The Lemon Fool

I have had a Motorola G5 phone for the past few years which I bought outright for about £150. It has been good value and has performed well but now seems to be failing occasionally. So, which Android replacement would you buy, outright? I would stick in my current SIM card which provides me a with a good, cheap combination of calls, texts and "data" for £5 per month.

My Moto G7power has served me well, superb battery life. Its 6.2", the G8 is 6.4 and the G9 is 6.8", so while my phone digs into my crotch when I bend to tie my shoelaces, I dread to think what a G9 would do.

I have been looking at this for the last few months and don't have an answer (you're welcome !). My concern is security.

The problem I see is that with the recent push for 2-factor authentication for financial transactions, security on mobile phones has become a lot more critical. To me a phone of any kind that no longer gets security updates is a potential liability.

The Moto G5 you are currently using had its last security update in 2019, personally I would not be using it for anything other than phone calls.
My next phone (and I may move to Iphone because of this issue) will be the one where the cost per secure year of operation is the lowest. This may well be a cheap Samsung* I can afford to bin after a couple of years use.

* Samsung phones have a security system known as Knox which makes Android considerably more secure.

I'm in the market for an inexpensive phone this year too.

I'm waiting for the anticipated Pixel 5a, which is likely to meet my requirements. If it doesn't, I'll go for the 4a, which I would expect to be discounted once the 5a is available.

Google commit to providing updates to their phones for 3 years from release.

HTH,

Watis

Watis wrote:Google commit to providing updates to their phones for 3 years from release.

The 4a was released in Aug 2020 which means you have just over two years security support left.

Samsung are currently providing "at least" 4 years support from release which make the A series look a good buy (A52 just released)
https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung ... ng-updates

https://www.androidauthority.com/androi ... t-1201648/

Google declared Android 11 ready for prime time on September 8, 2020. At the time of writing, we’re fast approaching the OS’ six-month anniversary and the chatter is already turning towards the recently announced Android 12. Android rollouts have historically been a bit on the slow side, so how well did Android manufacturers do this time around? That’s exactly what we want to explore.

Cont.

I had a Nexus 5 for about five years and then went to a Pixel 3a (came with 9, immediately updated to 10, currently on 11). Some of the main reasons behind sticking with Google was price v performance, speed of major OS updates and ecosystem integration.

I replaced my G4 with a G8 Plus 64k earlier this year, and it is performing well. Battery lasts over 2 days in normal use for me,

TJH

Avantegarde wrote:So, which Android replacement would you buy, outright?

Whatever it is buy as much RAM as you can. Android is becomingly increasing bloated and 8GB just doesn't seem to cut it these days, neither do sd cards which Android never seems to fully utilize.

And if buying for teenagers you will quickly find they start whinging that 32GB isn't enough ...

moorfield wrote:

Avantegarde wrote:So, which Android replacement would you buy, outright?

Whatever it is buy as much RAM as you can. Android is becomingly increasing bloated and 8GB just doesn't seem to cut it these days, neither do sd cards which Android never seems to fully utilize.

And if buying for teenagers you will quickly find they start whinging that 32GB isn't enough ...

Do you really mean RAM (working memory)? Only very high end phones have 8GB or more. The Moto G8 Plus only has 4GB RAM.

Or did you mean storage? In which case I agree, in fact I'd say 64GB would be the minimum I'd be happy with.

Scott.

moorfield wrote:

Avantegarde wrote:So, which Android replacement would you buy, outright?

Whatever it is buy as much RAM as you can. Android is becomingly increasing bloated and 8GB just doesn't seem to cut it these days, neither do sd cards which Android never seems to fully utilize.

And if buying for teenagers you will quickly find they start whinging that 32GB isn't enough ...

That's not RAM, that's what is typically listed as flash or storage capacity. RAM is typically 3-6GB on Android phones at present.

With regard to what to buy, I recently bought a Nokia, simply because of the offer of 2 complete Android OS updates and 3 years of security updates.

Samsung Galaxy M31 - 6,000 mAh battery (2 days+). 128gb storage, 6gb RAM, good screen, decent performance, below average cameras. About £250, a few months ago.

xeny wrote:

moorfield wrote:

Avantegarde wrote:So, which Android replacement would you buy, outright?

