New Phone Recommendations

[Egg-Roll]

Not sure if I should trust Honor and Huawei, not for the news related reasons but consequences that could happen if the bs keeps up, plus last time I used one of their devices the glass broke too easy. Tho the Honor X8 looks really really nice 

Sadly no removable batteries based on GSM arena... My current phone is a LG Stylo 3+

 

Things I'm looking for:

1. 4GB+ Ram (3gb is fine, but I want 4)
2. NFC (IS A MUST, I hate pulling my card out)
3. Fingerprint sensor
4. under $500 CAD, all in
5. expandable memory (or something stupidly high in gb)
6. Stylus preferably but not needed.
7. OLED, not needed but would like for battery saving reasons.

 

Things I'm not looking for:

1. Auto 9-1-1 input in my emergency call function... Seriously it's good in emergency situations but butt dialing them isn't. (has happened once to me)
2. Apple
3. Sammy (tho willing to try them again if no choice)
4. The Notch

 

Things I do on my phone:

1. Pokemon Go
2. 100+ chrome tabs 

 

I can get a LG G6 for around $300 CAD new (I think), V30 around $350. Willing to buy last years model if new on ebay.

[Commodus]

An LG V30 wouldn't be a bad buy (the G6 feels too old to me).  If not that and you need something brand new... the higher-end Moto G6 configuration?  I'd just be careful, since Mobile World Congress is due in late February and you might see announcements of a Moto G7 or other devices that might float your boat.  That and they might help lower the price of existing handsets like the LG G7.

[dizmo]

Your pretty restricted in options. I think your best bet is likely to wait a month for MWC and see if anything comes out that catches your eye, or consider upping your budget a bit. What's your reason for hating Samsung? They're honestly going to be your best bet, with the A8 being the phone I'd likely go for with that budget. You can also find S8s for that price as well.

[Egg-Roll]

5 hours ago, dizmo said:

Your pretty restricted in options. I think your best bet is likely to wait a month for MWC and see if anything comes out that catches your eye, or consider upping your budget a bit. What's your reason for hating Samsung? They're honestly going to be your best bet, with the A8 being the phone I'd likely go for with that budget. You can also find S8s for that price as well.

Has anyone announced anything after that event? I couldn't find anything, maybe Samsung but neither Moto or LG announced their units right after that I could find. Which actually makes sense because they want you to buy the newest available device instead of waiting for 2-3 months to benefit their quarterly.

 

I can't up my budget due to financial restrictions unless something changes, plus I'm against spending more than $500 for a phone, my Stylo 3 cost less than $450 with a case. To me it's stupid for 99% of people including for my own abnormal uses to over spend, that and the battery will likely be like my current phones in a years time anyways.

The reason why I don't like Sammy is mostly due to bad history with them starting with someones S3 (should say multiples, they must have had 3 replacements) along with my S4 frying up within a few months, then there is the Note 7 issue. I trust their other divisions just not cellular (Yet don't own any because LG and others keeps beating them for price). I did look at the A8 but the price locally is absurd, to buy online is around the same price as a new V30.

 

If we didn't have the political BS surrounding us right now I would go and buy either a Huawei or Mi series which could be had within budget, but I don't trust China if events (based on the news) keeps going the way they are. Tho I still might, as some of the offerings are mighty tempting, just disable everything possible I don't want/like.

 

7 hours ago, Commodus said:

An LG V30 wouldn't be a bad buy (the G6 feels too old to me).  If not that and you need something brand new... the higher-end Moto G6 configuration?  I'd just be careful, since Mobile World Congress is due in late February and you might see announcements of a Moto G7 or other devices that might float your boat.  That and they might help lower the price of existing handsets like the LG G7.

Based on the rumors on GSM arena I am not holding my breath for Moto G7. The Moto G6 has a slightly better gpu than my current phone and is lcd, which I guess has the benefit of no burn in, but at the same time it feels like stepping backwards.

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, Egg-Roll said:

Based on the rumors on GSM arena I am not holding my breath for Moto G7. The Moto G6 has a slightly better gpu than my current phone and is lcd, which I guess has the benefit of no burn in, but at the same time it feels like stepping backwards.

