The Denver CPU has quite uneven performance. I think the main issue is that it is in order. In order is fine for less powerful CPUs and saves power, but as they scale it makes it a handful to keep performance up so most big cores (those in your PC and on higher end smartphones) are out of order.
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
These $300 or Less Phones Are Becoming Insane
- Thread starter Marion Cobretti
- Start date
- Status
The Denver CPU has quite uneven performance. I think the main issue is that it is in order. In order is fine for less powerful CPUs and saves power, but as they scale it makes it a handful to keep performance up so most big cores (those in your PC and on higher end smartphones) are out of order.
Randy Monk
Member
Moto G 2nd gen and PS4 vs Galaxy S5.
No contest.
No contest.
Any ideas on this? Someone did say get Lg2g but that isn't one of my options atm.
The point is that the cheaper phones are not the cheap phones like they used to be. Phones like the Moto G are excellent phones, at a much, much cheaper price then the overpriced flagship phones.
Smartphones have started to reach that point where power isn't everything. Take a phone like the Nexus 5, it came out in 2013 and it's still a perfectly good phone for the vast majority of people (I'm going to continue to use mine for as long as I can).
Who's your provider?
If it's not Verizon (assuming you're American), then the Nexus 5 is still a good phone. As is the One Plus One. Both are perfectly capable devices that can be picked up pretty cheap.
The Moto E or G should be a great choice. The Nexus 4 and 5 are more powerful, but can also burn through the battery faster.
eso76
Member
I can't justify spending more than 200 on a mobile. All phones being based on the same 3 OS's is great from a consumer's perspective, but also made it much less exciting to change / upgrade your phone. Very little 'new stuff' to discover and for most casual users, their experience with a 160$ mobile will be exactly the same as it would be with a 700$ one, minus screen size/quality and form factor. Maybe quality of pics, but that's it.
Having said that, i just bought a Lenovo K3 Note for my wife,
thought the specs sounded very good on paper for a 170$ phone.
Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by)
IPS 5.5 1080x1920 (~401 ppi pixel density)
Android OS, v5.0 (Lollipop)
Mediatek MT6752 Octa-core 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU Mali-T760MP2
MicroSD - 2 GB RAM - 16 GB STORAGE
13 MP Back Camera 5 MP Front camera
Bluetooth 4.0 etc
3000 mAh removable battery
etc etc
Having said that, i just bought a Lenovo K3 Note for my wife,
thought the specs sounded very good on paper for a 170$ phone.
Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by)
IPS 5.5 1080x1920 (~401 ppi pixel density)
Android OS, v5.0 (Lollipop)
Mediatek MT6752 Octa-core 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU Mali-T760MP2
MicroSD - 2 GB RAM - 16 GB STORAGE
13 MP Back Camera 5 MP Front camera
Bluetooth 4.0 etc
3000 mAh removable battery
etc etc
Mobilicity, and I am in Canada.
Thanks, will find the prices and compare. So I'd notice the upgrade from the Nexus S?
I wouldn't touch the Nexus 4, it was a great phone, but it's starting to show it's age.
From the Nexus S, definitely. I noticed a jump going from my Nexus 4 to my Nexus 5.
Any of the phones that Vorg mentioned will be great phones.
Vorg
Banned
Plus those thermal throttling issues.
ZackieChan
Member
Buy something from 2010. It was a great year for tech. I recommend an iPhone 4. I only buy devices from that year.
I consider myself a gadget lover but can no longer explain buying a 700 euro phone instead of a 350 euro one...
I basically use both the same and the cheaper one performs fine enough almost all my use cases... Currently use the One Plus One
Now give me my 350 euro phone with an extra large battery
I basically use both the same and the cheaper one performs fine enough almost all my use cases... Currently use the One Plus One
Now give me my 350 euro phone with an extra large battery
Dr. Benton Quest
Banned
Anyone have this behemoth? I can get one off contract now for about $275. Looking for impressions.
It really is incredible how quickly the budget smartphones have become great. I remember the first good budget smartphone in the UK (ZTE Blade) being mindblowing, where other budget phones had 320x240 resolutions the ZTE had a top of the line 480x800 screen for something like £99. But even those types of budget phones felt poorly built, were laggy (as were pretty much all Android phones back then) and had horrible cameras.