Whatever it is buy as much RAM as you can. Android is becomingly increasing bloated and 8GB just doesn't seem to cut it these days, neither do sd cards which Android never seems to fully utilize.

And if buying for teenagers you will quickly find they start whinging that 32GB isn't enough ...

That's not RAM, that's what is typically listed as flash or storage capacity. RAM is typically 3-6GB on Android phones at present.

With regard to what to buy, I recently bought a Nokia, simply because of the offer of 2 complete Android OS updates and 3 years of security updates.

Yes you're quite right, thank for correcting me. I wrote that before the first coffee of the morning ...!

moorfield wrote:

xeny wrote:

moorfield wrote:
Whatever it is buy as much RAM as you can. Android is becomingly increasing bloated and 8GB just doesn't seem to cut it these days, neither do sd cards which Android never seems to fully utilize.

And if buying for teenagers you will quickly find they start whinging that 32GB isn't enough ...

That's not RAM, that's what is typically listed as flash or storage capacity. RAM is typically 3-6GB on Android phones at present.

With regard to what to buy, I recently bought a Nokia, simply because of the offer of 2 complete Android OS updates and 3 years of security updates.

Yes you're quite right, thank for correcting me. I wrote that before the first coffee of the morning ...!

Increasing RAM/Storage demand is an issue, the top end Androids are up to 12GB RAM currently and 256GB+ storage (eMMC or UFS).
My Android image is over 32GB now (4GB RAM - 64GB eMMC storage on my Pixel 3a).

What we have these days are multimedia devices with 8/4K high frame rate video cameras, high ppi screens with high refresh rates et al.
Oh and they do phone calls too...
All that high end functionality and multitasking requires horsepower and RAM is an easy way to mitigate that to keep it zippy.

If rumours are to be believed Google might be going down the proprietary CPU route with their next Pixel, a la Apple.
That would allow for more optimisation of the hardware/software stack and mitigate the RAM wars to a certain extent.

4/5G 'feature phones' are starting to appear if you are getting tired of the whole do everything smartphone ecosystem.
I think I'll upgrade my 'dumb' 2G Nokia 105 to a feature phone next, or maybe a mini ruggedized smartphone like a Unihertz Atom.

Sounds like you are looking for a good budget phone.

I would google the above and then see what takes your fancy. There are lots of reviews and recommendations

Memory, the more the better but costs more
Battery life. Are you glued to it?
Camera for quick snaps or do you want to be a David Bailey
Do you need full android or would an Honor/Xiaomi do

If you are fairly happy with what you have look at the current model

Also do you want to go 5g now or in the near future?

Of course some people wont understand why you are not going full on top range apple phone!

PhaseThree wrote:

Watis wrote:Google commit to providing updates to their phones for 3 years from release.

The 4a was released in Aug 2020 which means you have just over two years security support left.

Samsung are currently providing "at least" 4 years support from release which make the A series look a good buy (A52 just released)
https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung ... ng-updates

Did you mean the Samsung A51 there? I take that to be the 5G version of the A50.

There is also an A71 which is the 5G version of the A70, I believe.

I currently have both an A50 and an A70, am happy with both, and will upgrade to the 51/71 this year.

I am not a particularly sophisticated phone user, however.

PhaseThree wrote:

Watis wrote:Google commit to providing updates to their phones for 3 years from release.

The 4a was released in Aug 2020 which means you have just over two years security support left.

Samsung are currently providing "at least" 4 years support from release which make the A series look a good buy (A52 just released)
https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung ... ng-updates

Thanks for bringing the A52 to my attention - that's a real contender.

Watis

Gerry557 wrote:Do you need full android or would an Honor/Xiaomi do

But, unless I'm missing something, Honor/Xiaomi are full Android???

I bought the Motorola G8 to replace my G5, No complaints.

Android One gets security updates for 3 years. I bought a Nokia 5.3 last year:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8519421

It is fine for £150, but may already be out of date.

If you're not looking for the very latest thing, you'll get more for your money second hand. As I've reminded myself on another thread, musicmagpie have supplied this family with perfectly good used phones for years. See what they have available.