Suggestions needed for a trip.

[steve1221]

Hi Everyone,

Can you give me some idea's on what fulfills the needs below?

I'm in the UK, but off on a business trip to NYC in Oct, so I need a phone that'll work both sides of the pond.

I'm looking for something like a Note 3 (5.7), and must be dual sim.
Octa core. Wifi, gps ect.
Cost should be no more than $200.

But the most important thing, the battery must last all day as I'll have no way to charge it once I'm out for the day.
I'll be using it mainly for making calls and texting, but I might have to use the gps to find my way around NYC and I'm going to have to run one of these 'find me' apps as the guy I'm traveling with gets lost A LOT! and I'm going to have to keep finding him
I doubt I'll be playing game on it, and if I do it'll be at the end of the day when I'm near a power point.

I was looking at first at something like the Star 3+, but I've read a few user reviews that say it's battery life can be terrible?

Can you advise the best phone for usability, rather than the best spec as I suspect they are two different things...

Thanks for any input or recommendations.

[GizBeat]

You want 3G 850/900/1900/2100... Or will 3G 850/900/2100 be okay? If you need quad-band 3G (900 as well as 1900) combined with those other specs then $200 isn't going to cut it. Not even close. You need to move into a whole other price range.

If you can live with 2100 only in UK, there are quite a few 850/1900/2100 3G options available now. iNew V8 might be a good option. (coupon: GBV8ZZ). That is 5.5" and 2GB RAM, NFC, OTG, rear touch.

Octacore CPU is the last thing you I'd be concerned about unless you'll be rendering video, and even then it's the last thing I'd look at. MT6582, MT6591 are more than capable.

[steve1221]

You want 3G 850/900/1900/2100... Or will 3G 850/900/2100 be okay? If you need quad-band 3G (900 as well as 1900) combined with those other specs then $200 isn't going to cut it. Not even close. You need to move into a whole other price range.

If you can live with 2100 only in UK, there are quite a few 850/1900/2100 3G options available now. iNew V8 might be a good option. (coupon: GBV8ZZ). That is 5.5" and 2GB RAM, NFC, OTG, rear touch.

Octacore CPU is the last thing you I'd be concerned about unless you'll be rendering video, and even then it's the last thing I'd look at. MT6582, MT6591 are more than capable.

Thanks,

Yes, I can get by with triband (3G 850/900/2100) just fine.

My only concern on the V8 would be the 2400 mAh battery. For all day use, I was thinking of something with 3000+ mAh . But I'm open to be convinced by the experts or owners that 2400 is enough??

[GizBeat]

There are no 850/900/2100 that I know of. There are some 850/1900/2100. Is that what you meant? Let's get past that first.

Required battery is subjective and dependant on use. Buying an extra battery is a possible solution.

[steve1221]

There are no 850/900/2100 that I know of. There are some 850/1900/2100. Is that what you meant? Let's get past that first.

Required battery is subjective and dependant on use. Buying an extra battery is a possible solution.

Sorry, brain misfire there!

As long as it supports 2100 (for use on my network in the UK) and will work with a US payg sim that's fine.

I really need a single battery that'll last all day. I can't afford to have the battery go flat and miss calls. Or is there an app that'll fire off an alert when the battery drops below a certain level??

[WuddaWaste]

GSam Battery Monitor actually has an additional alarm feature that will alert you of various battery conditions. You can setup the tone to be whatever you'd like. (I'm poking through them program right now 'cuz I thought it was in there.)

GSam Alert possibilities: Battery above xx%, battery below xx%, temperature above xx%, battery overheated, battery over voltage.

To be clear on Gizbeat's point: will you need 3G data while in NYC? My phone has a reasonably huge battery, but not having fast data actually killed my phone on my last trip. I took some pictures and a video, and Google+ was trying to back them up to the cloud as I was wandering downtown LA. I didn't notice what was happening, so it drained my battery down to 10%. (As a result, I now only have Google+ backup my videos while in WiFi. Oops.)

---

Addendum: As far as the iNew V8 goes, it gets 1900MHz (which means 3G on both USA networks) and the battery life has been great so far. The biggest nuisance so far is a Toast Message that pops up every time her data method changes.

