What smartphone should I get with £800?

I went from a Galaxy S5 to a Galaxy S20FE and I'm happy with it.

I went to ASUS Zenfone 4 Max Pro, because it was cheap and with the best quality

£800? wizard money. how much is that in muggle, he said jokingly.

Samsung Galaxy Xcover FieldPro

i got a s20 and one thing that i have to say is that it is the first smartphone i had that got unconfortable to touch. what are things that you value on your smartphone? which things are a must? what would be nice to haves?

ps. i've used a s7 edge before and really, it did anything i asked from a smartphone and if it had e sim functionallity i'd still use it today

I'd say stick with what you know, but some of that might be bias, as I really don't care for Apple. I just don't like the proprietary ecosystem.

BTW, be aware that most newer phones don't have a 3.5mm headphone jack like the S8 does, so keep that in mind if that's important to you. They do still exist though, even a handful from Samsung (like the A42), but you gotta do some research to find one, and I'm pretty sure they don't put them on their "flagship" series anymore. You'd have to go with a cheaper model.

Asus Zenphone 9 seems nice.

I will likely be buried with my S8. Unless the USB port gets too fatigued, then that shit is trash. Galaxy has been good to me, but iPhone is easy mode and no one seems to regret having one.

As someone who has had two Apple iOS's and didn't learn their lesson the first time, I would recommend not to. It's all good and fine for the first year-ish but then the battery life drops in quality, I had my first one for three years before taking it off the charger would kill it in an hour with no use; my current one I've had two years and needs to be charged in the middle of the day because it hits 20%.
I don't install or play game apps simply because it burns through my phone in an hour or two.

I don't recall my first iOS but my current is an iPhoneSE.

I was a Pixel user for the pure and simple experience for many years, but my 4a kept getting buggier and the new models seem to have software issues as well and just get bigger and bigger, which I really dislike (I prefer one-handed usage). I looked at Samsung, the Galaxy phones look good, but cost a fortune.
Ended up with a wonderfully compact Zenfone 8, which competently does everything I need my smartphone to do. Except for the fingerprint sensor being a bit slow sometimes, I'm extremely happy with it!

Find yourself a good deal with this one or the newer model, and you'll have an extra 300 left over for other purchases!

if your PC is macos then get iPhone. If you like the have updates for at least 5 years, get an iPhone. My android phones either got no update or one update. If you like security and privacy, iPhone. No device is perfect, so you have to find the one with the feature you want and doesn't have things you hate.

I really don't think apple would be the way to go since your budget is limited... I mean top tier phones are great, but anything from apple in the low price range is absolute trash in most cases. Of course camera and battery life are rather sweet. My gf got iphone 12 mini from work.. but I think that might be in the range.. I wouldn't say it's a bad phone, but she stated that she wouldn't get another one if she had to buy it herself. Then again - it is a previous model and the tiniest and weakest in the line....... so - do you want to sacrifice specs just to get apple? As suprcollider said - if you have macbook, then sure.. otherwise - I'd stay clear... But I don't doubt you would enjoy the phone if you got it ... really depends on expectations.. if size of the screen and perhaps some gaming on the phone isn't that important you could get sub1000$ iphone as well.

I am actually looking at new phone myself as well as I also have S8 .. smashed up, battery going dead, memory full .. but the thing has survived for so many years I can't even recall.. should be nearing 4 or 5 years I think ... But I'm hoping for a company phone myself :D So I might wait a bit..

As for replacements - I was looking at either S20 FE or S21 FE ... but eventually these phones are just worse editions of regular S20 and S21 .. but the price is still steep IMO ... S21 FE goes for 700-800 as I've noticed. Also Samsung Flip cought my attention.. Just had the previous model on discount for around 600 EUR ... almost bought it.. Fold would be really cool as well if it wouldn't cost almost 2k :D

Just my thought on some of the phones .. https://www.tomsguide.com/ - check this site for actual specs and comparisons.. I like it a lot

I'd say whatever the current (or maybe rather, the previous) Galaxy S is, since you're used to it and It will also make migrating your data easier.
But both options are valid, obviously, and trying something new is always (at least partially) nice :) The only problem I see with iOS, is that given your budget you might have to go for something refurbished.

