budget android phone coming from windows

Hello everybody,

I need to substitute my Lumia 535. Now, it seems not the time to persisting in windows mobile.

As my budget is small, I’m looking to android phone between 100 € and 200 €. I find interesting both the moto g4 and the xiaomi redmi 3 pro.

I guess that microsoft app are identically on both phones and also cortana can be used equally .

 

Do you have any suggestion on the above phones or other smartphone as well?

thanks and pardon me for my english

Conversation 21 comments

  • 170

    17 October, 2016 - 4:38 pm

    <p>I’m interested in this too.&nbsp; I’m in a similar situation but I’m also stuck on Verizon so my options are pretty limited.&nbsp; The phone I’ve been looking at the most is a Nexus 5x.&nbsp; I was hoping the prices might drop some after Google released the Pixel phones but It hasn’t seemed to yet.&nbsp; Probably because of the much higher cost of the Pixel lineup.&nbsp; Anyway, you might have more and better options since you are not limited to Verizon but the Nexus 5x might still be worth looking at depenidng on availability.</p>

    • 5879

      17 October, 2016 - 11:35 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#21181">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/Sprtfan">Sprtfan</a><a href="#21181">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>thanks for the reply but the nexus 5x is out of my budget…</p>

  • 5879

    18 October, 2016 - 7:35 am

    <p>and another question, what are cortana’s limitation on android?</p>

    • 399

      Premium Member
      18 October, 2016 - 10:59 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#21256">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/Simone_Gallo">Simone_Gallo</a><a href="#21256">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>If you’re not in the US or China, you’ll need to side load it. It’s actually easy – install Microsoft’s "Microsoft Apps" app from the Google Play Store and you can install it through that.</p>
      <p>It only works in either US English or Chinese and you can’t do "Hey Cortana". News and sports will be tilted towards America (or I guess China if you set it to Chinese – I can’t say I’ve tried), though there is some local news (at least in the UK).</p>
      <p>If you’re looking for&nbsp;a Personal Assistant&nbsp;with all the bells and whistles (like package tracking), then in all honesty you’re probably better off using the Google Now Launcher if you’re going Androd.&nbsp;With Cortana,&nbsp;a lot of that stuff might work OK in the US&nbsp;but it seems somewhat lacking over here.</p>

      • 5879

        18 October, 2016 - 11:42 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#21299">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/maethorechannen">maethorechannen</a><a href="#21299">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>thanks. I’m in Italy, but US english is ok. Will it sync with cortana on Pc if the latter is in Italian?</p>
        <p>I use Cortana mainly for remeinders as they sync with PC. Package tracking (nor flying tracking) have never worked for me on windows mobile, so it’s not really a problem.</p>
        <p>The problem with Google Now Launcher is how to sync with the pc</p>

        • 399

          Premium Member
          18 October, 2016 - 12:14 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#21310">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/Simone_Gallo">Simone_Gallo</a><a href="#21310">:</a></em></blockquote>
          <p>Reminders work exactly like with Windows Mobile (same for things like missed calls or low battery alerts). Though it’s only going from US to UK English, so I’m not sure what happens if you&nbsp;go&nbsp;from English to Italian. </p>

          • 5879

            19 October, 2016 - 1:06 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#21326">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/maethorechannen">maethorechannen</a><a href="#21326">:</a></em></blockquote>
            <p>ok thanks. Let’s see if somebody else has some info on&nbsp; that</p>

          • 5879

            24 October, 2016 - 2:39 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#21326">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/maethorechannen">maethorechannen</a><a href="#21326">:</a></em></blockquote>
            <p>I have a problem in pinning the Cortana widget (the voice-only) to the "home page" (with Arrow launcher). Is it fixable?</p>

    • 1792

      23 October, 2016 - 7:22 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#21256">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/Simone_Gallo">Simone_Gallo</a><a href="#21256">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Cortana for Android is US only. The way you get it onto Android is sideload it as an apk file. Doing that is a whole different thing from Google Play. When you do this the only region is US English so it’s somewhat limited.&nbsp;</p>
      <p>I move between Lumia 950 and Samsung S6. Generally the Cortana experience for Non-US people is poor. You would be better using Google’s native Google Now/Assistant.</p>
      <p>I dont know when Cortana for Android will be available outside the USA.</p>

      • 399

        Premium Member
        25 October, 2016 - 5:48 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#22025">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/ponsaelius">ponsaelius</a><a href="#22025">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>When you install it via the Microsoft Apps app, it actually comes straight from the store (Cortana appears in the beta tab under "My apps &amp; games" after installing). So there’s no need to sideload&nbsp;an apk, you just need to go through a slightly&nbsp;roundabout method to get around the georestriction.</p>

