New phone help

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alisam

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#284477 25-Apr-2021 10:45

I currently have a Samsung Note 5 (purchased October 2015) and looking to buy a new phone.

I don't want another Note, I never used the pen as much as I thought I would.

I can get $100 from Samsung if I trade in the phone for a new Samsung Phone and is a consideration.

My budget is $500 to $800.

Important items are:

Large screen (naturally a good resolution screen, but doesn't have to be the very best) for watching Netflix on the ferry going to work.

Fast processor

Fast Charging

Newish phone e.g introduced in 2021.

Android 11 (I see a lot are Android 10) but it would be nice to get a couple of future versions

5G (I am on a company plan with Vodafone but it is 4G, but I assume all phones will be 5G capable soon).

Decent camera (doesn't have to be the very best).

Not Huawei (my wife has a budget Huawei and there is nothing wrong with it, but Trump made me nervous).

I not that bothered about a large storage card. I can get all I want onto the Note 5 32GB storage. So say 128GB will be more than ample.

or a battery that lasts more than one day

or a phone jack (I use bluetooth).

Does anyone have a go-to site for mobile phone reviews. I am a bit wary of overseas ones as I am never sure whether the phone specs are the same as in NZ.

PC: HP ProBook 470G1 (Windows 10 Pro), Intel NUC7I5BNH (Windows 10 Pro), Dell Inspiron 7591 2n1 (Windows 11 Pro)
Net: Grandstream 1 x GWN7062, 1 x GWN7610, 1 x GWN7665
Storage: Synology DS216play NAS, 2 x 6TB
Media: 3 x Amazon FireTV. Echo, Dot, Spot
TV: 2 x Samsung H6400 55" LED TV, Panasonic TH-P50G10Z 50" Plasma TV
Mobile: Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
Wearable: Gear S3 Frontier

1 | 2

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#2697763 25-Apr-2021 11:21

I’d go with Xiaomi 10T Pro 5G. It’s at the top end of your budget.

android 11, 5000mAh battery, 5g, big screen, relatively recent (October 2020), 128gn storage, 33watt fast charging, 108mp HDR main camera with a 13mp ultra wide

just doesn’t have a headphone jack which is quite common these days. However included in the box is an adapter.

freitasm

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#2697772 25-Apr-2021 11:55

OPPO is a good brand for this and it's in the range. Look at this year's models.

WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2697787 25-Apr-2021 12:30

+1 For the OPPO phones. I moved from a Huawei P9 to a OPPO A91. Battery life is good on A91 (4025mAh battery). I use my device heavily on a workday (YouTube, Facebook, mail, Spotify\Music app (still have MP3's on device)) and at the end of a normal day battery is only down to around 45% remaining.

Mine did suffer a issue where it wouldn't charge via the USB C cable, and was taken back to place of purchase (Noel Leeming and repaired at OPPO)

While my OPPO was being repaired I used a relatives old Samsung Galaxy Note 5, night and day difference between the 2 phones.

One very little thing with at least my OPPO, for the likes of the Google Apps, they all have a white background\border which can't be removed.

shk292

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#2697814 25-Apr-2021 13:20

Recently bought an Oppo Find X3 lite and very pleased with it, would tick all your boxes I think

ANglEAUT

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#2697881 25-Apr-2021 20:00

GSManiac:

I’d go with Xiaomi 10T Pro 5G. ..

PM me & you can do an AMA about the phone.Had to replace my old phone +-3 weeks ago.

👍 Big battery certainly makes a for a good feeling. 3+ hours of solid GPS usage per day
🤷‍♂️ Very tall & heavy in your hand
👎 Some system apps have a separate update mechanism to the Google Play store
Inbuilt security system does a scan of the newly installed apps
👍 The CPU's make this phone feel very responsive
🤷‍♂️ Have not tried any NFC abilities
🤷‍♂️ Have not compared photo quality off the phone to other devices
👌👌 phone case in the box, don't buy a separate case until you've checked out the provided one

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

timmmay

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#2697883 25-Apr-2021 20:30

If you like the idea of an Xiaomi try it out first, in person, including fingerprint unlock. I got the 9T but didn't get on well with the under-screen fingerprint reader and a few limitations like Xiaomi disabling smart lock so sold it. Most like it, but it's one you should try yourself.

I got a Pixel 4a, love it, but it's small screen so not right for you. Oppo as mentioned above is a good option.

alisam

829 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2697889 25-Apr-2021 20:39

ANglEAUT:

GSManiac:

I’d go with Xiaomi 10T Pro 5G. ..

PM me & you can do an AMA about the phone.Had to replace my old phone +-3 weeks ago.

