Affordable Smartphone Recomendations

[daocat555]

I want to thank the Xiaomi Official Store at Lazada for drastically raising its price for the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite.  That got me searching for alternative seller's (Cool Cool, SUNSKY) and alternative phones.

 

The Umidigi One and Umidigi One Pro are two phones which stand up well to the Xiaomi.

 

https://www.devicespecifications.com/en/comparison/68821170a8

 

The Umidigi's are shorter, narrower, and thinner than the Xiaomi (by just a bit), and 1 gram heavier with a slightly weaker battery.  Both models of the Umidigi have hi tech stereo speakers.  The Pro model has ultra fast wireless charging and NFC.

 

With the wireless charger included the Umidigi Pro is less expensive than the Xiaomi, and although the Xiaomi powder blue is cool the Umidigi's twilight color has awesome color shifts in the sun.

[fvw53]

23 hours ago, daocat555 said:

I want to thank the Xiaomi Official Store at Lazada for drastically raising its price for the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite.  That got me searching for alternative seller's (Cool Cool, SUNSKY) and alternative phones.

 

The Umidigi One and Umidigi One Pro are two phones which stand up well to the Xiaomi.

 

https://www.devicespecifications.com/en/comparison/68821170a8

 

The Umidigi's are shorter, narrower, and thinner than the Xiaomi (by just a bit), and 1 gram heavier with a slightly weaker battery.  Both models of the Umidigi have hi tech stereo speakers.  The Pro model has ultra fast wireless charging and NFC.

 

With the wireless charger included the Umidigi Pro is less expensive than the Xiaomi, and although the Xiaomi powder blue is cool the Umidigi's twilight color has awesome color shifts in the sun.

Is this also changing your mind about Xiaomi Redmi 6A which I plan to buy as soon as it is available at Lazada?

[daocat555]

Fvw53: well yes and no.  No, in that I am still a big fan of the Xiaomi Redmi 6A, and yes, in that if I were to offer a single recommendation to someone interested in an affordable phone I would pick one of the Umidigi models.  Stereo high tech speakers go a long way for me and ultra rapid wireless charging, to me, is the cat's meow.  The Xiaomi is at Lazada in many memory configurations and colors, with quite a few stores to choose from.  For example with 2/16 it's 3,590 baht or with 2/32 it's 3,990 baht.  I got one for my housekeeper's daughter for 3,405 baht from Aliexpress and it has already been shipped.  It's currently 3,281 baht from Hong Kong Goldway at Aliexpress (gold color) and 3,182 baht at Xiaomi Dreami Store (black color only, today they ran out of stock in the other two colors, but tomorrow they may get more stock.  I bought mine from Xiaomi Dreami).

 

The 6A has it's single speaker firing straight out of the back of the phone.  I think that's disgraceful (sorry; will try not to get too emotional about phone hardware).

 

Comparison between: Xiaomi Redmi 6A, UMIDIGI One Pro, UMIDIGI One

 

So today my singular recommendation for an affordable smartphone is the Umidigi One Pro. I posted a question on Umidigi Thailand Facebook page and am joining Umidigi's Official Forum group so I can get more info on this phone.  Will warts be discovered?  Maybe.  I sang the praises of the Xiaomi Mi 8 SE for weeks until gsmarena posted their review and gave it poor marks (for me) for audio output.  So with new phones there are unknown factors.

[daocat555]

Concerning the Xiaomi Redmi 6A and what memory to buy it with I thought of the expression, "you can take the Lady out of the bar but you can't take the bar out of the Lady".  The analogy meaning that it might be best to buy this phone with 2/16 memory, thus getting a very affordable, working phone.  If you buy a higher memory version you must spend a fair amount more money and you won't be getting a high or mid-range phone.  You'd just be getting a slightly better entry level phone; you can't take entry level out of the 6A.

