Mid-range smartphone recommendations

[daocat555]

According to kimovil the best price on a Sony Xperia XA1 is $268.68 at dealextreme (8,751 baht).  That's for the same phone Nyezhov found for $122.47 (3,990 baht) at Lazada,

 

I have an order in at dealextreme, which I made on August 21'rst, which dealextreme "claims" they shipped that day (they took my money that day).  It hasn't arrived yet and it's getting due.  Their tracking is of the sophistication that every time I track it it says "shipped".

 

I buy clothing as well as mobiles at Aliexpress and never had a problem.  Well seldom, my Cubot J3 came in black and I ordered blue.  But since I have learned from the poster's here that it doesn't matter much what color a phone is I let that slide, and gave the seller a positive rating.

 

But dealextreme worries me.  I'll let you know.

[YorkshireTyke]

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/sony-xperia-xa1-5hd-4glte-3gb32gb-1-i251836809-s388675822.html?

 

I'm just back from a trip to the mall, I didn't see any Sony as I want to try the side fingerprint but I did take a photo with a Oppo A83 which came out a lot clearer than my Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 photos.

 

I expect to use any phone I buy for 2 years so I want to make the right choice.

[daocat555]

The retail Shops at MBK, Pantip, the Mall (which Mall is that? they never say), need to move phones fast to survive a bit longer (online is killing them).  You are very unlikely to see a phone released in February 2017 on their shelf, and if you did they couldn't afford to let it go for 3,990.

 

I am confident you will get your purchase right, tyke, as you are getting your ducks in a row by doing the homework everybody might be advised to do.

[daocat555]

And while I'm rambling, this topic is the venerable NanLaew's.  Who has been to Hong Kong and surely the Mall deliberating on her next phone.  Ms Nan; are you still with us?  Did you buy a new phone (don't tell me Y9 please).  I really am curious as to the phone NanLaew chose.

[daocat555]

The Pocophone F1 is at Lazada at four sellers; Lazada itself (LazMall), Shopping D, Thaisuperphone, and K SMART.

 

Although all the Stores have generally good feedback LazMall has the best price, and for me I trust them the most.  This is an awesome phone in several ways; and gets a big thumbs up from me.  I retract my worry about "tinny" speakers which I quoted from one brief review but is soundly contradicted by gsmarena.

 

This is a super performing and decently well rounded phone well worth a look by anyone shopping in the 10 K to 12 K baht price range.

 

Gsmarena measured max sound output of 72.8 dB for voice and 86.6 dB for ringing phone and subjectively wrote:

 

And the Pocophone turned out plenty loud in our testing, securing a spot in the Excellent bracket. It performs great for music and the sound output is rich and clean, even at maximum volume.

 

To further quote gsmarena:

 

Pocophone has done what OnePlus couldn't achieve this year - come up with a flagship killer with a jaw-dropping price. The F1 has everything and we mean everything - a premium screen with a notch that holds the infrared scanner for face unlock, the latest Snapdragon chip, expandable storage, stereo speakers, all the necessary ports, and high-end camera experience on both sides of the device.

 

I could quibble with regards to the camera.  My Meizu 15 measured 77 dB max for voice, and as the dB scale is exponential not linear, my Meizu suites my hard of hearing old ears much better.  But I agree with gsmarena that the price/performance features of the Pocophone F1 are very nice.

[guzzi850m2]

The Vivo V11 Pro looks quite promising, I wonder when that will be launched here?

 

I think it launch in India tomorrow.

 

So on my shortlist so far:

Poco F1

V11 Pro

UMI Z2Pro

 

Okay the problem with the UMI is that it's only sold via on-line shops, so no options getting it fixed here in Thailand and that will further making it very hard to sell at a good price if wanted/needed (I don't care too much about 2nd hand value). 

[daocat555]

guzzi; does the Vivo have stereo speakers? Optical Image Stabilization?  The Typical Vivo does not.  Number of pixels useless without OIS if you want the camera you are paying Vivo to get.  I wouldn't be able to hear the party I'm talking to if the room was noisy, and my guess is the Vivo will cost more than the other two which do have stereo speakers but which also do not have OIS.