I look at it this way: OLED is great, but it's not always a battery-saver.  It depends on the exact technology, the screen resolution, that sort of thing.  For example: the iPhone XR has the best battery life of the newest iPhones even though it's the only one of the three with an LCD, and despite the XS Max being larger.  It's that 858p resolution and efficiencies in the LCD.

[Zusafek]

Personally I love my Moto Force Z2. Great battery life especially with the Moto mod battery on it, 64 gigs of storage built in with expandable memory slot, non glass screen, and it was rather inexpensive. I picked mine up brand new for 250 USD before Thanksgiving last year. I can play Pokemon Go all day without needing to charge my phone. Plus with the Moto mod battery it charges at 30 amps. 

[Egg-Roll]

29 minutes ago, Commodus said:

I look at it this way: OLED is great, but it's not always a battery-saver.  It depends on the exact technology, the screen resolution, that sort of thing.  For example: the iPhone XR has the best battery life of the newest iPhones even though it's the only one of the three with an LCD, and despite the XS Max being larger.  It's that 858p resolution and efficiencies in the LCD.

True, the one thing I liked about the OLED on the A5 I've used is it doesn't need to be on the brightest setting, but since most phones I'm seeing within the price range are all around the same screen size and density the difference should come down to panel tech more than anything. Tho to be fair towards my phone I have reading mode on 24/7 and turning it off actually makes the screen become too bright.

 

I found this on Amazon just now (because Amazons unlocked phones section is a complete shit show), it claims to be compatible with B4 LTE yet no site shows this.

https://www.amazon.ca/Huawei-Honor-Factory-Unlocked-Smartphone/dp/B07L4WRXXT/

For $320~ I get it tomorrow kind of deal (not buying it for at least another week regardless), it's about $100 overpriced compared to sleeping for a month so it can arrive.

 

1 hour ago, Zusafek said:

Personally I love my Moto Force Z2. Great battery life especially with the Moto mod battery on it, 64 gigs of storage built in with expandable memory slot, non glass screen, and it was rather inexpensive. I picked mine up brand new for 250 USD before Thanksgiving last year. I can play Pokemon Go all day without needing to charge my phone. Plus with the Moto mod battery it charges at 30 amps. 

That comes with the mod and in 1-3 days, ebay is about $30 cheaper (or about same price with cheapest shipping from amazon) for a phone that is quickly approaching 2 years (plus I already have 2 10,000mah battery backups). I looked at it, along with the Sony XA2 Ultra which can be shipped from the USA for less I think than buying in Canada. However for Basically the same price I get the V30, truth be told I find Moto falling behind in quality and I think my G 2nd gen will be my last Moto, do like the "unbreakable" OLED however.

 

That and I just found this (seriously Amazon is a mess) for less with a better processor and equal battery.

https://www.amazon.ca/Xiaomi-Mi-Max-64GB-Snapdragon/dp/B07FQJ3MYF Tho if you need a good laugh read the Q&A and pray for humanity...

 

However when ready to buy I'll buy what's likely cheapest, so if the prices drop for anything including the Moto I might go with it, because they all look like they will function at around the same speed regardless age of the model. If only the Lite versions had NFC from those 2 companies...

[dizmo]

6 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

Has anyone announced anything after that event? I couldn't find anything, maybe Samsung but neither Moto or LG announced their units right after that I could find. Which actually makes sense because they want you to buy the newest available device instead of waiting for 2-3 months to benefit their quarterly.

 

I can't up my budget due to financial restrictions unless something changes, plus I'm against spending more than $500 for a phone, my Stylo 3 cost less than $450 with a case. To me it's stupid for 99% of people including for my own abnormal uses to over spend, that and the battery will likely be like my current phones in a years time anyways.

The reason why I don't like Sammy is mostly due to bad history with them starting with someones S3 (should say multiples, they must have had 3 replacements) along with my S4 frying up within a few months, then there is the Note 7 issue. I trust their other divisions just not cellular (Yet don't own any because LG and others keeps beating them for price). I did look at the A8 but the price locally is absurd, to buy online is around the same price as a new V30.

