Is it worth upgrading from a s7 edge to a honor 8x?

[ZXR]

Hi,

I currently have an s7 edge and it has served me well for quite a while. However, i recently saw that the honor 8x is only £200 and I can sell my s7 for about £130, meaning that it would only cost £70 to upgrade. The main feature i want is the bigger screen and better design, as I mainly use my phone to watch movies nowadays. The battery life and storage is also bigger. Any opinions?

[FlappyBoobs]

Your current S7 Edge is better in almost every way to the honor 8X. The screen on the honor has a much lower pixel density despite being larger. It doesn't support as many frequency bands (meaning it can't roam as well) and the LTE speeds will be much lower because the honor 8X doesn't support the faster speeds that the S7 does. (My old S7 would get 160Mb download on 4g+, but the p20 Pro gets 60 on the same sim for example).

 

If you want a bigger screen (that is lower quality than you already have) for movies then keep the S7 and spend the £70 on an android tablet, or a small TV. 

[ZXR]

OK, thanks for the advice. 

[SupaKomputa]

There are other option in that price point like Xiaomi Note 6 pro which has snapdragon 636 and 4000 mah battery. The camera is the same as S7.

[Darkseth]

For an "upgrade", you would either need a 2017 or 2018 flaggship device. Even 2018 Midrange phones will NOT be better.

They will come with a more modern 18:9 or 19:9 aspect ratio, but often only 1080p and only LCD screen instead of Oled. Also, often there will be no NFC, no QI Charging, no IP68, less premium feel maybe etc, and of course, worse Camera.

 

If you want an "Upgrade", that actually feels like you made a true Upgrade (and not a sidegrade or even downgrade), look into those phones:

 

- Xiaomi Mi 8 / Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s

- Oneplus 6 / 6T

- Any 2017 Flaggship like Galaxy S8(+), Note 8, Mate 10 Pro, etc. But 2018 flaggships would be better. G7 ThinQ (but no Oled screen), Oneplus 6/6t, Xiaomi Mi8~.

 

My personal opinion: It HAS to be a 2018 flaggship (2 generations newer), in order to be a Upgrade that actually feels like an Upgrade.

2017 Flaggships, like the Galaxy S8, is just 1 Generation newer, and the differences in 1 Generation are always so small, it's not worth upgrading.

 

 

My personal Advice would be:

If you like a more vanilla android experience, get the Oneplus 6t, or the 6 if it's much cheaper and you don't care about the front fingerprint sensor / more battery life / smaller notch. I jumped from S7 Edge to Oneplus 6t. Camera is better, even in low light (funny thing... 6t Camera always choses a MUCH higher Iso, but the Images have much lower Noise than on the s7 Edge), Performance is MUCH higher, Battery Life is better. There are a few compromises, but i can live with that (like not having Qi Charging).

 

If you're open to Xiaomi, and don't dislike MIUI, the Xiaomi Mi 8 is a very great Flaggship without compromises. Very very great Camera, has NFC, Oled screen, performance etc. And it's cheaper than Oneplus. should for for between 300 and 400 €~

 

If you don't need NFC, and you don't care about an Oled screen: Pocophone F1 (check if it has your needed LTE Bands!!). Flaggship performance for Midrange Price.

 

Don't care about Oled screen, and want a solid 2018 Flaggship, and it doesn't need to have the absolute best Camera ever? LG G7 ThinQ. It droped in price a LOT, and is now as cheap as 2017 flaggships.

 

 

But stay away from Midrange phones like Xiaomi Note 5/6, Honor 8x, and these kinds. They might give you a bigger screen, and a more modern Design, but anything else will be a DOWNgrade.

 

Honor 10 with the Kirin 970 CPU, could maybe be a solid cheaper choice. Camera should not be better (it lacks an OIS, so it could even be a small downgrade), but pictures are quite good for the Price, and the design is awesome.

 

Or you wait untill mid 2019, and see what comes there, and save up more, for a HUGE upgrade.

 

7 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

There are other option in that price point like Xiaomi Note 6 pro which has snapdragon 636 and 4000 mah battery. The camera is the same as S7.

