which phone do i buy and is it worth getting a 5g phone yet

[Giraffe76]

Hi all,

Im looking to get a new phone as my current phones battery is not lasting a days use even with me being careful how i use the phone.

I have a budget of about £200-250..possibly £300 if enough people recomend the mi 11 5g and have narrowed down my list to 9 phones.

I am a heavy user especially on several social media platforms along with a few games (solitaire pool and scrabble) and the other usual apps like email whatsapp and banking to name a few.

The phones i have on my list are
redmi note 10 redmi note 10 lite Poco x3 Poco x3 NFC Poco x3 Pro Poco F2 Pro Poco f3 Mi 11 5G and realme 8 Pro

The problem i have is that if i go for the Poco x3 which has a 6000mah battery it doesnt have as good a chipset as the poco x3 pro f2 pro or poco f3 and only runs android 10 instead of the poco x3 pro which runs android 11 but the poco x3 doesnt have as good a camera (48mp) compared to the poco x3 which might be useful for photos on social media.

Is there much difference between having 33w and 50w charging capacity?
Is it worth getting a 5g phone to future proof myself as my current 4g tariff still has 17 months left to run
Is there also much difference between a 6000mah and 5160mah or 4520mah considering im on my phone so much

Sorry for all the questions even if the answers seem obvious but i want to make the right choice

Kind regards Mark

 

[Dave X]

My android phone is the Mi 10T 5G, I have never thought the 33W charging was too slow.

I wouldn’t buy a phone that wasn’t 5G enabled now, there is quite a bit of 5G around (I have an o2 and EE sim).

With the 5G auction now almost complete I think there will also be a huge jump in 5G coverage in the next 6 months or so.

 

[Giraffe76]

My android phone is the Mi 10T 5G, I have never thought the 33W charging was too slow.

I wouldn’t buy a phone that wasn’t 5G enabled now, there is quite a bit of 5G around (I have an o2 and EE sim).

With the 5G auction now almost complete I think there will also be a huge jump in 5G coverage in the next 6 months or so.

So you would say to get a 5g phone to future proof myself?

 

[Dave X]

So you would say to get a 5g phone to future proof myself?

Personally? Yes, definitely.

 

[Giraffe76]

Ok thanks for your suggestion. After further investigation and research since my initial response ive narrowed down my list to 3 phones..
Poco x3 pro Poco f2 pro or the poco f3

 

[Dave X]

Ok thanks for your suggestion. After further investigation and research since my initial response ive narrowed down my list to 3 phones..
Poco x3 pro Poco f2 pro or the poco f3

There’s some price difference between the f2 Pro and the others and the X3 has a weaker processor than the others are two quick observations.

Compare Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro vs. Xiaomi Poco X3 vs. Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro - GSMArena.com

www.gsmarena.com

 

[Giraffe76]

Good Points.. poco f3 it is then..
thanks for your help

 

[plymouthbloke1974]

Don’t let 5G be a deciding factor. Go for the best value for money for what you want. 5G is too inconsistent and I’ve noticed no difference in performance when actually using it so I’ve turned it off and just use 4G.

 

[Dave X]

Don’t let 5G be a deciding factor. Go for the best value for money for what you want. 5G is too inconsistent and I’ve noticed no difference in performance when actually using it so I’ve turned it off and just use 4G.

Why do you persist with this bad advice? Just because you can’t (or don’t want to) see a difference (why you can’t is another thing altogether as there are differences in performance) doesn’t mean others won’t see performance improvements.

There are also new developments, eg networks are deploying LTE on band 28 (700MHz), but devices can only connect to it when also connecting to 5G on band N78, so its not usable by a 4G only device.

That’s cutting off a significant chunk of spectrum from 4G only users and as Three are doing this it would be putting Three users who want to be a bit Luddite about 5G use at quite a disadvantage, this isn’t the future, it’s happening now.

Here’s a recent 5G speedtest, why don’t you show how your advice that there is no performance difference is correct by posting a similar 4G Speedtest you've done?

 

[plymouthbloke1974]

Not you again….