👍 Big battery certainly makes a for a good feeling. 3+ hours of solid GPS usage per day
🤷‍♂️ Very tall & heavy in your hand
👎 Some system apps have a separate update mechanism to the Google Play store
Inbuilt security system does a scan of the newly installed apps
👍 The CPU's make this phone feel very responsive
🤷‍♂️ Have not tried any NFC abilities
🤷‍♂️ Have not compared photo quality off the phone to other devices
👌👌 phone case in the box, don't buy a separate case until you've checked out the provided one

Sorry, I searched for 'AMA' and still don't know what it means.

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#2697890 25-Apr-2021 20:41

Ask me anything...

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GSManiac

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#2697912 25-Apr-2021 21:22

timmmay:

If you like the idea of an Xiaomi try it out first, in person, including fingerprint unlock. I got the 9T but didn't get on well with the under-screen fingerprint reader and a few limitations like Xiaomi disabling smart lock so sold it. Most like it, but it's one you should try yourself.

I got a Pixel 4a, love it, but it's small screen so not right for you. Oppo as mentioned above is a good option.

the 10T Pro has moved it to the side with a physical finger scanner built into the power button

timmmay

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#2697914 25-Apr-2021 21:31

GSManiac:
timmmay:

If you like the idea of an Xiaomi try it out first, in person, including fingerprint unlock. I got the 9T but didn't get on well with the under-screen fingerprint reader and a few limitations like Xiaomi disabling smart lock so sold it. Most like it, but it's one you should try yourself.

I got a Pixel 4a, love it, but it's small screen so not right for you. Oppo as mentioned above is a good option.

the 10T Pro has moved it to the side with a physical finger scanner built into the power button

Great, I expect the feedback got through from many. It was otherwise a nice phone, very fast, great cameras better than the pixel but camera processing not quite as good, great battery life.

KiwiSurfer

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#2697989 26-Apr-2021 07:50

I wouldn't be too keen on Xiaomi. I've had two so far and both not so great. One eventually had issues with its Wifi and now only works on Wifi if you place it right next to the AP. The second is now having issues with its internal compass (doesn't always point in the right direction which mucks up driving directions etc; calibration seems to help but given other phones can go months without calibration and this one needs it regularly I think its stuffed) and the camera takes seconds to load, slow to take pictures and is slow to save images (so that sometimes closing the camera app too quickly saves half the image--which you don't notice until you come back and look for it later). Network support seems rather variable too, they generally support the right bands so it'll work but data speeds aren't very good suggesting they haven't optimised stuff like carrier aggregation (CA) for our networks. I'd be happy with my Xiaomi phones if it was a budget/secondary phone (which was the original purpose). However given you seem to be wanting to get several years out of your phone and it'd be your daily driver so to speak I'd look elsewhere. Myself I would be looking at Samsung--yes more expensive but from the sounds of it a more polished OS and more reliable hardware. If you buy direct from your carrier you'll get a phone with the network settings fully optimised for best performance. OPPO seems to get good reviews here too and I note many of our NZ carriers sell OPPO which suggests good support on our networks for these phones if you buy from the carrier.

Xiaomi has some good points. As noted above they include a case with their phone which is a great idea--the one I got was transparent so just slipped it on and it's good to go. But can't say it is worth the issues above.

alisam

829 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2698032 26-Apr-2021 11:38

I think I talked myself out of Xiaomi. Also, I see there is 11 model which doesn't seem to be (mainstream) in NZ yet.

I am leaning to wait for the Samsung A52 5G model. I see they are on the parallel imported sites, but I am wary of purchasing from them.

I haven't ruled out Oppo. Just need more time.

lNomNoml

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#2698034 26-Apr-2021 11:44

alisam:

I currently have a Samsung Note 5 (purchased October 2015) and looking to buy a new phone.

....

Sell your mobile on Geekzone, facebook market place or trademe you will get more than $100.

This would be a recommendation: Oppo Find X3 Lite
Screen: 6.4" 2400x1080
CPU: Qualcomm SDM765G (mid to high end spec)
65W SuperVOOC 2.0 flash charging
Android 11, has 5G
Has a decent camera
Has 128GB storage

Here's the review:

https://www.jbhifi.co.nz/phones/Outright-Mobile-Handsets/oppo/oppo-find-x3-lite-starry-black/393365/

https://www.jbhifi.co.nz/phones/Outright-Mobile-Handsets/oppo/oppo-find-x3-lite-astral-blue/393366/

[Mod edit (JDB): Changed misspelled company name. Remember "cute" names are against the FUG]