Do you have any Source about which sensor is included?

This is NOT the same Camera. The "same" part is the amount of Pixels. And this is no indicator about image quality. Xiaomi hs a f/1.9 aperture, S7 has a wider f/1.7.

Also, Xiaomi does not have an OIS.

-> Note 6 has a worse camera than S7.

 

Performance will also be much slower, worse Display etc. it's still a downgrade, just like the Honor 8.

[SupaKomputa]

11 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

Do you have any Source about which sensor is included?

This is NOT the same Camera. The "same" part is the amount of Pixels. And this is no indicator about image quality. Xiaomi hs a f/1.9 aperture, S7 has a wider f/1.7.

Also, Xiaomi does not have an OIS.

-> Note 6 has a worse camera than S7.

Same sensor not same camera, Redmi note 6 pro (S5K2L7) - S7 (S5K2L1)

Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_CMOS

 

About the word "upgrade" maybe OP means is an upgrade to the S7 price point, or should i say "update".

Mainstream class phone processors today is the same or better than flagship 3 years ago in terms of performance.

Other than missing extra features, the performance of middle range phones are very acceptable.

screen : 1080p is just enough, i used to own 2k phone (g3), i really can't see the difference going back to 1080p. The LCD quality on these cheap phones are just amazing.

NFC & Qi : if you don't use it a lot, no need. Yes only flagship used NFC & Wireless charging.

Camera : it is subjective, but cheaper phones really closing the gap. they take wonderful pictures.

Waterproofing : how many times you dunked your phone into water?

 

I say if you don't need NFC, wireless charging, waterproofing and all that bells and whistles, but need a new phones with just good enough performance, i say mid range phones is a great option.

[Darkseth]

1080p IS 2k  And modern 1080p+ Screens are even above 2k (sorry lol)

 

Some people actually can see the difference, when it's Oled. Because on Oled, one Pixel has only 2 Subpixels instead of 3, so an 1080p Oled screen with 401 ppi, has in reality, LESS ppi.

It is possible to see the difference. The question is more, if it bothers you. My 6t has 1080p Oled, and sharpness is just fine.

 

 

Sensor is still not the same, but probably similar. still, it also depends on the lenses, if an OIS is there, and mostly the camera software too.

That's why sony smartphones were not really good with pictures, even if all Sensors came from them. Their Software processing was just bad.

 

So, even if the sensors could be very similar, the image results in the end could differ alot.

 

Water proofing: i spilled coke over my S7 Edge, 2 weeks after i got it. I could simply wash it with tap water, dry it.

This "Feature" isn't for some diving actions in the ocean, it's for emergencies.

Same argument can be used against any type of Cases, tempered Glas etc. Why do anyone need that? Don't drop your phone, and it doesn't break. stuff like that can happen ^^

 

Wireless Charging: I think it's way more inconvenient than with cable. And much slower, it's just annoying. But maybe that's becauseof my setup. My 6t charges so fast with only 20w, that Qi charging is irrelevant for me.

But other people could have a convenient Qi setup on their Desk.

 

For many, it's nice to have those things, and not need it, than need it but not have it.

 

And for the performance: Depends on the person. For me, any type of 2016 Flaggship or 2018 Midrange wouldn't have enough Performance for my personal taste as a "Poweruser", who hates every moment of wait time for anything.

And "upgrade" is not, when performance gets lower.

 

I don't really want to blindly  recommend an Entry level phone for him, and then have him complain, why it's slower than his S7 was before ^^ Maybe it doesn't matter for him, then he can go for it. But i think it should be clear before he makes a purchase.

 

 

But for anything more, i think we need @Zeddex to tell us, which features / points are important for him,and which are not.

[ZXR]

I think im gonnna go with the honor 10. It has a better design and screen (which are top priority), it is much faster with a kirin 970, the camera is better, and it has facial recognition. Anyone have any expirience with the honor 10? The honor play is also an option with an even bigger screen with the same cpu.

[Darkseth]

Honor play and Honor 10 are similar.

 

But the Honor 10 will definitely have a much better Camera.