# Help my buy my first smartphone



## gaijingirl (Dec 27, 2016)

I've never bought a mobile phone - just had hand-me-downs from people getting upgrades etc and only recently got a smart-phone (which wasn't very smart). 

Anyway, my phone got dropped into a swimming pool on Christmas day so I'm going to buy one.

I was quite surprised to see how much smartphones cost (I saw an advert for the Pixel and I use chrome a lot - imagine my surprise when I looked up the price!) so I've been looking at reconditioned ones.  I'm thinking of splashing out (no pun intended) on a reconditioned Galaxy S5 or S6.  Which would be better?  Given the fact that I'm not used to anything high-end I'm thinking the S5.

Any recommendations?


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## editor (Dec 27, 2016)

What's your budget? What are the most important factors? Size? Battery life? Camera? Storage? What will you be using it for mostly?

More details, if you please ma'am.


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## Throbbing Angel (Dec 27, 2016)

editor said:


> What's your budget?
> <snip>
> What will you be using it for mostly?
> More details, if you please ma'am.



^^^this^^^

you could spend much, much less and still have a very useful smartphone experience

I like Motorola phones as you pretty much get stock Android with no cack installed on top of it - just bagged a £130 Moto G4 Play for £79 thanks to various vouchers and sales being on and I love it and does everything I need. MP3 player, Sat Nav, 2nd Kindle, Camera and general messaging/internet device too - love it.


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## lizzieloo (Dec 27, 2016)

Buy a moto g 

Moto G4 Plus review | TechRadar

I've been very happy with mine.


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## FridgeMagnet (Dec 27, 2016)

I only really know iPhones; the options are obviously limited so it just depends on how good a deal you can get. Wouldn't go further back than the 5S these days, though that works perfectly well - I have a 6S now but tbh I can barely notice a difference between its performance and the 5S I used to have, I just got a upgrade to get more memory.


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## Plumdaff (Dec 27, 2016)

I had Samsungs and now have a Moto G. The latter is much easier to use, has better battery life and is much cheaper. I'd hugely recommend getting one.


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## Boudicca (Dec 27, 2016)

I bought a Moto G based on urban recommendations and have been very happy with it.  I initially got a Samsung and went back to my Blackberry because I couldn't work it.   I gave the Samsung away so when the Blackberry finally packed up, I bought the Moto G.


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## PursuedByBears (Dec 27, 2016)

Pixel if money is no object, Moto g if it is.


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## Thimble Queen (Dec 27, 2016)

Samsung A3 is a perfectly acceptable budget option. Although the battery isn't removable and if you fuck it by dropping it or whatever then you might have to have the whole thing replaced do it's worth getting insurance... Cheaper through bank btw.


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## weepiper (Dec 27, 2016)

lizzieloo said:


> Buy a moto g
> 
> Moto G4 Plus review | TechRadar
> 
> I've been very happy with mine.


+1.


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## gaijingirl (Dec 28, 2016)

Well I'm not sure on budget, in the sense that if I had it on a monthly contract I could buy a more expensive phone, but I'd rather buy outright (it's a birthday present - so actually it's being bought for me). That being said I had thought these things cost around £100-£150 and I'd rather not spend more than that.  I think gaijinboy is getting me a 2nd hand Galaxy S5 but I'm going to have a quick look at this Moto G4.

To answer your question Ed - I mostly use it for phone calls/texts but I do want to be able to sync my exercise watch and I really would like to be able to use all the apps I see other people using.  I can install apps on my phone but getting them to work - well I'd be quicker walking home than trying to figure out how long the bus will be.    It will be my only camera and I'll use that a lot.  I might, from time to time, listen to music on it if I'm running or something, but that would be rarer.

I have had a Samsung (albeit a not-particularly-smart-phone) all along, so I think I can work them ok.

Thanks everyone.


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## souljacker (Dec 28, 2016)

The Moto g I had was shit. Really awful. If I was playing a game, I couldn't listen to music at the same time. Even web browsing used to make tracks skip. I think it was the 4g one from 2014 so they may have got better. An s5 would always be a better choice if its in budget (and I hate Samsung).


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## Cosmic (Dec 28, 2016)

gaijingirl said:


> Well I'm not sure on budget, in the sense that if I had it on a monthly contract I could buy a more expensive phone, but I'd rather buy outright (it's a birthday present - so actually it's being bought for me). That being said I had thought these things cost around £100-£150 and I'd rather not spend more than that.  I think gaijinboy is getting me a 2nd hand Galaxy S5 but I'm going to have a quick look at this Moto G4.
> 
> To answer your question Ed - I mostly use it for phone calls/texts but I do want to be able to sync my exercise watch and I really would like to be able to use all the apps I see other people using.  I can install apps on my phone but getting them to work - well I'd be quicker walking home than trying to figure out how long the bus will be.    It will be my only camera and I'll use that a lot.  I might, from time to time, listen to music on it if I'm running or something, but that would be rarer.
> 
> ...


I just bought my missus a Oneplus 3T (got delivered this morning). We now have 3 Oneplus phones in the family. I bought my son the Oneplus One when it was invitation only, and a few month ago bought the oneplus 3 for my daughter.

