Phone is supposed to go 32 only but some folks are putting in 64.

Same here with a Swift2 Plus. And I have a 64GB card in it, all good.

[sgrimshaw]

Been using Wileyfox Swift since May last year, been very pleased with it.

Wife bought one in August and loves it too.

I'd buy a Wileyfox again with no concerns and have recommended to others .... everyone has been very pleased and impressed with them.

[silobass]

Direct from the Apple Store, iPhone 6s 128gb is £599 working it out over two years is £24.95. iPhone 7 is £699 for the 128gb working out at £29.12 pm over two years. You can get a sim contract for £10-15. Can either pay for on a 0% card do do the Apple 0% program perhaps? You're iPhone is also going to be worth a few hundred at the end of the two years where as your cheap Android won't. Doesn't have to cost £50-70 per month

I'm basically justifying the upgrade cost to myself here I'm due in March.

[Farmer Geddon]

slow_poke said:

I'm in week 1 of my new Wileyfix Swift 2 which has replaced my beloved old Nexus 4.

So far, so good. No major issues, no regrets.

If you do try it, check that the SD card will work out to 64. Phone is supposed to go 32 only but some folks are putting in 64.

What made you choose this over the nexus 5x out of interest?

[Farmer Geddon]

Silver940 said:

What are you willing to pay monthly out of interest?

128gb iphone 6s is about for 40/month?

There is lots of good Android stuff for under 200 quid, your need for good support narrows it a lot though as many are chinese imports.

Moto G4 would do the job though in budget but it is bigger - about same size as a oneplus 3T

WileyFox is UK based so better for support at a guess, their latest one 2X is just over 200quid and released and of the month

https://www.wileyfox.com/store.html

I am looking for something to replace my z3 compact currently but not settled on anything yet

Thanks for the recommendations! Hadn't heard of the G4.

It's less about what I'm willing to pay and more that I begrudge paying the same as I do now for a phone that I don't really consider to be an 'upgrade' to what I've already got. I know the 6s is slightly better than the 6 but if I'll be keeping for two years at the same as I currently pay or more (as my current network is charging) then Id rather have the latest model.

[Farmer Geddon]

silobass said:

Direct from the Apple Store, iPhone 6s 128gb is £599 working it out over two years is £24.95. iPhone 7 is £699 for the 128gb working out at £29.12 pm over two years. You can get a sim contract for £10-15. Can either pay for on a 0% card do do the Apple 0% program perhaps? You're iPhone is also going to be worth a few hundred at the end of the two years where as your cheap Android won't. Doesn't have to cost £50-70 per month

I'm basically justifying the upgrade cost to myself here I'm due in March.

Good shout but you can't get what I need on sim only for £10-15, looking more at 15-20, which brings you back to the realms of £50 per month. Call me tight, but that's a lot of money for a phone! I'm just a bit fed up of paying it, not that I don't get use out of it, but it just seems a rip off to me. Especially when I'm paying just over £40 per month for my 6 with 20gb of data. It just annoys me that I'm paying a fair whack already and I can't have much of an upgrade for the same price almost two years down the line.

[Farmer Geddon]

Thanks for the other feedback on the swifts. I'm wondering If it'll suit my needs find and if It'll feel too budget compared to the iPhone's. I'm tempted just to buy one and try it, and if I'm really not happy, I'll suck it up and be robbed by Apple or the networks once again.

Wondering if the nexus 5x is worth considering too as made by LG it might be perhaps slightly better built, I don't really know enough about such things. I'm getting old.

[Rawwr]

We've been giving out Samsung Galaxy J5s to our users. I think they're about £120 and quite impressive for that price.

[22]

I'm a serial second-hand phone owner as I seem to break them fairly often. I've had phones from Sony & Samsung among others.

I bought a Moto G4 over Christmas (new/sim-free from Tesco for a change) as I was away when my phone packed up and didn't have the receipt for my phone (cex). The phone was an LG G4 and was my second one; first time wouldn't boot at all, second time had a known boot-loop issue, both times cex refunded in full (credit mind you). It was a nice phone other than the fact I had two break on me (couldn't face a third). The Moto G4 seems similar to the LG but is just a little too basic. Simple things like automatic brightness adjustment I found I missed, just that extra little touch of quality. It was also a little slow loading and switching between apps (I play games on them frequently).

