Mid-range mobile with full rage of US + EU + NZ 5G bands?

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openmedia

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#318768 19-Feb-2025 13:11

Is there any such device. I know the high end devices from Apple / Samsung tend to work well internationally, but I don't want an expensive phone for everyday use.

Ideally I want to avoid

iPhone - I'm not using the Apple ecosystem day2day
Samsung - bloatware
Oppo - usual Chinese security concerns.

Sadly this appears to take out 80% of the phones available on the local market.

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.

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Max
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#3344491 19-Feb-2025 13:13

You're basically asking for a Pixel.

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openmedia

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#3344495 19-Feb-2025 13:36

MaxineN:

You're basically asking for a Pixel.

Wouldn't consider a Pixel mid-range

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.

MaxineN

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#3344496 19-Feb-2025 13:43

openmedia:

MaxineN:

You're basically asking for a Pixel.

Wouldn't consider a Pixel mid-range

Not even the a variants?

What you're asking is either going to be a second hand iPhone(which you don't want). A second hand Samsung(which you also don't want).

To get as close as possible within what you do want, you're looking at a Pixel.

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/7158570

This article will help, I own a Japanese 7a and brand new it will run you around the $650 mark. I got mine second hand in Japan and it is a mid range that does feel like a flagship at times... and it's the only device that's keeping me from going to iOS full time forever at this point.

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nztim

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#3344502 19-Feb-2025 14:04

I would get a go a two-phone approach

Whatever mid-range phone you want as your main NZ device

and then a secondhand iPhone SE 3rd Gen for travel which has every band and VoLTE profile in the world

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Asteros

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#3344517 19-Feb-2025 14:56

What is your budget for a mid range phone? The more expensive the phone the more likely the hardware is globally compatible. However, I think the phone software also needs the VoLTE and 5g profiles loaded and updated regularly - iOS, the high end Samsungs, the Pixels and I think OnePlus do. There may be others I don’t know of…

openmedia

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#3344531 19-Feb-2025 15:47

nztim:

and then a secondhand iPhone SE 3rd Gen for travel which has every band and VoLTE profile in the world

I heard from some US colleagues that US carriers are starting to block older pre iPhone 6 models from their networks. Several people have had warning about their devices.

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.

jim69

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#3344533 19-Feb-2025 15:54

You're avoiding Samsung phones because they have bloatware? Says who? What bloatware? I have 2 of them (A52, S21FE), have had many others before I dropped them (cough) and I am not aware of this bloatware problem. You do know that we are not getting phones off US Telcos, right?

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nztim

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#3344536 19-Feb-2025 16:19

openmedia:

I heard from some US colleagues that US carriers are starting to block older pre iPhone 6 models from their networks. Several people have had warning about their devices.

iPhone SE 3rd generation is a 2022 model and still current

phones below the 6s are security risks so understand networks blocking them (6 and 6s are two different models)

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openmedia

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#3344537 19-Feb-2025 16:51

jim69:

You're avoiding Samsung phones because they have bloatware? Says who? What bloatware? I have 2 of them (A52, S21FE), have had many others before I dropped them (cough) and I am not aware of this bloatware problem. You do know that we are not getting phones off US Telcos, right?

I don't want any of the Samsung default software. It can't "easily" be remove or disabled. I've recently been using HMD/Nokia devices as they have a very clean Android experience.

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.

Technofreak

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#3344539 19-Feb-2025 17:03

openmedia:

I don't want any of the Samsung default software. It can't "easily" be remove or disabled. I've recently been using HMD/Nokia devices as they have a very clean Android experience.

What bloatware/software are you particularly worried about? I have Samsung tablets, and use a Samsung S8 + as a back up phone. There's nothing on these that causes me any issues. My first Android tablet was the Nokia N1. My experience with the Samsung devices has been just as good or better software wise

In the past Samsung had a reputation of bloatware but not now, at least in my experience. I do wonder that you're over thinking the issue.