 

I am really impressed with dealextreme.  They frequently have the lowest price of all International sellers.  With International sellers shipping speed is very important.  I ordered the Umidigi One Pro yesterday from dealextreme and they shipped it today already.  They have the lowest price for this phone, but not the lowest price for the wireless charger which I ordered yesterday from Aliexpress and they shipped that today.  So for 6,220 baht I ordered the Umidigi One Pro and it's charger, yesterday, and both are in transit to me today.

 

It's an unknown, un-reviewed, phone with amazing specifications.  So please take my choice with a grain of salt, but until there are some unexpected problems with the phone I will make it my best affordable smartphone recommendation.

 

.Cell Phones & Accessories - DX

 

[jvs]

18 minutes ago, daocat555 said:

Concerning the Xiaomi Redmi 6A and what memory to buy it with I thought of the expression, "you can take the Lady out of the bar but you can't take the bar out of the Lady".  The analogy meaning that it might be best to buy this phone with 2/16 memory, thus getting a very affordable, working phone.  If you buy a higher memory version you must spend a fair amount more money and you won't be getting a high or mid-range phone.  You'd just be getting a slightly better entry level phone; you can't take entry level out of the 6A.

 

I am really impressed with dealextreme.  They frequently have the lowest price of all International sellers.  With International sellers shipping speed is very important.  I ordered the Umidigi One Pro yesterday from dealextreme and they shipped it today already.  They have the lowest price for this phone, but not the lowest price for the wireless charger which I ordered yesterday from Aliexpress and they shipped that today.  So for 6,220 baht I ordered the Umidigi One Pro and it's charger, yesterday, and both are in transit to me today.

 

It's an unknown, un-reviewed, phone with amazing specifications.  So please take my choice with a grain of salt, but until there are some unexpected problems with the phone I will make it my best affordable smartphone recommendation.

 

.Cell Phones & Accessories - DX

 

Please l us know how it works out.

[dddave]

I have a Redmi Note 5 that I like very much.  I just bought a Redmi 5 for a family member who's old 4 year old phone had died and I was impressed.  For under $100, (Lazada) a very nice phone. 5.7' display.  It's 780p but appears sharp and has good color.  Processor is a Snapdragon 450; no world beater but apps scroll smoothly and load quickly. I ran a number of aps at the same time and it stayed smooth.  Probably not for anyone into high graphics games.  Battery is 3000 mAh. 

2gb ram, 16 gb storage, up to a 128gb memory card accepted.  Case is plastic but feels solid.

For anybody who needs a basic phone in the B3000/$100 range, well worth considering.

[faraday]

Leaning towards the Huawei Nova 3, has most of what I need/ want.

 

Video - 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 1080p@30fps
Selfie camera     Dual     24 MP, f/2.0, 26mm

6Gb Ram, 128 Gb storage & a Headphone jack.

 

All for around 13.kbaht.

 

Yep, I'd like  P20, but cannot justify paying so much more, when all I want is a good camera, don't play games, & use LINE to call my sister every few weeks.

 

Next year when 5G rolls out,  I imagine they'll start to exceed the 1000usd ceiling. Daft money, but they'll sell.

 

Anyway Daocat, where's the best place to get a Nova from.?

 

 

 

 

 

[daocat555]

Faraday; I'm working on it which may take me awhile.  Aliexpress for sure as Lazada, SUNSKY, GearBest, geekbuying, and Banggood are all much more expensive.  But in Aliexpress there are judgement calls you must make with some stores offering 6/128 at a cheaper price than 6/64 in the same color which makes no sense.  Also the price varies a lot according to the color (for me the color is important especially with the beautiful gradient finish of the Huawei Nova 3).  And different colors vary in price between different stores, and you must take the Store rating into consideration as well as their stated time to ship.  

 

So, do you have a memory configuration that you want?  What about color?  The black color is the cheapest on every Store I checked so far, but man the Purple or Blue, for example, really adds bling to the phone.  The blue, to me, is not blue, it's seagreen.  I don't care for it.  The black or gold is dull.  

