Sim free Android phone for £200

[davek_964]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

The person buying the phone "will not buy a Chinese one" which rules some out (let's not get into the fact that half the others are probably built there anyway). I will forward the suggestions to her.

[Kermit power]

davek_964 said:

Thanks for all the suggestions.

The person buying the phone "will not buy a Chinese one" which rules some out (let's not get into the fact that half the others are probably built there anyway). I will forward the suggestions to her.

You'll have to rule out the Motorola handsets then. Made in China, and now owned by a Chinese company.

If the buyer's issue is tinfoil hat concerns over potential state-sponsored eavesdropping of Chinese-made devices, then alternatives seem to be Asus, Samsung, LG, Sony & HTC.

If she just doesn't want anything made by slitty-eyed yellow people, then I think she's going to be completely screwed, as even the above are made in Taiwan, Japan or South Korea!

[slow_poke]

funkyrobot said:

Toilet Duck said:

Can I jump on this as well as in same situation as OP? My only "must have" requirement is NFC, and hopefully as good/better than my current Wileyfox Swift 2X

I currently have a Swift. The original one. Bought it in Jun 2016 and it's still going strong.

It has suffered a bit since Cyanogen folded and it's gone on to proper Android. Get the odd reboot now and again and a little lag. Contacts also seem a bit buggy and don't show names in the phone app. However, considering the £120 I paid for it over two years ago, it's done really well.

I'll change it when it stops working.

Pretty much sums up for me too - thought i haven't noticed anything about the contacts or show names in phone app.

[QuartzDad]

Had a quick play with a Moto One in John Lewis on Saturday, seemed pretty good for £199. I'm a G5s plus user.

[Hoofy]

QuartzDad said:

Had a quick play with a Moto One in John Lewis on Saturday, seemed pretty good for £199. I'm a G5s plus user.

Just curious - you say it's pretty good, but, for instance, not worse or not better. How do you decide? For me it's "lags" or "doesn't lag".

[gweaver]

Hoofy said:

Just curious - you say it's pretty good, but, for instance, not worse or not better. How do you decide? For me it's "lags" or "doesn't lag".

With Android One, the software is mostly standard Android, so performance differences mostly come down to the hardware.
The Moto One has a Snapdragon 625 processor and the Nokia 6.1 has a 630 (newer generation), but the Moto has more RAM and storage, less megapixels for the camera. So the answer is possibly in looking up the dreaded benchmarks and reviews..

[Hoofy]

gweaver said:

Hoofy said:

Just curious - you say it's pretty good, but, for instance, not worse or not better. How do you decide? For me it's "lags" or "doesn't lag".

With Android One, the software is mostly standard Android, so performance differences mostly come down to the hardware.
The Moto One has a Snapdragon 625 processor and the Nokia 6.1 has a 630 (newer generation), but the Moto has more RAM and storage, less megapixels for the camera. So the answer is possibly in looking up the dreaded benchmarks and reviews..

I suspect that I would probably never notice the difference except for running out of space for Real Racing 3 updates!

[QuartzDad]

Hoofy said:

Just curious - you say it's pretty good, but, for instance, not worse or not better. How do you decide? For me it's "lags" or "doesn't lag".

It was a quick play. The screen was bright and crisp. Swiping was quick and responsive, choosing menus was swift with no discernable lag.

HTH.

[Bullitt Five-Oh]

Hoofy said:

QuartzDad said:

Had a quick play with a Moto One in John Lewis on Saturday, seemed pretty good for £199. I'm a G5s plus user.

Just curious - you say it's pretty good, but, for instance, not worse or not better. How do you decide? For me it's "lags" or "doesn't lag".

My missus got the Moto One and I'm blown away how much you get for how little, it already had a security update plus it's due an update to Android 9 any time soon (Motorola started rolling it out in some locations last week). If it wasn't for me not wanting two of the same thing in one household I'd get one without any hesitation. I hope LG brings the G7 One to UK/EU markets, that seems like a perfect higher-mid range android one phone, plus it's got the LG signature DAC and a headphone jack port.

[Hoofy]

QuartzDad said:

Hoofy said:

Just curious - you say it's pretty good, but, for instance, not worse or not better. How do you decide? For me it's "lags" or "doesn't lag".

It was a quick play. The screen was bright and crisp. Swiping was quick and responsive, choosing menus was swift with no discernable lag.

HTH.

I would expect that from any £100+ phone.

[boyse7en]

funkyrobot said:

I currently have a Swift. The original one. Bought it in Jun 2016 and it's still going strong.

It has suffered a bit since Cyanogen folded and it's gone on to proper Android. Get the odd reboot now and again and a little lag. Contacts also seem a bit buggy and don't show names in the phone app. However, considering the £120 I paid for it over two years ago, it's done really well.

I'll change it when it stops working.

I had a Wileyfox Swift and really liked it. It lasted about three years and then the micro USB port broke so I couldn't charge it.

Replaced it with a Xiaomi Mi A1 for well under £200 (about £160 IIRC) which is miles better. Faster, longer battery life and Android updates every mont or so.