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Asteros

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#3344540 19-Feb-2025 17:04

If you want to buy a brand new phone in NZ I think you might have to invest in a more expensive model than you originally planned to get the functionality you are looking for. Perhaps there is limited market demand for multi region 5g and volte at lower price levels?

mudguard

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#3344545 19-Feb-2025 17:27

Technofreak:

openmedia:

I don't want any of the Samsung default software. It can't "easily" be remove or disabled. I've recently been using HMD/Nokia devices as they have a very clean Android experience.

What bloatware/software are you particularly worried about? I have Samsung tablets, and use a Samsung S8 + as a back up phone. There's nothing on these that causes me any issues. My first Android tablet was the Nokia N1. My experience with the Samsung devices has been just as good or better software wise

In the past Samsung had a reputation of bloatware but not now, at least in my experience. I do wonder that you're over thinking the issue.

Yeah I'm on my first Samsung in about a decade and have been pleasantly surprised at the lack of extra stuff. Sure there is still their own apps, but they can be disabled. As others have mentioned, we've gone back a decade or so into making sure we get the correct bands and even the it still may not be supported.

Hence my first Samsung in that time. There's no point (for me) getting anything else other than the phones offered by the Telcos here now.

We just replaced my partner's Pixel with a Samsung A55 and I have a Flip.

KiwiSurfer

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#3345004 20-Feb-2025 16:11

Agree with the comments re Samsung. I can totally understand the reputation Samsung has from my own poor experience with their early Android phones (I recall one awful early Samsung Android phone which had a lot of Telecom XT branding and a lot of crapware) so avoided them for a long time. Ended up making the jump around 2021 from Apple to the S21 from reading good reviews here on Geekzone and elsewhere and was very pleased with the clean experience. I want to emphasise it was very, very, very different experience -- the difference is really night and day and shows Samsung has definitely learnt their lesson.

My work-issued phone is an Samsung A73 and it is also fairly clean as well. Both the S21 and A73 are very clean and have no carrier (i.e. Spark/VF/2deg) stuff whatsoever and only a few handful of Samsung-specific apps most which can be uninstalled/disabled/etc. There is also several Google-speciifc apps which can't be uninstalled/disabled but as far as I know this is standard for most Android brands.

That S21 I bought in 2021 is still my daily driver and I'm not planning to replace it until the S26 comes out which means I'll get 5 full years out of it. From a TCO perspective it's been great. My work A73 stills goes fine after 2 years (and I understand it was ex a staff member who left before I arrived so possibly 3-4 years old now).

I would look seriously at Samsung if you just want an Android phone that works. They do a great job supporting the NZ carriers which you may not get from other Android brands. Their 5+ years of security/software updates is pretty awesome too.

Perhaps go into a store and have a play with an actual device and you'll see what we mean. Samsung in the last 5 or so years is nothing like it was in the early days of Android.

openmedia

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#3345008 20-Feb-2025 16:31

KiwiSurfer:

Perhaps go into a store and have a play with an actual device and you'll see what we mean. Samsung in the last 5 or so years is nothing like it was in the early days of Android.

I'll try to take another look at my next refresh. My old Samsung Tab S3 is still great for adhoc browsing and for Libby, but there are 10-15 Samsung apps I can't remove or even disable.

My daughter had a bunch of basic Samsung phones with the same issues and the awful Samsung UI, whist my Motorola and Nokia devices were generally excellent and had almost no manufacturer specific apps compared with generic Android.

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.

mattwnz

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#3345011 20-Feb-2025 16:42

I personally use both Android and IOS devices so can get the best of both world. Apple have just released their new low cost iphone SE replacement today, the 16 E. But it isn't exactly cheap, due to a price increase and NZs very weak dollar due to the OCR drops. My impression though of a Samsung flagship , vs and Apple Flagship, is that over time the Android tends to slow down a lot more and become more laggy over time. Apple devices seem to keep snappy for longer. APple also get updates a lot faster and historically have supported iphones with ios updates for at least 5 years, often a lot longer. Infact some very old models do occasionally get security ios updates.

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