WTF has happened to the prices of new handsets in the last few years?
I’m paying £11 a month for a sim only deal with EE as my current phone is now out of contract, that includes 4g of data + unlimited calls and texts. I never use more than 4g as I’m on wifi most of the time.
A new S8 or preorder S9 or a Note 8 (which I quite like the look of) are £58+ with a £100 upfront payment. Google pixel 2XL is the same.
((58 - 11)*24)+100 = £1228 for the handset itself, wtf is that? - EE’s margin on this stuff must be astronomical! I can buy the Pixel 2 XL for £630, and the note 8 for £870 from Carphone warehouse, so a massive saving there which is an option. But I’d rather not fork out that much is one go.
So here’s the question - I’m after a handset with a big screen and decent camera. Are there any ones that I should look at which aren’t premium brands before EE shaft me?
My current phone is Android 7, 5.2" screen, 16 MP front and rear cameras, dual SIM and cost me £85 new. I’ve owned it for 4 months now and it hasn’t missed a beat.
Easily as fast / slick to use as my old iPhone SE, and I much prefer it.
The name of this wonder device - Cubot Note Plus. Love it.
I bought a Blackview S8 from Amazon for less than £200. It is dual-SIM with Android 7.0, 64 GB of memory and 4 cameras. Basically a Samsung Galaxy S8 copy for a lot less money. So far it’s very good.
Apparently Apple have had gash sales of the X because all of a sudden people have realised a grand for a phone that does facial expression copying emojis might be a bit fucking mental.
The smartphone industry is about to hit the buffers and in the same way that tablets and PCs have recently, largely because there isn’t any innovation happening.
Yes it does.
I just fancied a new handset with a bigger screen and decent camera, i do like taking pics with them.
The latest google phone’s camera is superb, but the money you have to pay for it in contract makes it almost impossible to justify.
I may buy a handset outright and just say on a sim only deal, can get the LGG6 for £399 that has a very good camera.
@browellm glad it’s not just me that thinks contract phone prices are mental.
The cheap (£150-200) phones are very good tbh. Or you can get the OnePlus 5T for £450, which is close to premium quality for half the price. LG tend to be well discounted.
I went through this last year…
Eventually I bought an LG V20 - it’s not a UK released model so I bought a Taiwan spec one that was warehoused in France for about £260 with no extra duty.
And it’s most excellent; Android 7.0, dual sim, “high definition” DAC designed by B&O, camera with manual operation (and auto if you want it), 128Gb, “MilSpec” drop tested and, most importantly, a removable battery.
Buy an unlocked phone and sign up for a SIM only deal for the lowest total cost over 18 or 24 months.
Laptops direct do open box SIM free phones at good prices. I got a Samsung s6 and s7 and they have been excellent, supposedly returns but arrived as new and untouched.