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Anyone use a low end smartphone?
- Thread starter TacticalDesire
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I'm selling my LG G3 because I just don't need that much phone anymore and Android has gotten so good with Kit Kat that lower end phones can actually be a good experience. I have a dev edition Moto X on the way (I don't consider it low end I've just always like it) but I've debated giving the Desire 610 a try considering it's only $200 off contract.
I find the Moto X provides just enough for me. It has LTE, a reasonable camera, is fast, stock android, great feel in hand, solid battery life, decent screen, fast updates, and motorolas features really are great. I love the touchless control. I haven't had the desire to upgrade since I bought it. I don't need anything else from a phone and don't see anything that's a must have for the time being. And even though I have massive hands I have no desire for a 5.5 inch phone that everyone is making these days. It's just not for me. I want my phone to be a phone and act like a phone.
If the Moto X would have had battery life that was as good on the network as it was on wifi I would have kept mine.
My Moto G replaced my HTC One M8 of all things.
Its that good (from my experience) that I started thinking "whapy do I need such a high end device when the Moto G is as capable as it is".
The silly thing is I have it paired to a (more expensive) LG G Watch and they work flawlessly together.
If the low end stays this good, ikk be sticking to it no doubt.
Its that good (from my experience) that I started thinking "whapy do I need such a high end device when the Moto G is as capable as it is".
The silly thing is I have it paired to a (more expensive) LG G Watch and they work flawlessly together.
If the low end stays this good, ikk be sticking to it no doubt.
I've got a Moto G and a Galaxy S4.
The Moto G is basically a cheap one I got off eBay to travel with and as a useful second unit.
It's absolutely brilliant. I have an LG G3 coming back to me next week, though. Let's have this conversation in 2 weeks
The Moto G is basically a cheap one I got off eBay to travel with and as a useful second unit.
It's absolutely brilliant. I have an LG G3 coming back to me next week, though. Let's have this conversation in 2 weeks
No.
2013 flagships - HTC One & Xiaomi Mi 3
I only generally stick to flagships for now on. Better resell value than something much lower. Excellent GPU prevents it from being outdated faster. There are many sub-$100 smartphones in the Philippines generally from local brands. There is this one from MyPhone called the Rio Craze selling for under $50 with KitKat but only has 256 MB RAM. *facepalm* True, KK can run under 512 MB but as little as 256 is really pushing it. Most of these local phone bargain phones are junk and tend to break less than a year with very unresponsive touchscreen panels, terrible battery life, camera, etc. Battery life or poor camera are even weaknesses found on flagships (Nexus, HTC Ones, Moto G/X's)
For awhile in 2012, I actually did use a lower end smartphone which was the Nexus One. It was a 2-yr old smartphone at the time. Nexus One after 4 yrs can still hold its own vs many lower end smartphones of today running on newer software. This is why flagships tend to have more longevity than midrangers and lower. But I also had a local branded feature phone for abt $80 a couple yrs ago which had analog TV and a louder external speaker than my M7's BoomSound. Maybe by 2017, my current pair of 2013 flagships should be considered low end by that point. But Android getting leaner and more mature might make me keep them even longer or until their batt dies out, whichever comes first.
If I decide to go low-end, perhaps another Xiaomi. I really don't pay attention to Xiaomi's stealing data and passing it to the Chinese gov controversy. Google, Facebook, etc all steal too. SnapChat doesn't eliminate all photos either yet people still use it. But I digress, the Xiaomi Redmi 1s is considered entry level (sub-$150), but it has specs that surpass the Moto G. The key to longevity isn't the CPU but the GPU. Heck, I get benchmark scores of 19k AnTuTu for my pair of phones while both on power/battery saving mode. Throttled down to like 1.1-1.3 GHz for a couple cores and I get respectable enough UI results.
The GPU is really the heart of the UI. Most Samsung Galaxy Note/S3 owners can live with their CPU running under 1.2 GHz with respectable batt life. It is that Mali 400 that becomes their bottleneck. Even my iPhone 4 from 2010 can hold its own vs the 2013 HTC One in most areas except gaming because that GPU got outdated fast unlike the 4s. Stuttering animations, the A4 single core chip showed its weaknesses by iOS6 and many modern games. My Mi 3 belongs on the long battery life Hall of Fame next to my old iPhone 4. Perhaps surpassing it. Generally 9-10 hr screen time. Avg on Android is 5 hrs or lower including all low end devices.
2013 flagships - HTC One & Xiaomi Mi 3
I only generally stick to flagships for now on. Better resell value than something much lower. Excellent GPU prevents it from being outdated faster. There are many sub-$100 smartphones in the Philippines generally from local brands. There is this one from MyPhone called the Rio Craze selling for under $50 with KitKat but only has 256 MB RAM. *facepalm* True, KK can run under 512 MB but as little as 256 is really pushing it. Most of these local phone bargain phones are junk and tend to break less than a year with very unresponsive touchscreen panels, terrible battery life, camera, etc. Battery life or poor camera are even weaknesses found on flagships (Nexus, HTC Ones, Moto G/X's)
For awhile in 2012, I actually did use a lower end smartphone which was the Nexus One. It was a 2-yr old smartphone at the time. Nexus One after 4 yrs can still hold its own vs many lower end smartphones of today running on newer software. This is why flagships tend to have more longevity than midrangers and lower. But I also had a local branded feature phone for abt $80 a couple yrs ago which had analog TV and a louder external speaker than my M7's BoomSound. Maybe by 2017, my current pair of 2013 flagships should be considered low end by that point. But Android getting leaner and more mature might make me keep them even longer or until their batt dies out, whichever comes first.
