Best Android Phone under 5k baht?

[canuckamuck]

I am going to pick up a new phone for my wife. She really doesn't like spending money on phones, her last few were around the 1500 baht mark, but to be fair they did the job. However, it is time to move ahead and have a phone with a little more ability. Like music, Skype and chat apps.

She also wants to have dual sim so she can keep her old number but also have a netsim.

I have been looking at Oppo Joy, but I am short on time to compare others at the same price point

[RichCor]

Not sure 'Best' and 'under 5k' can ever be said to appear in the same sentence when comparing android phones.

Though I did just replace an older HTC phone with an i-mobile IQ 1.2 (4.5" display, dual SIM) that I like. It has some strange quirks that can be quickly sorted out with a power cycle (off/on), like mute getting stuck when plugging/unplugging headphones, and the video camera refusing to work when I really wanted it to... again a power cycle cleared the issue. Otherwise I'm quite happy with it.

The under 5,000 ฿ isn't an easy one.

[muratremix]

You can buy from china (or from me, for same price, clearance sale) a Jiayu G4C

150 bucks (less than 5000 baht)

quadcore, 4.7" 720P HD IPS Screen, 13mp camera, 3000 huge battery (and great battery life)

[canuckamuck]

That is very intriguing Murat. I am thinking and researching. Do you have any reviews for it?

Also where would one go for service/batteries?

Edited July 21, 2014 by canuckamuck

[Norrad]

The ZenFone 4 from Asus is pretty decent and you can't go wrong at under 3000 Baht. It doesn't have the best battery life though, luckily you get 2 batteries in the the box to compensate.

Sent from my ASUS_T00I using Tapatalk 2

[matt111]

Stick another 1k and go Asus Zenfone 5 (bigger screen, faster, more memory, bigger battery, great camera, dual sim too i believe), unbelievable spec for an affordable 6k. When browsing the malls it quite pathetic everything from android 3.2 to 4.2, yet practically nothing android 4.3+, doesnt make sense to me to buy a phone with less than 4.3, a bit like buying an iphone with ios 5.0... The zenfone range really is kicking ass it seems at the moment spec/price ratio, even the zenfone 4 is well under priced.

That all being said both invadeit and tohome.com are out of stock at the moment, anyone else know where in TH they are in stock? There seems be big demand so stocks are distributed to India, SG and Malaysia at the moment, there is a malaysian retailer (top link on google)doing cash on delivery so if you have a visa run soon perhaps you can get it deliver to hotel.

Stay away from chinese unknown brands, disaster waiting to happen, i.e. dont consider aliexpress or other vendors, reliability just isn't there, you can never really verify the spec.

Edited July 21, 2014 by matt111

[sustento]

I-mobile make some reasonably priced phone with good features. Their main problem is that they bring out so many new models it can be confusing to decide what you want.

[DogNo1]

I have an i-Mobile IQ 9.2 and love it. I am in Tokyo but still use it everyday to read the NYT by tethering it to my iPhone 5. Battery only lasts about a day because I have wireless and Bluetooth turned on. I think that i-Mobile phones are a great value.

[muratremix]

That is very intriguing Murat. I am thinking and researching. Do you have any reviews for it?

Also where would one go for service/batteries?

Just google it. My uncle uses this phone and he is very satisfied. Replacement batteries can be bought from aliexpress and other chinese sellers.

Jiayu has brick&mortar shops in china so it is a known brand.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[casualbiker]

Stick another 1k and go Asus Zenfone 5 (bigger screen, faster, more memory, bigger battery, great camera, dual sim too i believe), unbelievable spec for an affordable 6k. When browsing the malls it quite pathetic everything from android 3.2 to 4.2, yet practically nothing android 4.3+, doesnt make sense to me to buy a phone with less than 4.3, a bit like buying an iphone with ios 5.0... The zenfone range really is kicking ass it seems at the moment spec/price ratio, even the zenfone 4 is well under priced.

That all being said both invadeit and tohome.com are out of stock at the moment, anyone else know where in TH they are in stock? There seems be big demand so stocks are distributed to India, SG and Malaysia at the moment, there is a malaysian retailer (top link on google)doing cash on delivery so if you have a visa run soon perhaps you can get it deliver to hotel.

Stay away from chinese unknown brands, disaster waiting to happen, i.e. dont consider aliexpress or other vendors, reliability just isn't there, you can never really verify the spec.

I believe Advice computer is holding stock but not 100% sure

Sent from my XT1032 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[puuchaibaa]

Also have a look at the new LG L series III -- L40, L70, L90. All dual sim, android 4.4.2 and range from bt 3.5k to 8k. I have the L90 and for the price I'm very happy with it in terms of build, performance and battery life. The dual sim function works well in that you can set 3G to either (but not both) of the sims (as opposed to just one of them on some phones). Very easy to switch sims for voice using the dedicated sim button. Maybe too easy if you're worried about calling certain people from the wrong sim

[fasteddie]

Not sure how much you can get one for in Thailand but the Moto G XT1033 is an awesome phone with an awesome battery. 8 hours on bluetooth only uses 33% of battery.

[RichCor]

Not sure how much you can get one for in Thailand but the Moto G XT1033 is an awesome phone with an awesome battery. 8 hours on bluetooth only uses 33% of battery.

Many people in the thread probably would also have suggested that awesome phone, but 6,999 ฿ from HatYai4G, and 6,580 ฿ from Lazada don't meet the criteria of the OP.

