Android phone <£200?

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Much as I love my current WinPhone, I want a couple of apps that aren't available on it so am considering a switch to Android. However, the choice is baffling me! Any recommendations for one with a half decent camera (not a deal breaker but sometimes handy!) and a decent screen (one of its uses will be as a remote viewer/release) please?

Oh, should add that it'll be an a PAYG basis rather than a contract.
 
Daughter has HTC One and loves it.

Obviously going to be above £200 2nd hand at present though, can you not stretch the budget ?

Personally, I wouldn't recommend the Samsung S4 as a few people I work with have them and have had issues with the battery expanding and also the phones themselves playing up / switching themselves off / freezing up...
 
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Thanks for the reply, Andy.

And apologies! I had made a stoopid typo in the title and hit the > rather than the <! :oops: :$ Usually pick up my typos (gods know I make enough of 'em!!!) but that one slipped through. If I could justify more than £200 on (basically) a whim, I would probably go for the M8 (I think) HTC but I'm trying to save a few pennies if I can avoid spending them.
 
Cheap and cheerful - Huawei. Wife has one, on giff gaff - £10/month for a gig of data & 500 mins calls.

Camera isn't up to much though - perhaps the newer models will be better.
 
Motorola Moto G, there's the 5" version with dual sim or the more compact 4G version. I bought the 4G version over the holidays and it seems a solid and capable phone (it's replaced an elderly Galaxy S2). For £130-150 sim-free it seems a better bargain than most.
 
:agree: Youngster has had the Moto G for the last year, it has now been passed to SWMBO. Great little phone both the missus and the young 'un rate it highly.
 
Someone has a Nexus 4 going in the Classifieds, which is still a bloody good phone. I have a Nexus 5 which is also good, but probably tricky to get for £200 or under.
 
Pretty sure Kipax had the Moto G phone - sure I remember him having a for sale ad fairly recently.
 
If your using the Fuji apps I can confirm the Samsung S3 works fine in wi-fi mode with the XT1. In the better weather I had my camera & tripod set up on feeders and I was able to control camera from the house which was about 15 meteres away (I think you and Alastair recomended this set up when I had the Xpro).

I find the photo quality fine for my needs and you can get them for less than £200, theres some on Amazon now for £169.00 BNIB sim free.
 
IMO you can't go wrong with Samsung. I've had the S2, S3 and now have the S5.
I wouldn't of upgraded the S3 a few months ago if I hadn't of dropped it and broke the screen. Cracking phone and I'm sure you can pick one up for about 150-160 now sim free. Try argos as they have some good deals from time to time.
 
Cheers for the replies. Ideally want brand new for peace of mind. I was as much looking for horror stories as recommendations but there don't seem to be any here yet! MotoG looks like the current favourite - will have a look round to see what I can find in town.
 
Over Christmas the best deals on the Moto G were with Amazon/Tesco/Argos - with about a tenner between them, but it was a case of whoever had them in stock (whichever of the three was out of stock was always a tenner cheaper than the other two). Then get the SIM separately. You just need to be careful you get the model you want. There are four different Moto G models (two discontinued original models and two current models) and the descriptions used by the sellers don't always make it clear which is which.

If I use the Amazon listing as an example, the latest pair of models are:
  • Moto G 4G - the current shirt-pocket sized model, 4.5" screen, 4G compatible, single SIM, upgrade to Android 5 available, c.£130-£140
  • Moto G (2nd Gen) - the current larger sized model, 5" screen, 3G compatible, dual SIM, upgrade to Android 5 available,c.£145-£160
There's not really a lot between them. 4G coverage is patchy at best, there are limited applications for dual SIM slots (possibly handy if you travel abroad a lot, or if you want to combine separate personal and work numbers on to one phone). Other than that the biggest difference is the size - the 5" might have the edge for use as a remote viewer but the 4.5" fits better into the pocket.

Whichever of the two models you should choose, the on-board memory is a bit short at 8Gb - but they'll both take a 32Gb micro-SD for extra storage capacity.
 
cosmicma said:
HTC one M7's can be picked up on the second hand market for around the 200 quid or less mark which are still a perfectly capable phone
thats if you don't mind second hand
Click to expand...
I have an HTC one M8 - grwat phone - but had an M7 which was also a good phone but had a purple fringing issue with low light photos. I think there is a fix but just be aware of the issue - they are great phones.
 
Chris Fallon said:
IMO you can't go wrong with Samsung. I've had the S2, S3 and now have the S5.
I wouldn't of upgraded the S3 a few months ago if I hadn't of dropped it and broke the screen. Cracking phone and I'm sure you can pick one up for about 150-160 now sim free. Try argos as they have some good deals from time to time.
Click to expand...