 

If we didn't have the political BS surrounding us right now I would go and buy either a Huawei or Mi series which could be had within budget, but I don't trust China if events (based on the news) keeps going the way they are. Tho I still might, as some of the offerings are mighty tempting, just disable everything possible I don't want/like..

It hasn't happened yet. It's next month. Pretty much everyone releases new phones at or around MWC.

 

Overspending is down to the person though, really. Some use their phones so much and it's such an integral part of their life that spending more for a better quality device just makes sense. It's fine to say that you don't want to overspend, but don't put that label on everyone else.

 

Eh, everyone has missteps. I've used their phones and not had a single issue, nothing but good things. However I find LG to be downright shit, with the horrible G3, and the failing battery life on most of their devices. *shrug*

 

The Huawei risk isn't political. It's very real, and anyone who says it's political hasn't spent any time actually looking into the complications of using their infrastructure.

 

I see you selected the Mi Max 3, make sure it supports the bands for your carrier....and know that you'll be carrying around something the size of a tablet.

4 hours ago, Commodus said:

I look at it this way: OLED is great, but it's not always a battery-saver.  It depends on the exact technology, the screen resolution, that sort of thing.  For example: the iPhone XR has the best battery life of the newest iPhones even though it's the only one of the three with an LCD, and despite the XS Max being larger.  It's that 858p resolution and efficiencies in the LCD.

Ehhh. Not really. In testing the iPhone XS Max gets about the same (basically a rounding error in testing) as the XR...yet it has a significantly larger screen, and not that much larger of a battery.

[Egg-Roll]

10 hours ago, dizmo said:

Eh, everyone has missteps. I've used their phones and not had a single issue, nothing but good things. However I find LG to be downright shit, with the horrible G3, and the failing battery life on most of their devices. *shrug*

 

The Huawei risk isn't political. It's very real, and anyone who says it's political hasn't spent any time actually looking into the complications of using their infrastructure.

Yea, but when every phone you have used ended in failure or hatred? Said person with the S3 was stuck in a contract weirdly enough they got into another contract with the A5 which afaik has worked better than anything else from Sammy, someone else went LG after issues with their Sammys too tho they never told me what so it could be personal pet peeves more than issues. My Stylo 2+ still has good battery life, its fingerprint sensor was pure garbage and couldn't tolerate it anymore, plus the stylus broke, my stylo 3+ it's mostly battery everything else prob can be fixed via factory reset.

 

What risk tho? The fact that them and every other Chinese company has to work with the Government, well they don't but it would be in their own best interests too. That said since something like 90% of our electronics are shipped from China who says they don't create a new firmware on your next wireless router from ASUS or some other company you trust because the manufacturing plant was told by the Chinese government to do so w/o ASUS's (or others knowledge)? Even if said place is owned and operated by said company the tech(s) on premise could be told/requested and protected by the government to put such firmware into the production line w/o the companies knowledge and no one would be the wiser since it displays the same version number yet it would secretly ship off all your personal data encrypted or not it doesn't matter they have it now.

 

https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/26/is-huawei-a-national-security-threat/

That said I still am not sure if I should trust them or not since all the issues have raised, but that said it could go the same way with any Chinese company.

 

11 hours ago, dizmo said:

I see you selected the Mi Max 3, make sure it supports the bands for your carrier....and know that you'll be carrying around something the size of a tablet.

It supports the one that matters the most (band 4 for lte), it's the actual size I missed that makes it likely not to be gotten since it won't fit in my pocket, thanks for pointing that out to me.

[dizmo]

22 minutes ago, Egg-Roll said:

Yea, but when every phone you have used ended in failure or hatred? Said person with the S3 was stuck in a contract weirdly enough they got into another contract with the A5 which afaik has worked better than anything else from Sammy, someone else went LG after issues with their Sammys too tho they never told me what so it could be personal pet peeves more than issues. My Stylo 2+ still has good battery life, its fingerprint sensor was pure garbage and couldn't tolerate it anymore, plus the stylus broke, my stylo 3+ it's mostly battery everything else prob can be fixed via factory reset.

