Willie adie
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
New smartphones
- Thread starter Cowabunga
- Start date
I will soon be in the market for two new phones. One for a friend to update her ancient Android, which will be another medium size, medium price Android. But what or which?
And my old Apple 4S loses its wi-fi functionality more regularly these days, requiring thermal shock treatment to get it to work. Dunking it in a plastic bag of near boiling water, followed by a few hours in the deep freeze used to sort it for a couple of months. However these days it needs doing every week to ten days and it is obviously on the way out.
With this in mind she may be about to inherit my perfectly good and eighteen month old [replaced by new by Apple back then due to battery fault] 5S, which should do her well for another four or five years. But what do I get?
I have in mind the Samsung S3 for my friend. It seems like a good phone with good camera for about £250. Are there better alternatives for that price or less?
As for iPhone, I would like the iPhone X, but like doesn't get. It is a ridiculous price and if I used its camera and other features fully, the 256GB storage would make sense. Either version at £1000+ is however out of the question. Its just ridiculous.
The sensible answer is the iPhone SE, which is a revised version of my 5S with double the storage, but I do fancy a change after long term use of 4S and then 5S, which have identical bodies to the SE.
Not discounting the SE entirely, because its sub-£300 price is attractive and it does most of what others in the range do. However there's the 7, 7S, 8 and 8S to consider too. The 8S is slightly too big for convenient pocket use while at work, or to fit easily and securely in the tractors come to think of it, but its keyboard is best and the dual cameras plus selfie camera are apparently superb. Again the price is against it.
Maybe the 7 or 8 standard size would be a good compromise? The 7 has, by some accounts, a very short battery life and the 8standard has an even smaller battery, which is a worry. Are any of them justifiably worth twice the price of an iPhone SE or more?
Decisions, decisions!
Maybe I'll just leave it all for a while? Yes, that's the sensible option.
If you are used to iPhone don't change - you will hate anything after a iPhone and be back as most are eventually !
7 onward was a big step forward IMO but not much to gain from 7-8 IMO
X looks like it will be a a step on again
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
Personally I would be quite happy with Android, but it just doesn't make sense for me when I've almost completely migrates to the Apple ecosystem and all the devices are synchronised. The same would be the case if I had Android of course but an Android phone mated to iPad and iMac just makes less sense than just getting an iPhone.
I have no real preference for operating system apart from the incessant security updates and degrading performance from Windows PC's and laptops.
On my laptops, Windows10 was the final straw. While it is brilliant on a new PC it just was not compatible with my machines when I tried to upgrade. So I decided to throw in the towel, especially since by then I also had a couple of years experience with the iMac. Even so, some aspects of the Windows 7 operating system were more satisfying than Mac OS. By today I totally forget what I did like about W7 though and am perfectly at home with MAC OS.
My friend, on the other hand, is into the Android and Chrome ecosystem so she will not wish to consider anything but an Android phone, which will in any case be a far more economical option for her.
i have a mix of MS and apple and swap constantly through the day between them without any thought or effort, they both work well these days and do what they should and are compatible in many ways via respective apps etc - i.e. I use outlook and office 365 on MBP, iPad, iPhone and w10
form a hardware point of view the Apple stuff is just so much nicer, but it should be for the price
- Location
- Ceredigion
Galaxy 7 is best phone ive had to date. 8 seems better again, would not go with the edge as without a case its like a slippery fish
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
Far too expensive and big for my friend, hence the mention of Moto G5 Plus. The Galaxy A3 may be more in her price range.
- Location
- Ceredigion
the 7 is not big , the edge is the big one , but understand if you are looking for something cheaper, have you looked in Game they have a lot of reconditioned as new phones
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
Never heard of them. I'll keep my eyes open for them.
J B
Member
- Location
- Shrops/Staffs/Cheshire borders
powerfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cork Ireland
Moto G4 here too. Dual SIM work no.and own no. It's a decent phone, solid and not too dear
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
I'm booked in to the wizard bar, or whatever silly name they use for their repair and advise counter, at the Cardiff Apple shop on Monday. If its uneconomical to repair, I may think about cutting a deal on a new phone for myself and my wife gets my existing lovely 5S
Watch out it's not water resistant like G3 and is big as a tablet won't fit in pocket .Had one for two weeks but died in a puddle!
Y Fan Wen
Member
- Location
- N W Snowdonia
I walked past the Xian Apple shop last week and it was the busiest shop in the complex by far. There were tables set out all over the floor and the people were 2 and 3 deep round every one. I suppose Apple had brought out some new toy.
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
They have the iPhone 8. Nothing to get excited about though, because it is just an update on the iPhone7 with improved cameras being the main improvement. Prices are ridiculous, especially as there is an iPhoneX [Ten] coming next month, with a starting price of just under £1000.
Apple shops are always fairly busy and heaving at weekends. There are very few of them nationwide and they are situated in the most busy shopping precincts. Stormfront branded Apple shops, not so much.
https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/ios-11.193714/
A few more tools & better functionality. Bluetooth goes on by default which is annoying (see the link above about battery consumption). The first version of iOS 11 is full of bugs but most are fixed by the first patch update 11.0.2
I bought a '7 plus' in the spring and thought I'd made a huge mistake, as it felt a bit too big in the hand with a case on. After a couple of days it started to feel familiar and now a non plus version feels and looks too small in comparison.
You can do so much more with the larger screen, it's more like an iPad than an iPhone. The battery also lasts more than a days heavy use too!
You can do so much more with the larger screen, it's more like an iPad than an iPhone. The battery also lasts more than a days heavy use too!
Old Codger
Member
- Location
- Buckinghamshire UK
Moto z play fans here too, great phones.
- Location
- Near Beeston Castle
I have an SE and it was a big upgrade from my 5S.
Followed advice on here and I am very pleased I did. Biggest reason for not going for a later model was size and ridiculous costs.
Followed advice on here and I am very pleased I did. Biggest reason for not going for a later model was size and ridiculous costs.
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
I can’t get the 4s Wi-fi to work at all. Ended up getting iPhone 8 64GB. Restored everything from iCloud but lost Contacts. Same happened after I reset my old 5s and restored it from her iCloud. Also and as a consequence only numbers showed in the text identification. It turns out that her iPad has always been like that and she never thought to mention it.
No help on the internet but it turns out that it is MS Outlook that is responsible. After installing the Outlook Mail account in Apple Mail, the thing tries to sabotage Apple Mail by hiding Contacts. A few tweaks in Outlook account settings and all is now as it should be. I think I had the same problem when I set up my own iPad so it did not take too much headscratching. Odd that I found no mention of this rather underhand consequence of ignoring Outlooks effort and request to make Outlook app the default email choice on IOS devices.
No help on the internet but it turns out that it is MS Outlook that is responsible. After installing the Outlook Mail account in Apple Mail, the thing tries to sabotage Apple Mail by hiding Contacts. A few tweaks in Outlook account settings and all is now as it should be. I think I had the same problem when I set up my own iPad so it did not take too much headscratching. Odd that I found no mention of this rather underhand consequence of ignoring Outlooks effort and request to make Outlook app the default email choice on IOS devices.