  • 218

    Premium Member
    18 October, 2016 - 9:16 am

    <p>I made the move from a Lumia 1520 a year ago to the Samsung Galaxy Note 5.&nbsp; I know it’s most likely not within your budget, but I wanted to let you know of my experience with Android.&nbsp; First, I should say that I miss my Windows Phone. I switched as my 1520 "died" and at the time none of the current Windows Phones looked comparable. Since I’ve made the switch I generally like the Note 5 and I will say Microsoft has done an excellent job of providing their applications on the phone.&nbsp; For the most part I don’t miss the Microsoft products themselves as they all work well on the Note 5.&nbsp; What I do miss are the little things. For example, with Cortana I can’t just say "Hey Cortana", I have to press the microphone icon first. Second, the "fake" phone number for Cortana doesn’t work on the Android phone. I loved this feature on my Windows Phone as it allowed me to "call" Cortana through the Bluetooth connection in my Chevy Equinox and then dictate text messages, listen to text messages, etc.&nbsp; The other thing that really bothers me with Android is it’s inability to ignore an extension in a phone number. On my Windows Phone I would enter a phone number and if there was an extension associated with it I would just add it after the number with an X in front of it. Now the Windows Phone wouldn’t dial the extension, but I could see it there so that I could either ask for it or enter in manually depending on the number I called.&nbsp; With Android it "sees" the extension and then won’t dial the number because it’s invalid. As a result I had to go through and clean up all my numbers.</p>
    <p>On the applications front, I always felt I had all I needed with my Windows Phone. The one thing I discovered having an Android phone is all of the specialized apps that aren’t available on Windows Phone.&nbsp; Yes, we had the Big ones like Twitter, Facebook, etc. but what’s missing are the banking apps, the restaurant/retail apps, etc.&nbsp; For example, we shop at Tom Thumb. We have saved over $200 on our groceries this year because of the coupons, specials, etc. available through their app.&nbsp; We’ve had similar savings at Walgreens, Schlotzky’s, McDonald’s, etc.</p>
    <p>I don’t know enough about the other Android phones to give you a good recommendation, I just thought passing along my experience with Android might help.&nbsp; Good luck!</p>

    • 5879

      18 October, 2016 - 11:42 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#21274">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/bleeman">bleeman</a><a href="#21274">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Thank you very much, it was very useful</p>

  • 399

    Premium Member
    18 October, 2016 - 11:16 am

    <p>You might want to see if your carrier has own brand phones. Vodafone’s own phones tend to be good for the price (though this year’s crop doesn’t seem to be as impressive as last years).</p>
    <p>Huawei’s are worth checking out in that price range (though find as many reviews as you can, some models are a lot better/worse than others and they all seem to have some flaw that might be a deal breaker).</p>
    <p>And Alcatel are also another option that you might want to consider. I think the Pop 4 Plus is right in the centre of your price range.</p>

    • 5879

      18 October, 2016 - 11:44 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#21302">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/maethorechannen">maethorechannen</a><a href="#21302">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>nah, my carrier doesn’t offer too much, only those model listed here http://www.fastweb.it/adsl-fibra-ottica/cellulari-chiavette-tablet/?from=menu#cellulari</p&gt;
      <p>I’ll check the Pop 4 Plus. Do you know something about the moto g4?</p>

      • 399

        Premium Member
        18 October, 2016 - 12:03 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#21312">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/Simone_Gallo">Simone_Gallo</a><a href="#21312">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>I don’t have any personal experience with the moto g4, but all the reviews I’ve seen are really positive about it. It appears to be one of the best phones in your price range.</p>

  • 2

    Premium Member
    23 October, 2016 - 7:42 am

    <p>The low-end Moto devices are likely a great starting point.</p>

    • 5879

      24 October, 2016 - 2:38 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#22026">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/paul-thurrott">paul-thurrott</a><a href="#22026">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Thanks, I just picked a Moto g4 and for the moment everything is great, apart from the UI which is a nightmare</p>

      • 5530

        25 October, 2016 - 12:02 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#22229">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/Simone_Gallo">Simone_Gallo</a><a href="#22229">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>It is a nightmare when you’re using it for the first time, that’s for sure. But you learn it and just like most things you use daily in life, it beocmes second nature. Count yourself lucky, because Motorola actually has some of the better, more cohesive UX for Android. If you got the Xiaomi you’d be dealing with a whole different UI (MIUI)&nbsp;which i’ve found to be difficult to grasp.</p>

  • 7062

    23 October, 2016 - 8:20 am

    <p>Since you aren’t in the USA you can’t take advantage of purchasing a Nexus 5X on Project fi for $249 with 32gb. Only about $10 per month if you take the no-interest financing option, plus you get to try out fi with great pricing for low usage and the best customer experience. One super annoying Google Now thing (to me) is that no matter how many times I dismiss them my news story feed is filled with rightwingnut stories from obscure websites I have never heard of. Google insists on feeding me rightwing nonsense non-news. Makes me want to get rid of Google Now for that reason alone.</p>

  • 5879

    24 October, 2016 - 2:52 pm

    <p>So, in the end I took a moto g4.</p>
    <p>I have the following issues:</p>
    <p>1) I installed Microsoft arrow launcher, but I cannot pin Cortana widget on the screen.</p>
    <p>2) Is it possible to launch cortana with the central virtual button?</p>
    <p>3) There’s a way to show both Outlook’s appointment and Cortana’s reminders altogether?</p>
    <p>Thank you to anyone that can answer!</p>

  • 4925

    24 October, 2016 - 6:34 pm

    <p>I always liked OnePlus and Motorola’s offerings.&nbsp; Asus isn’t bad either in the budget space.</p>

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