My mum might need a new smartphone soon – Any suggestions?

[KleinesSinchen]

As some of you might know smartphones and me aren’t best friends (understatement). This means my interest and knowledge level are… very low.
For me a computer has to be under full control, but my mum isn’t as picky in this regard. Open bootloaders, root access and the like aren’t important. She even has Google services running on her current phone →

Very important:

• Low price – Neither of us would pay much for a phone
• Battery running time per charge should be high. Having to charge every two or three days is annoying.

Nice to have:

• Micro-SD slot (if such things even exist and are not as extinct as easily replaceable batteries)
• Working camera (This means a camera that does not produce garbage pictures 99% of the time outside bright sunlight)
• Manufacturer providing more than 3 days of updates/support

Not needed:

• Gaming capabilities or strong CPU/GPU. Lower end is enough.
• Super-Mega high-res display surpassing the number of pixels in a huge UHD TV

Under this conditions: Which manufacturer or even which exact model would be a good purchase.

We would be very happy and thankful to receive constructive suggestions; this would save us aimless searching on the Internet (which is difficult anyway, given the self-congratulation that appears as advertising instead of a list of simple facts)

 

[Marc_LFD]

You're in Germany, assuming, so you can probably find something in this U.K. deals website, and here's one: https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/xi...ray-3gb-ram-32gb-smartphone-with-code-4195818

That phone has security update support until 2027 and with updates for Android 13/14 so that's pretty damn good.

https://trust.mi.com/psirt/updates/phone?tab=aerdata

It probably will require a debloating (XDA likely has a script to remove that trash anyway).

Manufacturer providing more than 3 days of updates/support

Surely you meant more than three years.

 

[linuxares]

Not sure if this would be a good option or if it's to expensive? You can change the battery on it and it have a sd card slot.

https://shop.fairphone.com/fairphone-5


Samsung A54 5G also is pretty neat! For the price it's like a really good phone!

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Surely you meant more than three years.

Nope. It was a cynical comment on smartphones that come without any support: Zero(!) security updates. Yes, I've seen exactly that.
I've not assumed any (cheap) phone would get updates for more than a year or maximum two years. I'm not following the Android ecosystem anyway
"LittleSinchen ←→Smartphones" is like "Water ←→ Fire"


But

That phone has security update support until 2027 and with updates for Android 13/14 so that's pretty damn good.

Sounds awesome. I'll look into this. A plus would be if the bootloader could be unlocked (for the time after official support).

It probably will require a debloating (XDA likely has a script to remove that trash anyway).

*Sigh*
The few phones I tried usually turned out unusable until I replaced the operating system with LineageOS. I'll look into this.
===========

Not sure if this would be a good option or if it's to expensive? You can change the battery on it and it have a sd card slot.

https://shop.fairphone.com/fairphone-5

As nice as the concept of Fairphone sounds in general – I would love to have one myself – that is the completely wrong price range.




Thank you very much!

 

[yuyuyup]

You should specify if you need to use a specific company, is that flexible, because phones are often tied to specific carriers unless they're "unlocked" this affects your potential options (you can get dirt cheap phones tied to a carrier, but DARN it might not work with the carrier you need, for example)

 

[linuxares]

I edited my comment for another phone that I think might be a good. It's a "midrange" with a good camera.

 

[DinohScene]

Give her a tin can and some string.
Alternative solution would be to install an aviary on her roof and give her a couple of carrier pigeons.

 

[ILuvGames]

I've owned a xiaomi tablet and a phablet. The phablet came with an unlocked bootloader from stock. They were both good value compared to something similar and i've had no issues with the build quality.

 

[Alexander1970]

HOFER / ALDI has this at the Moment:
https://beafon.com/produkt/modell-m7-lite/
https://www.hofer.at/de/p.beafon-smartphone-m-lite.000000000000517273.html?search=smartphone

But 139 Euro ist not really "billig" (cheap).

Media Markt has a Nokia C12 / XIAOMI Redmi 9A/ Motorola Motot E13 around 99 Euros...
https://www.mediamarkt.at/de/search.html?page=3&query=smartphone&filter[0]=category:CAT_AT_MM_354&filter[1]=currentprice:40-100
Also not really cheap..

Personal Note:

I have this ZTE Blade V8 Lite now for around 2 Years.
Everything is working (everything other was "shutted down"),good Camera,using an 11 year old DREI (3) Wertkarte (Prepaidcard)
(insgesamt 3.mal zugeschnippelt / snipped a total of 3 times..)
sorry no,i do not want show you/remove it from the Smartphone.)
Usage - For contacting my Wife,my Parents,my Friends,looking on the Burger King App whats new (very important !!!!),little Photoshooting (Doggie & Cat),a little Music hearing.
microSD Slot (using a 64GB Card)
The original Akku/Battery still lasts near a Week.

Maybe ?

 

[Marc_LFD]

HOFER / ALDI has this at the Moment:

How long is it supported for generally and its security updates? I can't seem to find much info about that phone.

Nokia C12

That's a good phone and has support until March 2025.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

You should specify if you need to use a specific company, is that flexible, because phones are often tied to specific carriers unless they're "unlocked" this affects your potential options (you can get dirt cheap phones tied to a carrier, but DARN it might not work with the carrier you need, for example)

Is this still like that in the US?
Locked mobile phones (SIM lock, net lock) were a thing here before year 2000 or so.

