Topic: Mobile Phone Recommendations

This can be a general thread for mobile phone discussion but I would like to start it off with an experience and an inquiry...

So I have finally decided to buy a new phone after having a Nokia 5.3 for two years. I hate my current phone. On paper, the specs are good for the price but it just does dumb stuff and affects every day usage...

These days the GPS cuts out while using Google Maps as a sat nav. Rebooting the phone is the only way to fix it. Not ideal while driving.

I've had a 4g become inoperable a few times lately.

Battery life went from 2 days to less than a day in the space of 2 years.

I've had a few times where the phone just gets stuck in an endless cycle of rebooting itself for no reason.

The biometric sensor will do the "swipe down" gesture if it's even remotely dirty making the phone unusable because I just get the quick settings all over my screen.

Things it used to do include showing this weird lined texture on the screen, it seems to do that a lot less now. There was something else super annoying too, playing WhatsApp voice messages would make the screen go black and play it out of the ear speaker instead of the loud speaker. I just stopped playing them in the end.

I am a bit put off buying another Nokia after the 5.3 fiasco which I'm gutted about because I absolutely loved my previous Nokia which was a Nokia 5.

Ok that's basically it lol but now I don't know what to buy. I really just want a phone that doesn't have these stupid idiosyncrasies that waste my time on a daily basis.

I am looking at that Samsung A13 because it's £130 in Argos at the moment. Specs are comparable to my current phone. Not sure if it's worth it. I've just realised I've been looking at reviews for an A13 5G and not an A13...

Has anyone else got that phone? Do people have any other phones they recommend that are sort of around the 100-150 pound mark?

I want something comparable or better than my current phone which has 4gb RAM, 64gb ROM and a 2ghz 8 core processor and cost me about £130 in 2020. Just without all the grief my current phone has given and preferably without tons of bloatware that I can't get rid of.

I'm also considering some Motorolas but I'm not sure.

Just want to gather some first hand experiences of phones that have been used for a long time rather than hasty and possibly sponsored YouTube reviews that I used to choose my last phone (as well as the brand loyalty that guided my decision)

It's mainly just the jank I don't want. I want to be able to use my phone without it having a "knack" to it or me having to do weird stuff to get it to work as it should.

I mainly use it for surfing the web, playing games including the occasional cloud session, sat nav, watching YouTube at night to help me sleep, editing documents, editing photos etc.

Oh yeah I need a working alarm clock. I had one phone about 7 years ago (a HTC) that would crash in the middle of the night and not wake me up in the morning 🤦‍♂️

Would really appreciate people's thoughts on this and to hear their experiences!

If anyone is interested, I held out for a while and just ordered an Oppo Reno 7 for £165 from Argos.

It's got 8gb RAM and 128gb storage which is double my current phone but the snapdragon 1.9/2.4ghz 8 core processor is little better.

Looks ok, obviously a Chinese brand but I'm willing to give it a try. A bit sad I don't want to choose Nokia again after its descent from smartphone royalty (the Nokia 5) to smartphone peasantry (the Nokia 5.3). Just glad to finally move on from this device and I hope this Oppo serves me better.

It's still only 4G but it seems you trade off 5G for better specs. There's an 180 quid Oppo at Argos that's 5g but only has 6gb of ram.

Somewhat concerned about its modified Android called ColorOS. I'd think it would slow the phone down but I watched a review that showed it had the ability to have two apps open on screen at once which is good. That's something that stock Android seemed to remove between my Nokia 5 and my Nokia 5.3. I assumed because Google wanted people to stump up for YouTube premium

Looks like it comes with a case but I've decided to take a punt on a "hydrogel" screen protector. Never heard of it before but it looks quite good and might actually not get totally smashed within days like all my tempered glass screen protectors seem to do

I ordered an i-phone the other day as I wanted the PlayStation themed Backbone. The phone came around two weeks ago and the Backbone about 10 days ago… yet their both still boxed and I’m still using my Samsung-whatever-it’s-called. I don’t know if I’ve been far too busy to actually switch everything over or if I’m just plain lazy… probably a bit of both… as paradoxical as that sounds.

@colonelkilgore fair play to ya! I was almost considering going over to the dark side after being with Android for so many years. I think it might have ended up being too much work though and cost of entry was a little bit higher than I wanted to spend.

Best of luck with the iPhone! I hope everything transfers over easy with minimal fuss!!

I just ordered a Vfone N10 of Amazon cheap as chips but does what i need it to...I did have my eye on the Motorola Moto E30 because of the USB Type-C I am not sure if the Vfone has USB Type-C..good choice on the Oppo Reno 7 plenty of ram big battery and decent Camera.......I got this phone because it's my 1st ever but I am aware of the issues of Nokia.

The samsung galaxy a53 has some decent specs.
Amoled, 120hz display, "2 day" battery life, 6GB ram, 128GB storage(upgradable to 1TB via micro sd), cameras are decent. I think boost mobile has an unlocked version for $150.

@PhhhCough I do like my Samsung phones. I went with Huawei one time before they were caught being dodgy, and it felt good to be back with a Samsung.

oh my god , a nokia ?!? 🤮🤮 gramps you gotta do better , get you an iphone ! the 14 drops soon but even the iphones going as far back as 10 are still good , and there’s also the “SE” models that are affordable like how a series S is to an X . An apple a day keeps the green bug away (i know , cringe) , join Apple master race ! an iphone will have women flocking to you . 😁👍

best of all , iphones are simple to use & very accessible , forgot to mention that . they’re limited to what an android is capable of , with more freedom beyond being locked within apples rules , for example .

Looks pretty impressive.

@WanderingBullet That is an impressive mobile phone advert.