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High End Mobile Recomendations


daocat555

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I think there is a nice Topic going on Mid-range Smartphones, so here is a thread for those interested in a High End phone.  The three largest mobile producers in the world are Apple, Samsung, and Huawei.  I will ignore Apple in my first post and submit a Samsung and a Huawei phone to consider.

 

The Samsung Galaxy S 9 announced in February, 2018, I think, is nice in many ways.  It has a small and light form (147.7 x 68.7 x 8.5 mm, 163 grams), stereo speakers, a 5.8 inch Super AMOLED screen, wireless charging available, and with a list price of 28,000 Baht it can be had at Lazada for 24,200 Baht.

 

The Huawei Honor 10 is available at Lazada for 13,695 Baht.  I offer this Huawei as the P20 ( 19,990 Baht) has a maximum voice volume of 66 dB as measured by gsmarena review, which I think is not loud enough for a noisy environment or for someone who is hard of hearing.  The Huawei Honor 10 has a 69 dB maximum voice volume, (the dB scale is a exponential scale, so 69 dB is quite a bit louder than 66 dB).  The Honor 10 has a better camera than the Samsung, a bigger battery, weighs 10 grams less than the Samsung, and has a somewhat larger form.  The main shortcoming I see for the Honor 10 is that the 5.84 inch screen is IPS LCD.  Thinking of other phones I might list to consider at the high end I would say that the Honor 10 is the only phone which makes the list without having an AMOLED screen.  At 13,695 baht it also about the least expensive of my high end phone recommendations.  So it's on the Low end of the high end list. 

 

I would like to invite others to submit their High End phone recommendations here.

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The 'flagship' category is all over the map, and changing daily. There are tons of videos on youtube listing/reviewing them.

 

The S9+ seems no. 1 today based on a cursory review. P20 Pro is up there, iPhone X obviously, Pixel 2XL, Nokia 8 Scirocco, OnePlus 6, LG G7 Thinq, Note 8.

 

A friend got an s9+ last week, it's a sick phone.

 

I'm more of a mid-range guy, Nokia 7 Plus for me. 

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I've just bought a OnePlus 6, managed to get it in the Silk White, awesome. I had to go to BKK to get it, cost 20,900. I wanted something different to the standard Samsungs and this is easily a match for the S9+ for much less. I also like the Huaweis though and would have gone for a P20 Pro but it's too much at the moment. I won't even consider an Apple at 40,000 ha ha.

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7 minutes ago, davhend25 said:

I just bought a Samsung galaxy Fan Edition(FE) which is the remake of the very popular Note 7. This is an awesome phone. With a 5.5" super amoled screen, and 16:9 aspect ratio, it's a perfect fit in the hand. Even by today's standards, this phone is feature rich with wireless charging, IP68 water resistant and Lazada is currently selling it for 13,490 baht. This was Samsung's flagship phone and cost nearly $900 when first released in 2016. This phone is an absolute steal at this price!  

I'm very tempted to get one myself. My only concern is the reduced battery capacity; I travel extensively in areas where I often don't get the chance to charge my devices from before dawn until well after dusk and carrying power banks mean one more thing to charge at night.

Edited by malathione
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2 minutes ago, malathione said:

I'm very tempted to get one myself. My only concern was the reduced battery capacity; I travel extensively in areas where I often don't get the chance to charge my devices from before dawn until well after dusk and carrying power banks mean one more thing to charge at night.

The battery was only reduced from 3500 mah to 3200 mah. I'm not a heavy user, but I am getting nearly two days on a full charge. The battery doesn't seem prone to fast draining, but again, your mileage could be a lot different. I particularly wanted the IP68 rating because of all the rain here in Thailand. It's amazing how many high end phones still don't have that feature. And a lot still don't have "wireless charging" a feature that I have fallen in love with. I also prefer the 16:9 aspect ratio, as many of the newer phones have gone to the 18:9 which seems too tall and skinny for me. I also like that you can write notes on the screen without turning the phone on. Just pull out the stylus and start writing. Very handy feature!  I know the "FE" is a 2017 phone model based on a 2016 model (note 7), but its features can match up with many of newer flagships. The price now on Lazada is unbelievable!  

