recommendation for smartphone 5 inch, double sim, removable battery?

[ChristianPFC]

My choice fell on the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser ZE550KL for 5990 Baht (End of Dec 2015, reduced from 6990), and I have been happy with it ever since.

The hardware is phantastic; most apps are crap, the developers should be hanged - on their balls!

Upon purchase, I learnt that there is no VAT refund for mobile phones (can someone confirm?). I had intended to get VAT refunded on a trip abroad a week after purchase.

GPS is much faster than on my old phone (but then I keep GPS switched on, on my old phone I had it off to save battery), and it might get approximate location from mobile network (instantaneous, withoutGPS).

Battery lasts long (sometimes I have 2 days between charging, but at night I put it on airplane mode so nobody can disturb my sleep), which can be attributed to higher capacity, possibly better electronics that need less energy than 2 years ago, and new battery.

The case they offered for 290 Baht when I bought the phone was merely cosmetic with little protection. I saw protective case for 290 Baht elsewhere, but finally got a second hand case from a rummage box full of cases for 50 Baht. While the phone is great value for money, 290 Baht for a piece of plastic is not!

The phone came without screen protector, and I don't need one! Screen protector is a marketing gag to sell a useless piece of plastic at a high price to the ignorant.

The instruction guide that comes with the phone is short and in Thai, I downloaded extensive handbook from internet.

No compass app installed, but pointer on google maps is correct. Had to install compass app.

When connecting to WiFi first time, there were 56 applications to update, total 300 MB. And there is some crap already installed when you buy it! An App to create your own stickers for their chat program! Digital equivalent to having a choice between 37 brands of toilet paper in the supermarket.

Plenty of apps by Asus, one even makes the phone appear as two drives when I connect it to my computer (reminds me of early days of digital photography when cameras needed a special program to transfer files to computer).

I find charger plug-in on bottom inconvenient, on top would be much better to hold it and use it while charging. Volume buttons on back is inconvenient as well, I would like all buttons and plugs on top or on the side. A button for screenshot (instead of pressing power + volume down at the same time) and airplane mode would be nice.

SIM slots (micro SIM) are asymmetric and memory card is behind SIM. There is enough space to make it symmetric and without overlap. Side note: there is enough space for standard SIM, and I think the introduction of micro SIM is unnecessary. Doesn't save much space, difficult to handle, and have two sizes. Cutting out micro from standard is cringe-worthy, then filing the edge, and when I wanted to remove the card I found it was stuck, had to use tweezers to get it out and file the edge even more.

"Safe for offline reading" in browser is only available after website is fully loaded, which can take a bit and anyway what is loaded last and takes longest is the advertising, which I don't want!

The main camera takes good pictures, even in low light. The front camera for selfies distorts the picture, I can see it on my face, its unsymmetrical. There should be a software solution to compensate for the distortion.

Copyright 2016 ChristianPFC

Edited March 16, 2016 by ChristianPFC

[dddave]

Kudos for getting back with a user report following your OP; interesting read.

Battery lasts long (sometimes I have 2 days between charging, but at night I put it on airplane mode so nobody can disturb my sleep), which can be attributed to higher capacity, possibly better electronics that need less energy than 2 years ago, and new battery.

Most Android phones have a "Sleep" or "Do Not Disturb" mode wherein you can set the phone to automatically turn off and then back on again during sleep times, for instance mine is set to sleep from 2am till 6am.

There have been several articles in the online tech press in the last few weeks criticizing Asus for issuing yet another update loaded with additional bloatware. They just don't seem to get it and are really chipping away at the positive reputation they built when first introducing the Zenphone line.

Edited March 17, 2016 by dddave

[pmugghc]

I absolutely can recommend you the I-mobile IQ II.

I bought it one week after it was available in Thailand, in September 2015.

I would say it is the best phone you get for your money.

4444 THB. Including the newest Android KitKat plus guaranteed update to the next two following versions. Two years warranty with service centre in Bkk.

No bloatware installed, only pure Android.

I really like this phone.

I'm using it as GPS on motorcycle trips, watch movies occasionally and internet if course.

Camera is good. Very seldom crash of applications.

One game installed, real racing 3, runs smoothly.

Android KitKat (4.x) is 2 generations behind. After KitKat came Lollipop (5.x), then last year Marshmallow (6.x). Edited March 17, 2016 by pmugghc

[umbanda]

Did you tried the ASUS Zenphone 2 Laser?

Amazing!

[CLW]

I absolutely can recommend you the I-mobile IQ II.

