Affordable Smartphone Recomendations

[Henryford]

I can't see Thailand having a 5G network for many years, certainly longer than the life of any phone you might be buying now. So 5G compatability should not be an issue.

[stud858]

This brings a question up in my mind.

Does anyone find their 4g sim card works better in one phone compared to another?

I've feared the Chinese branded phones don't have as good as branded sim net speeds .

Any testing or comparisons been done?

Of course the Chinese have their written claims on specs but are they good for 4g speed?

 

[HAKAPALITA]

Dont be a HOLD ON Merchant. Ive still got a TV bigger than a Fridge Freezer from hanging on.

[onera1961]

16 hours ago, stud858 said:

Does anyone find their 4g sim card works better in one phone compared to another?

I've feared the Chinese branded phones don't have as good as branded sim net speeds .

Any testing or comparisons been done?

If you buy a same model phone offered by sim service provider, they are the same. I have a HUAWEI Y9 (same as dtac offers but bought from a different vendor), I consistently get good 4G speed using dtac sim (also I get dtac turbo) in remote areas also. 

[dddave]

On 12/31/2018 at 8:15 AM, Henryford said:

I can't see Thailand having a 5G network for many years, certainly longer than the life of any phone you might be buying now. So 5G compatability should not be an issue.

AT&T just did a 5G test rollout using 5 or 6 cities, the results were underwhelming.  Download speeds were barely 10% better than current 4G, upload even worse. 

Long way to go.   Also there is this bug where phones will have "5G" on their notification bars but will actually still be on a 4G network..just a false flag meaning the network is 5G "enabled"

[stud858]

www.smh.com.au/technology/telstra-set-to-start-offering-5g-smartphones-in-the-first-half-of-2019-20190110-p50qm6.html

 

Australia seems keen.

Interesting they say 200 5g towers around already. 

Practically won't change my browsing habits though. Who wants to download a movie in a Pico second anyway?

Waiting on affordable sub 5. " Bezeless phone. Any recommendations. Xperia xz2 compact looks ok. Too expensive.

[Ks45672]

8 hours ago, stud858 said:

www.smh.com.au/technology/telstra-set-to-start-offering-5g-smartphones-in-the-first-half-of-2019-20190110-p50qm6.html

 

Australia seems keen.

Interesting they say 200 5g towers around already. 

Practically won't change my browsing habits though. Who wants to download a movie in a Pico second anyway?

Waiting on affordable sub 5. " Bezeless phone. Any recommendations. Xperia xz2 compact looks ok. Too expensive.

Here's everything on amazon with a screen size filter to only include phones between 4.5" and 4.9" you might be able to get some ideas from it to  purchase locally 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_r_p_n_feature_seven_browse-bin_3?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A7072561011%2Ck%3Asmartphone%2Cp_n_feature_seven_browse-bin%3A6215729011&keywords=smartphone&ie=UTF8&qid=1547141345&rnid=6215726011

 

If you willing to consider 5"-5.4" or even 5.5" and larger   category there is much better prices and far huger selection to pick from but they might be bigger than what you had in mind

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_r_p_n_feature_seven_browse-bin_5?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A2335752011%2Cn%3A7072561011%2Ck%3Asmartphone%2Cp_n_feature_seven_browse-bin%3A6215730011|6215731011&keywords=smartphone&ie=UTF8&qid=1547141814&rnid=6215726011

 

[stud858]

Wow some weird and wonderful phone designs at amazon. Wish galaxy would bring back the mini.

 

Lg have a flexible? tv now on show. It rolls out from the sound bar.

Saw an article. Not sure if legit.

 

Probable to see something weird from Samsung soon 

 

[jvs]

Maybe a little off topic but i was in Bangkok earlier this week and was approached by someone who had a big bag of phones.

I told her i did not need one but she started to show me some.

she handed me a Samsung s9plus and asked me how much i would be willing to pay.

To make a long story short i offered her money and she said ok.

Now i have a (copy) phone and so far ot all seems to work fine.Camera is not great but not bad for the money.

I was not going to buy it but i guess i offered too much lol.

Any ideas on this?

[stud858]

It's hard when you find a bargain. Always people around to take advantage. I do a lot of purchasing with AliExpress and eBay for the purchase protection.

 Would I buy off the street?

Maybe, most likely not.

I bought a 100 baht memory card that turned out fake. I risk what I'm prepared to throw away 

 

[daocat555]

Faraday, (who got me Bell Book and Candle), or anybody else.  Can you tell me how to watch "The Magicians, Season 4 episode 1" from Thailand.  I bought and watched "The Magicians Season 3" from Amazon Prime, and Amazon will not let me buy Season 4 because of "area restrictions".  Darn.  So I am trying all sorts of ways to watch Season 4 from Thailand, and so far no luck.

