Author Topic: Need new phones  (Read 3581 times)

frugledoc

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 743
Need new phones
« on: August 09, 2017, 03:06:49 AM »
Morning fellow UK Stachians. 

My wife and I both have pay monthly Iphone 5s which we pay 10 pounds a month for.

Unfortunately,  they are becoming unusable due to poor battery performance. 

We would probably want to get a new Iphone without a contract or would consider moving to an android phone but have lots of photos on apple cloud.

1) Anyway to deal with the photos on apple cloud, we pay 79p per month for the storage but would this continue even if we stop using iphones?

2) If we want to get a new iphone, should we wait for the iphone 8, given we would use it for as long as possible before switching again

3) Should we get something completely different

4) Is it cheaper to buy the phone up front and go pay monthly or to take out a contract?

5) Have found a phone repair shop that will replace battery for £29 pounds, should we do this or will iphone 5 be defunct soon anyway?
« Last Edit: August 09, 2017, 03:11:42 AM by frugledoc »

skip207

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 422
  • Location: UK
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2017, 03:31:10 AM »
What do you use it for mainly?

Calls
Texts
Internet
Photos
Videos
Apps


frugledoc

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 743
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2017, 03:34:36 AM »
What do you use it for mainly?

Calls
Texts
Internet
Photos
Videos
Apps

All the above although not so much apps.

londonstache

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 115
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2017, 03:58:11 AM »
I think frugledoc it depends on how much you want to spend and how 'essential' having a more racy phone is.

Certainly you have an option with photos as you could port them to another cloud data provider - Google, OneDrive, Dropbox etc., although you will lose the ability to instantly access them from the iPhone. It's your call on if that's worth a 79p cost saving per month or not. That's certainly in the cost bracket where I personally consider it a marginal call for ease of use vs. cost saving.

I've travelled down the path of buying the phone outright recently - I bought an iPhone 6 two years ago and I've made a good cost saving over purchasing it on a contract. I actually intend to run it for another 1-2 years, then sell the handset on EBay and purchase another (newish) iPhone. It's more cost effective, but not as effective as buying an Android phone which is cheaper. The difference between the two is that Apple tend to support their phones with OS upgrades for multiple years, whereas Android phones I have found from experience typically need replacing after 2 years. This at least partly explains the higher resale value of Apple phones for me. I prefer Apple for this reason as intend to hold it for 3-4 years, rather than churning tech.

The next operating system will be iOS 11 which will land in a couple of months. This is the 'new OS' for the iPhone 8, but the support will stretch back to the iPhone 5S. My personal view is that it's time to replace around the time when your iPhone no longer supports the latest OS, but your call.

Apple is higher quality, but cannot compete with a cheap Android phone in terms of cost effectiveness.

I personally think you could either replace the batteries and look to run for another 12 months or replace, but I'd be tempted to push for another 12 months and then look to replace, given the outright cost for a new iPhone will be in the region of £700/each. The resale value of the old iPhone currently is around £50-70 each.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2017, 04:01:34 AM by londonstache »

skip207

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 422
  • Location: UK
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2017, 04:36:59 AM »
What do you use it for mainly?

Calls
Texts
Internet
Photos
Videos
Apps

All the above although not so much apps.

In which case I would go with an upgrade as you are using most of the features.  Your only issue is on a new handset you will pay a premium. 

frugledoc

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 743
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2017, 04:59:47 AM »
Thanks, very interesting point about androids perhaps not remaining usable for as long as iPhones.

Think we will buy 2 new iPhones.  If I buy before September can offset as a limited company expense

shelivesthedream

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6745
  • Location: London, UK
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2017, 05:38:51 AM »
Honestly, I would wait til the new iPhone comes out (8?) and then buy a second hand old one (7?) on eBay as everyone rushes to upgrade. I'm still clinging onto my second hand 4S.

frugledoc

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 743
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2017, 08:48:08 AM »
Honestly, I would wait til the new iPhone comes out (8?) and then buy a second hand old one (7?) on eBay as everyone rushes to upgrade. I'm still clinging onto my second hand 4S.

Is your 4S working well?  My wife is convinced the batteries on our iphone 5s are fine and that apple has allowed a bug to go uncorrected that means the battery life is all over the place.

Where is a good place to buy a second hand iphone which has some kind of return policy if you get one that doesn't work well?

jade

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 522
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2017, 10:31:14 AM »
If you have a CEX near you, they have second hand phones and guarantees I believe.

twistedfirestarter

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 71
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2017, 10:58:20 AM »
I replaced the battery in my 5s following a YouTube video, wast that hard, bit fiddly though. I remember the cost was around £10 including the required tools. 

twistedfirestarter

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 71
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2017, 11:01:48 AM »
I replaced the battery in my 5s following a YouTube video, wast that hard, bit fiddly though. I remember the cost was around £10 including the required tools.

Just found it in my amazon history, was actually £14 back in October 2015

shelivesthedream

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6745
  • Location: London, UK
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2017, 02:36:08 PM »
Honestly, I would wait til the new iPhone comes out (8?) and then buy a second hand old one (7?) on eBay as everyone rushes to upgrade. I'm still clinging onto my second hand 4S.

Is your 4S working well?  My wife is convinced the batteries on our iphone 5s are fine and that apple has allowed a bug to go uncorrected that means the battery life is all over the place.

Where is a good place to buy a second hand iphone which has some kind of return policy if you get one that doesn't work well?

It's working adequately, but battery life isn't the main problem. It's just slow and freezes for a minute or two sometimes. But I get a day's use out of it no problem - some wifi or 3G internet browsing, a bit of emails, lots of maps, some music...

I bought mine from eBay and looked for a reputable-seeming seller.

RobFIRE

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 277
  • Age: 40
  • Location: UK
  • Projected FIRE May 2020
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2017, 08:24:08 AM »
Seems to me for the OP that the most cost effective choice is to replace the batteries in the existing phones and keep them for a while longer. If dubious about how effective a replacement battery would be, do one first, then do the other a couple of weeks later.

In terms of cost I would NOT be buying a new iPhone 8, that's going to cost you £600 or more (£1200 for the two of you) and it doesn't sound like you really need it. If replacing I would look at a refurbished one that is 18 to 24 months old, 6 or 6S or something, should only cost a third of that or so. If you are familiar and happy with the Apple setup then there is no particular value in switching to Android, while you could get a decent used phone for £100 rather than £200, over the couple of years you will own the phone, and bearing in mind the iPhone is more likely to still be worth something at the end of that, it's not much of a cost difference.

dreams_and_discoveries

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 924
  • Location: London, UK
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #13 on: August 12, 2017, 10:25:05 AM »
I'm an advocate of getting a cheapo phone, life is much simpler when you have no worries about breaking or losing your phone is, it's easily replaceable and all data is backed up.

But then I am anti apple.

frugledoc

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 743
Re: Need new phones
« Reply #14 on: August 12, 2017, 10:44:01 AM »
Good points.  I want to stick with the iphone 5 so will try getting the battery replaced in mine

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!