 

Until I hear from you I am going to poke around Aliexpress looking for a Nova 3 in purple with 6/128 and your assignment is to please check to see if the camera has image stabilization (OIS).  I haven't seen where it has OIS, and if it doesn't have OIS the number of pixels is completely irrelevent unless you use a tripod because you can get motion blur.  The less light available the more motion blur you will get.

Edited August 22, 2018 by daocat555
corrected info again

[daocat555]

The Huawei Nova 3 at Aliexpress in 6/128 memory.

 

In black, $398.99 from Hongkong VT Store, with 98.8% positive feedback and free shipping to Thailand in 16-23 days seems okay.  In purple $439.99 from Shenzhen Pophong Store, which has a 98.5% positive feedback with 13-20 day free shipping to Thailand seems okay.

 

Some stores are offering it in red.  Per gsmarena it doesn't come in red but the stores show a picture of it red?  Who knows.

 

Lastly, I do not believe it has OIS.  That, to me, that is essential for good photo results.

 

Okay, now I am going to try to be coherent about why I would not buy the Xiaomi Redmi 5 at this time.  My general rule is newer phones are better than older phones even when you are getting the older phone at a better discount. 

 

Thank you dddave and faraday for giving me something to do this Thursday early morning.  Off topic, I took a notion to watch the 1958 movie "Bell Book and Candle" a couple of hours ago and I was unable to find it online for free.  I couldn't find it so I ordered it in DVD, used, from the Salvation Army via Amazon and had it shipped to my shipping company suite in the USA.  From there I'll forward it to me.  Does anybody know of a website which legally gives you access to old movies?

[CarolinaJames]

I think there are many posters like Faraday. We prefer a smartphone with a nice camera but don’t care about gaming/graphics. What are the options? *I would go the torrent route for old movies so I can’t help with that.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[daocat555]

CarolinaJames; I am a big Meizu fan.  My current phone, the Meizu 15 has a pretty good camera.  It has not come to any Thai Online seller, but Aliexpress has it for $309.49 in the stunning piano gloss white.  Recommending this phone is going against my "newer is better" rule, but with the Meizu 16th price of  $496.99 the difference in price is steep considering that not all that much has been improved on the Meizu 16th.

 

Gsmarena is a review site which I consider the gold standard review site and they did not care all that much for the camera on the Meizu 15 complaining of poor white balance and noise at times.  For those reasons gsmarena called the camera "short of flagship standards".  But with four axis image stabilization (OIS) I can guarantee you that you will get clearer pictures than with a camera which does not have OIS.  

 

I am also a big Xiaomi fan, but the camera is usually a weak point of a Xiaomi phone.  I am not a Huawei fan but the P20 Pro has an incredible camera.  If someone is interested in a phone with a good camera, and as you point out many people are, then one possibility is to wait for some models which have yet to be released.

 

What would be my recommendation for a phone with a good camera for 13,000 baht or less?  The Meizu 15 and you have 3,000 baht left in your bank.  Okay not the Meizu because I'm a known Meizu homer who can't be trusted with Meizu recommendations?

 

Um, the Huawei Honor 10 for about $365 on Aliexpress or 14,000 baht at Lazada, with gsmarena saying it has OIS but no mention of OIS on devicespecifications or Kimovil.  But gsmarena notes that the single, down firing speaker has a max voice level of 69.3 dB, which scores in the excellent range of gsmarena groupings but I think is pretty lame for a $365 phone.

 

Previously I have searched on Google under "smartphones with the best camera" and "upcoming smartphones with good camera", and different review sites have different recommendations in that price range.  Please search yourself and bring here information that you discover.  For sure I can say this, in the next year and a half some mobiles are going to come out with super cameras.  Three lens rear cameras and Sony developing higher resolution sensors is going to lead to some really nice camera setups.  So buying a bridge phone, for not too much money, and saving up for an upcoming phone just might be the best strategy.  I don't know.

