topic Re: Looking for a new phone in Get Support

Looking for a new phone

mimmo — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 10:10:44 GMT

Looking for a new phone $300-350 range. The Xiaomi poco x3 pro global seems to have a decent positive feed back from ppl on RFD and it's in the budget range. Worried about the missing bands and how that will affect the phone, a post on RFD said the missing bands are more important in BC vs rest of Canada. Does anyone here know how big an issue it would be ? I'm in Victoria BC

Any other suggestions for an android phone ?

Re: Looking for a new phone

softech — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 23:29:33 GMT

@mimmo Samsung A32 for $370?

or check Costco, they sometimes have some decent $300 range phones like Moto... but I don't think I saw any yesterday at the Costco in my area..

Re: Looking for a new phone

softech — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 23:34:53 GMT

@mimmo poco x3 pro does not have both B12 and B17, right?

from the note from sheytoon:

Any phone you are considering should ideally have 3G B2, B5 and LTE B4 (or B66 instead of B4), B12 (or B17 instead of B12)

so this phone missing both these 2 critical LTE bands?

Re: Looking for a new phone

will13am — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 23:41:16 GMT

@mimmo , the missing bands should not be a problem. I have friends out your way that are still use older Xiaomi phones with even more missing bands and do not have issues. They are on the Bellus network. BTW, the time to buy the Poco X3 pro was on 11.11. The coupons that were honored on 11.11 might have expired by now.

Re: Looking for a new phone

NDesai — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 23:47:58 GMT

What about OnePlus Nord N200 for $320?

OnePlus Nord N200 5G | OnePlus Official Site Canada
OnePlus Nord N200 5G review: the best cheap 5G phone on T-Mobile - The Verge

Re: Looking for a new phone

mimmo — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 23:51:05 GMT

@will13am I know I missed the 11.11 day but I don't have a time machine. 😞

Hoping there will be some bf deals to be had but those usually go with overpriced plans.

Good to know about your first hand knowledge.

@softech yeah it's missing some bands but since it was a popular item on RFD I was assuming it was not a critical issue, hence asking for some feedback on this or other decent phones. Don't want to spend too much as I have bad luck with phones typically.

Re: Looking for a new phone

darlicious — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 03:44:05 GMT

@mimmo

How about an open box dual SIM samsung A31 for $229? Its out of stock at the moment but they tend to restock within a week or so....I think the brand new one when in stock was $299. I have the A320 and @Anonymous has the A31.

https://swiftronics.ca/collections/smartphones/products/open-box-samsung-galaxy-a31-4gb-ram-64gb-128gb-dual-sim-factory-unlocked

Re: Looking for a new phone

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 04:03:52 GMT

Jeez....can anybody find anything in bricks & mortar? I spent pushin' $500 last year for the A31. The spouse just acquired an A32 for the current special price in a store (now using my third "dormant" account). How the heck can one find these things for $300 NIB in a dang store?

Re: Looking for a new phone

CFPartDeux — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 04:37:43 GMT

@Anonymous People still buy things in..... stores.....!? 😉 😆

Re: Looking for a new phone

will13am — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 04:55:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Jeez....can anybody find anything in bricks & mortar? I spent pushin' $500 last year for the A31. The spouse just acquired an A32 for the current special price in a store (now using my third "dormant" account). How the heck can one find these things for $300 NIB in a dang store?

The reason why you are paying $500 for a phone worth probably less than $300 is because half the cost is spent on keeping the store open. Lots of unnecessary overhead.

Re: Looking for a new phone

will13am — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 05:07:34 GMT

@darlicious wrote:
@mimmo
How about an open box dual SIM samsung A31 for $229? Its out of stock at the moment but they tend to restock within a week or so....I think the brand new one when in stock was $299. I have the A320 and @Anonymous has the A31.

https://swiftronics.ca/collections/smartphones/products/open-box-samsung-galaxy-a31-4gb-ram-64gb-128gb-dual-sim-factory-unlocked

Stuff from Swiftronics is overpriced. The open box ads are click bait. They never seem to have stock, except for models that nobody wants. I find Mi4Canada slightly better for pricing but nothing beats buying overseas.

https://www.mi4canada.com/

Re: Looking for a new phone

quantum00 — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 05:28:04 GMT

The "Like new" category sounds kinda too good to be true.

Why would someone just open the box and return the product?

For how long did they use the phone? 1, 2, 3 months?

Re: Looking for a new phone

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 06:14:31 GMT

@CFPartDeux : I hate mail order. Finding it from a reputable seller, maybe shipping, wait for it, oh it's the wrong thing, maybe pay to ship it back, keep looking, buy another one, wait again. I can't stand it. I want to walk in a store and walk out with the thing I went there looking for...all for as much as online to keep my business. Surely to goodness there's a profit to be had if an online seller can do it.

The phone I bought last year was from a little small store that was in a mall but I ordered it online and they mailed it...so I can find my way to doing it...I just hate it.

Yes, if I can, I will prefer to keep some local store open employing locals. Admittedly, it's difficult.

Re: Looking for a new phone

srlawren — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 20:00:31 GMT

@mimmo wrote:
@softech yeah it's missing some bands but since it was a popular item on RFD I was assuming it was not a critical issue, hence asking for some feedback on this or other decent phones. Don't want to spend too much as I have bad luck with phones typically.

@mimmo I was going to post a link to my old "Fun with LTE Discovery" thread here as a reference but it seems it got purged by the powers that be. Sad. But, that said, you should be okay. Your phone will fall back to UMTS (3G HSPA) for data if you happen to be somewhere without bands 2/4/5/7. While it's definitely preferable to have more for enhanced coverage, I'm not sure I'd let it stop me for the right device (provided of course it has 850 and 1900MHz 3G and at least band 4 of LTE, which the X3 Pro does).

Re: Looking for a new phone

darlicious — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 01:23:03 GMT

@Anonymous

You did pay more because you had specific requirements only available at the time in an unlocked world phone vs a North American model. Foreign Electronics currently has the A32 available in store for $420.

@mimmo

They are on east Broadway....call them if you like that's where I bought my phone 4 years ago. Two blocks away from me if you need someone to do a visual inspection I am happy to oblige.

https://www.foreignelectronics.ca/unlocked-world-phones/

Re: Looking for a new phone

softech — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 01:36:42 GMT

I will prefer to keep some local store open employing locals. Admittedly, it's difficult.

Soon, the only "store" open would be Amazon warehouse... luckily, they hire employees locally (until the Prime Robots take over the warehouse floor and drones replace drivers)