$300-500 phone with quality specs? Asian market import?

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TeaLeaf

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#230561 1-Mar-2018 17:14

I need another phone.

I was going to buy an LG v20 but people started talking about how bad LG is with updates and their current lawsuit due to issues with the v4, v4, v10 etc.

Le Eco do an SD820 1440p phone, i forget its name but you wont get much in the way of updates.

So I then thought what about the Nokia 8 and Im still unsure on it.

But you can get an Xperia Premium for $600 on sale. But I didnt realise its only 4k when outputting 4k content otherwise its just 10k.

I really want something vibrant, and that usually means oled. And I hate 18:9 which also means potential burn in issues due to 16:9 leaving bars to the sides of movies.

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'That VDSL Cat'
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#1966671 1-Mar-2018 17:19

I absolutely love my V20.

Sure it comes with it's limits;

I wish the screen was slightly better, i wish it wasn't only CAT 9, I'd love slightly more RAM and CPU.

Oh. and i'd love atlest 7.1 or 8.0 to hurry up and drop so i can capture LTE-CA flags!

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TeaLeaf

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#1966676 1-Mar-2018 17:26

Oh the Zte Atmos 7 I nearly bought whilst in Australia for $300, but we dont sell them here for some reason. The Dolby Atmos speakers are awesome and the screen is nice.

hio77:

Oh. and i'd love atlest 7.1 or 8.0 to hurry up and drop so i can capture LTE-CA flags!

Yes this is one of my reasons for not getting it, released with 7.0 but no updates since. I thought the screen would be nice being 1440p?

epr

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#1966681 1-Mar-2018 17:44

The Oppo A73 is $400 at PB Tech comes with a 2 year warranty 6 inch screen seems like good enough specs. Some people don't like the Oppo OS but I don't mind mine on my R11S.

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jonb

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#1966704 1-Mar-2018 18:43

Xiaomi Mi A1 if looking for imports too - top camera and build quality with stock Android on the Android One update path

qwerty123

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#1966744 1-Mar-2018 19:18

Mi A1 not bad. I was choosing between Mi A1 and Nokia 6, but Mi A1 has no NFC and Band 28 support. So ended up with Nokia 6 without any remorse. Nokia 8 is twice over the 300-500$ budget. You can look onto Motorolla handsets in this range - stock Android, fast updates... and that's all. I dont like look-n-feel as well as structural integrity of Motorolla handsets in this range - it's like Lego.

hio77

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#1966756 1-Mar-2018 19:36

TeaLeaf:

Yes this is one of my reasons for not getting it, released with 7.0 but no updates since. I thought the screen would be nice being 1440p?

It's not the resolution but the blead, It's cronic something absurd.

i have a daily thing that runs at 4am to help midigate things but it's still pretty bad..

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TeaLeaf

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#1966773 1-Mar-2018 20:27

jonb:

Xiaomi Mi A1 if looking for imports too - top camera and build quality with stock Android on the Android One update path

best place to import?

band 28 is not of use to me, plus the nokia 6 is a bit short on hardware, although the 2018 model will be better.

NorthernZone

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#1966778 1-Mar-2018 20:35

What about the Honor 7X instead??

TeaLeaf

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#1966779 1-Mar-2018 20:52

The honor 7 gets terrible basemark results, due to the CPU clearly. Its IPs and its 18:9, all the things I didnt want hehe.

I got a le 2 with an sd810 for $150 delivered, i might just get another and put lineage on it.

But there are a few options to explore here, although being retail NZ a lot are well over priced. the g5s imported is prob the best, the the nokia 5 and 6 use the sd430, but thats about to get updated.

still all of these are $300 phones without oled and sd835 etc. i think importing is the only way to go.

TeaLeaf

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#1967183 2-Mar-2018 17:44

I really like the look of the Sony XZ premium and the Le Eco Le 2, not a fan of Samsung phones, they look a bit plastic and not professional, in saying that they are still great phones, everyone has a look. I just like the clean minimalist metal professional look.

vexxxboy

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#1967246 2-Mar-2018 19:23

this is a great phone , due on March 12th but for the price i dont think you will find a better spec quality phone .

https://www.banggood.com/Meizu-Pro-6-Plus-Global-Version-5_7-Inch-2K-AMOLED-4GB-RAM-64GB-ROM-Exynos-8890-Octa-Core-Smartphone-p-1266097.html?rmmds=search&ID=41195&cur_warehouse=HK

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shk292

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#1967253 2-Mar-2018 19:42

vexxxboy:

this is a great phone , due on March 12th but for the price i dont think you will find a better spec quality phone .

https://www.banggood.com/Meizu-Pro-6-Plus-Global-Version-5_7-Inch-2K-AMOLED-4GB-RAM-64GB-ROM-Exynos-8890-Octa-Core-Smartphone-p-1266097.html?rmmds=search&ID=41195&cur_warehouse=HK

Looks great except lack of Band 28

I think the Moto G5S plus is good in this price range - $389 from Dick Smith

TeaLeaf

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#1967258 2-Mar-2018 19:51

vexxxboy:

this is a great phone , due on March 12th but for the price i dont think you will find a better spec quality phone .

https://www.banggood.com/Meizu-Pro-6-Plus-Global-Version-5_7-Inch-2K-AMOLED-4GB-RAM-64GB-ROM-Exynos-8890-Octa-Core-Smartphone-p-1266097.html?rmmds=search&ID=41195&cur_warehouse=HK

yes its not bad, but if you are importing there are a lot of phones that will push it for that kind of coin. Its basemark isnt bad, certainly not low end, id say midrange.

you can even get the lgv20 for that price imported, which is the best hardware phone on the market. but the boot loop issues some have had have given many a scare, its a little over done, i mean if as many people worried about Apples freying magsafes and staingate nobody would ever buy a single Apple Macbook :-).

it doesnt look to bad though, will be good to see some benchmarks.

im waiting for some more ZTE Atmos 7's to become available, clearly the best speaker driven media phone for the $ but the v20 is by far the best audophiles phone.

lots of new sd845s coming along.

vexxxboy

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#1967291 2-Mar-2018 20:47

shk292:

vexxxboy:

this is a great phone , due on March 12th but for the price i dont think you will find a better spec quality phone .

https://www.banggood.com/Meizu-Pro-6-Plus-Global-Version-5_7-Inch-2K-AMOLED-4GB-RAM-64GB-ROM-Exynos-8890-Octa-Core-Smartphone-p-1266097.html?rmmds=search&ID=41195&cur_warehouse=HK

Looks great except lack of Band 28

I think the Moto G5S plus is good in this price range - $389 from Dick Smith

not many cheap Chinese phones have band 28.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

timmmay

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#1967295 2-Mar-2018 21:05

shk292:

Looks great except lack of Band 28

I think the Moto G5S plus is good in this price range - $389 from Dick Smith

I read the Moto G6 is coming very soon, but will likely be 18:9.

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