Hey there Ozbargainers!
So I've finally decided to get a new phone, I'm upgrading from the Galaxy S3.
My budget is $40-50 a month and my options include:-
Per month"
Microsoft Lima 640 XL 4G - $40
HTC One M8 - $45
Huawei Ascend Mate 7 4G - $40
Samsung Galaxy A3 4G - $40
Samsung Galaxy A5 4G - $45
Samsung Galaxy S5 4G - $50
I wouldn't mind coughing up $10 - 20 more a month if you guys think its worth it.
Sony Xperia Z3 4G - $57
Galaxy Note 4 4G - $66
HTC One M9 - $66
Galaxy S6 - $65
The Lenovo K3 Note is a solid value phone. High specs for the $200 AUD it costs to get it from overseas.Look it up. I highly recommend rooting the phone to get rid of all the bloatware. In the past i did not bother, but for this phone you really do have to do it…
Note 4
Before you go ahead and sign another 24 month contract you may want to evaluate some BYO SIM options with another telco and see if you optimise your total spending on both the phone and calling allowances.
I know going from my usual $30 dollar phone plan with Voda (and using whatever crappy phone they have on the $30 cap plan), I went with LiveConnected for $19.90 a month and bought my own LG G2 outright. This option means I
am not locked into a contract, can leave any time I want
can choose any phone I damn well please
get 1.5GB of data instead of the piddly 200 MB a month
There's also prepaid and dual sim combinations to consider. If your calling / texting usage is LIGHT but HEAVY on data there's an option of a PAYG plan with a bolt-on data pack.
live connected are the worst. i was with them for about 3 years before i changed to telechoice. started off paying $11 a month for the plan scrimshaw is on and thought it was pretty sweet, so i get some of friends and family on it and while my service was relitively unaffected everyone else would have problems with it at least every couple of months. the final straw that broke the camels back was they gave my dads phone number to another customer so my dad couldn't recieve calls and was recieving calls that were for another person from all different countries around the world at all different times after the fix. now with telechoice and no problems what so ever and the 3g is faster than my adsl2, I don't know if it's telstra or what, but optus 3g is pretty shit compared.
S6
Note 4 or S6 for me.
I'd go with Note 4 or S6 (probably S6) in the list, but that said, I'd also look at sim card plans + buying a phone from somewhere else options.
You can get the s5 for $40 a month with 1gb of data.
Call voda and ask them to match the Virgin deal.
They did with me.
Pro tip:
Suspend your home isp while you're on data workout and tether from your phone at home for 2 months.
Save you some $$$ and is probably faster.
Also if you're on Voda, always upgrade after 21 months, no need to wait for those extra 3months.
Yeah top tips here.
s5 is a good upgrade from the s3 and has removable battery and expandable storage too.
Thank you for the tips :D
Thanks for all the advice guys!
Before you decide that the phone is rubbish and you want to upgrade, try the following (assuming of course, the phone is still in working condition)
I did this for my S3 and it's given it a new lease on life. I was considering getting a new phone 12 months ago when my S3 ran out of contract, but did the above and went on a cheap PAYG plan. (Going down from $49 to $18 per month, so the past 12 months of surviving on the same phone has saved me at least $372, assuming I could have got something at $49/month, which as you've listed above, isn't that competitive a price now)
Then test your phone for a couple of days and see if it's still going unbearably slow. If it's still too slow and unresponsive for you, then I'd recommend trying to put a custom ROM on it. I've heard fantastic things about the Slimkat ROM.
After the 12 months I've had my phone, it's again going quite slow, so it's time for a refresh, and probably putting Slimkat on it.
If you can last just an extra month or two, then you might be able to get a better phone for the same amount of money (IFA is in a week, where Sony will announce the Z5 (and possibly Z5 compact) as well as the iPhone 6S expected to be announced within 3 weeks.
I got the Lumia 640XL. Cost me $16 per month over 12 months just for the phone and honestly its a brilliant phone. Having said that the specs are not top of the line but it doesn't need to be with windows phone OS.
I came from a Nexus 5, yep a down grade in hardware, yes the app store is lacking but that gives me something to do, make the apps for myself that are missing. Still it's a very well balanced phone.
Now I'm just waiting for the 940 to come out…
Camera-wise, no question: Galaxy S6, followed by the Note 4.
Check out my comment for references to blind test results: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/207582
THis begs a question: What do you use your phone for?
…Overall, the Galaxy S6 is the best all rounder according to reviews (best screen), but is also the most expensive.