Any thoughts on a good/cheap "backup" phone for a Note 8 owner?

[Loren Terveen]

I'm a happy Note 8 owner. When I get a new phone, I always pass my previous one to my wife, and take the one she was using as my backup (i.e., this was my two-times-ago phone). I use the backups purely on WiFi, without a SIM card, as media viewers, game playing, a bit of social media, etc., primarily at night while I have my Note 8 on the charger.

Currently, my 'backups' are a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 4. The Note 3 works fine, but is pretty old and slow. The Note 4 appears to have some sort of hardware problem, otherwise, I'd be satisfied to continue using that as my backup.

My question is: is there a decent cheap (sub $200) phone with performance in the same ballpark as the Note 4? I should say that I'm happy to buy "like new" or manufacturer refurbished from ebay or swappa.

I'd been thinking about the Motorola G5 family, but I can't really figure out how these would compare to a Note 3 or Note 4. Does anyone have experience with these? Or are there better alternatives?

Thank you!

 

[westham7]

Go with the hauweii mate 10 pro or the honor 10 amazing battery life and specs me personally I'm going with the mate 10 pro

 

[Ryano89]

Go with the hauweii mate 10 pro or the honor 10 amazing battery life and specs me personally I'm going with the mate 10 pro

Great phones but the Mate 10 pro is gonna be waaaaay more than 200 bucks.

 

[JREwing]

Motorola G5S Plus here. never had to use it. For $229, it's a great backup.

 

[Dooki]

the note 3 is four years old and the 4 is five, actually, add a year to each. they will not receive updates, and haven't for awhile, and by today standards the guts are sub par except for the screen.

my g5+, 4/64gb, blows away my note 3 in performance and camera, the battery life is more than double. A friend of mine just got a $150 E and it is a nice phone as well, especially for the price.


for cheap phones Moto is my choice, Huawei also has great reviews but I have never used one. I would not touch a cheap Samsung, notoriously bad long term.

 

[Chromium 4]

I would suggest an LG V20. I've had one for going on 2 years and it is a tank of a phone: rugged design, decent dual cameras, removeable battery, expandable storage, great audio/DAC set up for headphone listening and IR blaster for those times when you can't find the remote. You can probably find one on Swappa for around your price range.

 

[chazglenn3]

I also have a V20 for my backup

 

[Theot]

The G5 series is a very capable daily driver for the average user. I know a couple people with them and they love them. You can't go wrong with it as a backup.

 

[donm527]

I have my iPhone 6s as backup and spent the $30 for a fresh battery from Apple so should be good for at least another two years and will probably be supported up to iOS 13. Can't go wrong with an iPhone when you just want a solid emergency backup phone.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

I'm a happy Note 8 owner. When I get a new phone, I always pass my previous one to my wife, and take the one she was using as my backup (i.e., this was my two-times-ago phone). I use the backups purely on WiFi, without a SIM card, as media viewers, game playing, a bit of social media, etc., primarily at night while I have my Note 8 on the charger.

Currently, my 'backups' are a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 4. The Note 3 works fine, but is pretty old and slow. The Note 4 appears to have some sort of hardware problem, otherwise, I'd be satisfied to continue using that as my backup.

My question is: is there a decent cheap (sub $200) phone with performance in the same ballpark as the Note 4? I should say that I'm happy to buy "like new" or manufacturer refurbished from ebay or swappa.

I'd been thinking about the Motorola G5 family, but I can't really figure out how these would compare to a Note 3 or Note 4. Does anyone have experience with these? Or are there better alternatives?

Thank you!

How about a Galaxy Note5? I am sure you can get it at a low price now and it makes more sense to have another Note back up if you rely on the SPen.

 

[j_hansen]

Factory reset your Note 3, root it and install Phronesis N7 ROM, it'll be almost like having two Note 8, did it for a friend and put Nova Prime on it as well

 

[dlgus]

Factory reset your Note 3, root it and install Phronesis N7 ROM, it'll be almost like having two Note 8, did it for a friend and put Nova Prime on it as well

Can you do that to the N4 too?

 

[Rukbat]

A good condition Note 4 on Swappa is under your budget. You may also find some on eBay. (I looked a while back, but decided on a Pixel 2.)

 

[j_hansen]

Can you do that to the N4 too?

PHRONESIS team did make a ROM for Note 4 as well but as far as I remember it wasn't as good as the one they did for Note 3, have a look at the Note 3/4 forums on xda developers

 

[Ryan Kilgore]

I use a Nexus 5 as a backup and music player. They can be picked up for just over $120.

 

[gendo667]

the S8 is my daily driver while the Honor 8 is my very capable backup. love that phone, too. it's a little theming machine.

 

[Joseph Rose1]

iPhone X (work phone) is my backup. Weird huh? My main driver is a Google Pixel 2 XL. It convinced me to finally escape the Apple ecosystem, something Samsung has never been able to do.

 

[pkcable]

Honor 7X is a good choice for a backup phone.

 

[maf113]

My daily phone is the Note 8 with the Note 5 as a backup. I keep the 5 up to date so if any thing happens I can just swap in the sim card and be ready to go.

 

[hgoldner#CB]

I don't "carry" a back-up phone. I do have an HTC One Max which I keep available, updated weekly, and even have a SIM adapter in the event I need to use it instead of my daily driver. I often use it as a media player on an airplane since it has a 200gb sdcard in it with all my music and podcasts, and it's phablet sized so I can also use it instead of my Nexus 7.