Shopping for a new phone

[SMR]

Hey guys,

 

One of my friend bought a Zenphone 2 Laser recently and it kind of shook my feelings about getting a new phone...

 

I have a Nexus 4 now, and I WILL stick to android. I run Cyanogen 12.1 as for now, will update to 13 when the release version is out. I wan't to stay in the 300$ USD (ish) price range (400$ CAD ).

 

A couple of time ago i would have gone for the high end CPU models. But practically, I found myself cursing about the nexus 4 camera soooooooo bad...

 

I hike a lot, spend a lot of time outdoors, so camera quality is my #1 priority I guess (It hurt saying that...). I also need a SD expansion slot for my music, the phone will also replace this shit load of crap that my Fiio X1 is.

 

My choice is basically a Zenphone 2 for now... But Asus phones tend to come with a load of crap software and not so up to date android versions. That is the only drawback I can see.

 

I hate to say that but if I could have a camera experience close to the iPhone I would be satisfied. (I don't know why but you can take like 20 photos with this thing in the time my N4 takes 1 (ish) )

 

So what do you guru's of smartphones recommend ? 

 

Thank you. 

 

[VerticalDiscussions]

SMR, you sure you dont wanna wait? MWC is currently ongoing, and if i were you, id wait until the 25th of February, before making a bold decision. Oppo, Xiaomi and other cost toughful companies are still not showing up theyr goodies, and there are already good phones being shown, at sub 300$, presumable Acers 4 lineup. Also, Sonys X line, looks promising. By March, there will be plenty of options to buy, from S7, S7 Edge and what else, but who knows if there wont be new budget phones that you could like.

[SMR]

2 minutes ago, VerticalDiscussions said:

SMR, you sure you dont wanna wait? MWC is currently ongoing, and if i were you, id wait until the 25th of February, before making a bold decision. Oppo, Xiaomi and other cost toughful companies are still not showing up theyr goodies, and there are already good phones being shown, at sub 300$, presumable Acers 4 lineup. Also, Sonys X line, looks promising. By March, there will be plenty of options to buy, from S7, S7 Edge and what else, but who knows if there wont be new budget phones that you could like.

Yeah sure I can wait  A month or two, even maybe three, why not !

 

I had no idea new things were about to come out.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Ye, you should follow Pocketnow and Android Authority to get updated as fast as possible, on new mobile phones. So far, the most "revolutionary" phone has been the LG G5, with its modularity. The HP Elite X3, is a friggin beast of a Windows Phone. The S7 is an S6, with S5 features, so not so surprising or interesting, if you already had such a phone. Also, regarding Samsung, there are plenty of deals, for getting an S6, especially now i believe, for under 300€. Cant you find one where you live, that offers it in such a price range?

[Starelementpoke]

Oneplus2 or one plus x maybe?

[SMR]

6 minutes ago, VerticalDiscussions said:

Ye, you should follow Pocketnow and Android Authority to get updated as fast as possible, on new mobile phones. So far, the most "revolutionary" phone has been the LG G5, with its modularity. The HP Elite X3, is a friggin beast of a Windows Phone. The S7 is an S6, with S5 features, so not so surprising or interesting, if you already had such a phone. Also, regarding Samsung, there are plenty of deals, for getting an S6, especially now i believe, for under 300€. Cant you find one where you live, that offers it in such a price range?

I sure will follow this ! Concerning Samsung, I must say that I am not a fan, at all.. Majority of my friends who had them got horrible experience with them, so I will try to stay away from them for now, but I'm not totally closed to them, if they offer something very good, I might change my mind.

[SMR]

1 minute ago, Starelementpoke said:

Oneplus2 or one plus x maybe?

I know them by name only. Saw a lot of topic on this forum of people who doesn't like them but I never took the time to seek why. I'll also look them up. Thank you

[SMR]

On 22/2/2016 at 3:26 PM, VerticalDiscussions said:

SMR, you sure you dont wanna wait? MWC is currently ongoing, and if i were you, id wait until the 25th of February, before making a bold decision. Oppo, Xiaomi and other cost toughful companies are still not showing up theyr goodies, and there are already good phones being shown, at sub 300$, presumable Acers 4 lineup. Also, Sonys X line, looks promising. By March, there will be plenty of options to buy, from S7, S7 Edge and what else, but who knows if there wont be new budget phones that you could like.

General bump here, anything nice showed up during mwc at the price point i'm interested in ?

