[Closed] Phone recommendations - £200ish and not enormous

I'm not sure on sizes but I've been very happy with my Xiaomi Mi 8. Had it for a year or two and it's still snappy, decent battery, decent camera. I got it for about £200 direct from China.

The Motorola Moto G8 gets very good reviews and would be worth a look.

I've got a Xiaomi Mi 9 for sale in the classifieds. It's a bit smaller than the 2 you have mentioned and is a great phone. Much higher specs with a full HD screen (the A5 and A9 only have 720p screens and don't appear to be upgradable to Android 10)

The Motorola Moto G8 gets very good reviews and would be worth a look.

This^^^ going by my G7

Good battery in the Oppo A9 2020, better half has had one a few weeks, the 5000mAh(?) far outlasts the ~3000mAh in my Mi A2.

For aaaaaages now I've always had whatever the current(ish) 'compact' Sony phone is, as they seem to be the only Android phone maker that make 'actually small' phones. Currently on an XZ1 Compact, you should be able to get one or even a later model for less than £200

I *was* the same as IHN, and went for a Pixel 2 at the last change. But I think I'll go back to Sony compacts next. Buying from CEX they'll be around £200 for a previous model, which has the benefit of not falling foul of unknown problems with the latest (see Z3 and glass-jaw screens).

I just got an XZ1 Compact from CEX, £120. Mrs NBT was so impressed with it I had to get one for her - hers was onl £105 as it was blue not black. 2 year guarantee, impressed with battery life, super camera, rock solid strava performance (on my previous phone, Strava would crash out and fail mid ride every few days)

Got a Motorola G8+ last week, it's very impressive, but maybe a tad big for her. I only went + as it had NFC for contactless payment.

240 quid in argos.

There's a lot of non screen space on the front of that Sony xz1

There does seem to be a massive gap in the market for "not enormous" phones.

Sony are off my list as they seem way too fragile (three broken in our group)

Refurbished iPhone. 7 is under budget or 8 above. Not massive, good camera, latest iOS supported. I’ve picked up 7, 8, 8plus from Amazon and they were like new each time.

There does seem to be a massive gap in the market for “not enormous” phones.

Yup. There's the iPhone SE and the new Pixel 3A, but very little for around £200. The only one I've found is the Samsung Galaxy A40 but reviews are mixed.

There’s a lot of non screen space on the front of that Sony xz1

You should see the back of it, that's ALL non screen space

Sony are off my list as they seem way too fragile (three broken in our group)

This is all obviously anecdotal, but all the ones I've had in the past ten(?) years have been fine, and there've been a number of drops to tarmac, concrete, tiles floors etc

There’s a lot of non screen space on the front of that Sony xz1

Yes there is, the model itself is three or four years old and scren designs have changed in the meantime to reduce the bezel/border. I wanted a small phone with a good camera. I don't use it as a primary browsing device so I can put up with the slightly reduced screen size - may not be the same for everyone though I can see that

I've just bought a Huawei P30 from 4gadgets (after a recommendation on here). It's a nice phone but it was 50 quid over your budget, the camera is very good though. 4gadgets have a £20 off promotion until the weekend.

It's going to be more than budget however the new Google Pixel 4a is meant to be *the* Android budget of choice. Otherwise the Motorola G8

I was looking for the same thing.

Previously had a Sony Z1 Compact, Z3 Compact and currently on a Z5 compact. Had each one for 2-3 years without any issues at all, however my Z5c is getting now ready for replacement.

I love a Sony compact but don't like spending much more than £150 on phones so had been looking at used XZ1 compacts on Cex/Music Magpie (wife has had a couple of full sized Xz1 that she has been happy with) but with the current EBay 20% off promotion I have just ordered a brand new G8 Power for £160.

It is much bigger than any other phone that I have ever had, but thought that it would be worth a go.