I bought it one week after it was available in Thailand, in September 2015.

I would say it is the best phone you get for your money.

4444 THB. Including the newest Android KitKat plus guaranteed update to the next two following versions. Two years warranty with service centre in Bkk.

No bloatware installed, only pure Android.

I really like this phone.

I'm using it as GPS on motorcycle trips, watch movies occasionally and internet if course.

Camera is good. Very seldom crash of applications.

One game installed, real racing 3, runs smoothly.

Android KitKat (4.x) is 2 generations behind. After KitKat came Lollipop (5.x), then last year Marshmallow (6.x).

Now running on Marshmallow 6.0.1 Edited March 17, 2016 by CLW

[ChristianPFC]

Addendum. I didn't like the idea of a rounded back from the beginning, but couldn't explain why. Now I know: when the phone is lying on the table, it makes typing without holding it difficult because it moves.

The buttons on the bottom are, from left to right, return - home - history; on my previous phone they were history - home - return. There should be a standard, like all cars have accelerator - brake - clutch in the same order.

I would like to change orientation (landscape or portrait) by touching screen with two fingers and twisting instead of or as an alternative to settings (and when you change it in settings, it will change orientation by gravitation sensor (?), unsuitable when you are lying in bed and holding the phone up).

[BKKdreaming]

Has ChristianPFC even bothered to acknowledge any of the posts yet? Troll. Why bother? Fortunately some good information is being exchanged.

..

. In the meantime i may just go for the Lumina 640 dual sim . .........

Check if the Lumina is windows only , then check and see if the apps you use are available

Google and Microsoft are in a pissing match and Google did not make windows apps , so you need to use inferior 3rd party apps

Same with many other "normal" android apps , no windows version

I have few Nokia 520s still new that I will probably never use because lack of Apps I need

[casualbiker]

Has ChristianPFC even bothered to acknowledge any of the posts yet? Troll. Why bother? Fortunately some good information is being exchanged.

..

. In the meantime i may just go for the Lumina 640 dual sim . .........

Check if the Lumina is windows only , then check and see if the apps you use are available

Google and Microsoft are in a pissing match and Google did not make windows apps , so you need to use inferior 3rd party apps

Same with many other "normal" android apps , no windows version

I have few Nokia 520s still new that I will probably never use because lack of Apps I need

Google don't actually make many apps themselves. Most are 3rd party. The only one REALLY worth mentioning is Google maps.

[Bench499d]

Has ChristianPFC even bothered to acknowledge any of the posts yet? Troll. Why bother? Fortunately some good information is being exchanged.

..

. In the meantime i may just go for the Lumina 640 dual sim . .........

Check if the Lumina is windows only , then check and see if the apps you use are available

Google and Microsoft are in a pissing match and Google did not make windows apps , so you need to use inferior 3rd party apps

Same with many other "normal" android apps , no windows version

I have few Nokia 520s still new that I will probably never use because lack of Apps I need

Google don't actually make many apps themselves. Most are 3rd party. The only one REALLY worth mentioning is Google maps.

I've got 27 Google Apps on my tablet, not to mention the stock ones that come with Android. The biggest one which is probably important to a lot of people being Gmail. Of course if there's no Windows store version of that then you'd have to use the mobile website instead.

[HooHaa]

Has ChristianPFC even bothered to acknowledge any of the posts yet? Troll. Why bother? Fortunately some good information is being exchanged.

Troll, really?

[casualbiker]

Has ChristianPFC even bothered to acknowledge any of the posts yet? Troll. Why bother? Fortunately some good information is being exchanged.

..

. In the meantime i may just go for the Lumina 640 dual sim . .........

Check if the Lumina is windows only , then check and see if the apps you use are available

Google and Microsoft are in a pissing match and Google did not make windows apps , so you need to use inferior 3rd party apps

Same with many other "normal" android apps , no windows version

I have few Nokia 520s still new that I will probably never use because lack of Apps I need

Google don't actually make many apps themselves. Most are 3rd party. The only one REALLY worth mentioning is Google maps.

I've got 27 Google Apps on my tablet, not to mention the stock ones that come with Android. The biggest one which is probably important to a lot of people being Gmail. Of course if there's no Windows store version of that then you'd have to use the mobile website instead.

exactly. 27 out of the many thousands available. So not many! As for Gmail.. Most if not all email apps would sort that out.

[phutoie2]

one for outside the box, Meizu M3 Note, due out early April.

[HooHaa]

Deleted, double post

Edited March 31, 2016 by HooHaa