[fasteddie]

Not sure how much you can get one for in Thailand but the Moto G XT1033 is an awesome phone with an awesome battery. 8 hours on bluetooth only uses 33% of battery.

Many people in the thread probably would also have suggested that awesome phone, but 6,999 ฿ from HatYai4G, and 6,580 ฿ from Lazada don't meet the criteria of the OP.

Got mine in the UK from China for £150, thought maybe might be a bargain somewhere in Thailand, shame though, it really is the dogs <deleted>, knocks my LG4x HD into a crocked hat.

[canuckamuck]

Thanks for all your comments so far

[bendshead]

After researching exhaustively for an under 5k Android phone with dual sim, I could find anything without some deal-breaking flaw. Finally, I went with a Huawei Honor 3C which was once available in the 5k range (not sure about now). I couldn't be happier. Better than my iPhone in so many respects. Has excellent specs which reflects in the smooth animations, app switching, processing tasks. Everything just works quickly and seamlessly together. Great battery life. Nice screensize (not too big, not too small). PM me if you need any info.

[muratremix]

Another option could be Lenovo S650 / S660 from China. 150-160 usd price range including shipping.

I'm sure others will recognize Lenovo brand.

If need big screen (5.5") lenovo A850+ also under $160 usd with 8-core cpu.

[build6]

Also have a look at the new LG L series III -- L40, L70, L90. All dual sim, android 4.4.2 and range from bt 3.5k to 8k. I have the L90 and for the price I'm very happy with it in terms of build, performance and battery life. The dual sim function works well in that you can set 3G to either (but not both) of the sims (as opposed to just one of them on some phones). Very easy to switch sims for voice using the dedicated sim button. Maybe too easy if you're worried about calling certain people from the wrong sim

I have an earlier-gen LG dual-SIM and am pleased with it. basically it gave me a good impression of LG phones overall.

[matt111]

Stick another 1k and go Asus Zenfone 5 (bigger screen, faster, more memory, bigger battery, great camera, dual sim too i believe), unbelievable spec for an affordable 6k. When browsing the malls it quite pathetic everything from android 3.2 to 4.2, yet practically nothing android 4.3+, doesnt make sense to me to buy a phone with less than 4.3, a bit like buying an iphone with ios 5.0... The zenfone range really is kicking ass it seems at the moment spec/price ratio, even the zenfone 4 is well under priced.

That all being said both invadeit and tohome.com are out of stock at the moment, anyone else know where in TH they are in stock? There seems be big demand so stocks are distributed to India, SG and Malaysia at the moment, there is a malaysian retailer (top link on google)doing cash on delivery so if you have a visa run soon perhaps you can get it deliver to hotel.

Stay away from chinese unknown brands, disaster waiting to happen, i.e. dont consider aliexpress or other vendors, reliability just isn't there, you can never really verify the spec.

I believe Advice computer is holding stock but not 100% sure

Sent from my XT1032 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

"No, I don,t have." with regards to asus zenfone.

But rapid reply to email, bookmarked for future reference, vs JIB who never reply.

[build6]

hrm. Asus is pushing the Zenfone in a big way in Singapore -

http://store.asus.com/sg/

they're labelling it "guaranteed delivery in 24 hours". If you know anyone flying back from there you might want to talk to them.

[Chicog]

Before you go rushing out to buy no-name Chinese phones, you may just wish to consider the article at the link below.

http://news.yahoo.com/report-chinese-phone-comes-preloaded-spyware-153543708--finance.html

[canuckamuck]

Thanks for your help folks, It turned out the phone was needed today and we only had a small time frame to decide. We got the Oppo because it was the only phone I had really looked at yet. And I didn't know where to get (in a hurry) some of the other phones mentioned here.

However you guys have given me some very good ideas for upgrading my own phone. Just don't tell my missus.

Hopefully this thread will be of use to other budget conscious phone shoppers.

5k really does get you a pretty good phone.

[fasteddie]

Before you go rushing out to buy no-name Chinese phones, you may just wish to consider the article at the link below.

http://news.yahoo.com/report-chinese-phone-comes-preloaded-spyware-153543708--finance.html

I bought a couple of Chinese phones, neither lasted a year though one had a transmitter which was fun for a while broadcasting over peoples radios.

[sfokevin]

Which Oppo model did you get?

[canuckamuck]

Oppo Joy, So far it seems very nice, has a real feel of quality about it.

[SDM0712]

Get one with a chip speed of at least 1.2 GHZ, otherwise it will be like watching paint dry whenever you try to open a new app or its automatically downloading an update.

If you don't care about that and want a Galaxy Neo that I bought new from Samsung and then put it back in the box after a month let me know ! Having said that they are only 2650 new, but biggest waste of money. Nice phone but so sloooooooooooooooow. Doesn't help that my personal phone is a BBZ10 running at 1.5 GHZ

SDM

PS for those of us that understand chip speed I was in Power Buy in Jung Cylon last week and they had three Acer desktops on display with chips speeds advertised as 3.0 GHZ, 3.3 GHZ and 34 GHZ. Are you sure about that one I asked, it seems very good value for such advanced technology ? Yes the chap said. It's not an error ? Is it from the future I asked. What ? Never mind.

The shop next door had a sign that said " Buy a Lap top today and get six other items for free". OK I said, can I buy a laptop and for my six free items can I have six more laptops. No, apparently not.

Edited July 25, 2014 by SDM0712