[faraday]

Doesn't look like it's available until January 23...

 

https://www.tvtime.com/en/show/299139/episode/6692629

Edited January 11, 2019 by faraday
too many biscuits...

[daocat555]

Thank you, Faraday.  Wow you responded fast, but before you responded I did figure out the answer....it's not available anywhere yet.  I did sign up for a free month of Netflix, and at like 200 baht/month (if I don't cancel before the month ends) I can watch the entire season cheaper than buying it on Amazon.  So I won't be buying it from Amazon this year as it's not something that I tend to watch more than once, unlike Star Trek Voyager which I just watched every episode, every season, finishing today so I started to look for "The Magicians".  Netflix has a lot of stuff to watch...free for a month, btw).

[losworld]

26 minutes ago, daocat555 said:

Faraday, (who got me Bell Book and Candle), or anybody else.  Can you tell me how to watch "The Magicians, Season 4 episode 1" from Thailand.  I bought and watched "The Magicians Season 3" from Amazon Prime, and Amazon will not let me buy Season 4 because of "area restrictions".  Darn.  So I am trying all sorts of ways to watch Season 4 from Thailand, and so far no luck.

try using a vpn adressed to usa

[daocat555]

I am learning a lot while seeking to watch The Magicians Season 4.  First I tried a VPN which took me a while as the "free VPN's" I found when I searched for "free VPN Thailand" tended to not be free at all and some were over 10,000 baht/year.  Finally on the second or third search page I did find a VPN which was actually "free" and I used that to try to buy episode 1 from Amazon Streaming Video and they would not let me because of "area restrictions".

 

But when I tried to log into my Credit Card site they told me that something was different about this log in attempt and they would need to phone me a code for me to continue.  So I disconnected from my VPN and went back to my Credit Card site and was able to log right in normally.

 

I had gotten a free 1 month subscription to Netflix to watch "The Magicians" but after I had registered for Netflix I found out that they do not offer "The Magicians" as part of their package.  I am going to use the Netflix however as they have a couple of movies I want to see.

 

Then, I went to Amazon on Microsoft Edge rather than Google Chrome, and I looked at it again and, bam, no problem buying Season 4, and I watched the trailer so it is working.  

 

Very odd, but it seems that Edge protects me from the "area restrictions" but Chrome and Firefox (which I also tried) do not.

[faraday]

Or, wait until the 23rd & download it for free.

 

????????

[dddave]

14 hours ago, jvs said:

Maybe a little off topic but i was in Bangkok earlier this week and was approached by someone who had a big bag of phones.

I told her i did not need one but she started to show me some.

she handed me a Samsung s9plus and asked me how much i would be willing to pay.

To make a long story short i offered her money and she said ok.

Now i have a (copy) phone and so far ot all seems to work fine.Camera is not great but not bad for the money.

I was not going to buy it but i guess i offered too much lol.

Any ideas on this?

Download the app "CPU-Z" on Play Store. It will tell you what the true components are and how much RAM and memory it actually has.  I once bought a copy Galaxy S3.  It looked perfect but once i installed a few app's, It didn't run well at all.  Turned out to have phony Android and very little RAM or memory.

[daocat555]

The Doogee Y8 is new and on a flash sale at AliExpress for $69.99 (2,222 baht) and for that you can get a pretty nice entry level phone.

 

https://www.devicespecifications.com/en/model/d1954ec4

 

[stud858]

On 1/12/2019 at 4:29 AM, dddave said:

Download the app "CPU-Z" on Play Store. It will tell you what the true components are and how much RAM and memory it actually has.  I once bought a copy Galaxy S3.  It looked perfect but once i installed a few app's, It didn't run well at all.  Turned out to have phony Android and very little RAM or memory.

Yes, and even if the ram is true size there are different speeds. Cheaper ram could slow a system down.

The best test is to pack a phone full of apps and multitask the hell out of it for a week. This is where most cheapies will fail. But if your a light user it doesn't matter so much. Go for what looks cool to you.

[CharlieH]

Post removed.

 

Please do not make identical posts across topics.

[wedroo]

One of the best budget ones is Vivo U3x... It costs only 100 $

[daocat555]

I had a Realme 3 Pro which i bought after my Meizu 16th got water damage and blew out the screen.  Yes I am a bit of a Meizy fanboy so i was searching for a 2,000 - 4,000 phone on Lazada for my new lady friend, and I was pretty much going to get her the Realme C2 for 3,564 baht when i saw Lazada selling the Meizu X8 for 4,990 baht.