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1 minute ago, davhend25 said:

The battery was only reduced from 3500 mah to 3200 mah. I'm not a heavy user, but I am getting nearly two days on a full charge. The battery doesn't seem prone to fast draining, but again, your mileage could be a lot different. I particularly wanted the IP68 rating because of all the rain here in Thailand. It's amazing how many high end phones still don't have that feature. And a lot still don't have "wireless charging" a feature that I have fallen in love with. I also prefer the 16:9 aspect ratio, as many of the newer phones have gone to the 18:9 which seems too tall and skinny for me. I also like that you can write notes on the screen without turning the phone on. Just pull out the stylus and start writing. Very handy feature!  I know the "FE" is a 2017 phone model based on a 2016 model (note 7), but its features can match up with many of newer flagships. The price now on Lazada is unbelievable!  

Agreed, it is an excellent phone with an excellent design and the stylus is wonderful. 

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Oneplus 5T is dropping in price fast because the 6 is now available 

13-14k 

Still a damn good phone with dash charge (0-60% in 30min)

Snapdragon 835 and 6 or 8GB RAM

I paid about 16k in January for mine and 

It's the best phone I've owned so far

 

Better than any Samsung, HTC, LG and a lot cheaper

 

Only cause of concern is they don't have a service centre in thailand yet so I don't think you can get it fixed if it breaks, probably need to throw it away and get a new one

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Huawei battery life is outstanding, and their fast charging means very little time required to return to 100%. My current P10 Plus will certainly be my preferred phone for a couple of years until there are major new features.

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I just purchased my 2nd phone online, Sony XZ Premium thru Expansys TH, a Hong Kong based company,ordered the phone, 3 days later, was delivered to my home, cost 18000 thb Inc import charges, about 6000 thb cheaper than buying here in Thailand , check out the site, they have huge range of different brands and models with all the tech specs, prices,

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The specs on the upcoming Vivo Nex and Oppo Find X are being released and for people who like a phone with a big screen both of these phones may fit the bill.

 

The Vivo Nex has a 86% screen-to-body ratio and a 6.58 inch screen.  It's a large (162 x 77 x 8 mm) body and heavy (199 grams).  It has a 4000 mAh battery, and it says that the sound comes through the screen which I have never heard of before.  Good camera and chipset, about 22,600 Baht; the front camera is only 8 MP and is inside the body on a motorized pop-up platform; looks very interesting.

 

The Oppo Find X has a 74.2 x 156.7 x 9.6 mm body, so thinner and shorter than the Vivo Nex, but with a thickness of 9.6 mm it will be about equivalently difficult to hold with one hand as the Vivo Nex.  It has a 6.4 inch screen with a 86.76% screen-to-body ratio; packs a 3730 mAh battery and weighs 186 grams.

 

The camera on the Oppo Find X looks  to be excellent, but I couldn't find out much about sound from this phone or the expected price. The Oppo Find X will be officially launched on June 19'th.

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The Nokia 8 Sirocco is available now at Lazada for 23,199 Baht.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/nokia-8-sirocco-6gb-128gb-black-i219877219-s334749285.html?offer_id=239&affiliate_id=62251&offer_name=TH+Data-feed_0&affiliate_name=Priceza+TH&transaction_id=102ca48a7c96e78be16ccaacaebf9f&aff_source=

 

It's body is nicely compact at 140.9 x 73 x 7.5 mm; 177 grams.  It has a 81 % screen-to-body ratio, and although the screen is only 5.5 inches, the width of the screen is 68.49 mm, which compares well to the width of the Oppo Find X 68.12 mm screen width and the Vivo Nex 70.74 mm screen width.  The Oppo Find X has a 6.4 inch screen and the Vivo Nex a 6.59 inch screen, but those two phones have a way larger body than the Nokia Sirocco, and they have a taller screen.  For me, the aspect of the screen which is useful is the width.  That's what you are seeing when you key in a number to dial, or type a web address if you don't rotate the screen before you type.

 

The Nokia 8 Sirocco has a single speaker which gsmarena measured at 83 dB max volume for voice, which is an excellent value, however subjectively they reported the sound to be rather lacking in the lower register.  Also gsmarena found the non-Samsung display to have strong color shifts at the sides.  The camera is okay and the chipset is barely up to flagship standards.

 

In summary gsmarena found the phone difficult to recommend as a flagship phone at a flagship price.  The main advantage of this phone is  it's pocket friendly size and weight, and it's efficient use of screen width.

 

Rumors about the Nokia 9 suggest a legitimate flagship phone, and price,  and perhaps in the next month or two more info will come out on the next Nokia flagship.

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Quote

Librem 5, the phone that focuses on security by design and privacy protection by default. Running Free/Libre and Open Source software and a GNU+Linux Operating System designed to create an open development utopia, rather than the walled gardens from all other phone providers.activitiescall-1024x670.png

https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

 

$599

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The Meizu 15 Global version is now available at Aliexpress for 13,702 baht, which includes shipping and the seller estimates a 21-28 day delivery time to Thailand.