 

What risk tho? The fact that them and every other Chinese company has to work with the Government, well they don't but it would be in their own best interests too. That said since something like 90% of our electronics are shipped from China who says they don't create a new firmware on your next wireless router from ASUS or some other company you trust because the manufacturing plant was told by the Chinese government to do so w/o ASUS's (or others knowledge)? Even if said place is owned and operated by said company the tech(s) on premise could be told/requested and protected by the government to put such firmware into the production line w/o the companies knowledge and no one would be the wiser since it displays the same version number yet it would secretly ship off all your personal data encrypted or not it doesn't matter they have it now.

 

https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/26/is-huawei-a-national-security-threat/

That said I still am not sure if I should trust them or not since all the issues have raised, but that said it could go the same way with any Chinese company.

 

It supports the one that matters the most (band 4 for lte), it's the actual size I missed that makes it likely not to be gotten since it won't fit in my pocket, thanks for pointing that out to me.

Yeah. I mean I get where you're coming from, it's the same reason I will never again use MSI motherboards, and am leery of Sony product. But sometimes it's worth giving them a second chance. Though if you just genuinely have shit luck, might be worth making sure you get one with a warranty. Since you're willing to use lower end devices, there is quite a bit more open to you.

 

The problem is that 5G captures significantly more data than 4G did (I don't know the specifics, but there's much more to be gained from it), and any Chinese company is basically at the behest of the Chinese government; if the government asks for something, they simply hand it over instead of fighting for it, because they don't have the same rights and protections say a US or EU company would. Granted this is more for government and it's personnel than most end users, as the end user is unlikely to be affected or singled out. But that's why they don't want Huawei infrastructure in place; it captures everything.

 

Haha, yea. When I saw you considering that, and the other phones you were looking at, it seemed a bit off. I'm considering buying a Mi Max 3...but I'll be using it at home as a tablet replacement.

 

 

[Egg-Roll]

3 hours ago, dizmo said:

Yeah. I mean I get where you're coming from, it's the same reason I will never again use MSI motherboards, and am leery of Sony product. But sometimes it's worth giving them a second chance. Though if you just genuinely have shit luck, might be worth making sure you get one with a warranty. Since you're willing to use lower end devices, there is quite a bit more open to you.

 

The problem is that 5G captures significantly more data than 4G did (I don't know the specifics, but there's much more to be gained from it), and any Chinese company is basically at the behest of the Chinese government; if the government asks for something, they simply hand it over instead of fighting for it, because they don't have the same rights and protections say a US or EU company would. Granted this is more for government and it's personnel than most end users, as the end user is unlikely to be affected or singled out. But that's why they don't want Huawei infrastructure in place; it captures everything.

 

Haha, yea. When I saw you considering that, and the other phones you were looking at, it seemed a bit off. I'm considering buying a Mi Max 3...but I'll be using it at home as a tablet replacement.

 

 

My last Huawei product I think the screen broke, beyond that it worked fine. If I was to buy another Sammy it would have a warranty unless I can get it dirt cheap. That said I also never have used warranty services due to headaches, to me it's easier to boycott the company and buy elsewhere than trying to deal with their customer support and wait 1-2 weeks for a product to come back. So I guess if I do get another Sammy warranty won't really matter. The J6 has a similar screen size and 4gb of ram, can be gotten for around $250 CAD so it's a option. The only problem is really the CPU it is in some processes weaker than the Kirin 710 in the 8x, however that is theoretical. The J8 feels like a joke with it's Snap 450.

 

Yea, I agree with the 5G stuff, I don't think I trust them that much to allow a whole network infrastructure to be made that could be used for 15+ years, however I have a hard time believing that Huawei or the Chinese Government will go out of their way to do anything to us as individuals because there is almost no meaning to it. What could the Chinese government do with information about say a 65 year old retired physicist that made $65,000 /yr now living in Long Beach being a creeper? Next to being creepers of those that person creeped on that is assuming they took pictures  That's why I have my doubts a phone will be likely used against us as a whole unless it is used to attack via DDoS, they could kill all the phones to attempt disrupting communication, but if no government officials use their equipment it really is useless next to destroying a already weak market share over here.