I’ll say it once more. My internet page loads in a fraction of a second on 4G, my apps update in seconds on 4G. I can stream video and audio quite nicely on 4G with very little dwell time (less than 2 secs usually).

5G does the same as above (ok, so video might load immediately but that’s nominal) but it drains the battery a lot faster.

5G is great if you’re hotspotting a few connected devices, games consoles, laptops etc, but for the average person using an iPhone or Android phone, a lot of them really don’t care, as long as their service is fast and reliable, which 4G is most of the time.

Three are launching 4G on 700MHz, but they also have it on 800MHz… hardly a noticeable difference as compared to 1800/2600 etc.

I’m truly happy you get 700mbit/sec on your 5G device and you can reclaim that extra second or two of your life when streaming a video instead of waiting for it to buffer. I’ll enjoy having an extra couple of hours battery life . As soon as I find a tangible benefit of 5G, I’ll enable it on my phone.

I’m entitled just as much as you are to give advice, so step off your soapbox and leave me alone.

 

[Dave X]

Not you again….

My exact thoughts when I read your ignorant nonsense again.

I’m truly happy you get 700mbit/sec on your 5G device and you can reclaim that extra second or two of your life when streaming a video instead of waiting for it to buffer.

So how many extra seconds when downloading a large file? Say a 2GB file? Still an ”extra second or two”?

Three are launching 4G on 700MHz, but they also have it on 800MHz… hardly a noticeable difference as compared to 1800/2600 etc.

You’re showing your ignorance again, Three only have 5MHz of 800MHz, and it’s prioritised for VoLTE use.

I’m entitled just as much as you are to give advice, so step off your soapbox and leave me alone.

If you’d stop spouting your out of date and ill-informed opinion as if it was fact I’d be glad to.

I’ll enjoy having an extra couple of hours battery life .

You must have an old phone or issues with apps if you’re seeing significant differences in battery life, I have noticed zero battery life change between 5G and 4G on both an iOS device (an iPhone 12) and an Android device (currently a Xiaomi Mi10T but 4 or 5 other models in the recent past as well).

 

[plymouthbloke1974]

I’ve got an iPhone 12 Pro and the battery is noticeably different

…. and why would you download a 2GB file onto a phone? Your needs are clearly different to most of the population. I’m certainly not ignorant - I’m more than aware of the 800MHz bandwidth on Three. It’s the same as EE’s. The fact you need a 5G bearer to use 4G 700MHz on Three kinda makes it just as pointless - Three have 10MHz in 700MHz band but that will carry less speed overall as the frequency is lower so it would equate to approx a 30-50-% increase on the slow 800MHz speed which will still be nowhere near the capacity of 1800 and 2600 for example.

Not everyone is bothered about having the highest speeds, they are more bothered about a consistent reliable experience and at the moment 5G does not deliver on that. The coverage is too patchy unless you stay in one area all the time.

I am sharing my experience and that is that currently 5G is not worth spending the extra money on. Wait 12-18 months.

 

[Miss Mandy]

@plymouthbloke1974 you’re right that the difference is only a matter of seconds on some things and you’re right that for many people 4G is fine, but each and every one of us uses our phones differently. Just because you don’t think it’s worth spending the money doesn’t mean it’s the same for everyone else.

I’ve had a 5G phone for a year now, but it’s only in the last few weeks that I’ve actually been going to places with 5G. I didn’t purchase the phone with 5G in mind, the phone I like just happened to have it. I’ve been very impressed with 5G though. It’s noticeably faster than 4G with a rock solid connection and there has been no difference in battery life. I have absolutely no issue recommending 5G to people especially someone who keeps their phones for a while as 5G will continue improving.

 

[plymouthbloke1974]

You are right - experience is subjective. It’s just worth remembering that 5G now is where 4G was at 2013/2014…. limited in terms of coverage and device/network support. Give it 12 months and we’ll see much significant improvements not only on coverage, but also technology (5G can be evolved to be even faster)… we’re just at the start of something big. We’re still at the really early stages though - that’s all I’m trying to say, that’s all.

 

[oneman]

5G isn't just about speeding up downloads, at some point in the future 5G coverage will exceed 4G however don't hold your breath and I expect most people will be upgrading their handsets between now and then.