[dddave]

Daocat

You might want to check this out.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/22/17760932/xiaomi-pocophone-f1-low-price-high-end-processor

[daocat555]

I think Xiami did well in general with the Pocophone except "you'll hear a slightly tinny quality to the audio, indicating that the speaker also wasn't a priority". And I would prefer that they use the Snapdragon 710 for the SoC.

Sent from my 15 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

I noticed CarolinaJames sent her query about a nice camera from her iPhone.  Depending on her iPhone model her phone may already have a camera which is listed on many websites as having one of the best camera setups.  Also she posted via the mobile app which I just installed so I could do that also.

Edited August 23, 2018 by daocat555
added info

[daocat555]

There sure are a lot of ads on the Thai Visa mobile app.  The Meizu M6T is a nice value phone, compared with the Xiaomi Redmi 5 and the Redmi 6A.

 

https://www.devicespecifications.com/en/comparison/18f7117d5d

 

Of the three I would lean towards the Redmi 6A, but each model has it's advantages.

Edited August 23, 2018 by daocat555
correct link

[Elkski]

I have decided fir me a good camera is #1, battery life #2.   I don't give a flip about looks or color.  #3 is ease of use. Ie  relates to hand size.  I can grip it solid and the buttons are  properly placed.    As a design engineer,  I predict a device that will be generic with no buttons on it at all.  then you go through a customization process where you turn the phone on in a certain grip that you feel comfortable with with its case that you've selected.  And the phone asks you where are you want buttons to be and you touch various locations with your eyes closed and from then on both locations are where those buttons are located but you can change anytime and you can probably have multiple person setups. 

[faraday]

Yea, wot he said, like.

 

[jvs]

Who was asking about a movie?I can not find that post anymore.

[daocat555]

I wanted to watch "Bell Book and Candle" but couldn't find it online, legally, for free.  Oppo just announced an amazing camera phone, available about mid October.  Fantastic camera; Oppo R17 Pro.

[jvs]

3 hours ago, daocat555 said:

I wanted to watch "Bell Book and Candle" but couldn't find it online, legally, for free.  Oppo just announced an amazing camera phone, available about mid October.  Fantastic camera; Oppo R17 Pro.

Save ,free and legal,enjoy.

Edited August 24, 2018 by jvs

[faraday]

3 hours ago, daocat555 said:

I wanted to watch "Bell Book and Candle" but couldn't find it online, legally, for free.  Oppo just announced an amazing camera phone, available about mid October.  Fantastic camera; Oppo R17 Pro.

Mrs F wants to buy an Oppo, I guess this'll be the one she'll have.

 

Next few days I'll make my final choice on a phone, but looks like I'll have the Huawei Nova.

 

Really appreciate your help Daocat!  ?

 

[jvs]

https://www.facebook.com/100012683809025/videos/189318441500948/

 

Seems like the other link did not work.

 

Edited August 24, 2018 by jvs

[daocat555]

faraday; in my opinion the Mrs. has it right.  I'll post more details about the amazing camera after I reread the devicespecifications info, and maybe it gets on other sites.  And after I understand it better.  It has some new, high tech way to measure distance to the subject within 1% and the sensor adjusts; it's a lot.

 

OIS,OIS,OIS, faraday.  Does that Nova have it?  I don't know for sure but I used to do 35 mm shots.  That was before OIS and setting the shutter speed either manually or having the camera do it was demanding, and motion blur was a big problem.

 

I want to thank jvs for enabling me to watch "Bell, Book, and Candle".  I just watched it start to finish and really enjoyed it.  Thank you jvs.

[daocat555]

If you must buy the Nova, faraday, here are buying tips.  Go to the site Kimovil and float your mouse over Smatphones and to the left click on "On Sale".  See if they have it listed.  They do today, and the best price is Aliexpress; which is good as they are very reputable.  Today's best price is $402.98 in black, 6/64.  Then check the seller rating of the Store with the best price at Aliexpress (which usually Kimovil gets you to exactly).  Then check the estimated delivery time.   Today the Hongkong VT Store which has 98.9 % positive feedback and estimated shipping to Thailand in 16-23 days is the winner.

