For the past 10 years I never bought a phone for more than 300 euros.
I usually get a new phone every 3 years to have the latest tech and donate or recycle the old one.
For the last year I had an iPhone 13 pro (usually goes around 1100 euro) as a work phone and my personal Redmi Note 11 Pro I bought for 270 euros and not once I told myself: Man, this iphone is at least 3 times better than my Xiaomi. It’s clearly a premium product but a middle category budget phone can match most features and even more. I still have a headphone jack, bigger 120 Hz screen, IR blaster and an amazing fingerprint sensor.
And that’s why you shouldn’t buy those things new. If you really really want one, get a used one. Sure, it’s a few years old, but it’s fine as long as it’s still updated. Besides, you’re paying only a fraction of what it was when it was released.
Decaying battery is a serious issue in the long run. As long as you’re not buying a 5 year old phone, you should be fine. Get something that’s about 1-4 years old instead and check the battery health before the purchase.
If you need a battery replacement, that means that the previous owner abused the battery with suboptimal charging style or maybe the phone is old enough that you won’t be getting updates any more. In the latter case, it’s just pure planned obsolescence.
As for the article, slowing down the phone without the users consent was a bad move IMO. This shows how little Apple respects the user. Then again, tech companies tend to treat us like trash, so that’s nothing new.
Ya, this pretty much me. I had a bad experience with the budget pixel. Wouldn’t recommend them… But otherwise haven’t really missed out on having a top end flagship phone at all.
Yup, I’m on the Redmi train as well, got a Redmi Note 10, will probably upgrade next month or this month depending on how much money I have left after all expenses. Had it for 2 years or something and it has a crack throughout a good length of the screen otherwise I’d keep it even longer. Cost me 200 € new.
May just get the same phone you got or a newer one/alternative if I find one until then. -> Probably the Note 12 (Pro, if the features are worth it), looking at GSMArena right now. Rooting it again will be annoying though
Had it for 2 years or something and it has a crack throughout a good length of the screen otherwise I’d keep it even longer.
buying cheap screen covers from dealextreme, 20 pieces at a dollar per piece, is what kept my mi max 3 running for 5 years and counting. it still has enough performance for anything i do on it and i don’t plan throwing it away anytime soon.
Just ordered the 12 Pro since I got my paycheck yesterday, I’ll definitely conserve it as much as possible and get some good screen protection and take my Note 10 with me if I’m gonna go out drinking or something.
That’s what I’m saying today, watch me utterly destroy it within a week.
Edit: got the 8 gig version as well so it will definitely last way longer (+ custom roms), maybe I’ll still use it in 5 years like you do ¯\(ツ)/¯
Cheap smartphones are an incredible value. My wife bought a 180 EUR Realme 7 about 3 years ago, and it’s still working great, it’s plenty fast for everyday things (she’s not a gamer), has 8 GB RAM …
One thing you really need to compromise on are the cameras. But the problem is that I’m a sucker for cameras, so I keep buying expensive flagships …
I have a Fuji X-E3 with some nice lightweight lenses like XF35mm f/2, but even such combo is still far from pocketable. It’s also not great for immediate processing and sharing.
There are some 1 inch sensor compact cameras (Sony RX100), but they are pretty expensive and the IQ difference gets smaller compared to highend smartphones. In the end, my smartphone is the only device I consistently carry everywhere …
I’ve purchased several budget/midrange phones as my daily driver, and the long term performance simply wasn’t worth it based on the things that I do with my phone.
Now, this is based on cheaper phones with specs from several years so this doesn’t hold true anymore.
For the past 10 years I never bought a phone for more than 300 euros.
I usually get a new phone every 3 years to have the latest tech and donate or recycle the old one.
For the last year I had an iPhone 13 pro (usually goes around 1100 euro) as a work phone and my personal Redmi Note 11 Pro I bought for 270 euros and not once I told myself: Man, this iphone is at least 3 times better than my Xiaomi. It’s clearly a premium product but a middle category budget phone can match most features and even more. I still have a headphone jack, bigger 120 Hz screen, IR blaster and an amazing fingerprint sensor.
iphone is clever marketing scheme to become a status symbol for a generation that no longer has a car as one.
And that’s why you shouldn’t buy those things new. If you really really want one, get a used one. Sure, it’s a few years old, but it’s fine as long as it’s still updated. Besides, you’re paying only a fraction of what it was when it was released.
you are talking about a car, right? because it doesn’t work well for iphone with their planned obsolescence… https://www.ifixit.com/News/11208/batterygate-timeline
Decaying battery is a serious issue in the long run. As long as you’re not buying a 5 year old phone, you should be fine. Get something that’s about 1-4 years old instead and check the battery health before the purchase.
If you need a battery replacement, that means that the previous owner abused the battery with suboptimal charging style or maybe the phone is old enough that you won’t be getting updates any more. In the latter case, it’s just pure planned obsolescence.
As for the article, slowing down the phone without the users consent was a bad move IMO. This shows how little Apple respects the user. Then again, tech companies tend to treat us like trash, so that’s nothing new.
Ya, this pretty much me. I had a bad experience with the budget pixel. Wouldn’t recommend them… But otherwise haven’t really missed out on having a top end flagship phone at all.
Yup, I’m on the Redmi train as well, got a Redmi Note 10, will probably upgrade next month or this month depending on how much money I have left after all expenses. Had it for 2 years or something and it has a crack throughout a good length of the screen otherwise I’d keep it even longer. Cost me 200 € new.
May just get the same phone you got or a newer one/alternative if I find one until then. -> Probably the Note 12 (Pro, if the features are worth it), looking at GSMArena right now. Rooting it again will be annoying though
buying cheap screen covers from dealextreme, 20 pieces at a dollar per piece, is what kept my mi max 3 running for 5 years and counting. it still has enough performance for anything i do on it and i don’t plan throwing it away anytime soon.
Just ordered the 12 Pro since I got my paycheck yesterday, I’ll definitely conserve it as much as possible and get some good screen protection and take my Note 10 with me if I’m gonna go out drinking or something.
That’s what I’m saying today, watch me utterly destroy it within a week.
Edit: got the 8 gig version as well so it will definitely last way longer (+ custom roms), maybe I’ll still use it in 5 years like you do ¯\(ツ)/¯
Cheap smartphones are an incredible value. My wife bought a 180 EUR Realme 7 about 3 years ago, and it’s still working great, it’s plenty fast for everyday things (she’s not a gamer), has 8 GB RAM …
One thing you really need to compromise on are the cameras. But the problem is that I’m a sucker for cameras, so I keep buying expensive flagships …
maybe you would be better buying an actual camera. there are some really good compact cameras that aren’t necessarily heavy
I have a Fuji X-E3 with some nice lightweight lenses like XF35mm f/2, but even such combo is still far from pocketable. It’s also not great for immediate processing and sharing.
There are some 1 inch sensor compact cameras (Sony RX100), but they are pretty expensive and the IQ difference gets smaller compared to highend smartphones. In the end, my smartphone is the only device I consistently carry everywhere …
I’ve purchased several budget/midrange phones as my daily driver, and the long term performance simply wasn’t worth it based on the things that I do with my phone.
Now, this is based on cheaper phones with specs from several years so this doesn’t hold true anymore.