Android Device Research - Pros/Cons of brands etc

Have just been looking very carefully at the specs on some of the cheaper model Android phones and notice the following purchase traps so thought I'd warn you.

It's pretty clear that technology has advanced in leaps and bounds in the last couple of years and even a base model phone is really pretty powerful and I would suspect many retirees are looking carefully at expense on such devices. It seems almost all mid-range phones have true GPS in them these days great - so your mapping and tracking will work! Yay, but don't be fooled. Check the specs because sometimes they omit to mention certain "missing" features that you have taken for granted.

We nearly got caught out when looking at the Oppo phones today to make a rapid purchase to replace a broken phone. These appear to represent the best value for money when looking for a low-mid range phone with surprisingly impressive specs on first glace......you can get a 32GB phone with reasonable CPU, a proper GPS, and excellent camera specs for $289 from Officeworks or JBHifi. There's even a 64GB model at under $400. But look VERY closely and you'll find that despite all the glowing features, especially the claims on superior battery efficiency, all Oppo models lack NFC (used for Android Pay, PayWave etc) PLUS due to the use of a cloned Android OS (Color3) which shuts down apps from running in the background to save battery, you won't be able to use the background tracking feature that is so useful in ExplorOz Traveller. And yes, even if you look at the top end models in the Oppo brand such as the $600 F11 it still doesn't have a full Android OS or NFC. Buyer beware! You will want these features.

In contrast for $338 you can buy one of the cheaper Samsungs with NFC plus a true Android OS so is a much better buy than any of the available Oppos. The Samsung J5 we compared also has a lower F stop in the rear camera than most at F1.7 so better pics in low light.

About the only thing I can find that the J series phones don't have is MHL - which you probably wouldn't use anyway. It's a wired technology (Mobile High Definition Link) used to connect your phone to your TV (eg to game on a big screen).

I thought this was interesting info to share - hope it is of some help to someone.