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Help in picking a new Android phone - mid range or high end?

SillyNonsense said:
Seconded. $350 for the best battery life in the US. Get the battery mod and you can go three days between charges. Nothing else matters once you experience the feeling of not even giving a shit about your battery for a couple days.

I always go mid range. You end up replacing it in the same amount of time anyway, and it does all the same shit.
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Another Moto Z Play owner here, I charge once every 4 days with my usage pattern. And this is without any Moto Mod.
 
Bobo Dakes said:
I do want to go back to mid range, I miss replaceable batteries, but ... waterproofing is a great plus of my Galaxy S7. I might just save up for a Pixel 2, unless it's actually missing a headphone jack.
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It will NOT have a headphone jack.

There's so much evidence to that fact it's not even worth thinking about.

It'll also cost at least $700.

Just get a Moto G5, ZTE Axon 7 or OnePlus.
 
wait for xiaomi mix 2 that's going to be revealed 1 day before new iphone :P
i've always thought samsung and apple stuff are incredibly overpriced, and that people buy those for the brands and not the specs
i'm still using oneplus one and it still works well, i bought my brother oneplus 3t and it's good as well, i heard oneplus 5 actually isn't that worth it because it's overpriced compared to oneplus' previous models
 
Based on your requirements, I'd go with a OnePlus and a cheap tablet OR an LG V30.

The OnePlus screen is smaller than I'd like because I'm coming from a Nexus 6 (the original 6 inch flagship). But it has flagship level specs for under $700.

The LG V30 is a legit flagship that is going to cost $750 from what I've read and is specifically made for media consumption.
 
Some real good stuff between 200-300 these days. Go higher and you can get last years flagships. Go lower and there is still some solid stuff but you will get the normal shitty things you might expect like bad cameras and lower res screens.

Plenty of them already listed in this thread but I totally feel like you cant go wrong with a Moto G.

DietRob said:
Wait a month or so for the new Pixel.

Having a phone "Made by Google" for Google is the best way to go.
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I dunno. Android doesn't get substantial enough improvements on stock these days that I feel like its worth taking the drawbacks you get going with Nexus / PIxel these days.
 
I've been rocking The Moto G series for a few years now. Got a standard G4 with 32 GB of storage for a pittance with Amazon ads back in January. No complaints here whatsoever. I'd consider a G5 but they seem to have similar specs to the 4 if memory serves.

Listen, I LIVE on my phone. Podcasts, music, browsing, business. I keep charging banks on my person, at my office, at my home, and in my car. I keep this thing running and charged 24/7. The Moto series wasn't that great early on, in my opinion, but now it is rock solid. Nothing I want to do that I can't. Look into a G5 or, hell, a G4. Fantastic investment for very little money.

I even bought one for my girlfriend and she's had no issues, and she's a real technophobe.

First thing I do when I order a phone is order the baddest, chunkiest hard case I can find. I drop this thing all the time and it's never even scratched.

I can't say enough good things about the G series.
 
funkystudent said:
I dunno. Android doesn't get substantial enough improvements on stock these days that I feel like its worth taking the drawbacks you get going with Nexus / PIxel these days.
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hey now, stock Android just got popup window!

except it doesn't work in Youtube.

but it does work if you have Youtube red!



meanwhile i was doing that years ago with a Samsung and Youtube worked just like any other app.
 
Got a Note 2 in 2013, replaced it this year because the battery started draining rapidly (even after replacing it), went mid-range and
just bought a J5 2016. External battery, external storage, miss a couple of tiny things but perfectly happy to just outright buy at a cheaper price and keep my awesome phone plan.

I spent £150 instead of 4x more. I'm happy cause in my mind, I thought it's top of the line or bust, and I wanted to save money.

If I could afford an S8 I would've but I couldn't and based on the type of user I am, the drop in phone quality is minimal.

Just my €0.02.
 
If you're coming from an iPhone, go high end. I've seen iPhone users go to a mid range Android and switch back to iPhone, blaming whatever issues they had on Android, and not the mid range phone they bought.

As for Note 8 vs One Plus 5, they are both high end phones, personally I'd go with OP5 as I'm not a fan of Samsung's version of Android.
 
