Question Could you help choose my new phone at all?

[ArchyA]

Hi there,

I'm looking to upgrade my Android phone and I have a specific requirement that means it was impossible to Google search, lol. I was hoping if you could suggest something that would fit the few specifications I'm looking for?

- So the first things I'm looking for are a phone that's about £150 or so.

- The second is, apart from the phone functions, I'll be using it a lot to watch videos, so would love to be able to do so at 1080p.

- The last is the most specific and the reason I had to open a forum post; I need the "lock" screen to actually mean locked!
So basically, I want to press the lock button and the screen doesn't do anything until I press the button to unlock it, so no matter how much I touch the screen or change the position of the phone, or look at it, or breath on it, the screen stays off.

That may seem obvious but apparently it isn't! I did search for phones with my top two categories and I found the Motorola G 13, I bought it and it's quite possibly the worst smartphone I've ever had.

One of the reasons was indeed in regards to the lock screen, you press the button to lock the screen, it goes black, but when you touch it, move it and without even touching it, it slowly comes back on and off on it's own, meaning it's distracting at best and can you interact with it by accident. So no matter what you do, it does not just stay locked, it constantly thinks you need to see the screen.

I searched for ways to fix it but apparently some androids have a pocket mode that you can select, and some don't, and this didn't. I have a Huawei P Smart, which I'm upgrading from, which doesn't have pocket mode but it stays locked.

And apparently it's a pretty common problem with other phones, and I couldn't filter phones by "ones that stay locked", lol.

So would love to know your phones that have decent video watching capabilities and stay locked when you lock them!

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[mustang7757]

Welcome to AC!

Phones in that price range probably not going to be happy with but look at
Samsung budget device or Redmi and for Lock screen staying Lock you can disable stuff in settings to get close to what your asking but lock screen are meant to be interacted with for notifications and such so your expectation might fall short on that one .

 

[Mooncatt]

...but lock screen are meant to be interacted with for notifications and such so your expectation might fall short on that one .

This. I would actually like something similar to what you asked for, but I don't think such a function exists. The lock screen is wasn't designed for that. Probably the best thing you could do would be to get a case with a flip cover that you can close when not in use. That way the screen is not going to distract you even if it does turn on.

As for which phone, your options are going to be quite limited at that price range. I would consider the used market if you haven't already.


EDIT: Actually, on second thought, I think most phones these days have a double tap to wake function, along with various settings for notifications. You probably could get what you are wanting by turning those options off and adjusting notifications to not wake up the screen. That would mean you could tap and swipe all day on an off screen and the phone shouldn't do anything. The only possible exception would maybe be the phone app waking the screen when you get a call.

 

[smvim]

Well there are a lot of people who actually prefer their lock screens to indicate various Notifications and such. But since you find this to be too annoying, take the time to start going through your phone's Settings menu. There are options there in the Notifications menu that might be relevant, or the Lock screen menu. With Moto phones, try Disabling the 'Moto Display' app if possible (some system-level apps cannot be Disabled).

Moto Display - Apps on Google Play

See notifications at a glance.

play.google.com

 

[smvim]

If you're committed to finding a new phone however, the gsmarena site has a handy Phone Finder feature. Go here:

Phone Finder - search for a phone by feature - GSMArena.com

www.gsmarena.com

Fill in the features and options you prefer and in the results there might be a phone more to your liking.

Just note each Android OS version adds more and more things, sometimes useful utilities and sometimes bloatware. But if you use your phone as is, instead of taking the time to optimize and customize it, you do need to readjust your expectations accordingly.