Nowadays you can get a Moto E for what, £80 / $120 ish? Those phones feel great and sturdy, have good battery life and even the screens look fine. I'm still rocking my day 1 Moto G and am waiting for a true 2015 Moto G to upgrade to. Some of the Chinese phones even give top of the line specs for $200, it's crazy.
Nowadays you can get a Moto E for what, £80 / $120 ish? Those phones feel great and sturdy, have good battery life and even the screens look fine. I'm still rocking my day 1 Moto G and am waiting for a true 2015 Moto G to upgrade to. Some of the Chinese phones even give top of the line specs for $200, it's crazy.
crazygambit
Member
But you know the retail price of every phone off contract, so you can easily figure out which phone is the better deal, though it might require some actual work. Oh the horror.
eso76
Member
update:
the Lenovo K3 Note just arrived.
(which is impressive on itself, since it was dispatched only yesterday from Hong Kong)
This thing scores 46100 points in Antutu ! Now, i understand this doesn't always translate to real world performances, but i thought it was quite impressive.
And from my very short time with it i'm very impressed with the device, at 170$ (incl. shipping to europe) it's a steal.
the Lenovo K3 Note just arrived.
(which is impressive on itself, since it was dispatched only yesterday from Hong Kong)
This thing scores 46100 points in Antutu ! Now, i understand this doesn't always translate to real world performances, but i thought it was quite impressive.
And from my very short time with it i'm very impressed with the device, at 170$ (incl. shipping to europe) it's a steal.
nature boy
Member
Mediatek SOCs are very good - particularly the recent ones - but community support and updates are still an issue.
I also recently got a chinese phone - Jiayu S3 Advanced and it's pretty amazing. If you update your phone every 2 or so years, it makes no sense to pay more than 250 for your device.
jetpacks was yes
Member
Unfortunately there are no good deals for the T-Mobile version(supporting more T-Mobile bands), only the AT&T model.
Dr Campino
Member
I definitely just bought that today.
-bakalhau-
Member
I was selling dozens of these phones by Christmas 2013, at a national level retailer. People came in for Sony or Samsung or Apple and ended up leaving with a Huawei, LG or 'unbranded' phone. Notably I sold dozens on the Huawei P7 and the same-specced G700, when they came in for the original, overpriced Galaxy Grand. It was nice because I got them a better phone for the same price or a similar for a lower price, and could, in the latter, justify the purchass of an ensurance. But then you had to sell them, the general public was very brand loyal. Now they're all over the place, at least double the low cost brands. So many people are just buying these. I can see these low cost phones eating more and more into the giants' share.
BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
Junior Member
I honestly can't recommend the moto g, android is just poop with 1 GB of ram.
For my use I'll be okay I think. If it's even a medium upgrade from my Nexus S I will be very happy. What do you suggest in the same price range?
Bestbuy is selling a sprint lg g2 for $200. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-g2-cell-phone-black-sprint/1710023.p?id=1219061251831&skuId=1710023
shadow_shogun
Member
I'm in the same boat as you, but going by the comments on that SlickDeals page, one can use an unlocked AT&T G2 with a tmobile sim card and still have lte. I decided to take a chance and ended up buying the damn thing...the only thing is that I hope I can update to lolipop when I get it.
(update)Edit: The phone just arrived today, and its safe to say that LTE works well with these apn settings;
Name: T-Mobile LTE
APN: fast.t-mobile.com
MMSC: http://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/wapenc
MCC: 310
MNC: 260
Authentication type: None
APN type: default,mms,supl
I was also able to get lollipop installed in the phone
fuzzyreactor
Banned
went from a galaxy S4 to a cheap LG tribute
barely notice the difference, biggest thing is camera IQ
barely notice the difference, biggest thing is camera IQ
blame space
Banned
Didn't people bought non flagship phones
Tesseract
Banned
Are you talking first gen moto g or second gen?
Tesseract
Banned
Muppet of a Man
Member
Does the AT&T model (d800) support 4g LTE for Cricket prepaid, as Cricket is owned by AT&T?
