Phone suggestion

[DemiLiard]

Hello. I am new to the mobile phone world and would like a phone suggestion. I have a 250$ budget and no idea which phone to get despite doing some research.

Any help would be appreciated.

I was going to try getting one through Orchard since that seemed like the simplest thing to do but it doesn't seem like that great a deal. The Samsung S3 for 235$ refurbished on Orchard is 300$ new on amazon plus it was released in 2012 so I'm assuming there are much better options.

[Tamar_S]

hello @DemiLiard

If you do not have a Pin number, I will suggest you to send an account number instead.

Thanks!

[DemiLiard]

Yes, I activated my Public Mobile SIM card. It's working great. I'm currently trying to port a residential number from Videotron but am having trouble, e-mailing back and forth. Public Mobile told me they needed a 4-digit PIN from Videotron which I had never heard of and the person I talked to at Videotron said there isn't any PIN required to port a number.

[7789849803]

@DemiLiard Did you activate your new SIM yet? How was your experience? Did you port a number over? If so, from what carrier?

[DemiLiard]

Got my sim card yesterday. In the end I bought a Samsung Grand Prime for 170$ at BestBuyMobile. It was a one-day special. It was a Telus pre-paid phone so I knew it would work. So far I'm totally satisfied with it. Bought a case and ordered a 64gb SD card to go with it.

Thanks for all the advice!

[philroy84]

look for galaxy S4/Note 2. Note 2 has big screen and VERY good battery life. you can find plenty used for 250 and under if you look in kijiji. no FM radio but they are good phones.

[IWIK]

Yes the Q10, Z30, PassPort, and I believe that the Classic also has built in FM radio.

[srlawren]

@DemiLiard that's a pretty good plan, too!

[DemiLiard]

Oh I might just get an old phone from a friend and stop this choosing a smartphone madness 😛

[Martin]

Hi @newhere,

With regard to FM radios, my 2013 and 2015 Moto G phones have them, and the radios are fully functional.

FYI.

[hotcakes]

I was just in the middle of the same struggle myself, albeit without a $250 budget (I was just hoping for the $250-$300 range). It's a gift for my wife for xmas. I looked closely at the Moto X Play, the Oneplus X, the Nexus phones, and eventually landed on the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser. That's just a tad over your budget, but might be worth looking into.

It's not without it's problems, but I am incredibly impressed so far. It was only $279 brand new and fully unlocked. It has a surprisingly nice 5.5" 1080p screen, it's light and comfortable in the hand (if a little big for my tastes - though it has small bezels), fast, decent battery so far. Even the camera is pretty impressive in my tests so far. It does come with a lot of bloatware, so I had to spend a lot of time uninstalling and disabling apps, but you only do that once. The ZenUI is not the best, but if you use the Google Now launcher and all the stock google apps, it's mostly invisible.

Hope that helps.

[srlawren]

@DemiLiard please make sure you let us know what you end up deciding on!  🙂

[youbme]

Good find @newhere and @7789849803! Seems like there is a decent movement to work on activating FM radio on smartphones...

There are also a few devices left that have FM radio enabled - most of them are older, but a few current ones too. The OnePlus X has an FM radio, but it doesn't have one of the LTE bands that PM uses - so I would be hesitant to recommend it. Here's a list of older devices with FM radio:

https://www.androidpit.com/android-phones-with-offline-fm-radio

[7789849803]

@newhere To answer your question on @Martin's behalf: the following quote was taken from the link in your own post:

Did you know that all current smartphones sold in the US have built-in FM receivers? It’s true! However most are deactivated, and activation requires an order from the wireless carriers who sell them.

[newhere]

(Wondering where @Martin managed to find a smartphone "with an FM radio...")

The last time I had that was 3 phones ago. Not to thread-jack but it would be interesting to find out if anyone in the PM community had one of these rare gems. I'm still in lost phone mode and am also looking for suggestions to replace my Galaxy S5

[Edited to add update/link: http://nextradioapp.com/supported-devices/ This is an NPR-fueled app that allows 50+ devices to make use of the embedded FM tuner with or without a data plan!]

[youbme]

Definitely a touch choice these days. Just to echo @Martin's list of criteria, for a first smartphone I'd go for a major brand with trusted hardware/software.