 

[VerticalDiscussions]

1 hour ago, SMR said:

-snip-

The Xiaomi Mi5 32Gb only (because 64/128Gb surpass the mark 400$ easily), possibly Acer Liquid Jade 2 will be under 300$ or about, pretty much anything else is just underspeced and not worth it or way over 450$. The yet unanounced HTC M10 will probably be too expensive aswell.. since they need a miracle of a phone to get any profit.

[ciprian97pop]

what about the lg g4? it's now costing about $300-$400. Still has one of the best cameras on a phone, great performance, decent battery life and microsd expansion

[SMR]

2 minutes ago, ciprian97pop said:

what about the lg g4? it's now costing about $300-$400. Still has one of the best cameras on a phone, great performance, decent battery life and microsd expansion

I would love this phone, but I can't seem to be able to find it at this price point.

[RTarson]

How about a OnePlus X, I'm using a Galaxy Note5 but might get this as a secondary. Only cost $249 USD

 

[ciprian97pop]

3 minutes ago, SMR said:

I would love this phone, but I can't seem to be able to find it at this price point.

what about the huawei p8/p8 lite?

my sister has a p8 lite and she likes it very much

[SMR]

 

48 minutes ago, RTarson said:

How about a OnePlus X, I'm using a Galaxy Note5 but might get this as a secondary. Only cost $249 USD

 

46 minutes ago, ciprian97pop said:

what about the huawei p8/p8 lite?

my sister has a p8 lite and she likes it very much

 

Ok both have SD card, do they have the best rear camera I can have for that price ?

[RTarson]

5 hours ago, SMR said:

 

 

 

Ok both have SD card, do they have the best rear camera I can have for that price ?

OMG yes, check out OnePlus One Day One Photo. They feature photos from there phones. Honest with Samsung or Apple and OnePlus it like VolksWagon and Mercedes both built well and have same Specs but your just paying for the name.

[RTarson]

5 hours ago, SMR said:

 

 

 

Ok both have SD card, do they have the best rear camera I can have for that price ?

Also $400- is the humane price for a phone. My Note5 64GB came out to be $900+ after tax

[ciprian97pop]

5 hours ago, SMR said:

 

 

 

Ok both have SD card, do they have the best rear camera I can have for that price ?

yep, both the p8 and p8 lite have very good cameras for their price ranges . no wonder why huawei sold millions of them

[SMR]

17 minutes ago, ciprian97pop said:

yep, both the p8 and p8 lite have very good cameras for their price ranges . no wonder why huawei sold millions of them

 

35 minutes ago, RTarson said:

OMG yes, check out OnePlus One Day One Photo. They feature photos from there phones. Honest with Samsung or Apple and OnePlus it like VolksWagon and Mercedes both built well and have same Specs but your just paying for the name.

 

If only the OnePlus 2 had a MicroSD card

 

But i'm narrowing my choices, this is now a battle between LG G4, Huawei P8, OnePlus X and the Asus Zenphone 2.

 

From what I read, the LG seems to beat the other cameras (And other phones in general) , but is more expensive. 

[RTarson]

35 minutes ago, SMR said:

 

 

If only the OnePlus 2 had a MicroSD card

 

But i'm narrowing my choices, this is now a battle between LG G4, Huawei P8, OnePlus X and the Asus Zenphone 2.

 

From what I read, the LG seems to beat the other cameras (And other phones in general) , but is more expensive. 

I'd go with OnePlus X. They have fantastic support. My OnePlus Icons broke they told me to keep them and they sent another pair, It helped alot because I explained to them I don't want to wait 2 months because they were going back to international water. I asked "Can I buy another pair for half off" the guy said hold on, One minute later got a email for a another pair. My item was 3 months old, they over honored the return policy! 

Fantastic company you can not go wrong. I didn't have hands on experience with OnePlus X But I garentee you'll get looks with that phone. It looks like a really nice phone. The OnePlus 2 might have better specs but the back to me is ugly looks like something from Portal 2

[ciprian97pop]

1 hour ago, SMR said:

 

 

If only the OnePlus 2 had a MicroSD card

 

But i'm narrowing my choices, this is now a battle between LG G4, Huawei P8, OnePlus X and the Asus Zenphone 2.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, RTarson said:

 

1 lg g4

2 huawei p8

3 oneplus x

 

having good customer support is a nice thing but there are some other things that count when buying a new phone

the best thing would be not to have to deal with customer support . 

