Smart Phone wanted

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hairyharry
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Smart Phone wanted

Post by hairyharry » January 15, 2018, 10:29 am

I want a phone and package that will allow me to make telephone calls, send texts, access Line and, most important, allow me to use Grab (the taxi app).

Don't need an all singing/dancing model - the above are my essentials.

Totally ignorant about these so advice also appreciated.

Anyone have a second hand model for sale please pm me.

Anyone who can point me to an English speaking outlet in Udon, please post details.

Anyone with tips/warnings for technophobic morons like me, please post such advice/warnings etc

Many thanks in anticipation



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BobHelm
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by BobHelm » January 15, 2018, 11:35 am

It is worth your while going around the big telephone companies in the Plaza Harry.
Even if you buy a second hand one, you will still need to visit them anyway to negotiate a package.

They all supply a range of phones at very cheap prices if you sign up for a (various) 1 year package with them.
Personally, I would recommend that you got a 'named' phone from them (Samsung, Motorola, Lenova etc.) rather than the very cheap 'own brand' ones they offer.
The cheapest phones have very little spare capacity on them because the are already full of the providers stuff. Hence adding the apps that you actually want to use can become troublesome..
AIS were offering the new Samsung J7 at a very competitive price a while ago & True the Motorola range..

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BobHelm
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by BobHelm » January 15, 2018, 11:53 am

Probably the 2 most important things that you need to look at when buying a phone is..

RAM
Storage

With too little RAM the phone will be very slow when you want it to actually do anything for you.

Applications & data need to be stored on the phone. The less storage you have then the less likely it is that you can actually use the phone for what you want to do with it.
If the phone has a slot for a SD card then that will hugely increase the amount of storage that you have available. However it does not eliminate the need for the phone to have a good amount of storage in its own right. Not all Apps can be moved to a SD card & you need to manually move (with something like an App called AppManager 3) those Apps that can be moved...

So, my advice would be, decide how much you want to spend & then look for the model that has the largest amount of RAM & Storage at that price..

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tamada
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by tamada » January 15, 2018, 2:17 pm

Looking at the OP, he doesn't even need a camera and to be perfectly honest, when Nokia ruled the mobile, pre-smartphone phone world, the camera wasn't a must-have either. That all changed with android, FB and social media. Finding a smartphone without a camera may be a struggle so if it's not a priority, a low-resolution, single-camera phone should suffice.

I think that advice to have loads of room for loads of apps and expansion is sort of irrelevant with regard to the OP's stated needs. I reckon that one of the cheaper, bundled, lo-name brand phones such as LAVA, DTAC, Vivo and Oppo from either AIS or DTAC will easily do the business.

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BobHelm
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by BobHelm » January 15, 2018, 8:24 pm

Getting a smart phone without cameras is not worth the search.
I do not agree to your claims about buying a cheap, no name brand, bundled smart phone from one of the providers is actually a good deal.
I have at least 2 friends who have done so & regretted it quite quickly.
If you buy one of those combined with 1 year contract you are stuck with something that will not do what you want well before the contract expires..

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samuel
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by samuel » January 16, 2018, 8:38 am

hairyharry wrote:
January 15, 2018, 10:29 am
Anyone who can point me to an English speaking outlet in Udon, please post details.
take a look at the AIS Webstore:
https://store.ais.co.th/en/mobile-phone ... rder=price
free delivery to your door.

i recently ordered the "AIS Super Combo LAVA iris 50"
great deal.
most important: no confusing and annoying sales talk with a salesman who does not understand me.....
:D

hairyharry
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by hairyharry » January 26, 2018, 9:44 am

I would like to thank all of you who replied. Very valuable.

I'm being told that I should "future proof" with a minimum 4GB Ram. Hmmm, looks very expensive. 2GB is very affordable, 3 GB is also ok. Is 4GB worth the extra money? I guess it probably is........

Storage (ROM) with an extra card giving a total of 32 GB seems ok, reasonable price (to me) and a lot of choice.

AIS have unlimited internet use for 500B a month and a top up amount for telephone calls (which I use at the moment). I forgot to ask the internet speed but I guess that's tied into the RAM?

But which operating system - Android or Windows (I use windows 10 on my laptop)

Any comments on the above much appreciated. Planning to purchase in the first week of February.

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BobHelm
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by BobHelm » January 27, 2018, 6:54 am

You can make do with 3GB RAM.
4GB would be nice but probably not worth the heavy expense you are going to pay for it.