Another alternative to battery swapping (which is by itself a good method) is to carry an external battery to plug into while on the go. If you notice your battery drop below 30%, plug it in and continue working while it charges.

What is your typical expected usage on the phone? Calling? Texting? Web surfing? Videos? Games? Photography?

[steve1221]

GSam Battery Monitor actually has an additional alarm feature that will alert you of various battery conditions. You can setup the tone to be whatever you'd like. (I'm poking through them program right now 'cuz I thought it was in there.)

GSam Alert possibilities: Battery above xx%, battery below xx%, temperature above xx%, battery overheated, battery over voltage.

To be clear on Gizbeat's point: will you need 3G data while in NYC? My phone has a reasonably huge battery, but not having fast data actually killed my phone on my last trip. I took some pictures and a video, and Google+ was trying to back them up to the cloud as I was wandering downtown LA. I didn't notice what was happening, so it drained my battery down to 10%. (As a result, I now only have Google+ backup my videos while in WiFi. Oops.)

---

Addendum: As far as the iNew V8 goes, it gets 1900MHz (which means 3G on both USA networks) and the battery life has been great so far. The biggest nuisance so far is a Toast Message that pops up every time her data method changes.

Another alternative to battery swapping (which is by itself a good method) is to carry an external battery to plug into while on the go. If you notice your battery drop below 30%, plug it in and continue working while it charges.

What is your typical expected usage on the phone? Calling? Texting? Web surfing? Videos? Games? Photography?

Hi,

Usage would be mainly calls and texts. I can see a I'll need to use gps a little as this is the first trip to NYC and I'd like to play tourist when I get the chance (who would turn down the chance to be mugged in Central Park ).
So, I guess 3g would be a good start just for downloading and running Google maps and some of the tourist apps.

I'll also be picking up emails, but I'd think that would be mainly on the free wifi in the hotel.

I'll certainly give Gsam Battery Monitor a try.

And finally, I'm going to be traveling in the first week of Oct. If I order from gearbest.com does anyone know if they'll get a V8 to the UK before I go given that it's less than 4 week (if I order over the weekend)...

[GizBeat]

Should be no problem. I can put a fire under it if you need. I'm waiting for one to ship myself. First batch sold out. More stock en route. 850/1900 will cover all AT&T MVNO 3G in USA. I recommend AirVoice. Can get the SIM $.99 on eBay. @wuddawaste don't get mad.

If you don't use a lot of SIM data, it should easily make it through the day.

An example of use: WiFi on 100%, dual-SIM in, browsing, flipping around, Facebook, chat etc... Gives 5+ hours onscreen.

Actively using SIM data will lessen to 4 or so. That's active surfing onscreen use though. Not sitting in standby. Consider extra battery if that won't be enough.

Another good deal is the DG310 if you can deal with the 5.0" 480p LCD and low-res camera. Only $87 and has the 850/1900/2100.

[WuddaWaste]

850/1900 will cover all AT&T MVNO 3G in USA. I recommend AirVoice. Can get the SIM $.99 on eBay. @wuddawaste don't get mad.

Haha. No harm, no foul. @steve1221 , just so you know the background on this, I'm a T-Mobile USA loyalist and Gizzy here is poking fun at me. In all honesty, especially if you're going to be here for only a trip, AirVoice on ATT is probably the way to go.

For what it's worth, I talked to the girl last night about her V8 battery life for you. It was probably 8pm when we were talking, she hadn't charged the phone since we left the house 12 hours earlier that morning. It was a *really* light usage day for her with a couple of short phone calls, a handful of texts, some light web surfing, and a few emails. I estimate she only had 20-30 minutes of on-screen time, and the rest of the time the phone was just idle in deep sleep. That said, after those 12 hours, her battery was still at 85%.

I think I stand by Gizbeat in this one, that the iNew V8 might be your winner, presuming:
(a) You're down with the idea of having it (the most important factor by far).
(b) Gearbest (or similar) can get you the phone in time.

[steve1221]

Thanks both for all your sage advice.

The V8 looks like the one to go for.

I'm more than happy to order one over the weekend, but Gizbeat anyway you can find out when Gearbest are getting new stock? There's no point me ordering if their stocks not arriving for a couple of weeks!