If you want to be driven mad buy a SAMSUNG, my Galaxy S4 is driving me NUTS. Screen brightness never the same twice, Volume makes up its own mind, so you miss calls. Touch sensitivity well too good if you don`t want that App or have to hit it over andd over again if you do want it. I could go on but you would get bored. So never again for me will go back to SONY next time.
 
MotoG for me best phone of the six ever had and the only one that does everything I need and I can understand!
 
I own moto G 4G version and it is brilliant. Just avoid the hassle with Tesco lockin, took me a while to get over it. Battery life is fantastic, probably closer to 2 days, screen is slightly smaller than the rest, but plenty big (bigger than iphone 5 :lol:) and hence fits nicely in the pocket. As photographer you can use microSD card in your camera (with adapter), put it back in the phone and send the pics to newspapers on the fly.

Personally, I doubt the larger screen over 4G in mk2 is worth it, as everything else is the same... They'll sooner or later do 4G mk2...

I doubt there is anything else decent out there under £200 new.
 
stryvya said:
If you want to be driven mad buy a SAMSUNG, my Galaxy S4 is driving me NUTS. Screen brightness never the same twice, Volume makes up its own mind, so you miss calls. Touch sensitivity well too good if you don`t want that App or have to hit it over andd over again if you do want it. I could go on but you would get bored. So never again for me will go back to SONY next time.
Click to expand...

Sounds faulty to me.
 
A colleague of mine has the Oneplus One. I have to admit, that is one android phone I wouldn't mind having myself.

It is so smooth, such fantastic build quality with superb material choice. It runs Cyanogen as standard which is great and very secure as well. I really like it, if I wasn't allowed my iPhone 6+ that will be the one for me. At just £259 sim free it is the cheapest best specced about as well in my opinion.
 
A colleague of mine has the Oneplus One. I have to admit, that is one android phone I wouldn't mind having myself.

It is so smooth, such fantastic build quality with superb material choice. It runs Cyanogen as standard which is great and very secure as well. I really like it, if I wasn't allowed my iPhone 6+ that will be the one for me. At just £259 sim free it is the cheapest best specced about as well in my opinion.
 
stryvya said:
Seems common among people I know with them!!!
Click to expand...

Maybe but it STILL sounds faulty. No-one would really consider that normal, acceptable behaviour from a device costing several hundred pounds, surely? And as you obviously know, it's not normal behaviour from the Android OS. Someone else I know had a Sony last year that did similar things, and in the end he returned it & had it replaced (with the iPhone he really wanted). If nothing else, go into a phone shop and ask to try the same model to see if it behaves in that way for you.
 
My wife's potentially looking to replace her Samsung Galaxy S3 so this thread makes for interesting reading. For those who are recommending the Moto G 4G, can you tell me how it might compare to the S3?
 
Cheers to all for the replies again.


Alastair said:
Over Christmas the best deals on the Moto G were with Amazon/Tesco/Argos - with about a tenner between them, but it was a case of whoever had them in stock (whichever of the three was out of stock was always a tenner cheaper than the other two). Then get the SIM separately. You just need to be careful you get the model you want. There are four different Moto G models (two discontinued original models and two current models) and the descriptions used by the sellers don't always make it clear which is which.

If I use the Amazon listing as an example, the latest pair of models are:
  • Moto G 4G - the current shirt-pocket sized model, 4.5" screen, 4G compatible, single SIM, upgrade to Android 5 available, c.£130-£140
  • Moto G (2nd Gen) - the current larger sized model, 5" screen, 3G compatible, dual SIM, upgrade to Android 5 available,c.£145-£160
There's not really a lot between them. 4G coverage is patchy at best, there are limited applications for dual SIM slots (possibly handy if you travel abroad a lot, or if you want to combine separate personal and work numbers on to one phone). Other than that the biggest difference is the size - the 5" might have the edge for use as a remote viewer but the 4.5" fits better into the pocket.

Whichever of the two models you should choose, the on-board memory is a bit short at 8Gb - but they'll both take a 32Gb micro-SD for extra storage capacity.
Click to expand...


I have a 32Gig card in my current phone so will be transferring that to any new one. 4G isn't high on my list of priorities - I don't usually use roaming data, just WiFi where available. I'm old enough not to be reliant on 24/7 interweb access!!!
I'll see how busy the EE shop in town is later and see what they've got in stock (or expected). A larger screen as on the slightly more expensive one listed could be nice with my elderly eyes.
Have to see what battery life is like on the contenders too.
 
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