Android GO

The recent power cut reminded me that I need a more modern mobile ‘phone.

I am not really interested in the fancy ones, so am looking at ‘smartphones’ in the £100 to £150 range [unlocked / sim-free]

A couple of obvious candidates are:

the Alcatel 1s (2021) and the Moto e30

… and this prompts my question.

The e30 has a 90Hz refresh-rate display

But it runs Android 11 ‘GO Edition’ which is tailored to those ‘phones which are modestly endowed in the RAM department.

Does anyone have experience of this ‘GO Edition’ … and does it have any significant disadvantage ?

Thanks in utter bewilderment

MichaelG.

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Edit: __ https://www.android.com/versions/go-edition/

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 12/12/2021 12:02:17

I've had a couple of Motorola smart phones, though no longer made by Moto of course. They were pretty good on the whole. For information on "Go" see

**LINK**

On the whole I think you won't see much difference with this as compared to vanilla Android. The e30 doesn't have 5G but I doubt anyone will notice the lack at the moment - if ever! I've had a 5G phone for a year or so and it has only ever found a 5G network for a few seconds.

I think the key question depends on what you will be doing with the phone. The main consideration I had when I changed my phone to a Google Pixel was that at the time it was the only one that "guaranteed" that functionality and security updates would be available until at least 2023. (Other than iPhone but I detest Apple devices.) It sounds like longevity will also be important for you, and if you are likely to be for example accessing bank accounts etc be aware that these can stop working on phones that can't be updated. I had the same issue with a corporate Outlook system I use where they stopped old phones using it since security couldn't be updated. The e30 seems to be released in Nov 21 so should have a reasonably long life.

Factory re-furbished units drop the price from that of a new one. You usually get a new battery, screen and charger.

.

Aside from the occasional telephone call, web-browsing, and casual photography … my main ‘need’ is to use it as 4G hotspot for my [wi-fi only] iPad.

Our present phones are 3G, and therefore when the electricity [non]Supplier told us to look for information updates online, we realised that a more modern ‘phone was required !!

MichaelG.

Trouble is a refurbed phone can't do much for the OS (sadly). Once the supplier stops software support on the phone various apps can stop working without warning. I had to change my iPad for a Samsung tablet as I couldn't update it so lost the banking app as the Barclays app wouldn't support the older iOS. Then I found that the Barclays app wouldn't run at all on Android for at least a year until they sorted it.

Depending on where you are you may find you get faster data on 4g than 3g, over the last could of years 4G coverage has got a lot better.

My experience with "limited"...Read weak.. phones and android go...well it doesn't.

I changed up , modestly to Samsung a12.. 150 quid

Such a relief...

Thanks, Jason

That’s the ‘voice of experience’ that I was hoping for

I was just about to post this [July 2018] review when I saw your post : **LINK**

https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/07/15/used-android-go-phone-month-terrible/

MichaelG.

I have no experience of Android Go, Michael, but while scanning through the latest copy of PCPro magazine on Readly today I noticed a recommendation in an "Xmas gift ideas" feature mention of the Nokia G10 running the Android One version. The comments included "despite its low price (quoted at £110 from Argos) it has a large pleasant screen, a solid array of cameras and enough speed to keep Android 11 happy : it comes with the streamlined Android One version of the OS, and will include regular monthly security updates for 3 years" . They also mention 48 hour battery life.

I have been using a Windows Phone version Nokia (530 IIRC) for the last couple of years & it has been OK. Certainly OK for the price, as I was given it by a friend who didn't like the Windows Phone experience. I didn't have it on a data service contract (PAYG) so just used it as a phone and camera (probably more camera than phone ! ). I could easily get 3 days between charges on this, with it Bluetoothed to the car while travelling to & from work (about 2 1/2 hours a day).

But Virgin have just dropped the PAYG service I have used for years and, having moved to a Lebara "rolling monthly plan", I wanted to be able to use the 3 Gb monthly data allowance. The Windows phone was clunky & slow for the "on line" functions & my previous Android phone was too old to run the current versions of "Apps", so I have been largely forced to upgrade. Mrs B has been happy with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S I bought for her last year after a lot of reserach into getting the most Bang for Buck - big clear screen, fast, decent camera, big battery & decent reviews - so I have ended up with a Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro. Bought direct from Xiaomi UK online for £199 delivered next day, it is a marked upgrade from anything else I have had previously. The "list" price of the X3 Pro was £249, but I happened to be looking on the day they had a Flash Sale with £40 off + there is a £10 discount with a code for items over £100 + free shipping. This phone is "only" 4G, but there doesn't appaer to be much 5G about at present & Mrs B has been getting pretty snappy results from her 4G phone so happy not to pay more for a 5G phone at the moment.

HTH & good luck in your search - you can drive yourself crazy trying to make the "right" decison !

Nigel B.

Thanks for the comments, Nigel

Our son, who is currently living in Laos, commented favourably on both the Xiaomi and Oppo ‘phones … and I was tempted.

Reading some of the reviews though; it appears that they are loaded with ‘bloatware’ and they serve uninvited advertising to the user.

… Can you confirm/refute this please ?

I prefer a simple life !

MichaelG.

I can't comment on the phones you mention, but was recently in the market for a phone myself.
If you're in no wild rush (i.e. not for a Christmas present), it's worth keeping an eye out for one of the eBay 20% discount coupons.
These are often redeemable on refurbished or new phones.
It may also be worth considering CEX as a retailer of warrantied phones.