 

I hate to be a broken record but if you want good audio output and a good camera...………...Meizu 16X (my opinion).  I do have the Meizu 15 and really like it.

[guzzi850m2]

4 hours ago, daocat555 said:

guzzi; does the Vivo have stereo speakers? Optical Image Stabilization?  The Typical Vivo does not.  Number of pixels useless without OIS if you want the camera you are paying Vivo to get.  I wouldn't be able to hear the party I'm talking to if the room was noisy, and my guess is the Vivo will cost more than the other two which do have stereo speakers but which also do not have OIS.

 

I hate to be a broken record but if you want good audio output and a good camera...………...Meizu 16X (my opinion).  I do have the Meizu 15 and really like it.

I consider phone cameras more or less useless since I own several Fujifilm cameras and the sensor on them are waay bigger than a tiny phone sensor (3rd from top in below image). Okay I am aware that AI have improved phone camera IQ but still, nowhere near the real deal.

I don't know if the Vivo have stereo speakers and I am not too concerned about it either but it has Amoled screen and they manage to fit a 6.4" screen into a relatively small package about same size as the Poco F1, so worth checking out.

Meizu 16X eh, thanks will check it out as well, not really in a hurry.

[Ks45672]

On 8/28/2018 at 8:17 PM, daocat555 said:

The Pocophone F1 is at Lazada at four sellers; Lazada itself (LazMall), Shopping D, Thaisuperphone, and K SMART.

 

Although all the Stores have generally good feedback LazMall has the best price, and for me I trust them the most.  This is an awesome phone in several ways; and gets a big thumbs up from me.  I retract my worry about "tinny" speakers which I quoted from one brief review but is soundly contradicted by gsmarena.

 

This is a super performing and decently well rounded phone well worth a look by anyone shopping in the 10 K to 12 K baht price range.

 

Gsmarena measured max sound output of 72.8 dB for voice and 86.6 dB for ringing phone and subjectively wrote:

 

And the Pocophone turned out plenty loud in our testing, securing a spot in the Excellent bracket. It performs great for music and the sound output is rich and clean, even at maximum volume.

 

To further quote gsmarena:

 

Pocophone has done what OnePlus couldn't achieve this year - come up with a flagship killer with a jaw-dropping price. The F1 has everything and we mean everything - a premium screen with a notch that holds the infrared scanner for face unlock, the latest Snapdragon chip, expandable storage, stereo speakers, all the necessary ports, and high-end camera experience on both sides of the device.

 

I could quibble with regards to the camera.  My Meizu 15 measured 77 dB max for voice, and as the dB scale is exponential not linear, my Meizu suites my hard of hearing old ears much better.  But I agree with gsmarena that the price/performance features of the Pocophone F1 are very nice.

Poco has great spec  but I've been soaked 3 times in the last few weeks by torrential rain and my phone was not affected because of the ip67 rating 

 

I'm not sure I'd buy another phone that isn't waterproof because its one less thing to worry about

[guzzi850m2]

4 hours ago, Ks45672 said:

Poco has great spec  but I've been soaked 3 times in the last few weeks by torrential rain and my phone was not affected because of the ip67 rating 

 

I'm not sure I'd buy another phone that isn't waterproof because its one less thing to worry about

Sure ip rating is nice to have but you pay for it, an ip rated phone is how much? +500$

 

I find it easy to be prepared for and take my precautions as I do with my camera gear. 

 

 

[Ks45672]

1 minute ago, guzzi850m2 said:

Sure ip rating is nice to have but you pay for it, an ip rated phone is how much? +500$

 

I find it easy to be prepared for and take my precautions as I do with my camera gear. 

 

 

I don't know what the cheapest ones are now but I find it too slow to go around bkk in my truck so I'm  always on one of my motorcycles and been literally soaked to the skin  3 times lately  .... 