 

I also just noticed I was looking for the Mi Mix not the Mi Max... Max has no NFC sadly.

[dizmo]

3 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

My last Huawei product I think the screen broke, beyond that it worked fine. If I was to buy another Sammy it would have a warranty unless I can get it dirt cheap. That said I also never have used warranty services due to headaches, to me it's easier to boycott the company and buy elsewhere than trying to deal with their customer support and wait 1-2 weeks for a product to come back. So I guess if I do get another Sammy warranty won't really matter. The J6 has a similar screen size and 4gb of ram, can be gotten for around $250 CAD so it's a option. The only problem is really the CPU it is in some processes weaker than the Kirin 710 in the 8x, however that is theoretical. The J8 feels like a joke with it's Snap 450.

 

Yea, I agree with the 5G stuff, I don't think I trust them that much to allow a whole network infrastructure to be made that could be used for 15+ years, however I have a hard time believing that Huawei or the Chinese Government will go out of their way to do anything to us as individuals because there is almost no meaning to it. What could the Chinese government do with information about say a 65 year old retired physicist that made $65,000 /yr now living in Long Beach being a creeper? Next to being creepers of those that person creeped on that is assuming they took pictures  That's why I have my doubts a phone will be likely used against us as a whole unless it is used to attack via DDoS, they could kill all the phones to attempt disrupting communication, but if no government officials use their equipment it really is useless next to destroying a already weak market share over here.

 

I also just noticed I was looking for the Mi Mix not the Mi Max... Max has no NFC sadly.

The J series is slated to be replaced by the M series...so really, you're comparing their old models to Huawei's new. Not really a fair comparison.

If you can afford another $70 you can pick up a OnePlus 6. Just make it so the notch isn't visible.

The Sony XZ2 Compact or XZ1 are also both $550 and $500 respectively.

 

It's not the single old person you have to worry about, though. It's the infrastructure that's the problem, and that's wide reaching. They'll likely still harvest data though, as has been shown time and time again by Chinese companies.

[Egg-Roll]

6 hours ago, dizmo said:

The J series is slated to be replaced by the M series...so really, you're comparing their old models to Huawei's new. Not really a fair comparison.

If you can afford another $70 you can pick up a OnePlus 6. Just make it so the notch isn't visible.

The Sony XZ2 Compact or XZ1 are also both $550 and $500 respectively.

 

It's not the single old person you have to worry about, though. It's the infrastructure that's the problem, and that's wide reaching. They'll likely still harvest data though, as has been shown time and time again by Chinese companies.

They where released a vew months apart and if you compared the J6 to J8 and the price difference the J8 is a ripoff based on the J6 alone, tho I think the J6 isn't sold in the Americas threw proper sources. The J6 is more comparable to the Huawei's unit.

Currently oneplus 6 or 5T are unable to be gotten for even $600 w/o taxes and shipping or customs, same with the 2 sony's you mentioned, if you're looking at usd it can't really go higher than 400-425.

 

Yea, but we don't have the information they want really, sure they could take bank information including passwords and such however what is the likelihood of it happening. Also plenty of phones I see have Chinese Roms in them and to me that is as bad as buying a global version of a Huawei unit.

[dizmo]

2 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

They where released a vew months apart and if you compared the J6 to J8 and the price difference the J8 is a ripoff based on the J6 alone, tho I think the J6 isn't sold in the Americas threw proper sources. The J6 is more comparable to the Huawei's unit.

Currently oneplus 6 or 5T are unable to be gotten for even $600 w/o taxes and shipping or customs, same with the 2 sony's you mentioned, if you're looking at usd it can't really go higher than 400-425.