 

Do this every day for a week.  Now, I will speculate based on my experience with the price of new phones.  I expect a big drop in the price about 2-4 weeks from now.  If you don't care what color the phone is be sure to check the price in each color because if you don't care what color you buy for sure you care what about the price.  It's $471.79 in gold.  For those posters who tell me they don't care about the color then good luck getting the best price if you only click on the black color.  At some stores the black color is more expensive than the grey color.  If you don't care about the color (of you phone) you had best check the price of each color!

 

With a gradient finish which is a somewhat expensive process to set up the black tends to be the cheapest; but it is a case by case matter.

 

While looking at the "On Sale" today I noticed the Redmi 6 Pro for $165.49 which is a very sweet deal.  That got me thinking about the Nova as it seems the Redmi 6 Pro has gotten it's 2-4 weeks-in price drop recently where the Nova has not.  That also got me thinking about Elkski who I helped some in private messages until he called me a phone nerd (or was is geek?) so he's on his own but the Redmi 6 Pro exactly fits what he told me he wanted and is $165.49 in gold and $180.99 in black (yes, I read where he is not interested in the phone's color............get that in black then, $180.99; if you had it in gold people might mistake you for someone interested in the color of your phone).

 

I'll just end with one thing about gradient finishes.  They are not for everyone.  I can well imagine someone paying just a bit more to get their phone in black if they felt the gradient finish didn't mesh with their personality.  As the son of a MIT trained engineer, I feel qualified to say that the Gestalt of a product matters.

[daocat555]

Pasted from Quora.  Per gsmarena the Nova has EIS

Optical image stabilization (OIS)

In this technique the image is stabilized by varying the optical path of the sensor. This is real time compensation and hence no alteration or image degradation takes place. The lens assembly is moved parallel to the image plane. Shake detecting sensors( Gyro -sensors) are used, which transmit this information to a microcomputer which in turn converts them into the Drive signal which ultimately moves the lens Assembly to correct the image project on the sensor before it is converted to digital format and thus off-sets your motion. This is the basic principle of all OIS techniques. Different companies have different names for their OIS Technology eg. PureView by Nokia, Ultrapixel by HTC, etc. Nokia made the first cell phone optical stabilized sensor built into Nokia Lumia 920. OIS is more popular in consumer camera devices because it works efficiently even in poor lighting conditions and you wont see degradation in image resolution as corrections are made prior to the signal conversion in digital format.

Electronic image stabilization (EIS)

Electronic image stabilization works on a completely different principle and in this technique the problem is solved at programming level after the optical signal has been converted to a digital signal.

Every camera has a Charge Coupled Device popularly known as CCD which is an array of several light sensors arranged in a grid. It captures the optical light and transmits the image for processing in the form of digital signals.

In EIS the processor breaks down the image in to small chunks and then compares it to the preceding frames. It determines whether the motion was a moving object or an unwanted shake and makes the required correction. Now when you shift the image you need to fill in the shifted area and for that you need to have a bigger CCD or provide some area in the existing CCD to capture image for off screen purposes. This might lead to image degradation; however the effect is fairy less when your camera device has fairly large resolution.

Why OIS is better than EIS?

Main advantage of OIS is that there is no image degradation as necessary compensations are made before optical signal is fed to the CCD. But the hardware for mechanical motion of lenses buts a strain on your battery backup and also adds to the weight of the device.

EIS has become quite popular these days because of they are light and less expensive and with improvement in algorithms used for stabilization image degradation is minimal. But at low resolutions and in poor lighting conditions, you might see significant degradation.

With consumer electronic devices which don’t have a very high resolution , like your Smartphone’s or low resolution Camcorders, OIS is more effective technique and also out performs EIS in dimly lit areas.

 

My take, dimly lit areas....ummmm....any shot in the evening.......most shots inside.  The Nova has a lot of pixels for your shots on the beach at Noon.

