New phone, £150-250

[CX53]

I’ve been hanging on to my iPhone 7 with increasingly crap battery life for a while now. It works great still, so I haven’t been able to justify another one, but I’ve got up this morning at 11 and barely used it and it’s gone from 95% to 52% already and it’s only 11:45, so the time has come.

I’ve got a decent sim only deal for £14 which has everything I need, so I’m looking to stay away from the pay monthly contracts. This means I will no longer have the best or latest phone, but if I’m honest the iPhone 7 is great and does everything I need it to, so I don’t really need anything more.

Current shortlist:

Huawei P Smart - £150, appears to be slightly better than my iPhone spec wise for a fraction of the cost

Huawei P30 Lite - £235, a colleague got one of these recently, better camera than the smart, NFC which I don’t need, other than that I’m not sure it’s worth the extra over the P Smart?

Nokia 7.2 - £230ish, looks nice, is it going to be rubbish like my old Lumia from ten years ago? Probably not but not sure I can take a risk as I don’t know a single person with a Nokia these days!

Anything else I should consider? I would like the phone to have a reasonable camera, decent battery life and be fast and slick to use like my current iPhone.

I mainly use my phone for web browsing, eBay, Amazon, taking pictures, banking, ring doorbell etc. Just everyday stuff, nothing too heavy.

Cheers

[bitchstewie]

I thought you could get the battery changed at an Apple store for 50 quid?

[cuprabob]

I bought a Sony Xperia 10 a few months back and its pretty good, imo. It may be worth a look or one of the other Sony phones within your budget.

[AJB88]

Most Nokia's come with "Android One" installed which means they get really quick OS/Security updates from Google. And they are bearbones Android no bloatware on them. If your wanting as close experience to iOS as you can get from Android then either a Android One or Pixel device is the way to go.

[CX53]

bhstewie said:

I thought you could get the battery changed at an Apple store for 50 quid?

I did this with my previous iPhone 6 but the battery still seemed to get worse with every update and the phone became slower with every update. I’m sure it’s deliberate... so I’m not sure I should bother getting the battery done with this in mind although to be fair this one hasn’t started slowing down yet!

[CX53]

cuprabob said:

I bought a Sony Xperia 10 a few months back and its pretty good, imo. It may be worth a look or one of the other Sony phones within your budget.

I didn’t give Sony much thought actually, I’ll have a look, thanks

[CX53]

AJB88 said:

Most Nokia's come with "Android One" installed which means they get really quick OS/Security updates from Google. And they are bearbones Android no bloatware on them. If your wanting as close experience to iOS as you can get from Android then either a Android One or Pixel device is the way to go.

That’s interesting, I’m not massively clued up on the android OS. Perhaps the Nokia is worth a shout.

[AJB88]

Basically Android is made by Google, it comes in 3 types, Android One (bearbones Android), Android for Pixel (Still made by Google but with a few tweaks), Android by manufacturer such as Samsung, Huawei etc (usually has quite a lot of bloatware).

Pixel and One get the updates directly from Google, The others get them through the manufactures.

[bitchstewie]

CX53 said:

bhstewie said:

I thought you could get the battery changed at an Apple store for 50 quid?

I did this with my previous iPhone 6 but the battery still seemed to get worse with every update and the phone became slower with every update. I’m sure it’s deliberate... so I’m not sure I should bother getting the battery done with this in mind although to be fair this one hasn’t started slowing down yet!

There was the "battery gate" thing a while back where Apple didn't cover themselves in glory.

My view would be spend £49 and see if it sorts the problem which is probably will and if it does you've got a bargain and if it doesn't you've got an iPhone 7 with a brand new battery that is worth quite a bit more than one with a knackered battery.

Personally I don't think a £150 phone will be comparable with an iPhone 7 but if you do go the new phone route I'd concur to look for something based on Android One.

[emperorburger]

I would recommend the Xiaomi Mi 9. The 64GB version in black is currently reduced to £279 on their official shop. Unfortunately a little out of your budget, however the specs are superior to anything you are looking at and are very close to current flagships from more mainstream brands.

https://mobile.mi.com/uk/mi9/

[KnackeredSwede]

Either of the Huawei you mentioned will do the trick. Nokia reviews say it’s slow so wont be comparable to iPhone experience. All the others at the price seem a bit pants apart from maybe the Samsung A40 but then there’s the bloatware.

[The_Nugget]

Don’t do it! Change the battery. I did my 6s earlier this year, was like a new phone after that!
A cheapo Android phone will be a downgrade in every way.

[CX53]

Hmm, couple of conflicting opinions it seems... I’ll do a bit more research before deciding

[eccles]

AJB88 said:

Most Nokia's come with "Android One" installed which means they get really quick OS/Security updates from Google. And they are bearbones Android no bloatware on them. If your wanting as close experience to iOS as you can get from Android then either a Android One or Pixel device is the way to go.

I've had a Nokia 7.1 for just over a year now and can highly recommend it. Good camera regular security updates and has just gone from android 9 up to android 10. The only draw back, which I think is the fault with many modern phones is that the glass case makes it very slippery requiring you to fit a case so you can hold it!
I used to be a dyed in the wool Motorola Moto G fan, but this Nokia matches them.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

I've had a Nokia 8 for about a year and a half and love it. The only thing I can criticise it for is that the camera could be better. If you take a photo in anything less than brilliant daylight, the picture quality doesn't seem to match its rivals. But I don't let this minor flaw bother me.

[king arthur]

I have a Nokia 7.2 and like it a lot. The ability to have dual sims plus an SD card is nice.

[Buzz84]

Motorola do several phones within the G7 or G8 range that fit that price range and get great reviews

Mrs Buzz has had a G6 for over a year and its is still quick, easy to use and gets updates quickly. The camera is really good too.

[gweaver]

I'm very pleased with my Nokia 6.1. Great hardware for the money, and Android One is great for lack of bloat and the software updates.

I have three friends with Nokia 6.1 or 7.x and they are happy with theirs too. Don't get a Nokia 5.x or cheaper Nokia though - they have Mediatek chipsets which aren't as good as the Qualcomm chipsets in the 6.1 and 7.x.

[DukeDickson]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

I've had a Nokia 8 for about a year and a half and love it. The only thing I can criticise it for is that the camera could be better. If you take a photo in anything less than brilliant daylight, the picture quality doesn't seem to match its rivals. But I don't let this minor flaw bother me.

Decent internals & screen, but mine has seen the earpiece, headphone socket and now power connector die in a little over two years, plus the camera went very rogue a little while back.
Replaced with a short-term Moto G8 Plus and aside from slightly inferior reception, I'm not sure I've really lost anything material, while gaining in other aspects.

[vindaloo79]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01L96ZBZ2/ref...

Sony Xperia X Compact. £125 on amazon. Just bought another one due to sale price, for when current one is destroyed/dropped wears out.

32gb, plus removable SD card. Nice size and battery lasts a day easily unless I really over do it.