BIGWORM
Member
New proud owner of a Moto E 2nd Gen. Reinstalling shit and placing stuff in the SD card, looks awesome.
Still like my Lumia 520, not a bad phone at all considering it was free on my contract, but couldn't say no to a good offer. :3
Too bad my Whatsapp conversations can't be carried over, but oh well.
Still like my Lumia 520, not a bad phone at all considering it was free on my contract, but couldn't say no to a good offer. :3
Too bad my Whatsapp conversations can't be carried over, but oh well.
AzureSkies
Member
4.4 runs amazing on my second gen moto g, performance with regular, day to day use is near-identical to my OnePlus One.
MilkLizard
Member
Yes it's pretty crazy how good cheap phones are now. A friend of mine is planning on buying that new Alcatel and I'm looking forward to check it out. Moto G and E are also great.
Perfect. 10/10
Perfect. 10/10
Could I trouble you for some more impressions on the Jiayu S3 Advanced? I was considering ordering one this weekend, to upgrade from my 1 gb EU/ Galaxy S3.
How is the battery life? Is it decently fast? How does it feel? Solid, or too plasticky?
I only game very little on my phone, I usually use it for switching between a dictionary and flash card app, or sometimes listening to music / watching some videos. Looking for a phone for the next 2~ish years.
Thanks!
nature boy
Member
Battery life is good, it depends on what you're doing and if you need wifi/3g4g, but I'm pretty happy overall. Battery is removable, so you can always replace it with a new one. One complaint people have is charging is a bit slow, the charger that comes with the phone is garbage but it still takes several hours to charge. Since I charge at night, it's not an issue for me.
Performance wise, it's pretty much on par with the snapdragon 800 series so yes it's pretty fast. I don't game at all, but the GPU is the most recent GPU from ARM so it's pretty efficient.
Camera is pretty decent as well.
Build quality is excellent, it feels like a solid block in your hands. It's made out of plastic, probably not as premium as a Samsung Galaxy S, but I don't think it's a cheap feel either. Somewhere in the middle, IMO.
Phone comes with some useful features - double tap to wake, write a letter to open an app - that I've come to appreciate.
Some of the drawbacks are lack of accessories (there are some covers and cases, but not a lot compared to a Galaxy and you'll probably have to order from China) and lack of open source code (Mediatek won't allow it). The phone is rumored to get Lollipop in the next couple of months, but I wouldn't expect anything beyond that.
Here's a review with some other information: http://www.gizchina.com/2015/02/03/jiayu-s3-review/
Bottom line is the specs and quality are great, even better considering the price, but you're not going to get custom kernels and Roms like a Oneplus One or the variety in acessories.
Hope that helps. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
Thanks a lot! So much more info than I was expecting
.I did some more reading and had two more brief questions, if I may.
1.) How is the screen, and its brightness? I read that screen itself is great, although even the lowest brightness setting is still quite bright.
2.) Is initial setup of the phone a lot of work? I read that some steps need to be taken to install the various google services on the phone.
Thank you!
nature boy
Member
Thanks a lot! So much more info than I was expecting
I did some more reading and had two more brief questions, if I may.
1.) How is the screen, and its brightness? I read that screen itself is great, although even the lowest brightness setting is still quite bright.
2.) Is initial setup of the phone a lot of work? I read that some steps need to be taken to install the various google services on the phone.
Thank you!
It is indeed bright, although in direct sunlight you will need to adjust to the maximum brightness (or just let the light sensor do its job). But where I live it's cloudy today and close to minimum brightness I can read with no issues - and I have a tempered glass protector on.
Regarding google play, some devices are sold with chinese firmware and do not include google play. Some sellers sell with google play and others don't. You can ask the seller whether or not google play is included. Either way, you can either flash a Worldwide ROM (those that start with S3SW) or flash google play services. It's a pretty easy thing to do. Most sellers in Europe selling the S3 will have google play included.
Yes they're both 720p, Snapdragon 400, 1GB RAM.
bggrthnjsus
Member
ahahahahahahaha
- Status