 

I use a Huawei mate 10 pro, it cost 16,500  in mbk (probably cheaper now because their new range is coming out) but even the near 3yr old Samsung s7 edge  my wife has is waterproof rated and those are very cheap now

 

Now if I had the poco it might be dead already 3x times  or maybe I could have stopped in a 7/11 in time and put it in a plastic bag and rescued  it..... 

 

I don't think it's a big premium to pay for the convenience of not having to stop or worry about it.... 

 

For anyone who doesn't need water resistance, I agree with you, no need to pay for it or keep a plastic bag with you.... 

 

 

 

 

[SteveK]

I have the Oukitel k10000 pro. Cost 11k Baht.

 

10000 refers to the battery, which gives me 5-6 days life from one charge whilst using internet, checking emails, watching YouTube and taking pictures.

 

2 sim card slots, unlocked so works with any cards.

 

Great screen.

 

Camera is not upto Samsung/Apple standards but never had an issue with it. CPU is slower than flagship models but seems super fast for me.

 

Best phone I have ever owned, I had the non-pro version before and will be sticking with this brand for as long as they keep going.

 

Can be bought at MBK.

Edited September 5, 2018 by pr9spk

[daocat555]

Lazada tends to sell Samsung phones at a great discount.  My pick for the best phone with water resistance is the Samsung Galaxy S9.

 

I do tend to recommend many Chinese Brands and off Brands which do not have water resistance. so if you need that feature, fine, get a phone with that feature.

[Ks45672]

43 minutes ago, daocat555 said:

Lazada tends to sell Samsung phones at a great discount.  My pick for the best phone with water resistance is the Samsung Galaxy S9.

 

I do tend to recommend many Chinese Brands and off Brands which do not have water resistance. so if you need that feature, fine, get a phone with that feature.

Probably one of the best cameras on the market too..... 

[Nyezhov]

3 hours ago, daocat555 said:

Lazada tends to sell Samsung phones at a great discount.  My pick for the best phone with water resistance is the Samsung Galaxy S9.

 

I do tend to recommend many Chinese Brands and off Brands which do not have water resistance. so if you need that feature, fine, get a phone with that feature.

I must tell you that my Nokia is doing quite well. Blazing fast and already dropped twice with ill effect. I have it is a clear Chinese case to show it off, and put a US made, military grade screen protector on it. 

 

I do carry a plastic bag tho ?

[guzzi850m2]

The Huawei mate 10 pro looks interesting at that price but where do you stop, he-he.

 

Shell out 10k baht more and get a S9plus?

 

It's not that I can't afford one; I got a well paid job in oil off-shore but always being a bit tight with my money (no, not Sottish, 555).

 

The problem with those phones; if you drop them, you never know what will happen.

 

I had the first Samsung Note and I paid something like 800$ for it as I recall. Then my wife comes along and takes out a magazine, didn't see the Note and it fell to the tile floor from app 1.5m and 1 week later it was dead.

 

Well as mentioned not in a hurry, I actually likes the "hunt"  

[Ks45672]

4 minutes ago, guzzi850m2 said:

The Huawei mate 10 pro looks interesting at that price but where do you stop, he-he.

 

Shell out 10k baht more and get a S9plus?

 

It's not that I can't afford one; I got a well paid job in oil off-shore but always being a bit tight with my money (no, not Sottish, 555).

 

The problem with those phones; if you drop them, you never know what will happen.

 

I had the first Samsung Note and I paid something like 800$ for it as I recall. Then my wife comes along and takes out a magazine, didn't see the Note and it fell to the tile floor from app 1.5m and 1 week later it was dead.

 

Well as mentioned not in a hurry, I actually likes the "hunt"  

The hunt is fun and I like buying new technology but no matter what you buy, you can be sure a better one will come out shortly afterwards and you get the buyers remorse lol.... 

 

Snapdragon 845 is the  king of the mountain but kirin 980 is looking promising  

 

https://www.phonearena.com/news/7nm-Kirin-980-vs-10nm-Snapdragon-845-benchmark_id108468

 

 

[daocat555]

My Umidigi One Pro arrived from dealextreme with a screen protector and a paper rear protector glued to the phone.  I don't like or use screen protectors so if I was keeping the phone I would take it to my local shop and have them remove it and remove the protector on the back of the phone.

