The best smartphones you can buy for under R8,000

Thor said:
Xiaomi, One Plus, Oppa, Doogee so many options that are 10x better than the overpriced stuff mentioned on the article.
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I went to Vodashop the other day and asked for a Doogee.... They looked at me.

Where do you get one with local warranty and support?
 
Dolby said:
I went to Vodashop the other day and asked for a Doogee.... They looked at me.

Where do you get one with local warranty and support?
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Cash Crusaders. Limited options tho.
 
I have a hisense Infinity H30 and it's one of the best phones under R6000 how come are they not talking about it
 
Forgot to add the iPhone 7.

Best spent R7999 out there.

Push a bit further and grab an 8.
 
newby_investor said:
Can you still get 7s? I only saw from 8s available last time I looked.
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Yes, still sold as brand new stock alongside newer models.

Not sure with the iPhone 11 launch if the 8 is already discounted locally or still needs to be.

Can even get the 6S still.
 
The industry really needs an objective measure of camera quality. Megapixels mean nothing.

The camera is one of the most important features of a smartphone these days, and yet there is no way to tell if Brand A's camera is "better" than Brand B. Resorting to online reviews is fine, but doesn't tell the whole story.
 
Gaz{M} said:
The industry really needs an objective measure of camera quality. Megapixels mean nothing.

The camera is one of the most important features of a smartphone these days, and yet there is no way to tell if Brand A's camera is "better" than Brand B. Resorting to online reviews is fine, but doesn't tell the whole story.
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With these things though, the quality of pictures is highly subjective. I've seen some comparative reviews with sample photos of the high-end phones, iPhone 11, Google Pixel 3a and Samsung Note 10 for example.

Most of them it's very much - which do you prefer.

They do differ somewhat i.t.o usability though - some seem to be easier to get good results than others.
 
newby_investor said:
With these things though, the quality of pictures is highly subjective. I've seen some comparative reviews with sample photos of the high-end phones, iPhone 11, Google Pixel 3a and Samsung Note 10 for example.

Most of them it's very much - which do you prefer.

They do differ somewhat i.t.o usability though - some seem to be easier to get good results than others.
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For high end phones, yes I agree it can be subjective. But in the midrange, there is a large variance in perceived "quality". There are ISO tests and test patterns for just about every other kind of electronic device.

Perhaps they can mention the exact camera sensor chip/model used, so for example, you could see that the Samsung A30 has a C2xx sensor, but the Samsung A70 has a C4xx sensor and the Galaxy S10 has a C5xx sensor. Some way to tell what hardware is included, much like CPU's. They could all in theory have the same megapixels, so this is useless information.
 
How many ppl out there are getting these on contract instead of buying them outright.

8K is a lot for most ppl.

Of the lot the best spec'd phone is the G7, which vodacom usually sells on top up for cheap. But LG has a terrible history when it comes to software updates.
 
WaxLyrical said:
Are they easily available to 90% of the population who aren't aware of these brands?
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This is a good point - importing stuff through GearBest or BangGood is a bit of a schlep that not everyone might want to handle.

Gaz{M} said:
For high end phones, yes I agree it can be subjective. But in the midrange, there is a large variance in perceived "quality". There are ISO tests and test patterns for just about every other kind of electronic device.

Perhaps they can mention the exact camera sensor chip/model used, so for example, you could see that the Samsung A30 has a C2xx sensor, but the Samsung A70 has a C4xx sensor and the Galaxy S10 has a C5xx sensor. Some way to tell what hardware is included, much like CPU's. They could all in theory have the same megapixels, so this is useless information.
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Good point - for the mainstream devices you can normally find out what sensor they use with a bit of digging, which will help. With the more obscure brands not as much.

Now that they include 2- and 3-lens cameras though, as much of the quality is going to come from the DSP as from the sensors themselves, though starting with good sensors will help, especially in low light...
 
Sony Xperia XZ 32GB – R6,999
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Sony’s option comes with lower specs than all the devices above in most departments, such as the 2,900mAh battery and less space in the form of 32GB internal storage.
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I have one of these as a backup phone. Paid around R1300 for it as the charging port is a bit wonky, but it is definitely not worth R7k - and it was released way back in September of 2016. Mine is stuck on Android 8.0 and the last security update was released on the 1st of October 2018 - so I find the Sony a very hard sell in comparison to the other listed devices.
 
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