Just to add to what @srlawren said, +1 for the Nexus 5, I just retired mine after 2 years, but it is still working very well - I'll likely pass it on to a family member in the future. However, I will say that the battery life is lacking - for basic phone functions it will make it through the day no problem, but if you use it for web browsing, navigation, etc...then make sure you carry a charger with you. With my usage, it would be down to 20% by the end of the day. I learned to live with it, but if you are away from charging options, that may be an issue.

Overall, the Nexus experience is amazing, software is smooth and (mostly) bug-free, and comparing my Nexus 5 (over 2 years old now) to my new OnePlus2 (just released with much better hardware), the Nexus 5 still holds its own. Unless you are doing heavy gaming, you're good with that generation of smartphones. It's a shame that the new Nexus devices are so pricey, but even the Nexus 4 does pretty well (my wife won't let go of hers...she likes the size and it's still snappy).

[srlawren]

Another option could be a refurbish Nexus 5 from Expansys.ca for $245:

http://www.expansys.ca/s.aspx?search=nexus%205%20d820

I ordered one of those (non-refurbished--they had them on the site a few weeks ago for $269) for my mother for Christmas (yes, it's a smartphone Christmas in my family).  Still a great phone, even though it's now a couple of years old. 

[srlawren]

If you're looking for Android, even with the current crappy exahcnage rates, it's pretty hard to beat the USD $150 Blu Life One X.  After a rough 1.4 exchange multiplier, that's about $210 Canadian.  One catch is they don't ship to Canada, so this may not be an option for you, depending where you are.  I ship items like that to Blaine, a border town in Washington state, and drive over from greater Vancouver to pick them up at a company called Edge Logistics.  Adds another $5 USD (charged by Edge) at pick-up, but still a bargain for what you're getting, which is a 5.2" 1080p phone with 16 GB storage (with SD or second SIM slot), 2 gigs of RAM, and a 2900 mAH battery which should lead to some decent life.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0189RMNTG

I have one on order for my uncle for Christmas (they were initially on sale for $99 USD but only for the first few days after the phone was announced). 

Moto G 2015 (3rd Gen) is also a great choice as suggested, though in early comparisons this new Blu phone seems to bury it, eg:

http://www.androidauthority.com/blu-life-one-x-vs-moto-g-2015-659449/

EDIT: just fixed the Amazon link to the phone

[IWIK]

I've had a Q10 now since they were released (June 2013) and would have replaced it with the Classic if not for the Priv being released. I'm not thrilled with going to Android, but I really like the hardware.

But yes, I would have got the Classic because you just can't beat a physical keyboard and track pad for getting stuff done. Also doing a quick peek at Kijiji looks like you it's possible to get a decent Classic in the $250 range.

[DemiLiard]

Thanks for the list. They seem like good options. I will look into them.

When going to the store today I tried a Blackberry Classic and I really liked using the physical keyboard. Going to get more info about those.

In the Telus store they had the Motorola Moto G 3rd gen but they weren't selling it without a plan.

[7789849803]

@DemiLiard After spending about 30-45 minutes doing some basic research, here are some options for you (I've not spent too much time on this - so I only looked at ebay to get a basic idea). They are all within the CAD 250 price range (but most of the listings are from the US, so prices are listed in USD), all are 4G capable (I've verified the particular part number in each of these listings to make sure they'll work with the Telus network). But some of them don't come with chargers, and most will need to be unlocked (add about $25-$30 for that):

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/LG-G3-D850-32GB-4G-LTE-Metallic-Black-AT-T-Unlocked-Smartphone-Refurbished-/3... (LG G3 is another great phone and was only released last year. Plus, these are refurbished and available in two conditions so you get a choice. Based on your preferences, I would highly recommend this particular device)

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Samsung-Galaxy-S5-SM-G900A-16GB-Charcoal-Black-AT-T-Smartphone-5984-READ-/221... (Galaxy S5 in moderately beat-up condition)

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-II-2-i317-at-t-4G-LTE-Android-Smart-Phone-FAIR-GOOD-63233... (an older variant, so it may not be preferred, but there's a LOT of Galaxy Note II phones available cheaply on ebay - this same seller offers several others around the same price range, some in better condition, others in worse).

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/HTC-One-X-Plus-AT-T-64GB-Smartphone-HD-Video-Bluetooth-Black-Great-Condition-... (HTC One X+ is a great phone, even though it's been about 2.5 years since it came out) 

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Samsung-Galaxy-S4-S-4-SGH-I337-16GB-White-phone-AT-T-RETAIL-BOX-04693-/191757... (the S4 is a slightly older device, so it may not be your preferred device).

