5G, or probably not?

[numtumfutunch]

Hi, Android fan boy here

Current mobile contract up in a month or so

By happy coincidence for a long time it’s finishing just after the honeymoon period of the latest Samsung aspirational phone so deals have been good

But not now

The Galaxy S20 is approx £45/month on a 2y contract on 5G which is £10-£20 more than I’ve ever paid before but obvs not on 5G

As I don’t really stream movies I’m struggling to justify 5G

So a Pixel 4 on a monthly rolling contract is a good idea, yeah?
Only nag here is that Google say they will only support updating it till October 2022. Really?

Cheers

[alorotom]

The pixel 4 has been out a while now (coming up to 12mths) and it’s going to be supported for at least another 2 - sounds reasonable to me for an Android tbh

[stevoknevo]

If you're going for a Pixel 4 then get the xl, the battery life on the standard one is abysmal! But the Pixel software experience is second to none amongst its android peers - I'd imagine like all pixels it'll get three software revisions and another year beyond that of security updates (the OG pixel got an extra year, wasn't supposed to get Android 10 but did) Android 11 is in beta currently and should be the Pixel 2's final OS update in October-ish, need to see if they extend that like they did the OG (hope so as I've a 2xl) Quite a few reports recently of glass back separating from the body on the 4, but Pixels have been dogged with build quality/reliability issues since day one, and before that with the Nexus phones, but if you get a good one they're great phones (not to put you off, but to make you aware)

The new Oneplus Nord looks fantastic value at £379 if you can live without wireless charging and an official ip rating - 5g, 8gb/128gb, 90hz screen etc.

[Tycho]

I have the S20 Ultra and when I can get 5G (When I'm in London at work) it is really fast and I get about 200mbps but I'm struggling to see the benefits as TBH 4G allows streaming with no lag anyway. Maybe if I do game streaming then I would notice the difference but for normal use it is pointless and I wouldn't have it on my account if I had to pay extra for it.

[numtumfutunch]

Thanks for the above

Genuinely didn’t realise Pixel battery life was an issue and really wouldn’t be happy without authenticated water resistance so I’m still thinking of the S20 but on payg 4G to future proof myself.

Wife is a nurse so can get it for cheaper than the iPhone 11 which I hadn’t realised through some nhs scheme.

Having said that I’m not that desperate to change so I’ll see how the summer pans out, TBH I’m genuinely curious to know how many £50+ contracts are actually selling? And to who

[TotalControl]

I'd have a look at OnePlus also. Moved over to a OP6 as my personal phone (Needed a headphone jack) and have been incredibly impressed. Battery life could be better but I'll buy one soon to replace and it should be good for another few years to be honest.

I had a Huawei P10 which was awesome but ageing, which is now a backup phone in case any of my family break theirs.

For £379 you can't go wrong with the Nord. The 8 and 8 pro are also very good phones but depends on how much you're willing to pay. Their phones are supported for 3 years also which is also a bonus.

[stevoknevo]

numtumfutunch said:

Thanks for the above

Genuinely didn’t realise Pixel battery life was an issue and really wouldn’t be happy without authenticated water resistance so I’m still thinking of the S20 but on payg 4G to future proof myself.

Wife is a nurse so can get it for cheaper than the iPhone 11 which I hadn’t realised through some nhs scheme.

Having said that I’m not that desperate to change so I’ll see how the summer pans out, TBH I’m genuinely curious to know how many £50+ contracts are actually selling? And to who

I've not seen any in depth reviews on the Nord yet, but until the 8/8 pro released none of their previous phones had ip certification but did have the seals etc and were waterproof, they just didn't pay for official certification to keep costs down.

The Pixel 5 has long been rumoured to have very similar specs as the Nord - quite a few brands seem to be opting for the Snapdragon 765 chipset instead of the top tier 865 - the latter needs a standalone 5g module which bumps the price up, whereas the 765 has integrated 5g and are as powerful as 845 from two years ago, more than good enough for 99% of people.

And another thing to be aware of is that Samsung use their own chipset in European devices but Snapdragon in North America - the latter are more powerful and much more battery efficient but you pay a similar price, which grates me to buggery https://youtu.be/6CUSe8kgIE8

[numtumfutunch]

Oh well, best laid plans and all.......

August deals are actually worse on the S20 on contract and the nhs discount has been reduced too so I decided to go payg and wait a while

Unfortunately ,or otherwise, my sons phoned has had some kind of mechanical which for a teenager is catastrophic obvs so he’s having mine and I have a OnePlus 8 arriving today. Many thanks for the rec, I’d not heard of the brand before. The Nord looked good but neither of us wanted to be without phone for longer than a few days

5G is still evolving locally so I’m on a 30 day SIM only whilst this matures.

Cheeers

[tonyb1968]

TBH, you are not going to see the benefits of 5G until operators roll out the stand alone backbone, at the moment its using the 4G backbone so its restricted to what it can do, I would give it at least till the end of next year if not the beginning of 2022 before you see any real benefit from it.

[numtumfutunch]

OP update

After approx two months with the Oneplus I just want to say thanks to you guys

The screen is amazing
Battery life sensational
And the camera superb

Big fan, and cheers

Slight niggle the website nudged me into buying an accessory pack I didn’t need as it comes bundled with headphones and case which wasn’t obvious.but at the price no real complaints