 

Yea, but we don't have the information they want really, sure they could take bank information including passwords and such however what is the likelihood of it happening. Also plenty of phones I see have Chinese Roms in them and to me that is as bad as buying a global version of a Huawei unit.

You can get the OP6 from their website for $569 Canadian.

The Sony phones are available from Swifttronics for the prices I stated. They even have XZ1 Compacts for $400.

 

 

[Egg-Roll]

10 hours ago, dizmo said:

You can get the OP6 from their website for $569 Canadian.

The Sony phones are available from Swifttronics for the prices I stated. They even have XZ1 Compacts for $400.

 

 

Currently out of stock for OP6, well the sale price is out of stock, they have no issues letting you add it to your cart at full retail.

 

I wonder if Pacific Mall has similar pricing on phones, also never knew they existed till now. There is also JP Mobile which is actually cheaper, tho RFD has mixed reviews on them.

[Egg-Roll]

So a tiny update.

I managed to bump into a LG urbane 2 watch for $155 free shipping (CAD) from ebay (located in Canada), so NFC is no longer a issue tho still need to make sure it works.

 

I'm thinking of getting the Xiaomi Mi A2 6GB version, mostly for the 6GB and Android One. The weird thing is tho my phone (threw a app) claims to be on band 5 for lte yet my provider (which is running off of Telus who has B5) claims it only works on band 4, weirder yet is there is a mixed results when double checking lte support for the phone...

 

 

[kokakolia]

On 1/25/2019 at 5:56 PM, Egg-Roll said:

Not sure if I should trust Honor and Huawei, not for the news related reasons but consequences that could happen if the bs keeps up, plus last time I used one of their devices the glass broke too easy. Tho the Honor X8 looks really really nice 

Sadly no removable batteries based on GSM arena... My current phone is a LG Stylo 3+

 

Things I'm looking for:

1. 4GB+ Ram (3gb is fine, but I want 4)
2. NFC (IS A MUST, I hate pulling my card out)
3. Fingerprint sensor
4. under $500 CAD, all in
5. expandable memory (or something stupidly high in gb)
6. Stylus preferably but not needed.
7. OLED, not needed but would like for battery saving reasons.

 

Things I'm not looking for:

1. Auto 9-1-1 input in my emergency call function... Seriously it's good in emergency situations but butt dialing them isn't. (has happened once to me)
2. Apple
3. Sammy (tho willing to try them again if no choice)
4. The Notch

 

Things I do on my phone:

1. Pokemon Go
2. 100+ chrome tabs 

 

I can get a LG G6 for around $300 CAD new (I think), V30 around $350. Willing to buy last years model if new on ebay.

It looks like you can get an LG G7 on Ebay under $500. 

[Egg-Roll]

I've yet to see my phone connect to B4 LTE at all, it exists (both in world and in phone) in fact it is on all 3 closest cell towers, but nope 2,5,7 only... A+ Telus, A+  Guess I really don't need B4 after all.

 

38 minutes ago, kokakolia said:

It looks like you can get an LG G7 on Ebay under $500. 

Several reasons why I won't:

1. Not the one version (which has perfect specs) Only one person is selling it for just over $500 of 2 devices found. Telus wants $875 for it new Ok eBay's search lied to me found several in Canada new for around $500
2. Most G7 specs are a joke for the price asking, to the point it would be better to buy a S8 for $100 more, also it's easy to get screwed by a seller.
3. The ThinQ version new starts around $550, used I refuse to buy because the 8 months it's been out the battery won't last long is they abused it like I would.
4. Shipping from the USA has typically 2 options; 1: eBay customs 2: FedEx customs, if either list price is close to $500 I will easily be looking at nearly $600 possibly more for FedEx.

However I'll take a look at the One version before buying anything as I do trust LG (likely 2 weeks time maybe longer), but I won't buy a used one due to the near impossible battery replacement. It also means loosing out on the extra 2GB RAM (wireless charging isn't really a plus for me, nor are headphone jacks since all mine are BT now).

 

There is also the Umidigi F1 which ships with Pie (and a P60) but... it's a brand I know almost nothing about, and the z2 pro seems to be crap from them.