 

The speaker output is fairly clean but it doesn't seem very loud.  Since that was a major selling point for me I am disappointed in audio output,  The wireless charger works well and is convenient.  The weight of the phone is 180 grams and with only a 3,250 mAh battery that's a bit overweight.  Build quality I would subjectively rate as below average as the edges where the glass meets the metal border feels a bit sharp when holding it.  It has no "gallery" application and to see stored pictures I need to open up the camera and access them from there.

 

In summary I would say that I am disappointed in this model, and can not recommend it going forward.

 

Meanwhile LazMall at Lazada which had the lowest Prices on the Pocophone F1 6.64 dropped its price today to 9,990 baht in black and got in the blue color for 10,990 baht.  This is an outstanding phone at great price, a price which is lower than any International seller.

 

[The Deerhunter]

On 5/16/2018 at 11:25 PM, grkt said:

 

 

Do you know any brand that is not sold with $hit apps that we do not want ?

 

 

That would be Google and One-plus, wouldn't it, and one other who makes One-plus for them, I think.

[guzzi850m2]

I just ordered a Poco F1 from the vendor daocat555 mentioned, 9990 baht for the 64GB version is pretty good, 64 is plenty for me.

 

The F1 has lousy gorilla3 glass, so I ordered a screen protector as well.

 

Thinking hard about which phone to buy over the last couple of days, I agreed with myself that this works best for me, using app 300-400$ on a phone and I can justify buying a new every 2 years or so. 

Sure the top models are way better; ip 67/68 rating, superior screen, awesome design in some cases. The F1 have none of that but it's fast and have a huge battery, which is important to me.

Then in 2 years time I will go see what's on the market then, interesting I bet.

I will write a short review after I had my hands on it for a week or so.

[daocat555]

My current best lists.

 

Best 6,000 baht phone: the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite from Lazada.

 

Best 10,000 baht phone: the Xiaomi Pocophone F1 from Lazada.

 

Best 22,000 baht phone: the Huawei P20 Pro from Lazada.

 

Most anticipated upcoming phones:

 

1) Meizu 16X

2) LG V40 ThinQ

 

Best phone with April 2018 release which is my current phone and I'm sticking with it:  Meizu 15

 

Best phone less than 3,000 baht:  Cubot Nova from aliexpress for 2,400 baht.

 

Phones which I hyped a lot and then subsequent reviews brought them down; Xiaomi Mi 8 SE, Umidigi One Pro, and Xiaomi Redmi 6A.

 

Best phone for 4,860 baht: Samsung Galaxy J6 2018 from Lazada.

 

Readers; did I leave out anything?

[daocat555]

I watched on YouTube the Apple announcement of the Xs, Xs Max,, and Xr yesterday and my take away on that was that Apple is full of themselves.  The phones are nice; at $999, $1099, and $749 they should be.  On October 9'th Google will announce the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL which I guess will have similar hubris.

 

A poster has started a new Topic called "Xiaomi Pocophone".  That model has been discussed in the Affordable, Mid-range, and High End Topic.  I hope people do not start a new topic on each of the 50 or so phone models which have already been discussed in this Mid-range Topic, but of all those 50 models I would say the Pocophone is the most deserving of its own topic as it is such a unique value.

 

The Xiaomi Mi 8 Youth has leaked and it seems to be a watered down Pocophone.  Unless it has a very low price it would seem to be fairly irrelevant.  The LG V40 ThinQ is set to be announced October 4'th and Oct 16'th should see the announcement of the Huawei Mate 20 and the Mate 20 Pro.