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Meizu-15-4G-LTE-Global-Version-4GB-64GB-Snapdragon-660-Octa-Core-5-46-FHD/32870963909.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000013.3.64525424PBVt22&scm=1007.13339.90158.0&scm_id=1007.13339.90158.0&scm-url=1007.13339.90158.0&pvid=f1ced773-511a-4c82-88c1-5166f922caa6&_t=pvid:f1ced773-511a-4c82-88c1-5166f922caa6,scm-url:1007.13339.90158.0

 

I bought this phone six weeks ago from Aliexpress in the Chinese version (at 14,485 baht) and have been using it for the past month.  I have found no faults with it and much to praise.  It is small, thin, and light (72 x 143 x 7.25 mm; 152 grams).  The Super AMOLED screen is only 5.46 inches in diagonal, but it has the smallest side bezels of any phone I know of, so the width of the screen is 67.99 mm; as large as the width of the screen on the Oppo Find X which has a 6.4 inch diagonal screen.  It only has a 79.8 screen-to-body ratio as the top and bottom bezels are not small.  However, as I mentioned in my post on the Nokia Sirocco (which was in the final group of phones I considered buying); it's the width of the display which I find most useful, to dial a number or type in a web address.  I considered the Samsung Galaxy S9, which is easy to hold with a 68.7 mm width.  But the Samsung Galaxy S9 is thicker at 8.5 mm and heavier, and although the Samsung Galaxy has a 83.6% screen-to-body ratio, the width of the Samsung S9 screen is only 64.45 mm.  The 24,800 baht price of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and 23,199 baht price of the Nokia 8 Sirocco affected my final decision on which phone to buy; and right now I would prefer the Meizu 15 if the cost of the three phones were equivalent.

 

It has stereo speakers with a nice sound output during calls.  The 3000 mAh battery is sufficient and charges very quickly, although it does not support wireless charging.  It comes with no bloatware at all except for the weather app, which I don't use and thus far have been unable to uninstall.

 

I would be happy to answer any questions that people might have about this phone.  I like it a lot.

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On 6/17/2018 at 6:31 PM, daocat555 said:

The Meizu 15 Global version is now available at Aliexpress for 13,702 baht, which includes shipping and the seller estimates a 21-28 day delivery time to Thailand.

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Meizu-15-4G-LTE-Global-Version-4GB-64GB-Snapdragon-660-Octa-Core-5-46-FHD/32870963909.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000013.3.64525424PBVt22&scm=1007.13339.90158.0&scm_id=1007.13339.90158.0&scm-url=1007.13339.90158.0&pvid=f1ced773-511a-4c82-88c1-5166f922caa6&_t=pvid:f1ced773-511a-4c82-88c1-5166f922caa6,scm-url:1007.13339.90158.0

 

I bought this phone six weeks ago from Aliexpress in the Chinese version (at 14,485 baht) and have been using it for the past month.  I have found no faults with it and much to praise.  It is small, thin, and light (72 x 143 x 7.25 mm; 152 grams).  The Super AMOLED screen is only 5.46 inches in diagonal, but it has the smallest side bezels of any phone I know of, so the width of the screen is 67.99 mm; as large as the width of the screen on the Oppo Find X which has a 6.4 inch diagonal screen.  It only has a 79.8 screen-to-body ratio as the top and bottom bezels are not small.  However, as I mentioned in my post on the Nokia Sirocco (which was in the final group of phones I considered buying); it's the width of the display which I find most useful, to dial a number or type in a web address.  I considered the Samsung Galaxy S9, which is easy to hold with a 68.7 mm width.  But the Samsung Galaxy S9 is thicker at 8.5 mm and heavier, and although the Samsung Galaxy has a 83.6% screen-to-body ratio, the width of the Samsung S9 screen is only 64.45 mm.  The 24,800 baht price of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and 23,199 baht price of the Nokia 8 Sirocco affected my final decision on which phone to buy; and right now I would prefer the Meizu 15 if the cost of the three phones were equivalent.

 

It has stereo speakers with a nice sound output during calls.  The 3000 mAh battery is sufficient and charges very quickly, although it does not support wireless charging.  It comes with no bloatware at all except for the weather app, which I don't use and thus far have been unable to uninstall.

 

I would be happy to answer any questions that people might have about this phone.  I like it a lot.

