New Phone Suggestions Please

• 

  Alan6984 on 02/11/2021 - 16:41

  +1

  Not much time, but the deal today at PBTech for a Moto G 5G Plus Dual SIM Smartphone 6GB + 128GB - Surfing Blue - 90Hz display, 48MP Quad Camera for $419 is a very good deal in my opinion:

  https://www.cheapies.nz/node/30332

  I have had a Moto G6 Plus before, and would happily recommend it (not now of course - but at the time).

  Personally, I have found that spending twice as much on a phone just isn't worth it. You end up with an excellent phone for a year, an okay phone for two years, and a crappy phone for a year (all compared to the current crop of phones in each year). Batteries tend to be the same - excellent for a year, okay for two years, then crappy by the fourth year.

  Better to spend half as much, and get a good phone now for half as much, which will be okay next year, then buy another good phone again. You've spent the same amount (maybe less as you can often re-sell a two year old phone for a decent amount, but a four year old model not so easily), and you'll have half the amount invested perpetually, so your return on investment (whatever that might be in your personal case and opinion) is twice as high!

  If not making a decision today, then I'd certainly look around over the next few weeks - you'll likely see some very good deals around this month.

  Alan.

  • 

    NedFlanders on 02/11/2021 - 18:18

    Thanks a lot, Alan,
    What you're suggesting makes perfect sense hence this time I'm not keen on spending upwards of 2K to get a good iPhone rather upgrade every year.
    Yes, I'm not in a hurry Hence happy to wait around and will keep on looking for offers/specials.
    Cheers.

  • 

    ace310 on 02/11/2021 - 20:38

    +1

    Not contradicting you, but just stating the fact that iPhones do retain decent amount of value for re-sell against any other phone available today.

    Yes, they are expensive as hell. But again if you have invested yourself into ios ecosystem, it does have it's pros. Android phones are great as well, but I think they don't age that well compared to iPhones.

    Again, not saying that you should go for iPhones only. Only saying that any technology will be old as soon as a new model comes in. If you are flexible in any operating system. Just look for what your needs are and find the closed match.

    • 

      Alan6984 on 02/11/2021 - 21:43

      +4

      The statement you make is possibly true, but it doesn't change the fact that paying, say, $2,000 for a phone every four years is generally a worse outcome than paying $1,000 every two years. Ignoring the time value of money, you are paying the same amount over time.

      The brand of the phone and re-sale value doesn't really matter as long as it is proportionate.

      For example, let's assume that your IPhone does not depreciate at all and you sell each unit at the same time you buy a new one.

      In both cases (buy one for four years or buy two over four years), in that example, your net investment (purchase price less re-sale proceeds) in each phone is $Nil, but you have twice as much invested at any given point in time with the more expensive phone, and you still have the same pattern of 'goodness' in terms of the specs and battery being (excellent, okay, okay, crappy) against (excellent, okay, excellent, okay).

      Now do the sums with 100% depreciation - the costs are the same for each option (now both $2,000 over four years), and the pattern is the same.

      Massively over-simplified, but the argument that an IPhone somehow holds its value better is a red-herring, and is often actually outweighed by paying so much more up-front that the dollar depreciation might be worse in many cases.

      Alan.

• 

  Juju123 on 03/11/2021 - 07:10

  +1

  Has anyone used Samsung Galaxy Note 20 before? It's an old-ish model and you can't see this in the store anymore. However you can still find it in some online stores. I heard good things about the Note series, and the cheapest I can see on Pricespy is slightly less than $1200. Just not 100% sure about hows the online warranty work, if anything happens to the phone then I'll need to return it back to the store in Auckland by post (I'm Wellington based).

  • 

    Alan6984 on 03/11/2021 - 08:55

    +1

    I'd be cautious about purchasing a model for $1,200 that is no longer 'current'.

    I haven't looked, but are there no other options out there for the same (or less) that will do the same things or maybe more by now?

    Alan.

  • 

    CheapThingsAreNice on 03/11/2021 - 10:30

    +3

    Samsung gave me a Note 20 Ultra last year. It wasn't a particularly good phone. There are two sets of processors that they put in them depending on the region you're in. In New Zealand we get their in-house exynos ones and they weren't particularly good… Ran very hot, had poor battery life and struggled with the oneUI 3 update…. which was a poor experience for a phone with a $2300 pricetag… ended up selling it for ~$1400 and got myself a oneplus 8 pro.

    If it's a note 20 and not ultra I'd (and most reviews at the time) recommend a note 10 instead… better build, better performance (if you can secure a snapdragon version).

    The note 20 had a reputation of being 'the phone samsung dont expect you to buy that just makes the ultra look more appealing' and was panned pretty universally for being plastic, only 60hz (when 120 and 90 was the standard, having a slightly downgraded camera…. in a lot of ways being really similar in terms of user experience to an oppo a91, sans some processor stuff)

    If you dont want the pen, the s20 fe (snapdragon) is a better experience IMO

    • 

      Juju123 on 03/11/2021 - 19:17

      Thanks for your sharing!

