Be Excellent To Each Other

My Nexus 5x has died.

I would have kept it until it did anyway as it's been just what I wanted, but not if I can only get 12 months use out of it.

So, any other Android suggestions? I'm near it for < 8 hrs a day, so nothing too spendy. I looked at the Pixel, but it's still £500.

Nokia 6 is tempting me for my next upgrade

OnePlus maybe too expensive for you then. Motorola and Huawei are the usually mid-market phone recommendations.

Really good shout, I'll do more research.

Cheers.

Rich, you are such a red flag to me! that looks lovely, but there really is no point me dropping that much cash on a phone.

Thank you though, I'll look at the others too. I've become so out of the loop over the last year.

The result of my searching and pondering over 'cheap smartphone' was to go for the Moto G5 - dual sim, because I'll be travelling soon, and Amazon's version because it has an extra gb of memory. Seemed to be top, or near top, of most lists (when cheap specified) that I read.

Edit: should say that it has only just been sent, so I don't actually have any info from using the thing yet.

I've had good experiences with Moto G's - a lot better quality than you'd expect for the money, and they have a pretty un-meddled-with version of Android on them.

I've got Amazon's version of the Moto G 3 with the extra memory and storage and it's been great for the year or so I've had it, so I can imagine me sticking to Moto Gs for a while.

Moto G was cheap and cheerful when I had it as a work phone. I think it'd get a bit annoying as my main device though.

Mine isn't due until November but somewhere inside me is a soft spot for Nokia so I'm reading up on the Nokia 8 at the moment.

Why is that?

I think the only downsides I've encountered have been with the camera (but my work phone at the time was an iPhone so it was always going to come off worse. Getting a light box has helped though) and a little skimping on some of the sensors that you find in more expensive phones.

It's certainly in the right price bracket, thanks JBR, it's on my 'maybe' list.

That's interesting, I do use my phone to take a lot of photos. While I do have a decent camera, I don't carry it around with me. I'll check out the specs to see how it compares to the 5x. Thanks DM.

I've got a Moto g5, the Amazon dual SIM/3 gig ram one, and it's pretty good. Stuck a 128gb microsd in too. All works fine, battery life fine, camera is alright, bluetooth audio to headphones works, all I miss from the oneplus one is the slightly.bigger screen. Helen has found the same.

Fingerprint unlock is much better than I thought and the Motorola thing where it replaces the on-screen buttons with a press, swipe.left, swipe right is simply genius.

We bought a Moto G5 recently and it seems like a very nice bit of kit for the price.
I'd never swap to one from my iPhone, but it's hard to argue with the value for money.

If the new Moto g has fingerprint sensor and dual SIM, then it's perfect for my needs.

Too much Google, Not enough apple.

I may buy a OnePlus 5 today.

The 3T should be a good price, if you can find one.

Crap camera. Pretty slow. It's a budget phone so

I've just bought an ulefone gemini pro. Only had it s day, but it seems pretty good so far, but I am comparing it to an honour 4x.

Still, 235 from Amazon, less if you want to get it from China.

Fewer

I have a 1+5. It's fine so far.

The 3T is not cheap, in any way, which is a surprise.

Yeah, Joans messaged me your suggestion to work, I manged to get on a website and have a look. I have no objection to paying for a decent phone, but not with the little day to day use that mine gets.

Joans did suggest just getting another 5x as I never had an issue with it until now, I but I'm not sure the issue has been fixed.

I should finish work at a more reasonable hour tomorrow night anyway, so aim to compare and purchase tomorrow evening.

Tomorrow should be fun though, I'm not at my usual place of work, and I have to get there without sat-nav or phone, it's going to be like being back in the 90s. What could possibly go wrong?

Speaking of phones...

Very kind of you to buy GJ a new phone.

I'm surprised you'd bother buying phones when you'll get them free from work, especially as a new Pixel won't be far away.

I fancy that new Note but can't justify the expense at the moment.

Don't assume that was my own credit card on the hook for that purchase...

"I totally need it for testing"?

That's the ticket!

Also, if it rains the phone doubles as a shelter

And I can use the box to fashion a private office.

That's a good point, do you get to keep/sell on your old ones Rich?

So, I did a comparison, but nothing seemed to match the happiness that my 5x gave me, so I've ordered a new one, should be here tomorrow.

On that note, my other one had been turning on and lasting for a minute or so and seemed to be staying on for longer. I took it with me today and it's been perfect all day!

A genuine thanks for the recommendations though folks, it's been interesting to see what is available currently.

Can you not emulate it (or any phone) on a google, or is it just cheaper to buy phones than write software to pretend to be them?

I still have them, but I don't own most of them so I'm not at liberty to pass them on.

Off the top of my head, I have a Nexus 6, a 6P, a Pixel XL, and I had a 5x but I lost it in a house move. Oh and a Nexus 9 and Pixel C and a Nexus 7. And I had two other Pixels before that XL because they kept giving me different models to test.

It seems like a missed charitable opportunity for Google to wipe these devices down and hand them on, though perhaps I'm being naive and how hard it is to properly wipe something...

That's exceptionally funny because for a few years now my job has been to create and then expand this service
https://support.google.com/googleplay/a ... 0?hl=en-GB
...which tests Android developers' apps on physically Android devices racked in data centres.

No, you can't really emulate. There's differences you miss that way.

(Also this new phone isn't for any formal testing. It's just so I can have a look at it, really.)

Most of them are pre-release prototypes that have exciting characteristics like flaking paint, crappy finish, weird codemarks, and lack things like CE kite marks and FCC certification. Can't do anything with those.

I think we might have programmes that recycle some hardware for charities, although it's more complex than it appears at first glance. Knowing 100% there is no data persistence is one; electrical safety stuff is another.

Ah, so you don't have, for instance, an actual Nexus 6 but rather, "some device that looks and mostly acts like an N6 but might actually randomly set fire to your trousers?"

At the point before the next flagship is released that makes sense, but do you guys never get handed a production phone as a daily driver? In terms of bedding in changes to core apps it seems like doing that would be a really good idea.

It varies across the company and by what role you're in. As I technically work for Android I have some access to test handsets, sometimes very early, and I enjoy that (although it's not without its downsides) so I haven't very often bothered to also get the final phone. Also the last round of test devices aren't any different to the shipping model except for some cosmetics like logos.

Fair enough, thanks for commenting as I find it endlessly fascinating so any insight is appreciated. ☺️

I have my new X5 too.

Some time soon I might do a general sales thread, but here's one very specific one-does anyone with a G5 need a screen protector? These https://www.amazon.co.uk/Protector-Temp ... ered+glass ship with 2, so I've used the one I need and have a spare. Complete. £2, all in.

Soooo that wasn't exactly all the phones I had in my possession at the time...

My iphone 6, has stopped charging properly. Is it worth going for the iphone 7 or 8?

Isn't it worth trying to fix your 6?

Throwaway culture, man...

I could do, there is not an 'apple store' near me.

I suppose I could use EE insurance, but i can't remember the excess.

Give the port a clean out. Try another cable! I thought you were a technical guy

You just wan't new shiny, don't you?

ADMIT IT!

Giphy "narrows eyes":
https://media2.giphy.com/media/m4WZ6KaOwQ2OY/giphy-loop.mp4

Edit: fucking giphy

Get a sim tool or a safety pin right up in that charging port