 

[jvs]

3 hours ago, daocat555 said:

faraday; in my opinion the Mrs. has it right.  I'll post more details about the amazing camera after I reread the devicespecifications info, and maybe it gets on other sites.  And after I understand it better.  It has some new, high tech way to measure distance to the subject within 1% and the sensor adjusts; it's a lot.

 

OIS,OIS,OIS, faraday.  Does that Nova have it?  I don't know for sure but I used to do 35 mm shots.  That was before OIS and setting the shutter speed either manually or having the camera do it was demanding, and motion blur was a big problem.

 

I want to thank jvs for enabling me to watch "Bell, Book, and Candle".  I just watched it start to finish and really enjoyed it.  Thank you jvs.

You're very welcome and thank you for all you do.

I am not very big on buying a phone online,i like to see it up close and get the feel of it.I am in no hurry and actually enjoy looking at different specs and opinions.I have a Samsung j5 2016 and have no real complaints about it except the bloatware.

Ann(my better half)needs a new phone and she likes my Samsung.

I will give mine to her and i will buy another one.

 

[daocat555]

Here are my three most recommended phone models as compared to the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016).  The Samsung stands up pretty well as it was a fine phone in 2016 and is the only phone of the four with a Super AMOLED screen.

 

Don't want to buy via an International seller?  Many people agree with that fortunately that only eliminates the Umidigi, as Xiaomi has a big presence in local Thai Shops.  I would say the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro is worth spending more money for but the 6A will be a working phone.

 

The Oppo appeared today on gsmarena's Rumor Mill.  I find that to be a very exciting phone.  It won't be inexpensive but it will have some new features better than any existing phone.

 

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) VS. Umidigi One VS. Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro VS. Xiaomi Redmi 6A: Comparison

 

 

 

[jvs]

5 hours ago, daocat555 said:

Here are my three most recommended phone models as compared to the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016).  The Samsung stands up pretty well as it was a fine phone in 2016 and is the only phone of the four with a Super AMOLED screen.

 

Don't want to buy via an International seller?  Many people agree with that fortunately that only eliminates the Umidigi, as Xiaomi has a big presence in local Thai Shops.  I would say the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro is worth spending more money for but the 6A will be a working phone.

 

The Oppo appeared today on gsmarena's Rumor Mill.  I find that to be a very exciting phone.  It won't be inexpensive but it will have some new features better than any existing phone.

 

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) VS. Umidigi One VS. Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro VS. Xiaomi Redmi 6A: Comparison

 

 

 

Do you know how much the Redmi 6 pro is selling for in Thailand?

 

[daocat555]

I do not know if the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro or the 6A has reached the the Thai shops, or how they would price them.  I live in a pretty quiet area of Jomtien and would need to take a taxi to Tukcom to find the answer to that question.  Online, the price dropped today to $141.49 in gold at Hong Kong Goldway or $156.59 in black.

 

This morning I got news of the upcoming Meizu 16X.  It sounds so good I cancelled my order of the Meizu 16th which I had placed at Aliexpress when it was first announced on August 9; as my seller had yet to ship it.  I expect to be really hyping the Meizu 16X in weeks to come.  It will have my favorite SoC, the Snapdragon 710.

 

Newer SoC means less battery drain and longer battery life, and until the 8 nm process technology chips start arriving the Snapdragon 710 may be the most battery saving processor available.

[daocat555]

dddave; the Poco F1 has been announced and I think it looks very nice.  One Thai website reports that Lazada will list it on August 30'th.  Some International sellers are offering it for presale.  SUNSKY has the best price currently but if you give them your money today they say they will ship your Poco on Sept 30'th which is not a good deal.  Often with Xiaomi phones Lazada is the best place to buy for people in Thailand, so I will post again once Lazada lists it.

[daocat555]

Another day another best affordable recommendation.  The Cubot Official Store is having a sale on pretty much all Cubot phones.  For $70.94 you can get the Cubot J3 Pro; which looks to be a nice phone.  That's 2,308 baht in black, blue or grey.

 

https://www.devicespecifications.com/en/comparison/fbb3118d0a