At the risk of stating the obvious, this is not an exhaustive search, so you may have other options. But hopefully from looking at these listings, you'll have a fairly good idea of your options when it comes to devices that are known to be reliable and meet your other criteria.

[DemiLiard]

Thank you.

[7789849803]

@DemiLiard Yes, the reception would be just as good on a tablet. In general, it is hard to say which phone gets better reception because nearly all the phones are just as good (or just as bad). They vary only by tiny amounts in how well they can handle poor coverage.

Also, I would highly recommend you invest in a 4G/LTE capable device - both for faster data speeds, as well as for better compatibility in the future. The Redmi Note 2 is not compatible with Telus' 1700 MHz FDD-LTE network.

Given your specific criteria, I'll try to lookup some other options later in the day and get back to you.

[Martin]

Hi,

Mea culpa!

I corrected my post. Thank you for your input.

Enjoy your BB!

[IWIK]

---

@Martin wrote:

Hi,

You're quite welcome!

Personally, I would never spend $600 on a phone, but I recognize that others do and that they can justify their reasons for doing so.

What I look for in a phone are:
1: a well-known company that's financially stable (unlike BB) and will continue to exist, so as to provide quick warranty repair and over-the-air upgrades
2: a well-constructed phone that can be used with one hand
3: a phone small enough to fit into a pants pocket in order to lessen the likelihood of having a dropped phone with a broken display
4: a phone that will last at least 13 or 14 hours with constant light usage
5: a phone with stock Android, so that it's not cluttered with irrelevant apps
6: a phone with a screen no less than 5.5" and a pixel density of about 300 dpi at least
7: a phone with an FM radio
8: a phone with an excellent audio quality, including speakerphone
9: a phone with a so-so camera because paying more to obtain an extreme close-up of a tulip is not Priority#1.
10: I've yet to decide what to type here.

Cheers.

---

@Martin wowowowow easy on the BlackBerry slander, they are financially stable (Hand sets are only a part of the business) not to mention this is a lot of Canadian jobs we're talking about here. Even if they stopped producing their own hardware they will always support their existing hardware and software will continue.

[Martin]

Hi,

You're quite welcome!

Personally, I would never spend $600 on a phone, but I recognize that others do and that they can justify their reasons for doing so.

What I look for in a phone are:
1: a well-known company that's financially stable, and will continue to exist, so as to provide quick warranty repair and over-the-air upgrades
2: a well-constructed phone that can be used with one hand
3: a phone small enough to fit into a pants pocket in order to lessen the likelihood of having a dropped phone with a broken display
4: a phone that will last at least 13 or 14 hours with constant light usage
5: a phone with stock Android, so that it's not cluttered with irrelevant apps
6: a phone with a screen no less than 5.5" and a pixel density of at least 300 dpi
7: a phone with an FM radio
8: a phone with excellent audio quality, including speakerphone
9: a phone with a so-so camera because paying more to obtain an extreme close-up of a tulip is not Priority#1.
10: I've yet to decide what to type here.

#10 was amended on December 16 to read: "a phone with a battery that can be easily removed and replaced by the user"

Cheers.

[DemiLiard]

Oh, I see. Thanks!

I've almost never tried a mobile phone. Only used my friend's briefly and her's is a 600$ phone so I'm afraid I won't be able to do as much on a 250$ phone. At 600 I can almost buy a good computer so I don't want to invest that much in a phone.

[Martin]

Hello,

If you're referring to the Redmi Note 2, I recall the OP and the multiple problens that he encountered. His phone was not manufactured for the Canadian market; the problems had nothing to do with Public Mobile. After multiple trial and error, and some workarounds, he was about to conform the phone to PM's requirements.

There's a lesson to be drawn: Unless you like taking chances and/or spending an inordinate amount of time on a phone, buy a phone for the Canadian market.

[DemiLiard]

The tablet may not be a bad idea, although I forgot to add portability was a factor. And is the reception good on a tablet? Even though I don't use the phone for calling much I still want good reception.

This phablet seemed interesting however I read a topic about someone having trouble setting it up with Public Mobile: http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_229219.html

[Rockdaddy22]

Yes, Telus locked phones will work with PM

[7789849803]

@DemiLiard If you prefer a larger screen size and won't be using the phone for calling much, you could possibly just use a tablet instead. There are calling-enabled Android tablets available. But for the most part you should plan on using a headset (either wired or Bluetooth) to make calls with a tablet.