Second Hand. Under £150/$180. Can a Note 4 Be Beaten?

[Sim8]

Hello Good Folk,

I've always acquired my phones second hand and I'm currently in the relatively medieval age of stretching the lifetime of a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Staggeringly, it's somehow yet to buckle under the pressures of rampant progress and is coping with everything I throw at it. Impressive longevity; still faithfully executing 2019 demands.

But soon the time will come when I replace it with another used phone and I welcome steering from you, the hugely experienced. If you can recall what you were using that long ago. Otherwise, I'm likely to stumble easily and safely into a Note 4. Beyond that model, even second hand prices are relatively high. Besides, I don't think the Note 5 was released in Europe, and I suspect the Note 6 became the fated Note 7, right?

I intend to buy from a national second hand retailer in the UK. My budget is £150 max (say, under $180 as a guide.) A six inch screen or there abouts is my size preference. In terms of functionality, the Note 3 handles everything I require apart from poor nighttime photo quality. I expect that I will have to wait a couple of years more for the step up in video camera quality of the Galaxy 8. It doesn't have to be a Samsung - never liked the touch keys from a practical perspective - but my expectation is that I will find it hard to match the processing power, reliability, and future-proofing of the past. Which is a strange phrase to use.

Please feel welcome to edumacate me on what I am missing or overlooking.

Si

 

[Dooki]

the 150 would be better spent on a new budget phone. the mid and low end processors will perform better and have actual updates, therefore being more secure. A budget Moto will take better pictures and have far better battery. all phones except two will have bad low light photos, most just bad.

 

[Sim8]

Cheers, @Dooki. That's a good alternative perspective - I particularly note your point about updates and security. I've now absorbed reviews on here relating to the Moto range, focusing on the budget offerings. I'm surprised that new budget smartphones can match the functionality of flagship models from 5 years ago, but it does appear to be true.

For the last 20+ years I've been buying/acquiring everything I can secondhand (my Acer Chromebook R11 being an exception.) That's my own piffling contribution to recycling, but it seems viable that I could get a used budget Moto from a year or two ago that would at least match the specs of a Note 4 (I so don't need the stylus.) Although there are shouts for the X4, the G6 looks promising if I don't want to compromise on screen size?

 

[Sim8]

@Dooki - want to thank you for this suggestion last year. Went with a Moto G7 and it has been absolutely brilliant.