If I decide to go low-end, perhaps another Xiaomi. I really don't pay attention to Xiaomi's stealing data and passing it to the Chinese gov controversy. Google, Facebook, etc all steal too. SnapChat doesn't eliminate all photos either yet people still use it. But I digress, the Xiaomi Redmi 1s is considered entry level (sub-$150), but it has specs that surpass the Moto G. The key to longevity isn't the CPU but the GPU. Heck, I get benchmark scores of 19k AnTuTu for my pair of phones while both on power/battery saving mode. Throttled down to like 1.1-1.3 GHz for a couple cores and I get respectable enough UI results.
The GPU is really the heart of the UI. Most Samsung Galaxy Note/S3 owners can live with their CPU running under 1.2 GHz with respectable batt life. It is that Mali 400 that becomes their bottleneck. Even my iPhone 4 from 2010 can hold its own vs the 2013 HTC One in most areas except gaming because that GPU got outdated fast unlike the 4s. Stuttering animations, the A4 single core chip showed its weaknesses by iOS6 and many modern games. My Mi 3 belongs on the long battery life Hall of Fame next to my old iPhone 4. Perhaps surpassing it. Generally 9-10 hr screen time. Avg on Android is 5 hrs or lower including all low end devices.
Only for Verizon or Boost CDMA versions which you can't use on other carriers. Maybe the AT&T GoPhone locked version, too. Works great as a very, very inexpensive Android alternative to the iPod touch, though.Moto G here. I think it is now going off contract for $69. That's just stupid!
Factory unlocked GSM, going rate is still ~$180 for 3G 8GB, ~$200 for 3G 16GB and ~$220 for LTE 8GB. It's an excellent value at those prices. Less than $100? It's a steal.
I'm probably going to buy one even if just as a backup! Crazy good price...it's like half the price of an iPod touch
I've gotten two people on Nokia's 520 which is sort of it's predecessor and pretty great too.
I was on an iPhone 5s until last week when it quit charging or syncing, and I don't know that I'll switch back when I get it back because I don't think the lightning connection works (I mean at all...I had the exact same thing happen to my iPod touch 5, and I've had a half dozen lightning cables from Apple go bad...I think the connection is defective). On a Nokia 928 right now, though it's not 100% compatible with my network so I'm thinking of possibly switching to a 635 or 1520 (1530? whatever the model is) or a Nexus 5, or a Moto X...one of those, maybe.
I've used the Moto G as a daily driver. I would honestly say it's my favorite phone behind the iPhone. You cannot beat the price and the performance you get out of it, especially now that you can get it with LTE and a microSD slot.
Not exactly low end, but I use a Nexus 5 which is only $349 off contract. Many flagship phones are $199 no a two year contract, so this is actually quite economical if, like me, you're a frequent upgrader.
Used a G for a while but the screen on it is very very fragile. It only took one drop to shatter.
Repair was almost the price of purchase, so I sold it off cheap and now I'm using a 4S as a daily driver.
The 4S holds its price and is still a very capable phone.
Repair was almost the price of purchase, so I sold it off cheap and now I'm using a 4S as a daily driver.
The 4S holds its price and is still a very capable phone.
How did you drop it? I've already dropped mine a couple of times and so far, it's only got a few nicks and scratches on the chassis (thinking of replacing it with the Moto G Grip Shell).
Why sell it? Can't you return it? If you purchased it full price, (ATT Next/Verizon EDGE) you would take a pretty big hit.
I guess if you purchased it on contract ($99) and sell it so soon it would make sense since you will likely get around $500 for it.
The phone was lying on my leg while I was parking, I forgot about it and got up and walked out the car, so it hit the garage floor and smashed pretty bad
Yeah, you guys used to see me rave about my Huawei. Now they have KitKat booting on that thing. It's why it was easy to decide to get a 4" Samsung to just play around with all the Amazon freebies.
You clean up the bloat, you change CPU settings, and they're perfectly usable. Jelly Bean helps a lot, and so does the fact that they're using 2011 era midrange chips.
I still keep my Lumia 520 around too. I find that games can be a lot more choppy on it, but the updates are helping.
You clean up the bloat, you change CPU settings, and they're perfectly usable. Jelly Bean helps a lot, and so does the fact that they're using 2011 era midrange chips.
I still keep my Lumia 520 around too. I find that games can be a lot more choppy on it, but the updates are helping.
Yeah I got it on contract. Didn't even have to use my own upgrade. That's why I'm selling it.