What Would You Look for in a Mid Range Phone and What Price Point

Ozai on 03/03/2019 - 11:43

Hi Guys,

I am looking to buy a mid range phone sometime this year. (Not in a rush). I have been thinking what is essential in a phone to give it the best chance of being functional in 2-3 years time.

Just curious what people think are the essentials in a mid range phone these days and what features would give mid range phone the longest life span. (ideally 3+ years)

Personally I feel technology has not made huge leaps in the last 5 years. For the average person tech from 5 years ago can do most things.
Had a friend buy an iphone 6 for ~370 and it can take good photos, browse, watch videos no issues.

My thoughts
-Processor doesn't matter to much unless you are into gaming.
-You need a minimum amount of ram to multitask. (Not sure what the number should be)
-Display must be full HD minimum
-Storage at least 64gb. (I think this is important going forward)
-NFC will be useful to many people (with google pay/apple pay etc. )
-Cameras should have user friendly app and be quick to focus and shoot. Although better senors = better night photography I don't think this is a major issue for mid-range phone.
-Solid battery life.
-OS - must have update support for at least 2 years post buying.

I think there a few phones in the 400-500 mark which probably achieve this moto g6 plus and Nokia 7.1 plus and may be LG V30+

Cheers

Ozai

Mobile Mobile Phone

Comments

  • aoeueoa on 03/03/2019 - 12:01
    +1

    The performance value is going to be better if you buy a generation or two old phone. The S8 is coming down a lot and still represents a fantastic phone.

  • Presence on 03/03/2019 - 12:17
    -1

    Sorry my crystal ball is broken today, but in general trying to futureproof technology is a fools game.

    My only advice to to buy from a brand that has a history of reliable updates.

  • qwerty on 03/03/2019 - 12:24
    +1

    Band 28

  • [Deactivated] on 03/03/2019 - 12:50
    +3

    I really agree that spending $1k on the latest flagship phone does not seem like a great way to spend money.

  • skid on 03/03/2019 - 13:25
    1. Battery capacity
    2. Latest Wifi standard (802.11n/ac/ax)
    3. Latest mobile data standard (3G/4G/5G)
    4. NFC, BT and GPS obviously
    5. Latest OS version
    6. 1080p or higher resolution

    The price point would be as you said $300-500.

  • altomic on 03/03/2019 - 13:39
    +1

    How would a phone not "be functional" in 2 - 3 years?

    • Quantumcat on 03/03/2019 - 14:52

      Maybe he means if it can't support the latest OS

    • Ozai on 03/03/2019 - 15:12
      -1

      Good question.
      Functional probably not the best word.
      —In my experience the things which has made my current and previous phones less useable with time is decline in battery life. This I assume will effect all phones so perhaps not that easy to fix.
      —Other thing which happens is it slows down for what ever reason.
      —OS not updated so phone may have unresolves security issues/bugs or not compatible with certain apps.

      But what I really meant is what features are likely to be most essential long term.

  • EightImmortals on 03/03/2019 - 14:06

    Look for APT-X HD and LDAC stuff if you like good-ish music quality.

  • p1 ama on 03/03/2019 - 15:15
    +1

    Personally I feel technology has not made huge leaps in the last 5 years. For the average person tech from 5 years ago can do most things.

    Wouldn't say so, tech from 5 years ago would be terribly slow by today's standards. The issue is that software today is written for modern hardware, not hardware from 5 years ago. Therefore, most programs are not being written with performance for legacy phones in mind. I recently used my old Galaxy S6 when waiting for my new phone to arrive and to be honest, it was slow and horrible.

    Had a friend buy an iphone 6 for ~370 and it can take good photos, browse, watch videos no issues.

    Sure, but it'll be slow. An iPhone 3GS can also do all those things without any "issues", it's whether the experience is good. It won't be on an iPhone 6. The 6S is the absolute minimum in my opinion.

    Processor doesn't matter to much unless you are into gaming.

    Not really, it's important for video decoding, rendering web pages…etc.

    You need a minimum amount of ram to multitask. (Not sure what the number should be)

    Increasing every day. I would say 4GB minimum today, but soon it will be 6GB and 8GB.

    Display must be full HD minimum

    Density is what matters, not resolution. At most "normal" sizes, yes, I would say 1080p (though resolution of phone screens are rarely 16:9 anymore, so it won't be 1920x1080) is minimum.

    Storage at least 64gb. (I think this is important going forward)

    Disagree, storage is becoming less important as people move to storing things in the cloud and will only become less important, though it is becoming cheaper. I used to store music and videos on my phone, now I just stream music and videos, for example. I have a 64GB phone, I use around 16GB.

    NFC will be useful to many people (with google pay/apple pay etc. )

    Never found a real use for NFC. Paying by phone is still much slower than paying by card given you can just tap the card, but will need to unlock the phone and fiddle around to get to the app you need.

    Cameras should have user friendly app and be quick to focus and shoot. Although better senors = better night photography I don't think this is a major issue for mid-range phone.

    Cameras on phones have been fine for a while now, developments will largely be slow given that things are quite optimised for the sensor size that can be fit on most phones.

    Solid battery life.

    Most are fine.

    OS - must have update support for at least 2 years post buying.

    Depends on the manufacturer for this one.

    I think there a few phones in the 400-500 mark which probably achieve this moto g6 plus and Nokia 7.1 plus and may be LG V30+

    They're all getting a bit old now, but they're fine phones for now. Whether they're any good in a few years time, that's hard to tell. Nobody has a crystal ball.

    • skelty on 03/03/2019 - 16:18

      android/google pay is pretty convenient, all you need is the phone unlocked don't need to be in the app.

  • pernunz on 04/03/2019 - 16:18

    I've got a Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 from a couple of years ago that I'm looking at upgrading in the next 6-12 months.

    My main criteria for my new phone:

    LED Display - To get better battery life as more things become dark themed (eg. Reddit, Messenger, Google Chrome)

    Decent sized battery (Currently have a 4,000 mAh battery which is performing well after a couple of years, but would probably accept a 3,000 mAh battery with newer components and an LED screen as above)

    Bluetooth 5.0 - Would love to have the Dual Audio feature to be able to pair two sets of bluetooth headphones to listen to the same audio. Likely a niche feature, but walking the dogs with my partner whilst we're listening to the same podcast would be fantastic

    NFC - For payments

    RAM - 4GB Minimum

    Camera - Decent (not mind-blowing)

    Headphone Jack - Not a priority for me, mostly use bluetooth headphones, and would use a headphone adapter failing that.

    The Samsung Galaxy A50 that was just announced looks like a decent contender.

  • Brianqpr on 05/03/2019 - 12:18
    +1

    I got a Huawei Nova 3i a couple of months back and am very pleased with it. Does everything well and looks great with a real premium feel. Battery life is great and 128GB memory plus takes a memory card if needed. I've taken some really nice photos with it too, has a great AI feature and the night mode works really well. I got it for $395 which is great value in my view.

    Doesn't have NFC but I couldn't care less about that and wouldn't even use it if the phone did have it.

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