Order a flagship Sony / LG phone that was released 6 month ago from a HK / Korean seller on eBay, enjoy a brand new top range phone at less than $300-350.
 
Horseticuffs said:
First thing I do when I order a phone is order the baddest, chunkiest hard case I can find. I drop this thing all the time and it's never even scratched.

I can't say enough good things about the G series.
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I have no case on my G5 plus and I have dropped it many, many times on hard surfaces and it has barely a scratch. It is quite amazing how durable it is.
 
Samsung sent me an S8+ for free last week and I really like it. I'm likely gonna sell it and get a note because I love the S Pen though.
 
N21 said:
For low to mid-range, I would recommend the Moto G5/G5 Plus. A great phone for people who want the latest Android system without paying a premium.

For high end, I would recommend the One+ 5, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 or Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus.
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Wait OnePlus is high end? I thought it was mid range
 
Moto z play owner here. Love it. Runs everything just fine and the battery is godly. Also got the true zoom moto mod for days out with my wife and son where i dont want to take my DSLR but want a bit more functionality than just my phone's default camera provides.
 
High end phones are such a waste of money for me. In everyday usage I see no performance difference between my Xperia Z5 and Moto G5. Except one is over twice the price.
 
Funny story OP. I bought a new s8 for myself last week and while shopping on Amazon my mom called me and asked me to come over and take a look at her old smartphone because it stopped working. In the end I also bought her the new galaxy A5, a true mid range phone. So I had plenty time to work with both phones. My conclusion: It doesn't matter anymore. Even true mid range phones are good. The A5 is fast, the screen is good, it is waterproof, it has a fingerprint sensor, Google now, a good camera, battery life is as good as on my s8, it loads webpages fast etc. True the s8 has an even better CPU, more ram, a better display and other great features, but in the end even the A5 would be enough as a daily driver for me.
So my tip for you when looking for a new phone:

1. Make a decision between android and iOS.
2. Decide what screen size you want
3. Get the phone that looks gorgeous to you.

The rest is rather irrelevant. They are all fast, they all have very good cameras, they all have good screens. Especially he mid-high end league.
 
Have you taken a look at the Essential Phone? I don't know much about it though. I'm a S8+ user so I will champion that. It's been great ever since I got it. But got can't go wrong with a lot of the choices here in the thread.
 
In a couple of weeks the 6s and 6s plus will probably be discontinued by apple so will be nicely discounted by retailers. 6s is still a fast phone
 
The S8+ is GODLIKE.

But, as others have said, it is hard to go wrong in the mid to high end range of the phone spectrum nowadays (like with many technology-reliant consumer goods, really).
 
Thanks for all the impressions guys, thinking of going for the OP5 now, especially after some reviews and comparison pieces.
Lot of the mid range options here sound good for the price but the OP5 is at a pretty comfy price for me, and also has the latest SD835, so can't argue performance either.

And in that sense it sounds like it can really go toe to toe with some of the newest flagships at nearly half the cost :O

Thanks much!
 
Samsung Galaxy S7. Cheaper than S8 and you aren't missing much. Used ones are flooding the market so that's a option too.
 
Mid range are perfectly fine these days. They often have the advantage of being "only" HD, which drains the battery much less.

Make sure its properly supported with software updates and repair is cheap.
 
My last four phones have all been flagships. I seriously doubt I'll buy another one moving forward.

The mid-range has gotten really good across the board, and the price-hike up to high-end doesn't seem worth it anymore.
 
ISee said:
Read OP. :)

OP lacks the "courage" to give up on the headphone jack.
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How would going with a current Pixel force the OP to give up the headphone jack?

I bought my XL a few months ago and I'm super happy with it. I don't plan on upgrading anytime soon.

I'm in the same boat, but with my parents. They're still using Note 3's and those poor phones look like they need to be put out of their misery. They're talking about upgrading to new phones (and looking at the Note 8), but my dad's being cheap and is trying to convince my mom they don't need new phones (even though both chomp through it's battery life like it's nobodies business).

To the OP, I'd recommend staying a year behind. To many people get into this mentality that they have to have the latest and greatest phone. For the vast majority of people, they could go with a previous year phone, save themselves some money, and still get a phone that fits their needs.
 
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