£200 upgrade

[virtuo]

The Mrs has beaten her current Nexus 4 in to submission and she's now looking to upgrade. I've been out of the phone game for about a year so I'm a bit lost as to what to suggest to her.

She's on a SIM-only contract and doesn't want a contract phone, wants to spend about £200 on something that'll be a decent improvement on the N4.

She likes my OPO, but wants something different, and not necessarily the same size, 4.5-5" seems to be the sweet spot. Phone has to be popular enough to have a range of accessories as a protective flip cover and a glass screen protector are absolutely essential.

Other requirements:
+ Android 5 (with a roadmap for upgrades through Android "M" if possible
+ Half-decent battery, doesn't have to be class-leading
+ 32-64Gb storage (or 16Gb with an SD card slot)


I had a quick look on Amazon and saw a couple of Chinese cheapies that had decent reviews, but I think for peace of mind she'd like something from a known brand.

So, any recommendations for something that'll fit the bill? Spotted the Lenovo K3 "Lemon" that deemed quite good despite the name, just might be a bit big..

[GreenPiggy]

https://www.unlocked-mobiles.com/sim...e-p-84867.html (other shops are available)
It has the same screen size as the Oneplus one, but if the pure is anything to go by, it probably has a lot less space taken up by the bezels.
The battery life will be absolutely stellar and it has an expandable SD card slot

Cheaper option is the Moto G:
http://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-g

[virtuo]

Completely forgot about the Moto G/X! I'll stick those on my shortlist.

Presuming they'd outperform an N4?

[cheesemp]

When my Nexus 5 broke I looked into the Lenovo K3 myself as it seemed a bargain. Biggest issue with it is the same as most other cheap chinese droids 1) No guaranteed updates (some never get any updates) 2) Odd interface 'enhancements' - a lot are modded to look like iOS as that preferred by the chinese public 3) Few custom ROMs (mediatek CPU used by many doesn't have open source drivers like it should) 4) Poor performance parts when considered against the spec - i.e. the 8 core mediatek chip used in many isn't any faster than a quad core snapdragon. Camera's are often very poor for the megapixels etc - Its just a numbers game) 5)Issues with importing/Support. Not saying these all apply to the K3 but seemed to be general issues with the multitude of these devices.

In the end I just repaired my Nexus 5 as I decided it was my best bet. Have you consider a second hand N5 - My battery life has doubled since M?

[GreenPiggy]

Completely forgot about the Moto G/X! I'll stick those on my shortlist.

Presuming they'd outperform an N4?

Yeah both should comfortably smash a N4 performance - I personally think the X Play compares pretty well with the new Nexus 5(some better features, some worse)
The nice thing with Moto is it's stock android also(some extra apps but they are *actually* useful)

[Kanoe]

I'm still a fan of this phone for that price range:

Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML

[Divo]

These phones are Chinese but very good phones for the price.

xiaomi redmi 3
xiaomi redmi note 3

[jag272]

LG G3s on Amazon go for about £185 now so that is an option. Amazon themselves are currently showing as £199.95 and temporarily out of stock, whether they'll get any more with the G4 being out I don't know. Majority of other sellers are Fulfilled by Amazon but that doesn't give you Amazon's protection.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/LG-Smartphon.../dp/B00KMZ07J2

That said theyre 5.5" like the OPO so perhaps a little too big, but thought I'd mention it since you can pick up the G3s "cheap".

Seems argos do them too for £199.95 if you want a more solid seller.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...er/2782340.htm

Only trouble is most places only sell the 16GB/2GB RAM model, not the 32/3. It has MicroSD support anyway but I personally would still have preferred 32GB internal.

[virtuo]

Thanks all, seems I started a thread and rudely didn't update - ended up buying her a OnePlus X just before Christmas. Perfect size as it turned out, lovely screen and the expandable storage is a win.

Camera is absolute pants though, but I knew that would be the case.

[kalniel]

The camera is pants. But you can just about salvage things with the new manual mode that came in the latest update and making sure you keep the MP down!