I went for a refurbished/as-new 128GB Google Pixel-3; the offer(s) brought it down to a sensible price, and less then a CEX used one.
It's still shirt pocket sized, and fully waterproof with a passable camera, though it lacks a conventional 3.5mm headphone socket.
Battery life is reasonable, and it has a fingerprint sensor for security and mobile banking etc.
Currently on Android 11, though pending an update to 12, which seems delayed due to bug issues with this model.

A disadvantage, is the lack of a memory card socket for expansion, but I'm still on less than 40% full and have OS off-line mapping installed, as well as maps.me

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 12/12/2021 18:26:23

I have one of these, NUU Mobile A5L N5501L - Phone Specifications & Features (whatismyphone.com) does everything I want it to, cost £70 two years ago, works with 4G, takes reasonable pictures, its my second one as I tried to teach the first how to swim

Martin P

As you already have an iPad, have you considered an iPhone? Have just bought a refurbished iPhone 8 for my daughter for Christmas for £169, rated as Good by the seller (their lowest rating below Very Good and Pristine), there are no marks on the case, very minor marks on the screen and battery capacity shows as 100%. Probably not allowed to name the seller, but have in the past bought a few phones from them, all equally acceptable. Should last through the next few major releases of iOs.

Rob

I have used a Motorola (Lenovo) phone for a few years now and currently have the G7 model which is a couple of years old and runs Android 10. I chose Motorola as they are reasonably priced and run a stock Android system with very little bloatware. Can't help with Android Go but within the lower price bracket Motorola have several models with largish memory that run basic Android not the cut down version.

Looking at Motorola's website it would seem that phones these days are largely sold on their abilities as a camera and how big they can make the screen!

John

Well folks … I started this thread with a simple question, and I have the answer

Android GO = NO GO

The quest for the optimum ‘phone therefore gets a tiny bit simpler.

Please feel free to chip-in with any recommendations [for or against]

I doubt if I shall buy anything expensive; simply because I have no real interest in the ‘phone culture’

but yes … a good secondhand iPhone might yet be the answer.

I’m going to Macclesfield on Tuesday, so will have a look at CeX

My purchasing decision can wait until after that.

Grateful for any inspiration

MichaelG.

Just as an aside, are you saying 3G isn't available in your area or have I misread that? Because if 3G isn't, 4G almost certainly isn't.

I realise I may have misread this...

.

Yes you have mis-read, John … or perhaps I didn’t express myself sufficiently clearly

Our current mobiles are 3G

Mine is a very old and not very smart ‘smartphone’ and MrsG. has a ‘phone with buttons.

4G is available in the area, but 5G has not yet reached us.

To get a reasonably useable wi-fi hotspot, I need to upgrade to a 4G ‘phone.

MichaelG.

Good Evening,

If it's any help, I have had a MOTO G6 for 3 years, my first smartphone, I bought it unlocked from John Lewis, (best price at the time), and use it with Giff Gaff.

No problems with the 'phone, not much bloatware on it, works well for online banking etc.

I tend not to use much data, as it works on wifi at home, at my business premises there is no signal inside, most of the time.

Mark.

… Can you confirm/refute this please ?

My understanding of the bloatware/advertising bit is that it mainly affects Far Eastern market phones & that EU market phones get a different version of the Xiaomi "MIUI" interface that is not so affected. Xiaomi have the largest share of the Indian market (Samsung are quite a long way behind them in second place) & quite a few reviews in English are on Indian sites - they do see to get the advertising as standard. Some Uk reveiws mention an ad banner while loading certain Xiaomi apps, but these apps are not necessary to operate the phone, the ads (if the appear) only appear while the app is loading and they can be disabled in settings. While setting up my new phone over the last coupIe of days have not seen an advert at all, but there have been a couple of notifications about features I am not interested in ( "wallpapers" & Xiaomi Cloud backup for example) that, while they can be cancelled easily, I have not found a way to stop yet.

There are bundled-in apps that I consider "bloat" - anything Social Media related and any direct connections to popular online sales and streaming services is "bloat" as far as I am concerned - but all phones, laptops, pcs etc. come with these & I consider it part of my setup process to uninstall them. The Nokia Windows phone was no different to the Xiaomi in that regard.

Likewise it is worthwhile going through the "permissions" of all the apps that are kept or subsequently installed to cut down how they communicate with the vendor or originator of the app - some of these have a toggle for pushing adverts that can be turned off & I restrict access to things like the cameras, location access, the microphone etc. to those apps that actually need them to function.

Mrs B has had her Redmi Note 9S for around a year now & I asked last night if she had noticed any unwanted or intrusive adverts - she could not think of any.

HTH

Nigel B.

That’s very encouraging, Nigel

… Thank you for taking the trouble to check and report

MichaelG.

There is a lot of bloatware on the Xiaomi phones, I have just bought a Xiaomi Redmi note 10 pro, but all the bloatware can be removed easily (unlike Samsumg and others). The phone has loads of memory 6gb +128gb so the bloatware hardly makes a dent. After years of 'budget end' phones I decided to get something half decent with loads of memory, a good screen (amoled) and decent cameras (it has 5!!!!!) + a good sized battery.

Really pleased with it for the price, I have an IMac but would not even consider an IPhone.

Like you, I find bloatware that you cannot remove very annoying.

I am sure someone will add to the confusion with remarks about Chinese spyware (bit like Chinese lathes!).

I have nothing to hide so it does not bother me, if Google can do it , why not the Chinese?