Grey importers / Sellers - mobile phones

[hashcake]

Up until now I have always got a good deal via CPW and stayed with EE since 98.
Since EE and O2 have dropped their agreement with CPW, I don't think I'll be able to get a better deal with EE directly.
I've noticed that there are grey sellers on Ebay selling phones like the Samsung 20+ for a few hundred quid cheaper than UK prices.
Has anyone gone this road for a new phone, any warranty claims / issues?
I'm fine buying grey camera gear and my experience so far, has been good but I've mainly gone for upgrades rather than bought a phone outright.

 

[KMPhoto]

I've no personal experience but when I'm looking for something, I often check out HotUKDeals for price information. Many people there use wowcamera for smartphones and it seems to be a trusted site.

Otherwise, it's worth keeping an eye on last year's premium phones which can be available at a good price. Recently, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5g512gb was available at Argos for £600.

 

[ancient_mariner]

I've bought this way just once, from Gearbest, but that was a Xaiomi. I've bought from them twice, but the second time the phone was shipped within Europe, so not strictly grey.

 

[Mr Bump]

look at xiomi forget samsung

 

[TCR4x4]

I've used wonda mobile several times without issues. Much cheaper than most UK sellers.

 

[troutfisher]

e infinity do the Xiomi

 

[ancient_mariner]

If you buy grey, make sure the phone has LTE bands 8 and 20 necessary for 4G in the UK, plus if you travel regularly to other countries you should make sure the bands they use are also covered.This is easy to overlook. You want the 'global' version - international versions don't always have compatibility for Europe.

FWIW my Xaiomi 4X had both band 8 and 20, but Italy uses something different for 4G and I couldn't get any data while we were there a couple of years back - not helpful when you need satnav. Most phones further up the food chain seem to have a wide range of available bands these days, and connectivity is no problem. My Xaiomi Note 5 has worked fine in Greece, Morocco and India.

 

[hashcake]

I've used wonda mobile several times without issues. Much cheaper than most UK sellers.

I've been looking at them as they have a lot of good reviews.
They sell the snapdragon version which I would prefer over the exynos version but it doesn't support volte in the UK.

 

[hashcake]

Otherwise, it's worth keeping an eye on last year's premium phones which can be available at a good price. Recently, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5g512gb was available at Argos for £600.

I have looked for at the S10 but I don't want a Note.
I can get a new UK model of the S20 Plus 5g with a 2 year warranty for £600-£650 via people selling upgrades they don't want on ebay.

 

[hashcake]

If you buy grey, make sure the phone has LTE bands 8 and 20 necessary for 4G in the UK, plus if you travel regularly to other countries you should make sure the bands they use are also covered.This is easy to overlook. You want the 'global' version - international versions don't always have compatibility for Europe.

FWIW my Xaiomi 4X had both band 8 and 20, but Italy uses something different for 4G and I couldn't get any data while we were there a couple of years back - not helpful when you need satnav. Most phones further up the food chain seem to have a wide range of available bands these days, and connectivity is no problem. My Xaiomi Note 5 has worked fine in Greece, Morocco and India.

I have already checked that but thanks for the advice.
From what I have learned, the exynos versions of the S10 variants seems to have only one model number that is supplied to Europe, UK and other regions where they don't supply the snapdragon.
If I remember correctly, some years back Samsung did supply a different spec to the UK than Europe.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

As a current xiaomi (note 7) user I'm getting tempted to go Smagung rather one of the newer chicom phones. Things are starting to get weird after a while again, just like the chicom motorolla did to me before. It had a major trouble locking to satnav at all for a few weeks, and even 4g while I was away from the home area. Now I think it got better again but stuff like that makes you question everything. It probably won't be long before they sabotage battery, speakers or something else. The only without trouble I had was Samsung galaxy nexus something.... All the rest went bad in some way, mostly by design.

 

[hashcake]

As a current xiaomi (note 7) user I'm getting tempted to go Smagung rather one of the newer chicom phones. Things are starting to get weird after a while again, just like the chicom motorolla did to me before. It had a major trouble locking to satnav at all for a few weeks, and even 4g while I was away from the home area. Now I think it got better again but stuff like that makes you question everything. It probably won't be long before they sabotage battery, speakers or something else. The only without trouble I had was Samsung galaxy nexus something.... All the rest went bad in some way, mostly by design.

I've been using Samsung phones since the Galaxy S1.
Before knox they were really good for rooting and used some excellent custom roms.
I use Nova launcher and folder organiser as I use a lot of apps. I like the easy transition to a new Samsung phone without having to export and import settings for these and other apps.
It also copies across the wifi settings for the different routers I connect to.