 

I bought it.  I will keep the Meizu X8 and my gf can get my Realme 3 Pro which is a lot of phone.  AliExpress is selling the Meizu 16s global for a nice price but too much for me right now and the Chinese version of the 16s Pro.  The Meizu 16s was 11,000 baht at an online Thai seller reportedly and got sold out.  If it ever hits Lazada (some Meizu's do and some Meizu's don't) I will probable post about it.  Meizu has kind of fallen on hard times, perhaps, however I consider them to sell high quality phones.

[Nyezhov]

I need a sub 3000b phone with the brightest screen possible to act as a dedicated unit for video. It needs to run one app and connect wirelessly. USB c preferred. I will hunt one down at mbk I don't do online. Thoughts? Or go with used....

[tampasailor]

lOOKING FOR USED ANDROID SMARTPHONE IN PAI. OLDER SAMSUNG PREFERRED. WHO IS A GOOD CARRIER FOR PAI AREA WITH DATA?

[fishtank]

5 hours ago, tampasailor said:

lOOKING FOR USED ANDROID SMARTPHONE IN PAI. OLDER SAMSUNG PREFERRED. WHO IS A GOOD CARRIER FOR PAI AREA WITH DATA?

Not shouting might help.

[daocat555]

I went to a large 7-11 today to check out their in-store mobile deals.  It appears that they offer the Vivo Y91 for 1,560 baht and the OPPO A5s for 1,990 baht or with a True SIM card for 2,160 baht or 2,390 baht.  And a Huawei Y5 for 990 baht.

 

I checked out the VIVO and the OPPO and I think the OPPO A5s may be the best affordable mobile at my 7-11.  It is not a hardware powerhouse but seems to have workable specs.  The achilles heel, IMO, of OPPO phones in this price range historically tend to be a single, not very loud, down firing speaker, and i don't know if any of these phones have a headphone jack.  Maybe some other poster's can provide more info.

[dddave]

16 hours ago, daocat555 said:

I went to a large 7-11 today to check out their in-store mobile deals.  It appears that they offer the Vivo Y91 for 1,560 baht and the OPPO A5s for 1,990 baht or with a True SIM card for 2,160 baht or 2,390 baht.  And a Huawei Y5 for 990 baht.

 

I checked out the VIVO and the OPPO and I think the OPPO A5s may be the best affordable mobile at my 7-11.  It is not a hardware powerhouse but seems to have workable specs.  The achilles heel, IMO, of OPPO phones in this price range historically tend to be a single, not very loud, down firing speaker, and i don't know if any of these phones have a headphone jack.  Maybe some other poster's can provide more info.

I think you will find that low 7-11 price for the Oppo A-5 is conditional on signing a year long, postpaid D-TAC service contract.

[dddave]

On 11/20/2019 at 12:43 PM, Nyezhov said:

I need a sub 3000b phone with the brightest screen possible to act as a dedicated unit for video. It needs to run one app and connect wirelessly. USB c preferred. I will hunt one down at mbk I don't do online. Thoughts? Or go with used....

Fortune Tower is usually better than MBK for quality/price.  There is a Xiaomi store on the lower MRT level of the Grand Rama-9 Mall opposite Fortune (Rama-9 MRT) they sell several Xiaomi phones (Redmi 7A, 8A in your price range.  Very decent quality for the money.  I recently bought a Redmi 8 for a family member and it is pretty impressive for the price.  Has type "C" port. (Note: NOT the Redmi Note 8 )  On Lazada, Redmi 8A B3400, 7A B2400 (smaller display, not USB-C)

Edited November 21, 2019 by dddave

[samsensam]

11 minutes ago, dddave said:

Fortune Tower is usually better than MBK for quality/price.  There is a Xiaomi store on the lower MRT level of the Grand Rama-9 Mall opposite Fortune (Rama-9 MRT) they sell several Xiaomi phones (Redmi 7A, 8A in your price range.  Very decent quality for the money.  I recently bought a Redmi 8 for a family member and it is pretty impressive for the price.  Has type "C" port. (Note: NOT the Redmi Note 8 )  On Lazada, Redmi 8A B3400, 7A B2400 (smaller display, not USB-C)

 

fortune tower/mall every time, i'd never buy anything from mbk, it's where all the tourists who dont know better go, and, boy do the vendors know it!

[Nyezhov]

12 minutes ago, dddave said:

Fortune Tower is usually better than MBK for quality/price.  There is a Xiaomi store on the lower MRT level of the Grand Rama-9 Mall opposite Fortune (Rama-9 MRT) they sell several Xiaomi phones (Redmi 7A, 8A in your price range.  Very decent quality for the money.  I recently bought a Redmi 8A for a family member and it is pretty impressive for the price.  Has type "C" port. (Note: NOT the Redmi Note 8 )  On Lazada, Redmi 8A B3400, 7A B2400 (smaller display, not USB-C)

That's what I'm talking about, and 8A. Is it bright at is the screen nicely visible in daylight? How is the level of bloatware?