Recommend a mid range Android 5G phone

[RabidGranny]

Afternoon All,

I have been in control of the tech aspect of the household since day 1, and in an effort to save cash i got my wife a xiaomi redmi 8 pro as a smartphone in 2020. Since then it has suffered from outtages while on mobile data and battery issues. In the meantime her provider has told her she can have 5g free for the year. Now the Redmi isnt 5g capable so im thinking that, for Xmas, I might get her a decent 5g phone.

can anyone recommend one please ?

Are the Nothing Phones good or would i be getting us into issues similar to the Xiaomi?

Thanks in advance

EDIT Sorry Mid range GBP 500 +/-

Edited by RabidGranny on Wednesday 22 November 15:09

[ZesPak]

Considering high-end is already well over 1k, what do you consider mid-range?

My wife's got the Pixel 7a and it's a great phone, feels every bit as quality as a high end galaxy or iphone imho.
Sub 400 quid iirc.

Edit, at that price, it's a 7a for me no doubt.

Edited by ZesPak on Wednesday 22 November 15:17

[WhiskyDisco]

I've recently bought a "new opened box" Pixel 6a to replace my aging Pixel 2

I paid £210 of Ebay. That seems to be a very good deal, as the trending price is circa £260

[CharlieCrocodile]

Pixel 7a is less than £400 on the google store.

[somouk]

Having recently had a Pixel through work to play with as I'm an apple fan boy and owned several iterations of Android over the years. I think I would pick a pixel to suit your budget as well.Great bits of kit.

[Register1]

RabidGranny said:

Afternoon All,

I have been in control of the tech aspect of the household since day 1, and in an effort to save cash i got my wife a xiaomi redmi 8 pro as a smartphone in 2020. Since then it has suffered from outtages while on mobile data and battery issues. In the meantime her provider has told her she can have 5g free for the year. Now the Redmi isnt 5g capable so im thinking that, for Xmas, I might get her a decent 5g phone.

can anyone recommend one please ?



Are the Nothing Phones good or would i be getting us into issues similar to the Xiaomi?

Thanks in advance

EDIT Sorry Mid range GBP 500 +/-

Edited by RabidGranny on Wednesday 22 November 15:09

I just bought an unused second hand Redmi Note 9 Pro.
Awesome.
£90

[Griffith4ever]

Mi note 12 pro looks good (;me and the Mrs have been running mi note 10 pros for ages and they are utterly excellent).

[anonymous-user]

Honor 90

https://www.hihonor.com/uk/phones/honor-90/buy/?ga...

I have the 70 and it is an excellent phone.

The 8GB/256GB version is currently £299.99 and the 12GB/512GB version is currently £349.99

[TikTak]

For mid-range it's hard to go wrong with the Pixel 7a as it's Googles they can trim fat and get performance gains without having to put in more expensive hardware.

Other decent choices I know people have

OnePlus Nord 2
Samsung A54

[Lynchie999]

been really happy with my Nokia XR20... I'm sure other non-rugged Nokias are also available

[sgrimshaw]

Not sure if this fits "mid-range" for you, but I bought a Sony Xperia 10 IV back in August 2022 and have been very pleased with it ... so happy that I didn't hesitate to buy one for my wife back in June 2023.

Currently on Amazon for £340:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B1G1LWTQ/ref...

There's now a 10 V, which is only £269.99 on a Black Friday Deal:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Xperia-10-Black-Ligh...

At that price, I'm tempted to pick up a "spare"

[sgrimshaw]

sgrimshaw said:

At that price, I'm tempted to pick up a "spare"

Doh!

That's my wallet £270 lighter

[ATG]

I've only used their ruggedized phones, but I've been impressed with Blackview (ignore their crass marketing and avoid their optional dayglo accents). They've just worked and they cost bugger all. No idea what their "business" or non-Walt offerings are like, but if they're as good as the full-Walt models ...

[anonymous-user]

sgrimshaw said:

Doh!

That's my wallet £270 lighter

Whats the update policy like these days? Last time I looked, admitted a few years ago now, it was 2 years. Completely put me off buying a Sony phone.

[RichFN2]

Oppo find X5 pro for £570 on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/OPPO-Smartphone-Snapdrago...

I had the X2 pro and now have moved onto the X6 Pro. Their flagships are fantastic, comparable to S21/S22/S23 ultra.

[king arthur]

sgrimshaw said:

Not sure if this fits "mid-range" for you, but I bought a Sony Xperia 10 IV back in August 2022 and have been very pleased with it ... so happy that I didn't hesitate to buy one for my wife back in June 2023.

Currently on Amazon for £340:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B1G1LWTQ/ref...

There's now a 10 V, which is only £269.99 on a Black Friday Deal:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Xperia-10-Black-Ligh...

At that price, I'm tempted to pick up a "spare"

What is the camera like on that? I'm looking for one with decent low light performance since discovering that my aging Nokia 7.2 struggles in that kind of situation.

[Jonny_]

king arthur said:

sgrimshaw said:

Not sure if this fits "mid-range" for you, but I bought a Sony Xperia 10 IV back in August 2022 and have been very pleased with it ... so happy that I didn't hesitate to buy one for my wife back in June 2023.

Currently on Amazon for £340:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B1G1LWTQ/ref...

There's now a 10 V, which is only £269.99 on a Black Friday Deal:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Xperia-10-Black-Ligh...

At that price, I'm tempted to pick up a "spare"

What is the camera like on that? I'm looking for one with decent low light performance since discovering that my aging Nokia 7.2 struggles in that kind of situation.

I bought a 10 IV about a year ago. Mostly because of its narrower form factor, I had a Poco X3 before and it was uncomfortable to hold due to the sheer size of the thing (fnaar, fnaar).

To be honest I'm disappointed with the Sony. It cost about £300 at the time, yet it performs like a £150 phone. I've got used to it now, but compared to the (cheaper and older) Poco it felt very sluggish. And I think the camera in particular is absolutely crap. It's slow to load, it's slow to actually take a photo, it struggles with low light, it crashes frequently (both the standard Sony camera app and third party ones) and the photos it produces are never any better than "acceptable". Mrs had a Nokia 7.2 previously, and as I recall that took a better photo than my Xperia 10 IV.

Much as I dislike iOS, my work iPhone SE 2020 is a million times better in terms of the camera.

[sgrimshaw]

Just responding on the Sony Xpedia IV questions ...

1. Now running Android 13, was on Android 12 when I bought it in Aug 22. No idea how long it will continue to get updates.
2. Camera is good enough for me, much better than other phones I've had ... but I wouldn't consider spending more than £400 on a phone. Camera has never crashed.
3. General performance is fine, but I do housekeep.
4. Wasn't asked, but battery life is excellent. I'm not a heavy user of streaming or gaming, but with my light use I can get 5 or 6 days easily.

Wife has similar experience.

[captain_cynic]

Lynchie999 said:

been really happy with my Nokia XR20... I'm sure other non-rugged Nokias are also available

+1 for Nokia's. The X30 is now £230 but the XR is under £500

[ZesPak]

Much as I want to like cheaper phones, the Pixel 7a is the point where it seems to stop being a compromise.
At ~400 quid, that's still great.
DXOmark (not the be all end all, mind you) ranks the camera on par with the iPhone 14 and S23, both phones twice as expensive.
The update policies were at 5 years from new (so another 4,5 years for the 7a, on par with iPhone), for the new 8 they promise 7 years.
It will lack some of the more advance features, but from that point it's diminishing returns imho.

Edited by ZesPak on Friday 24th November 08:05