As I said before, ROM via cards is a cheap method of storing large amounts of data. BUT you must ensure that the phone has sufficient RAM on board as well.
To me 12GB is the minimum & at that will probably frustrate you in time. 16GB is far more sensible. 32GB or more is great - but the phone price will be creeping up here too!!

The internet speed is more tied to if the supplier is giving you 3G or 4G & it is sensible that you ensure that the phone you are buying is 4G enabled. When you are connecting to the Internet via wifi then the RAM & processing chip also play an important role.

Buy Android.

Windows might sound like a good idea because it would be like your PC - but it is not a good alternative. After messing every-bodies life up with a joint phone, tablet & computer operating system with Windows 8, Microsoft failed to wow phone users & the take up on Windows phones has been minimal. Microsoft even bought Nokia to try & force the issue but that has been a failure.
Windows 8.1 operated phones are no longer supported by Microsoft.

Buy the highest level of the Android Operating system you can find.
The latest version is Oreo, but I don't think anybody but Google (Pixel phones) have that up & running yet.
The previous version was Nougat & that is probably what you should be aiming for.
Prior to that was Marshmallow & Lollipop & while they are currently supported I would certainly stay clear of Lollipop.

All the vendors have their own 'rules' on updating phones when a new operating system comes out. However I think it is fair to say that unless you are buying at the top price band it is unlikely that the manufacturer will ever issue you with an upgrade to the system it comes with.

hairyharry
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by hairyharry » January 31, 2018, 11:28 am

Your help is very much appreciated.
I think I have the parameters I need to make a reasonable decision thanks to all the responses to my queries.
Many thanks

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sometimewoodworker
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by sometimewoodworker » February 2, 2018, 4:02 pm

hairyharry wrote:
January 26, 2018, 9:44 am

Storage (ROM) with an extra card giving a total of 32 GB seems ok, reasonable price (to me) and a lot of choice.
You will not be getting ROM (Read Only Memory) but FlashRAM.
Jerome and Nui's new househttp://bit.ly/NJnewHouse

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sometimewoodworker
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by sometimewoodworker » February 2, 2018, 4:17 pm

BobHelm wrote:
January 27, 2018, 6:54 am
As I said before, ROM via cards is a cheap method of storing large amounts of data.
Virtually no phone today can use external ROM and many do not have internal ROM either.

While ROM could possibly be cheaper if you want many copies of something the difficulty is that once made it can never be changed, so overwhelming flash ram Is used
Jerome and Nui's new househttp://bit.ly/NJnewHouse

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BobHelm
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by BobHelm » February 6, 2018, 7:35 am

Harry, if you are still looking for a phone then this one has just been released onto the Thai market.
I have not seen or tried one, but unless the specifications are hugely different to that of the model on general release, it looks a bargain.
Xiaomi Redmi 5A
I am told that the price will be 2,790 baht in Thailand.

This is the only description that I can find that absolutely confirms the specs of the model being released in Thailand.
The 5-inch Redmi 5A comes with a metallic matte finish and an array of high-quality features never seen before in this category, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, 13MP rear camera, dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion and 3000mAh long-lasting battery.
As far as a full list of specifications goes then (from the price) it looks like the model based in the IND (India) tab of this list of specs will apply.
https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_redmi_5a-8898.php#india

Even if it is the lowest spec quoted (16 GB, 2 GB RAM ) it still looks a good deal at the price..

glalt
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by glalt » February 24, 2018, 12:28 pm

My wife bought her nephew a cheap phone (TWZ A56) from one of the phone companies. I laughed at it and told her it was probably junk. It has about a 5 inch screen. I'm not laughing at it anymore. That phone is a couple years old and has had a hard life. He dropped it several times and the screen cracked. Since then it has apparently been dropped a few more times. The screen now has many cracks. He uses the phone on my TOT WiFi and it works much better (faster) than a Samsung J1 that I have for a backup. I always know when he is around because I can hear the Internet voice and calls. The speaker is loud.

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BobHelm
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Re: Smart Phone wanted

Post by BobHelm » February 25, 2018, 11:20 am

Here are the specs for the Xiaomi Redmi 5A that has been released in Thailand.
Sadly it is the 2GB RAM, but it still looks excellent value at under 3,000 baht..
New from Xiaomi, the Redmi 5A is an affordable smartphone with a metallic matte finish and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, a 13MP rear camera, a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion and a long-lasting 3,000mAh battery. It has a five-inch HD display, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It retails for just Bt2,790.

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