 

The LG G7 One has been announced but not released and its price has not been announced.  The specifications are very interesting on this phone with a 6.1 in screen in a svelte 153.2 x 71.9 x 7.9 mm body, stereo speakers, and pure Android OS,  By keeping the battery to 3000 mAh the weight is kept down to 156 grams.  I can't think of a lighter phone with a 6.1 in screen; certainly not the new iPhone Xr which has the same 6.1 in screen and a body weight of 194 grams (okay IP67, NFC and wireless charging take weight and can be useful features).  My guess is that the problem with the LG G7 One will be its price and my guess is that it will be quite expensive.

 

So in the next 4 weeks there should be many interesting phones announced.

[faraday]

DC...where you go...?

 

Mrs F's Oppo F9 is very nice, takes good pics, & she's happy.

 

The young lady in the Oppo shop asked me if I wanted a 'glass' protector, but she put a cheap plastic one on. Cow.

 

I see you don't like 'em though. What do you not like?

[faraday]

Just for you DC.....used to love Top Cat.

 

 

[Henryford]

On 9/5/2018 at 8:30 PM, guzzi850m2 said:

The Huawei mate 10 pro looks interesting at that price but where do you stop, he-he.

 

Shell out 10k baht more and get a S9plus?

 

It's not that I can't afford one; I got a well paid job in oil off-shore but always being a bit tight with my money (no, not Sottish, 555).

 

The problem with those phones; if you drop them, you never know what will happen.

 

I had the first Samsung Note and I paid something like 800$ for it as I recall. Then my wife comes along and takes out a magazine, didn't see the Note and it fell to the tile floor from app 1.5m and 1 week later it was dead.

 

Well as mentioned not in a hurry, I actually likes the "hunt"   

Yes i think the Mate 10 Pro represents the best value at the moment down from 27,000 when it first came out. Will probably drop even more next month when the Mate 20 comes out.

 

I don't understand these people who constantly smash their phones. I have had a phone for years but never dropped it. But i know thai ladies do. Whenever i buy them one you can bet within a few weeks they have cracked the screen. Not funny if you have paid 40k for an iPhone X.

[Ks45672]

5 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Yes i think the Mate 10 Pro represents the best value at the moment down from 27,000 when it first came out. Will probably drop even more next month when the Mate 20 comes out.

 

I don't understand these people who constantly smash their phones. I have had a phone for years but never dropped it. But i know thai ladies do. Whenever i buy them one you can bet within a few weeks they have cracked the screen. Not funny if you have paid 40k for an iPhone X.

Yeah, but you need your head examined anyway if you pay 40k.for an iPhone x 

[Henryford]

3 hours ago, Ks45672 said:

Yeah, but you need your head examined anyway if you pay 40k.for an iPhone x  

I agree, i certainly wouldn't but lots of thai ladies think they are great.

[daocat555]

In my opinion it is a mistake to buy second hand mobiles or older model mobiles.  The technology of mobiles is rapidly improving.  To me the best strategy for buying a mobile today is to look at just released models.  Or alternatively look at soon to be released models and buy as soon as they are released.

 

An old model such as the Samsung S4 has a 5 in screen and a 72.53 % display area.  Newer phones offer 80% - 90% display area.  So you get a much bigger screen with the same body size.  Advances in CPU mean real advantages such as better battery utilization and longer battery life with the same size battery as older phones.  Older phones tend to have weak, poor quality audio output and newer phones tend to have loud and clear audio output.  There are not too many stores currently selling the Samsung S4, I could not find a single one.  Moving up to the Samsung Galaxy A5 I found it for sale at Amazon USA for a laughable $483 (15,660 baht) and for that you are pretty much getting "electronic scrap".

 

So newer phones tend to have a bigger screen with longer battery life in a smaller and lighter form with better audio output than older phones.  To me these are strong, real usage advantages in favor of the newer phones.

 

WonnabeBiker tells us he doesn't want to buy a Chinese brand he has never hear of.  That does make it hard to recommend a phone to him as I have no idea if he has heard of any Chinese brand or which Chinese brands he has heard of.  Huawei sold more phones in the world in Q2 of 2018 than Apple did (54 million units compared to 41 million units), and is now the world's second leading Vender after Samsung.  Has he heard of Huawei?  Has he heard of Xiaomi?  Meizu?  If he hasn't heard of these Chinese brands then I think he should make it a point to hear of them.  They make nice phones.