If it fits in your price range, the g4 would be my first choice. because it's a 2015 flagship. it had one of the best displays, better optimized soc's, best cameras on a phone and it still can compete with the 2016 flagships. it's the most powerful on the list and even if you won't feel any difference between these phones in the first weeks/months, after you fill it with apps and photos, belive me that you'll want every extra mhz  . the p8 is also a nice phone. A cpu which scores in benchmarks about as much as a snapdragon 805, nice screen even if only fhd and crazy looks and build quality. the camera is also very good

the oneplus x is not a bad phone, belive me, i was almost going to buy one. it looks very nice, has crazy specs for the price but remember that it was meant to be a budget options. it misses some things like fast charging, nfc, an ir port even if some of these things you will never use it's nice to know that you have them and for them to be able to keep such a low price, they probably didn't used the best binned parts(i've read an article about the oneplus x in which it said that the cpus in these phones are like the "low quality ones" because they are cheaper

[SMR]

13 hours ago, ciprian97pop said:

 

1 lg g4

2 huawei p8

3 oneplus x

 

having good customer support is a nice thing but there are some other things that count when buying a new phone

the best thing would be not to have to deal with customer support . 

If it fits in your price range, the g4 would be my first choice. because it's a 2015 flagship. it had one of the best displays, better optimized soc's, best cameras on a phone and it still can compete with the 2016 flagships. it's the most powerful on the list and even if you won't feel any difference between these phones in the first weeks/months, after you fill it with apps and photos, belive me that you'll want every extra mhz  . the p8 is also a nice phone. A cpu which scores in benchmarks about as much as a snapdragon 805, nice screen even if only fhd and crazy looks and build quality. the camera is also very good

the oneplus x is not a bad phone, belive me, i was almost going to buy one. it looks very nice, has crazy specs for the price but remember that it was meant to be a budget options. it misses some things like fast charging, nfc, an ir port even if some of these things you will never use it's nice to know that you have them and for them to be able to keep such a low price, they probably didn't used the best binned parts(i've read an article about the oneplus x in which it said that the cpus in these phones are like the "low quality ones" because they are cheaper

 

Yeah customer support is a great thing to have. But not having to deal with them is the best thing to have 

 

The G4 is my first choice, with the P8 and the X equals in second.

 

As far as accessories goes, I guess the G4 also wins ? I remember when i first got my Nexus 4, it was hard to find cases for it, still to this day. I have a very robust case for my N4 and I will try to get one for my next phone.

 

Oh and also, where do you guys buy your phones ? Amazon ?

[ciprian97pop]

3 hours ago, SMR said:

 

Yeah customer support is a great thing to have. But not having to deal with them is the best thing to have 

 

The G4 is my first choice, with the P8 and the X equals in second.

 

As far as accessories goes, I guess the G4 also wins ? I remember when i first got my Nexus 4, it was hard to find cases for it, still to this day. I have a very robust case for my N4 and I will try to get one for my next phone.

 

Oh and also, where do you guys buy your phones ? Amazon ?

i got mine(about a month ago-galaxy s6-) from a site like craigslist. it was sold by someone who regularly buys and sells phones in my area. the phone was bought from a carrier a week before i got it and it was still sealed in it's box. and it was about $200 cheaper than getting it from a normal shop

[SMR]

3 hours ago, ciprian97pop said:

i got mine(about a month ago-galaxy s6-) from a site like craigslist. it was sold by someone who regularly buys and sells phones in my area. the phone was bought from a carrier a week before i got it and it was still sealed in it's box. and it was about $200 cheaper than getting it from a normal shop

I'll take a look though I would prefer to get it new with a warranty. But I might be lucky, craiglist is not really used in my region, we have a local equivalent and not a lot of poeple sell phones on that thing.

[ciprian97pop]

23 minutes ago, SMR said:

I'll take a look though I would prefer to get it new with a warranty. But I might be lucky, craiglist is not really used in my region, we have a local equivalent and not a lot of poeple sell phones on that thing.

yeah, i'd suggest that from wherever you're gonna get your phone, get it with some kind of warranty. i was very lucky to get mine with the normal 2 year warranty given by the carrier

[SMR]

45 minutes ago, ciprian97pop said:

yeah, i'd suggest that from wherever you're gonna get your phone, get it with some kind of warranty. i was very lucky to get mine with the normal 2 year warranty given by the carrier

Yeah I wan't a warranty. 

 

The cheapest I saw on amazon.ca was 559$ CAD (~415$ USD). This is still quite expensive.