  • 

    NedFlanders on 03/11/2021 - 11:33

    I agree with Alan here,
    Motorola Edge 20 Pro which is a flagship is $999 at PB Tech, I would rather spend my money on the latest 5G phone.

• 

  ScoobyNZ on 03/11/2021 - 09:14

  +1

  If you want to be on a Vodafone plan, then Vodafone have a few options for $1 a month on a 36 month plan: https://www.vodafone.co.nz/specials-promos/. Good if you're already spending that amount, but not so great otherwise.

  • 

    NedFlanders on 03/11/2021 - 11:33

    Yeah nah, I'm not interested in a plan that long, Prepay is much cheaper.

• 

  akrotohur on 03/11/2021 - 09:21

  +1

  What are you using the phone for? A $200 Oppo phone is all I need, no need to worry about resale value, no need to worry about breaking the screen, etc…LOL

  Why "prapay" for the "upgrade" (and risk losing it prematurely if you lost the phone) when you can really spend $200 every year to upgrade to a new phone. If you manage to drag the $200 phone for over a year, that's a bonus!

  Of course, if you need all the power of a $1000 phone, then that's another story.

  • 

    CheapThingsAreNice on 03/11/2021 - 10:34

    +1

    I'd say I spend around ~$300 per year on a phone, but have always bought decent / higher end ones (although normally a few years on) because the user experience is just so much better and i'm a diva who cares about this.

    But i've got about $1200 floated in the value of my phone, so just selling my current and upgrading isnt very expensive

  • 

    NedFlanders on 05/11/2021 - 09:32

    I love playing PUBG & Call of duty on my Phone, Plus streaming Netflix therefore a decent display and enough power to run those games is required which might not be possible with a $200 Phone.

• 

  Huntakillaz on 03/11/2021 - 11:21

  +1

  Usually limit myself to around $700

  But with Snapdragon 600 series being available on low end phones now and Xiaomi and others bringing the heat in the low to mid range you can get away with $400-500 phones unless the camera is super important then you want to spend in the $700-1000+ range.

  Been sticking to the bang for buck in all aspects and has served me well. (Oneplus One >> Huawei P30)
  And also getting phones on bundle deals like https://www.cheapies.nz/node/19413 where I got headphones and the watch
  Thinking maybe will go for Pixel 7 next for camera software reasons but will see around that time

  • 

    NedFlanders on 05/11/2021 - 09:52

    Yes I feel quite comfortable with the $700 range and the Camera is not super important for me.
    Pixels are always a bit tricky as they never have been launched in NZ.

    • 

      Alan6984 on 05/11/2021 - 10:55

      +1

      This is a good point, and a matter of annoyance to me personally - I would buy a Pixel 6 'tomorrow' (I'd actually wait for the sales to see of course), if they were retailed by someone (reputable - say, Noel Leeming or PBTech just as examples) in NZ.

      I am reluctant to buy one overseas, especially if I am not there at the time.

      I did buy a Nexus (might have been Nexus 5, but I can't recall for certain) when I was in the US for a month years ago - the price was actually very good, and less than I would have paid for an objectively inferior phone in NZ at the time.

      I figured that, as with most electronics, it would either fail almost immediately, or it would run fine for years, so I bought it the second day I was there, and used it for the remainder of the month without issues, and then for another four years or so.

      I would not have done that if it was being shipped to me in NZ. There is always the chance that it arrives non-functional or fails quite quickly, and whilst I might have been able to get it replaced by the US retailer, the hassle factor would have been significant including the time for shipping, compared to walking into a retailer here, showing them the 'brick' and getting a new one on the spot (you'd hope).

      Alan.

• 

  Bill on 03/11/2021 - 20:12

  +2

  Definalty wait for around 2 weeks for the smartphone part of the PB tech black Friday sale. I use a redmi note 9 I got around a year ago for $300 ($100 off) during their 10 year anniversary. Recently bought 2 more Redmi note 9S for family during a sale when I was monitoring the prices. Got them for $298 ($100 off). I have researched phones for a while and my reasons for buying these phones boil down to their value for money. A $600 phone is not going to be 2 times better than a $300 phone, likewise, a $1200 phone is not going to be 2 times better than a $600 phone. I would say put a price on the premium you are willing to spend but know the higher the price, the exponentially worse value for money you are going to get. What Alan said about buying cheaper phones more often is 100% accurate IMO, technology for phones devalues faster than anything else and you are likely to see a $1000 phone have the features of a $2000 phone one year afterwards. A general rule of thumb is if you can't comfortably and immediately pay for the phone again at any moment in time in case you lose it you should reconsider (but as multi-millionaires this may not be the best advice for you). I can only unequivocally recommend Redmi/Xiaomi, you're bound to get amazing value no matter what price point you chose, samsung is over-priced for android, with that kind of premium you might as well get ios, but ios is the worst option for a multitude of reasons and should only be considered after you learn about their unethical business practices like their stance on right to repair.

  • 

    Bill on 08/11/2021 - 20:52

    Correction: bought 2 more note 9t's not 9s