Best mid-range phones?

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invisibleman18

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#217987 21-Jul-2017 11:56

My partner and I are both in need of new phones. Me because my screen is smashed and the phone (Lumia 735) has been playing up and annoying me anyway, so think it’s finally time to move from Windows Phone to Android. My partner because she dropped hers (Samsung J1 Ace) and the screen no longer turns on.

Wanting something in the mid sort of range. Iphone and high end Samsung models are beyond our budget since we need to buy 2, and we’re both happy with our current prepay combos and don’t really want to sign up to more expensive plans to pay off higher end phones. What would be the best ones to look at in the $300-$500 bracket? Thinking Samsung is probably the best brand to go for so something like J5 Prime looks good. Also looks like you get a quite a good spec for the price with the Oppo ones that JB Hifi have started selling, but don’t know about the brand. Also see Noel Leeming Lower Hutt has HTC One X9 for $299 this weekend, is that any good? Since we're going to buying 2 at the same time there's probably no harm in asking the store if there's any deal they could do.

rb99

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#1826459 21-Jul-2017 12:10

Going through a phase of recommending Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X -

Pluses - cheap, good bang for buck, decent screen, large battery

minuses - parallel imported (might not fancy this, especially if you're after 2), missing one 4G band, you may or may not care.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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vexxxboy

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#1826472 21-Jul-2017 12:17

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=97&topicid=216680

Common sense is not as common as you think.

xpd

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#1826473 21-Jul-2017 12:19

Meizu from PBTech ? Seem to be good phones for the money.

XPD / Gavin

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tehgerbil

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#1826484 21-Jul-2017 12:56

Warehouse stationery have some amazing prices at the moment, and spend over $200 and get a $50 gift card to boot.

I'd check them out in the first instance.

openmedia

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#1826595 21-Jul-2017 14:36

Loving my Moto G5 Dual Sim

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

ubergeeknz

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#1826597 21-Jul-2017 14:37

I would check out the Huawei P10 lite as well

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invisibleman18

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#1826630 21-Jul-2017 15:12

Thanks for the tips and the link about the new Vodafone one which I didn't know about. Just went and had a look at the Smart V8 at a Vodafone store and Oppo F1s at JB Hifi such they have on special for $399. But seem nice so tossing up between them at the moment. The Oppo seems to mostly have better spec but an older version of Android, and not sure how reliable the brand is.

jonb

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#1826665 21-Jul-2017 16:37

If you're thinking of Oppo then definitely consider the Xiaomi Redmi 4x. Impossible to beat those specs for less than 200NZ

invisibleman18

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#1827509 23-Jul-2017 11:15

Thanks for the tips everyone. Ended up going with the Vodafone Smart V8 yestetrday. Decided I had more faith in Vodafone over the Oppo brand I didn't know. Also being a brand new device with the latest version of Android compared to the Oppo model having 5.1 and only being able to go up to 6 probably swung it. Was also put off by Oppo using their own OS together with Android. Having used Windows Phone ever since I've had a Smart Phone I wanted to move to Android properly and not get stuck with something else that may end up lacking some functionality.

Seems a nice device so far. Been good to be able to get a number of apps I've wanted but couldn't on Windows, such as Westpac which I've always had to do through the browser before. Only teething problem setting up was trying to get my contacts off the Windows phone which I'd thought were previously on the Sim but didn't seem to be and there was no way to export them off the phone. Ended up working out I could login to my live.com account, download the contacts as a csv file to my computer then login to my Google account and import them that way and then they all appeared on the phone. Liking the fingerprint security which I've never had before. Never bothered with a pin or password before as I couldn't be bothered having to type it in every time.

My other half went for the Samsung J7 Prime with 2 Degrees which was $100 cheaper at Warehouse Stationery than in the 2 Degrees store and is a good upgrade from her J1 Ace. She had to get her number switched to a nano sim as her last phone used micro sim so getting her contacts was also an issue since the old phone is busted and we didn't have another one that took a micro sim. It was an old flip top basic phone that we'd kept in case of emergency that came to the rescue. 2 Degrees gave us a multi sim so popped out the micro part and put the old one in the adapter which then fit into the old phone which took the older large sim size, and copied the contacts onto the phone. Then switched the number to the new sim online and put the nano one into the adapter and into the old phone to get the contacts onto it.

cyril7

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#1827589 23-Jul-2017 14:32

Hi, only this week had to get myself a new phone after years of a employer provided unit. Toss up between the V8 and P10 Lite, went for the latter and could not be happier, very snappy and feels solid.

As to the OP and issues with contacts on SIM's, doing that is so last century, now you have android phones, use the Google account to store all contacts, and the issue goes away, dont put anything on the SIM

Cyril

mdav056

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#1827590 23-Jul-2017 15:00

As you say, J5 Prime, great phone, got mine from Warehouse Stationery for $250, perfect!

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#1827592 23-Jul-2017 15:07

cyril7:

As to the OP and issues with contacts on SIM's, doing that is so last century, now you have android phones, use the Google account to store all contacts, and the issue goes away, dont put anything on the SIM

She had an Android phone - Samsung J1 Ace. Any smartphone can sync to Goggle Contacts anyway - it certainly is bizzare to be storing contacts on the SIM in this day and age.

invisibleman18

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#1827724 23-Jul-2017 17:18

Yes, I didn't realise it could be done that way with both of us being on our first smartphones having gone to those from old basic phones where they were all on the sim. I imagine if we'd looked my partner's contacts must have already been in her Google account without needing to get them off the sim just as mine were in my Microsoft account.