There are a LOT better phones for the money

Cpu is barely midrange thesedays and a 5.4" screen with 4gb  is just cheap in mid 2018

 

Meizu mix 2 or oneplus 5T have 6" amoled screen, 6gb ram, and snapdragon 635 for the same price, bezel less design also... 

 

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Four nice (I think) phones are compared below on Kimovil, gsmarena, and device specifications.

 

https://www.kimovil.com/en/compare/meizu-15-4gb-128gb,nokia-x6,vivo-nex,xiaomi-mi8-se-6gb-64gb

 

https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=9178&idPhone2=9159&idPhone3=9065

 

https://www.devicespecifications.com/en/comparison/440c10b0e5

 

The Nokia X6 has an IPS screen; the Xiaomi Mi8 SE an AMOLED screen, and the Meizu 15 and Vivo Nex a Super AMOLED screen.  The Meizu 15 has stereo speakers, the Vivo Nex has screen soundcasting technology and the Nokia X6 and Xiaomi Mi8 SE each have a single down firing speaker.

 

The Meizu 15 is the most compact phone; the Nokia X6 and Xiaomi Mi 8 SE are also smallish, and the Vivo Nex is a tank, but has the biggest screen and battery.

 

The Nokia X6 has the weakest Antutu performance, while the Xiaomi Mi8 SE slightly tops the Vivo Nex in Antutu score, which at about half the price of the Vivo Nex is pretty impressive.

 

The Meizu 15 and Xiaomi Mi8 SE were rated as 9.7 by Kimovil in terms of cost effectiveness; the Vivo Nex as 9.5 and the Nokia X6 as 9.1.  However the Chinese maker of the Nokia X6 has listed the phone for sale twice online, and both times the available stock sold out within hours.  I have checked for availability of the Nokia X6 online and can only find it on one site, Ebay, which will ship to Thailand, 10,179 baht for the 4 GB 64 GB model.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Nokia-X6-Smartphone-Android-8-0-Snapdragon-636-Octa-Core-4G-WIFI-GPS-Face-ID/263739950283?var=562936284564&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D52570%26meid%3D5d7742d5ee3345d6a16b3f84f7c1eabe%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D263739950283%26itm%3D562936284564&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1#shpCntId

 

The price of the Meizu 15, Global version, went down today to 13,100 baht on Aliexpress, the Xiaomi Mi8 SE is kind of annoyingly priced right now as all online sellers I have checked are still selling it above the list price which Xiaomi has set, so right now on Aliexpress they are going for 11,622 baht.  The Vivo Nex is listed at 22,974 Baht on Aliexpress.  So it's a serious luxury tax for those who want a 6.59 inch display in a flagship model.

 

I hope I'm not being boring, mentioning again that my personal preference is for a small, light phone with good speakers; so I like my Meizu 15.  A person has pointed out that the CPU is not high end on the Meizu 15, and the 5.46 inch screen is not large (however it is wide), so I included the Xiaomi Mi8 SE in this post for those who like a top end chipset, and want a larger 5.88 inch screen, and I have included the Vivo Nex for those who like a really big screen and battery.  Gsmarena has noted on their website that they are currently reviewing the Vivo Nex and expect to post that review in about a week.  They also are also in the process of reviewing the Meizu 15, so it will be interesting to see those reviews when they post.  

 

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On 6/14/2018 at 10:15 AM, Ks45672 said:

But 40k for the iPhone 10 is reasonable? 

IMHO....I would not buy it now. Next year rumours say a new iPhone will be released with the lightning slot, Wait,  and of course don't buy the first model that is released in 2019 as obviously it will have bugs and flaws...be patient, wait for the second model to come out and you sould be set for hopefully a few years before naturally another model is released that will outdate wll the others.....!! ?

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The first "we actually had this phone and used it" review, as opposed to the "we found the spec's and features on the company's website and here they are" review, is out on the Vivo Nex, and it's not very favorable.  They complained of poor audio output, and the problems they had with Google play on the Chinese version were significant.  There is no Global edition available even for pre-sale right now..  Here is the link for the review on Pocket-lint.
 
 
On the affordable smartphone topic a question came up about a phone with good cameras.  Some fairly expensive phones were mentioned, so I decided to post my view on this matter in the High end topic.
 
It seems to me that the Huawei P20 Pro offers a very nice camera set up in an all round quality phone.  There are many reviews available for this phone, an established model released April 2018.  Gsmarena, of course, and I'll put up a link for TECH ADVISER who said,
 
  "a beautiful-looking device with triple rear cameras that deliver arguably the best photos from any phone currently available.
 
And from alphr... "the P20 Pro’s camera is up there with the very best of them."
 
