Great quality compact for €150/200 INC IRISH VAT

cormie

Hey folks,
Looking for suggestions for a new compact (4.6 inch-ish) phone for someone who only needs it for basic texting, photos, calls etc.

They were using a Motorola Razr i XT890 until now which did them well for years, but their one started acting up about 2 months ago and I replaced it with my old one of the same model for them, but now that's acting up too.

As I'm guessing almost any phone for €150/200 these days will be far superior to the XT890 in terms of spec, which was fine for their needs, I'd be leaning more towards higher build quality, battery life etc than a spec powerhouse. Any kind of IP water/dust rating would be great too?

When I mention Irish VAT, they'd prefer to buy either local or from Amazon as they can reclaim VAT, so something that might be €150 on banggood, if they can buy it for €185 here or on Amazon including Irish VAT, this would be much preferred!

Any feedback would be great

Damien360

From your bargain alert post. I bought my wife the Motorola G4 last year and it is a great phone. Battery life is very good, it is well built and don't let the 2GB of RAM put you off because it doesn't feel like that. I added a 32GB card to extend the storage space. Amazon purchase and get a case for 6.35 from J&D on Amazon also. Good fit and gives great grip.

Damien360

This is the cover

cormie

Thanks a lot for the reply!

I think it's going to be between:

G4 Play £116: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Mobile-Phones-Smartphones/Motorola-Moto-G4-16GB-SIM-Free-Black/B01IF51GYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487576110&sr=8-1&keywords=g4%2B16gb&th=1
Really affordable
acceptable size
worst camera & Least powerful


G4 £156: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Mobile-Phones-Smartphones/Motorola-Moto-G4-16GB-SIM-Free-Black/B01GTWTYB8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487576110&sr=8-1&keywords=g4%2B16gb&th=1

Best value? Best battery
no NFC, too big

CPU: Octa-core (4x1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4x1.2 GHz Cortex-A53)


Samsung A3 2016 £187: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Galaxy-SM-A310F-SIM-Free-Smartphone/dp/B01E3W880O/ref=sr_1_4?s=telephone&ie=UTF8&qid=1487576880&sr=1-4&keywords=samsung+a3

Most Compact
Refurb available around £130
Smallest battery

CPU: Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53

Looking at the CPU, if the G4 has 4x 1.5 A53's, does that mean it's 4x more powerful than the A3 and then it also has 4x 1.2ghz ones too so more than 7x as powerful???

All other specs compared here: http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone3=7791&idPhone2=8103&idPhone1=8104

Seems to be no official waterproofing on any, but they all seemed to do ok in youtube water tests?

All available under €200 delivered.



Then there's the A3 2017, €300 in carphone warehouse seems to be the best deal.

Compared to G4 here:http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone2=8103&idPhone1=8104&idPhone3=8336


So for 65% higher price (€182 vs €300) you get:
way more compact, IP water and dust proof
Always on display, Finger print scanner, Better camera, NFC
More powerful?
smaller battery

cormie

cormie wrote: »

Samsung A3 2016 £187: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Galaxy-SM-A310F-SIM-Free-Smartphone/dp/B01E3W880O/ref=sr_1_4?s=telephone&ie=UTF8&qid=1487576880&sr=1-4&keywords=samsung+a3

Most Compact
Refurb available around £130
Smallest battery

Just if anyone else was looking at the A3 Refurb on Amazon for £129, I just realised, thanks to a review, that it's the 2015 model, not 2016, so not as great a deal at all

cormie

Adding Motorola E3 into the mix:

Motorola E3, 5 Inch - €75 after unlocking (need to buy from meteor website for 60, choose get new number, wait for delivery, then order unlock code for about 15)
This is a good phone for the price, but wouldn't be as good as the others in terms of power and speed.
Has no NFC
Can't take more than a 32gb SD card

Motorola G4 Play, 5 inch - €140/150 unlocked (order from amazon)
Step up in power from E3
Better video recording

Samsung A3 2016, 4.7 inch - €225 unlocked (order from amazon)
more compact
Better camera than G4 and E3

Samsung A3 2017, 4.7 inch - €315 after unlocking (buy from three store for 300 and spend about 15 on unlock)
water and dust proof (the others are resistant to some extent too, but this is officially rated)
Always on display
Finger print scanner
Better camera
Good bit faster and more powerful than the rest


When you look a tit, there's not so much difference between the one for €225 and €75 but then stepping up another €75 from €225 to €300 or €315 after unlock gets you a fair bit extra. Hmmm!

dodzy

cormie wrote: »

When you look a tit, there's not so much difference between the one for €225 and €75 but then stepping up another €75 from €225 to €300 or €315 after unlock gets you a fair bit extra. Hmmm!

CantGetNoSleep

For that money I'd say screw the VAT and go for one of the cheaper Xiaomi's from China

cormie

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

For that money I'd say screw the VAT and go for one of the cheaper Xiaomi's from China

Thanks for the suggestions, any recommendations that would be around the €150 mark to compare to the features and spec of the €150 option above? That's delivered an after any possible import duties etc

cormie

I got the E3 already for 1 of the two, now the second person has decided on the Samsung A3 2016 from the options I gave them below:

Motorola E3, 5 Inch - €75 after unlocking (need to buy from meteor website for 60, choose get new number, wait for delivery, then order unlock code for about 15)
This is a good phone for the price, but wouldn't be as good as the others in terms of power and speed.
Has no NFC
Can't take more than a 32gb SD card (probably no big problem for you)

Motorola G4 Play, 5 inch - €140/150 unlocked (order from amazon)
Step up in power from E3
Better video recording

Samsung A3 2016, 4.7 inch - €225 unlocked (order from amazon)
more compact
Better camera than G4 and E3

Samsung A3 2017, 4.7 inch - €315 after unlocking (buy from three store for 300 and spend about 15 on unlock)
water and dust proof (the others are resistant to some extent too, but this is officially rated)
Always on display
Finger print scanner
Better camera
Good bit faster and more powerful than the rest and considerably more than the one you have now I'd say.

When I write it out, it seems the price to get the advantages of the Samsung A3 2016 over the Moto E3 (€150 more expensive) is a lot more than the cost to get all the added advantages of the A3 2017 (€85/90) more than the A3 2016, so the difference between the E3 and the A3 2016 for 3x the cost, I don't think is really 3x the improvement, but maybe the difference between the E3 and the A3 2017 is 4x the improvement?

smallgarden

im looking for similar , up to €300 ideally with the best camera I can get in that price range. I dont use my phone for gaming

cormie

I ended up ordering a Moto G3 on Amazon Warehouse Deals for the 2nd person. 16GB version for £137. I'm not sure if it's a good price for the phone itself compared to what it may have been before brand new or considering the G4 play is €140 new, but it just seemed a better deal than the Samsung A3 2016