Bought a second had Huawei P9 and I really like it, probably my favourite phone of the last couple of years. I had one of the very early Huawei phones and it was pretty poor, but they've come on leaps and bounds.

[sgrimshaw]

Farmer Geddon said:

Thanks for the other feedback on the swifts. I'm wondering If it'll suit my needs find and if It'll feel too budget compared to the iPhone's. I'm tempted just to buy one and try it, and if I'm really not happy, I'll suck it up and be robbed by Apple or the networks once again.

Wondering if the nexus 5x is worth considering too as made by LG it might be perhaps slightly better built, I don't really know enough about such things. I'm getting old.

Buy the Wileyfox direct from the Wileyfox website or even from Amazon and if you don't like it ... return it.

[rednotdead]

Farmer Geddon said:

Thanks for the other feedback on the swifts. I'm wondering If it'll suit my needs find and if It'll feel too budget compared to the iPhone's. I'm tempted just to buy one and try it, and if I'm really not happy, I'll suck it up and be robbed by Apple or the networks once again.

Wondering if the nexus 5x is worth considering too as made by LG it might be perhaps slightly better built, I don't really know enough about such things. I'm getting old.

I was pleasantly surprised how well made the Swift 2 Plus is, it certainly doesn't feel cheap. It met all my needs which were SD card, NFC, and bloatware free OS. The screen isn't HD but to be honest I can't say I notice a great difference between it and my works Samsung S4. The quick charge is ace, battery is lasting well (longer than the S4), and the fingerprint reader works well to unlock it. Very happy for £150.

[slow_poke]

Farmer Geddon said:

slow_poke said:

I'm in week 1 of my new Wileyfix Swift 2 which has replaced my beloved old Nexus 4.

So far, so good. No major issues, no regrets.

If you do try it, check that the SD card will work out to 64. Phone is supposed to go 32 only but some folks are putting in 64.

What made you choose this over the nexus 5x out of interest?

The couple of threads about the WileyFox on here were persuasive. Plus, the Nexus has moved on past (or is due to, not sure now) the 6 to the 7, leaving the 5 further behind.

Price was good, too.

[jimmyjimjim]

The Nexus 5X and 6P were released at the same time. I think you may be thinking of the Pixel.

[CX53]

Regardless of if it's up to date or not, I.e. Nexus 5x being older, what would be the best phone for the OP's uses? I'm lookig for something similar, I don't really care if it's the latest model If it does the job well. The iPhone's I have are only upgraded when they break, not because I want new features. As long as it does browsing, social media, mobile banking and camera well then I'm not too bothered...

Edited by CX53 on Thursday 19th January 14:14

[ZesPak]

The Nexus 5X is a solid choice, A-brand with no manufacturer bloatware.
The Moto G4 Plus is very similar in most aspects, but takes the edge for me because of the bigger display and SD card support.

The only reason to take the 5X over it imho is because you want the smaller display. The 5X is closer in size to the regular iPhones, while the moto G closer to the plus version. In thruth they form a nice ladder.

Rawwr said:

We've been giving out Samsung Galaxy J5s to our users. I think they're about £120 and quite impressive for that price.

I've been a big fan of the Galaxy SII years ago after my iphones, but the S3 to S5 were a let down. So I was very pleased the other day after having a go with an S7 Edge and J5. The J5 feels exceptionally well built for the price, and surely does more than the average user will ever need.

[JB!]

I run Motorola Moto G's

the 4th Gen is out, sub £250 with decent internal storage and RAM, also they don't install loads of bloatware in the Android OS.

Handsets last 18-24 months before I kill them, which is much better than the 9-12 months I was getting out of Apple devices.

Stuff has them highly regarded for a budget phone

[ZesPak]

In all honesty, what are you doing with your phones? I manage to kill a couple but most still live a healthy life (both mine and my wife's old Galaxy S2 are still in service)... My old iphone was only decommissioned because of serious software issues.