 

From Business Tech:

 

Samsung led the smartphone market by volume with a market share of 20% in Q2 2018 even though it registered an annual decline of 11% due to weak sales of its flagship Galaxy S9 series smartphones.

 

In terms of value for the money I have read where Samsung makes about a 50% profit on every phone sold and Xiaomi about a 10% profit.  So in very rough terms (as supplier and retailer also get a cut), the 10,000 baht Samsung phone you buy was made and delivered by Samsung for 5,000 baht.  The 10,000 baht Xiaomi phone you buy was made and delivered by Xiaomi for 9,000  baht.  I would expect that Xiaomi can manufacture a better phone for 9,000 baht than Samsung can for 5,000 baht.  Case in point is the Pocophone as you won't find a Snapdragon 845 CPU in a Samsung phone for 10,000 baht, or a 4000 mAh battery, or a 6.18 in screen.  The most similar Samsung phone is the S9 Active which Samsung may actually decide to abandon plans to release and which would have carried a 30,000 + price tag in Thailand.  Well, yeah Samsung, since the 30,000 baht Samsung S9 Active would have similar specifications as the 10,000 baht Pocophone there probably would not be a big demand for it.

 

Yes the Samsung would have had a better camera, and a Super AMOLED screen as compared to the Pocophone, but the bottom line of 30,000 baht vs 10,000 baht is a very significant difference.

 

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is a great phone, no doubt, and can be bought at Lazada for 31,790 baht, about twice the price of the Meizu 16th Plus which has similar specifications.

 

Moving to Meizu the screens on the mid-range and high end Meizu's are Super AMOLED and the older Meizu 15 which can be had for $360 (11,659 baht) from Aliexpress has stereo speakers with a maximum voice level of 77 dB as measured by gsmarena.  Compare that to 66 dB for the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017).  The dB scale is exponential not linear, so 77 dB is a whole lot louder than 66 dB.  Ever go to a bar and get a phone call?  With the Samsung you might not even hear your phone ringing let alone understand what the party on the other end is saying!

 

I will back down from one thing that I have been saying about a Meizu phone.  The Meizu 16X was announced today and I find it disappointing in several areas.  The main camera might not have OIS (so far 1 specification site says it has OIS and 2 specification sites say it doesn't have OIS).  If it doesn't have OIS, for me, that is an absolute dealbreaker.  The other major problem, which may sort itself out over time is the price and right now I can only find the 16X for pre-order at one site for $399.99 (12,948 baht).  At that price there is no way that I can recommend the phone.

 

The more interesting Meizu announcement today is the Meizu X8.  If Xiaomi nailed the High End specs with the Pocophone then Meizu may have nailed the Mid-range and affordable specs with the X8.  A 6.2 inch LCD screen, a Snapdragon 710 CPU, a 3210 mAh battery, and good, not great camera for $233 (7,548 baht).  Yet to be determined is whether it will have stereo speakers.  If it does it may rule the 7,500 baht segment.

 

Lazada sells Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi phones, often at a nice discount.  Lazada does not sell the newer Meizu phones yet.  So if buying from an International selling such as Aliexpress, dealextreme, or Sunsky is not your thing then Meizu is not for you.  Huawei will have some exciting new phones coming out in the next month.  Along the lines of my theme for this post, the Mate 10 Pro, released November 2017 does NOT stand up to the newer models, and in my opinion would be money poorly spent.

 

For me the Pocophone is still standing tall.  The Meizu 15 and 16th should be considered by people who don't need a huge battery and who like a light and compact body with great audio output.  And the Meizu X8 may prove to be a very nice phone for about 7,500 baht. 

[Nyezhov]

Cat you have an idea where in BKK I might find accesories, like a case, for A Nokia 6.1? 

[faraday]

Great post DC, thanks. Oppo have an F10 coming out soon -

45 mp camera & 5g.....

 

'scept we ain't got no 5g here......

 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2018 by faraday