Just to add, current 20% off with pocket20 code on eBay puts some smartphones at good prices like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Motorola-Moto-G8-Plus-Blue-6-3-64GB-Dual-SIM-Andriod-9-Unlocked-Sim-Free/233616235805

reduced to £167

Have a look on GSMarena.com it has a nifty compare feature so you can pick the phone you're happy with and find something newer that's a similar size.

Worth mentioning that most modern phones aren't really that much bigger as they don't waste space with a thick bezel and forehead/chin. The iPhones suggested above with sub 5" screens will only be a few mm shorter than a 6" Android.

Thanks for replies.

Should I be worried about buying a refurbished phone?

From experience batteries in particular start to die after about 2 years, so if its already had a year or more of use arent you buying something already towards its end of life?

What does a refurb actually entail?

Should I be worried about buying a refurbished phone?

No. But don't pay through the nose and go somewhere with a warranty.

I am another XZ1 (not compact) user as I wanted smaller. As others have said, waterproof and in a case all the time has been utterly bombproof despite being flung in shorts pockets for rides, taken canoeing, lugged up mountains etc. The only two issues I have with it is that the camera isn't quite as good as you would expect from Sony, and now I am a few weeks out of warranty the phone has had a series of crashes. That said, it did an update yesterday so maybe some issues now solved.

Mrs_oab has new iPhone SE and it is amazeballs. However she is paying £22 a month for it...

had a sony. found their UI not to my taste, the performance merely 'ok', and i got tired of replacing the glass back. i wouldn't buy again. motorola was good for the money - nice lean android and would have bought another but they went to a glass back when i was looking again. i have a pocophone f1 and it's been brilliant (there are some shit reviews online regarding the UI but it's all sorted). i'd buy another because i've been so pleased with it. it's maybe a little old now though the spec is so good there's still not much else out there that compares in my view.
recently got a friend a redmi 8T for 120 quid on a deal which was a very nice thing. take a look at that range.

Can't ever go wrong with the Motorola G Series, my past three phones have been and wouldn't ever go for another range now.

Currently have a G8 Plus and it's the best phone I've ever had, and considering I could get 4 of them for the price of one of the new Samsung phones seems a no brainer.

Like peekay, my Last 3 phones have been Sony(Z1,Z3 and Z5 compacts),they have all had really good battery life and have done everything I need ,never had any issues with them. I did always get a tough case for them as I like to just chuck them in bag without worrying too much. I will probably get another one as I know my way around them and they have decent cameras.

Just had a peep at her current phone and she's already got an XZ1 compact.

That kinda means my only Sony option is the XZ2, but its a little expensive and the G8 Power / Oppo A5 or A9 seem a bit underspec'd?

Perhaps I'll do a reset on hers and delete her 15gb of photos and see how it goes.....

My G3 still has great battery life but now some apps are starting to say they wont work with the software (Android 6) can't update beyond this, so looking for something new.

Had a look at the G8 is £5 more than I paid for the G3 brand new nearly 5 years ago.

Seems like good value to me.

Perhaps I’ll do a reset on hers and delete her 15gb of photos and see how it goes…..

Mine gets a bit creaky if it's getting full, so stick the photos on an SD card and get rid of unused apps and data cache and all that. Should be right as rain.

Currently have a G8 Plus and it’s the best phone I’ve ever had, and considering I could get 4 of them for the price of one of the new Samsung phones seems a no brainer.

There are a few Samsungs you could buy 4 of for the cost of the most expensive ones. 😉

Samsung have also committed to long term software updates for the new A range. Something that Motorola used to be good at but they seem to have gone overboard on variants and can't keep up support ("plus lite" versions, how does that work!)

just ordered a G8 plus using the ebay code. had samsungs for years but my wife got a G7 last year and it's a decent phone so thought i'd give the G8 a try.

Not enormous is a bit vague, but the Samsung A40 is nicely compact. Had one as my work phone for the last year. Very nice full size screen, decent camera, dual SIM, micro SD slot. Biggest downside for me is it's a bit slow to start up, and open Outlook/O365 work apps. Battery lasts a couple of days.

Samsung A50

3 lends camera and a good battery