If it was a choice between a reconditioned S5 or S6 and a oneplus, I'd personally go for the Oneplus.

Like you, my wife has also had to make do with hand-me-downs and until today was using an old iphone 5 which was on it's last legs, so I thought I'd treat her. I got her the 128gb model because she loves to take pictures like a frikking paparazzi and was always maxing out her iphone and having to faff around deleting photos to make room for new ones.

The Oneplus phones (apart from the oneplus 2 and alpha) have generally had very good reviews and compared to the flagship models have been good value.


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## RubyToogood (Dec 28, 2016)

If you can work a Samsung you can work any Android phone. 

I have a Nexus 5x which I love, particularly because the camera is good and it's a decent screen size, but it's a bit out of the range you've set.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Dec 28, 2016)

souljacker said:


> The Moto g I had was shit. Really awful. If I was playing a game, I couldn't listen to music at the same time. Even web browsing used to make tracks skip. I think it was the 4g one from 2014 so they may have got better. An s5 would always be a better choice if its in budget (and I hate Samsung).



I think the 4th gen model is much improved.


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## editor (Dec 28, 2016)

gaijingirl said:


> Well I'm not sure on budget, in the sense that if I had it on a monthly contract I could buy a more expensive phone, but I'd rather buy outright (it's a birthday present - so actually it's being bought for me). That being said I had thought these things cost around £100-£150 and I'd rather not spend more than that.  I think gaijinboy is getting me a 2nd hand Galaxy S5 but I'm going to have a quick look at this Moto G4.
> 
> To answer your question Ed - I mostly use it for phone calls/texts but I do want to be able to sync my exercise watch and I really would like to be able to use all the apps I see other people using.  I can install apps on my phone but getting them to work - well I'd be quicker walking home than trying to figure out how long the bus will be.    It will be my only camera and I'll use that a lot.  I might, from time to time, listen to music on it if I'm running or something, but that would be rarer.
> 
> ...


Have a look in a mobile phone shop. The Moto G is a brilliant phone but it may be too large for your tastes. The z3 Compact is an excellent smaller phone which can be picked up fairly cheaply. I'd definitely recommend buying the phone outright and then going for a rolling monthly deal with Giff Gaff.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Dec 28, 2016)

editor said:


> Have a look in a mobile phone shop. The Moto G is a brilliant phone but it may be too large for your tastes. The z3 Compact is an excellent smaller phone which can be picked up fairly cheaply. I'd definitely recommend buying the phone outright and then going for a rolling monthly deal with Giff Gaff.



Virgin are also worth a look if O2 reception is patchy were you live as they use EE.


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## Cosmic (Dec 28, 2016)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> I think the 4th gen model is much improved.


For my daughter we were considering getting the Moto G 4th gen. She had previously had the original Moto G which she was fairly content with. When the screen shattered we replace that with the 2nd or 3rd Gen which she had for about a year. That started having problems with charging and there were a few quality control niggles but apart from that she was fairly happy with that until it became unusable (wouldn't charge properly etc).

So...a few months ago started looking at a replacement and the g4 was on the list of possibles, however opted for the Oneplus 3 because we wanted to get 64gb and that version of the G4 cost around £270 from what I remember which started to look not as good value for money when compared to the OP3 which cost a bit more but had MUCH better specs and better build quality. As most of the reviews have said, it is genuinely close to flagship specs but for much less money, so if your budget can stretch to it I think it's worth it. I paid £329 for my daughters 64gb Oneplus3 back in September and the £439 for the 128gb OP3T I just bought for the missus.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Dec 28, 2016)

Yeah the Oneplus looks a good range of phones if you have a higher budget! 

I've a Note 4 at the moment and not in a rush to upgrade, but when the time comes I'll probably be looking at what they have to offer.


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## Cosmic (Dec 29, 2016)

UnderAnOpenSky said:


> Yeah the Oneplus looks a good range of phones if you have a higher budget!
> 
> I've a Note 4 at the moment and not in a rush to upgrade, but when the time comes I'll probably be looking at what they have to offer.


So far we've been happy with the onepluses...although with the cheapest oneplus 64gb 3t now priced at £399, (blamed on brexit) it doesn't appear to be as much of a bargain as it did when the first one came out at £269 for the oneplus one 64gb, so it's gone up £130 quid in 2 years, albeit with improved specs and fingerprint reader etc.

Until now it's been the kiddos that have been getting the new phones, while me and the missus made do with jalopy hand me downs. I don't even have a personal phone, but I have use of a work iphone6. If I was in the market for a phone for myself then the oneplus would probably on the list, but maybe not if the price keeps going up.


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## shambler (Jan 4, 2017)

I'd look at the Wileyfox Swift 2 plus for around £150. Thinking about getting one myself as my 1st gen moto G is starting to get a bit knackered...


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## Throbbing Angel (Jan 8, 2017)

weepiper said:


> +1.



+2 for the Moto G4 *Play* (diff phone)
 [I paid £79 for mine instead of £129 thanks to some codes on HUKD ]

I really like the Motorola (pretty much) stock android experience.


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