If I were to get an Android phone for that money, my pick would go to the Google Pixel 6 Pro. It's around £650-£750 depending on the storage you get on Currys (sorry for only looking at Currys, I don't live in the UK so I don't know any retailers of electronics). It's one of the cheaper flagship phones if that's what you're looking for, which competes well with the other flagship phones on the market. Google does a decent job providing software updates when you compare them to other brands, giving out updates for major versions of Android till October 2024 and security updates till October 2026. The Pixel 6a will get them till July 2025 and July 2027 if you want to save some money. Google is also a bit more repair friendly in case of disaster, as it offers a fingerprint recalibration tool on it's website in case you need to replace the display. The setbacks with it are the fact that you wouldn't have a headphones jack or a charger in the box, therefore you'll need to supply your own USB-C to USB-C charging brick... and the camera bump if that bothers you but you can make it flush with a case.

I'd just like to point out that non-smartphone mobile phones still exist. Which of course may not be interesting, especially when used to having a smartphone, or when traveling a lot and using online map for navigation, or similar. But in my case I rather look at a big screen e.g. when reading news, and I rather use a proper keyboard e.g. when writing this, so I don't see much a point in having a smartphone as such.

And the money saved from not purchasing one and also not having monthly payments, that goes e.g. towards a new CPU and mainboard (soon), with which there is a way better gaming experience than with a mobile game even on the best of smartphones.

My last two phones were both OnePlus, price/performance ratio is geate on those

S10+ for £250, then use the rest to go on holiday or upgrade your PC ;)

Still a great phone

I'm an Android user and have been my entire life. I've got nothing against iOS. But I would debate that it's important what you want out of your phone. I will give you my honest opinion and non bias, despite using an Android for such a long time.

At any given time, I'd not refuse to try and own an Apple, but I'd never stop using Android, because I prefer it's usefulness.

Pros:

• Stability, security, simplicity and style = iOS
  I'd add that Apple phones take a lot better photos. If you're looking for that, it would be a better pick.

• Large pool of apps, games, flexible interface, sometimes cheaper and better than it's adversaries = Android

Cons:

• iOS is overall more expensive and getting yourself other accessories along the way will lead you in a lot more spending, but that isn't always the case, and you can get out more stuff if you choose to buy an Android instead.

• Android phones are although more powerful than iOS and have more RAM, they tend to have operating system delays and performance issues, not to mention that camera quality isn't as good as the iOS is.

All in all, go with what you're thinking to use for the most. In the end, you're trying to kinda spend the same amount on the phones and both Apple and Samsung have now similar prices.

IPhone 4S was actually my first smartphone. Didn't like that you can't install anything outside of AppStore or move files easily from and to phone. Switched to Android next year (Samsung Galaxy A3) and it was a much better experience for me. Used it for more than 5 years, until battery couldn't hold much anymore. Switched to Poco X3 Pro last year.

What's important to you in a phone? The high end models are usually good in most regards, but if you're just using some of the features it might be better to go with a mid-range phone that happens to be good at the things you care about and save yourself some money.

Personnally I would go for some good Xiaomi phone in the 200/300 € range at maximum, and save the rest of the money for something else :-)

Can get a S21 FE, mint condition, for $400. Great screen, great camera, and will have several years of firmware support. Has worked great for me so far. Pretty sure mine was actually brand new too.
https://swappa.com/buy/used/samsung-galaxy-s21-fe-5g/unlocked

I would suggest Fairphone. The biggest advantage is that you can repair it with just a screwdriver. You can change whatever part you want on your own, from the display to the USB. Also, you can change the firmware with a custom one and you don't lose your warranty. I have had the latest model, Fairphone 4, for 9 months and I'm pretty happy with it. It cost me around £500. https://shop.fairphone.com/en/buy-fairphone-4

800 bill for a phone? I suggest you to put money in really usefull thong :) anyway a galaxy fold if you really want a great one

Buy a $20 phone. The pros is you would have almost $800 to spend on something else. :)