The original Akku/Battery still lasts near a Week.

With or without Google rubbish? My phone lasts a little under two weeks without Google. My mother's current phone only four days with Google.
=========

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

Give her a tin can and some string.
Alternative solution would be to install an aviary on her roof and give her a couple of carrier pigeons.

I have been thinking up and down how to deal with this: Ignore it or answer?
Well. Hard to say if it is a good decision to answer; I'll keep it short: In my opinion a disappointing move to throw in nonsense here.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Locked mobile phones (SIM lock, net lock) were a thing here before year 2000 or so.

Phones are generally still locked to carriers, but in Europe you can get an unlocked phone imported from England as they're required to be unlocked.

That's something cool the U.K. has over other countries.

 

[DinohScene]

I have been thinking up and down how to deal with this: Ignore it or answer?
Well. Hard to say if it is a good decision to answer; I'll keep it short: In my opinion a disappointing move to throw in nonsense here.

No love for carrier pigeons :c

 

[Alexander1970]

With or without Google rubbish? My phone lasts a little under two weeks without Google. My mother's current phone only four days with Google.

This Phone thankfully do not have this additional GOOGLE Features like today´s Phones.
Google (130MB) / Play Store (130MB) / GMAIL (140MB) is active.
All other Things are deactivated.

How long is it supported for generally and its security updates? I can't seem to find much info about that phone.

Unfortunately,not really much Information about that....
2 Years Waranty - I think so for the Updates.Otherwise the Warranty might be less/lower too ...I presume...

 

[Marc_LFD]

2 Years Waranty - I think so for the Updates.Otherwise the Warranty might be less/lower too ...I presume...

I wouldn't worry too much about security updates if I didn't use bank apps and since I do, it's something I rely on for extra safety.

People need to be careful with their finances since that's something everyone wants.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

No love for carrier pigeons :c

I'm really tempted to post a thread into EOF now… hoping my joke doesn't come across the wrong way. Have even written the text already. Should I? Or will I regret this for the rest of my life?

I wouldn't worry too much about security updates if I didn't use bank apps and since I do, it's something I rely on for extra safety.

People need to be careful with their finances since that's something everyone wants.

Banking is no concern. Not planing to go controversial here. Lets put it that way: What banks consider safe and demand for their apps to function is what I consider dangerous and vice versa.
My mum wouldn't use a phone for banking anyway. She does more with a smartphone than I do, but still not very much. We are both bad at using touch controls and banking on a small screen… nah.

We looked at the Redmi Note 12C. Sounds convincing.
https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_redmi_12c-12051.php
3.5mm jack Yes
Card slot microSDXC (dedicated slot)
Pretty low price

 

[yuyuyup]

Is this still like that in the US?
Locked mobile phones (SIM lock, net lock) were a thing here before year 2000 or so.

I'm ignorant of European laws in that regard in terms of the differences in how cheap phones are handled between NA/EU, there is still a proliferation of cheap burners that are carrier locked, I can go to a grocery store and buy a decent burner for $40, you don't need to activate it to use it's non-cellular functions, pardon if you already know that

 

[ArmamentArmedArm]

"Under this conditions: Which manufacturer or even which exact model would be a good purchase."


Sony Xperia 10 series. Fast but not battery-eating fast. Big battery. OLED screen (can be set up for good battery life), SD card, even a headphone jack. Reasonably cheap, even very cheap if you go a generation or two old. Good camera for a mid range phone.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Thanks at you all for the help and the suggestions.

We now have a Redmi 12C with 128GB NAND and 4GB of RAM. The hardware looks convincing enough from what I can tell. The software side… oh my… Android and me never have been friends, but I swear, it keeps getting worse with every year. I've seen stock ROMs on Sony and Samsung devices as well as Huawei and some others. None of them were any good or at least acceptable without tons of crapware. That was a hard piece of work.

Photos, for fun taken with the >20 year old CD Mavica… and with suboptimal light today. Picture quality obviously not what one is used to nowadays, but good enough for now.


=============
Now, I've run some debloater that got rid of some of the garbage. Since my mother uses the Google rubbish this had to survive the cleaning. Some of the "Mi" apps on this Xiaomi device seem to be vital – like the theme manager. Killing it seemingly gets rid of any possibility to even set a wallpaper. They belong into hell for that.

Took me three days to get through everything. Battery is down to 80% after just two days. Still missing is a sensible e-mail client (no, not the piece of junk called Gmail).

Another spike in blood pressure has been caused by WhatsApp. This garbage program totally wants to restore a backup from Google Drive (which doesn't exist) and ignored the provided local backups. Each time trying to restore a backup requires deleting WhatsApp… followed by getting another code via SMS or automated call. The App never prompted me to restore the local backup (which it did last time I had to migrate this abomination of a chat software for somebody). Even an online search telling me to put the folder to

NAND:/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/
instead of
NAND:/WhatsApp​

on newer Android versions did not help the least.
We ended up with the Facebook servers denying us new codes for 7 hours "for security reasons" because their stupid app doesn't have a "select folder to restore"-button. Next morning I reactivated the old phone and use migration via ad-hoc WiFi network offered by WhatsApp. They belong in hell for that as well.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Still missing is a sensible e-mail client (no, not the piece of junk called Gmail).

FairEmail is my go-to email client now and I even bought it just to support the dev.