And lastly, engadget..."The P20 Pro might also be the best smartphone camera I've ever used in the dark, and not just because of its large sensors."
 
 
 
 
The Global version of the Huawei P20 Pro is available on Lazada for a very reasonable price.
 
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Three high end phones with large AMOLED screens for consideration.  The Vivo 21 UD is at Lazada for 17,990 baht.  The Oppo Find X is at Aliexpress for 30,163 baht.  The LGV35 ThinQ is on EBAY USA for 21,820 baht.  The LG ThinQ was only released for USA markets, as such it has a single SIM slot.
 
A side note about buying products online at USA sites.  The way I have done this successfully is to use a shipping company called Shipito.  You can enroll at Shipito for free and then you get your own USA shipping address.  Then, for example, buy a product at Amazon  or Ebay and have it sent to your Shipito suite address.  When the product arrives you tell Shipito the price for Thai Customs purposes, and then you have to pay shipping and handling charges to Shipito; and they will ship it to your Thai address.   I often buy clothes from Amazon, so I have the premium Shipito service which has a $50 annual fee; and for that I can get Shipito to combine my purchases into one box for shipping to Thailand, so I don't have to pay shipping for each product I buy individually; which you must do if you do not have the premium service.  But the basic service is free. Link to Shipito is below.
 
 
I have just searched priceprice and priceza to see if the Oppo Find X is available online from a Thai seller, and as yet it doesn't appear to be, however I would guess it will reach the Thai online sites fairly soon; unless the feeling is that it's a too expensive model and it doesn't reach the Thai sellers.
 
Okay, onto the three phones compared.
 
 
 
 
The width of the three phones is either 74.2 mm, 74.78 mm, or 75.4 mm, and the weights are 156 grams, 157 grams, or 186 grams.  So I think all three of these phones are easy to hold with one hand and not too heavy for daily use.  The screens are all AMOLED and they vary in size from 6.0 in, 6.28 in, or 6.42 in.  According to devicespecifications the usable display area ranges from 84.22% to 86.76% on these three phones.  The most expensive phone, the Oppo Find X had the largest screen at 6.42 inches, and the narrowest body at 74.2 mm.  But compare that to the Vivo X21 UD which has a 6.28 in screen and a body width of 74.78 mm.  Pretty similar; except for the price of the phone the Vivo X21 UD being 12,173 baht cheaper!  Additionally the thickness of the Vivo X21 UD is a compact 7.37 mm while the thickness of the Oppo Find X is a brickish 9.6 mm; the least expensive phone Vivo has a body volume of 5.17 cubic in vs a body volume of 6.78 cubic in for the Find X; which does have the biggest battery but is definitely the least pocket friendly of the three phones
 
I was able to read a number of reviews of the Vivo X21 UD and the LG Thin Q, and they tended to be favorable, with no big criticism of either of these phones noted.
 
I mentioned the Oppo Find X and the Vivo Nex previously in this topic; two new, expensive phones with big time screen to body ratio.  I have yet to see any real, hands on, review of the Oppo Find X.  As I mentioned in a prior post the one hands on review of the Vivo Nex was not a favorable review.  For example the reviewer felt that the quality of the audio output was not good; which for me is a deal breaker on a 28,000 baht phone.  The Oppo Find X website talks a good line about the quality of the audio output; I am still waiting for the gsmarena review to get some objective data about this.
 
All three phones have a Snapdragon CPU, and they either rip the Antutu score at 143,707 for the cheapest of the phones, the Vivo X21 UD; or completely destroy the Antutu test with a score of 270,000 for the LG V35 ThinQ..  They all have a biggish battery but not so big as to weight them down too much.
 
They all have strong cameras, to a certain extent.  I tried to find out if the Oppo find X has Optical Stabilization (OIS) on it's camera, and it might not.  Although it has a dual 20 MP and 16 MP camera I would gladly give away some of those pixels for OIS; which the other two phones have.  The LG V35 ThinQ has only a 8 MP selfie camera.
 
Three nice, I think, high end phones with a big display and quality specs.
 
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  • 2 weeks later...
Umidigi has announced it's new flagship phone, the Umidigi One Pro, and for me this is the first Umidigi model which can be called high end.  It has a great screen to body size with a 5.9 in screen, stereo speakers, okay cameras, and supports wireless charging.  My only complaint with this phone is that the screen is IPS, though some may find the chipset lacking as well.
 
It claims to run pure Android 8.1 which some people absolutely require, as such, it offers another choice as there are not many phones running pure Android.  .GearBest has it listed for 16,745 baht.
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