Like the Apple phones that were called out in Italy (not yet called out here I understand), water resistance can be very subjective. If they meet international rating standards then they should be able to be trusted ie IP67 or IP68 should be good indicators of the ability to be washed (IP66 may also qualify). Cleaning with alcohol wipes would be, and is in my opinion, so much easier and the phone could be of a lesser IP standard so cheaper to the consumer when buying.
Of note if the phone was IP69K rated it could be cleaned with steam jets, but I think that would be an excessive rating to meet or even too strong a procedure to undertake
A question worth raising is these UV sanitisers that have come on the market, do any work? Is it worth testing any? If they are Shonky should the ACCC be stepping in?
My previous phone was good wrt getting wet:-
IP68 - tested at depths more than 1 metre, and found to be unharmed. All ports except the USB-C were well capped. Sony claimed resistance for water depth of more than 1.5 meters and 30 minutes under water. But using it in chlorinated pool water was discouraged.
IP65 - good at handling water spray, rain, etc. The IP65 test uses water projected by a nozzle.
Hey @mark_m, I recall we used to run signal strength tests in-person utilising signal towers in regional areas. The phone network and other conditions can affect the results, so we’ve since moved to a lab based testing regime for these aspects.
Both Telstra and Optus have a limited selection of recommended phones for better reception in regional or rural areas.
Only two phones that might be considered more reasonably priced. The Samsung Galaxy A51 from 2019 (Optus and Telstra) and Telstra Tough Max 3. The second was not in the Dec reviews by Choice. No Apple products in the list.
One reasonably complete review on the Telstra option. Note despite high profile concerns over China manufacturers Huawei and ZTE, Telstra have sourced this product from ZTE. It’s also 2019 tech, hence Android updates may be a future concern for those unable to upgrade often or write it off for tax.
Product Review only has 4 user reviews, 3 being very negative. Not unusual.
My old 3G Samsung dumb Flip phone (no Android) with external aerial socket might outclass all. Needs a new battery, fortunately removable.
I was wondering about the end date for 3G - thank you for the link.
Going to get a device that is currently only capable of 3G updated very soon (to “4G where available, and drop back to 3G when 4G not available”
I have been starting to research my next phone, still a while away, and started with the Choice test.
I have not noticed anything on the Choice reviews that suggest 4G and 5G battery performance is anything but similar since there is no mention of 5G being a comparative power hog. Some mobiles are reported to handle it much better than others but every one I read about took a hit on 5G, some quite significant hits.
While most of us don’t need to worry in the short term, if we spent upwards of $500 and often $1,000~$2,000 on a mobile we would hope it would serve us for a few years, maybe even until 4G is getting turned off - OK maybe not quite that long…
Choice noted a particular phone has very good battery life but every other review pans it as nothing special on 4G, and half that on 5G. It might be the test methodology but they read as if they are not so different, at least at the high level.
Most reviews call out ‘turning on’ 5G depletes most (many?) mobile batteries very quickly as compared to ‘not 5G’.
I bought an iPhone 12 Mini and have subsequently noticed lots of complaints about its battery life. I’m having no issues at all, and am now wondering if that’s down to having it locked to 4G (It will drop to 3G for calls, mostly, but its not an option I can choose)… I can’t get 5G and really have no need of it…
I had purchased one of these as I had to replace my xiami mix 3 5G mobile as it started dropping out calls. So I got a exchange and $100 back, I brought a Realme 7 5G Mobile, sound quality was awful, connecting to Bluetooth and NFC was intermittent and would rarely connect, where the mix3 5G connected straight away.
It is annoying to turn the phone off and or to restart it, you have to push a button on the side of the phone that also acts as the Google Button as well, so you nearly break your fingers off. The call quality was appalling. After I had brought this phone, my mother went down a few hours later and brought the same phone, and has had issues with her mobile data not working.
A couple of weeks ago was in the other JB Hi Fi store and they had one left of the xiaomi mix3 5G reduced to $89, so I purchased it, and next day took the Realme back to our local JB for a full refund of $499.
Love the mix3 5G a better quality phone all round phone
I have a question. Why does Choice separately score mobile phone models with different storage options? Surely all storage options have the same key hardware and perform the same.
I am not sure what you mean, excepting the storage is shown in the tests to denote the specific phone tested. Perusing the report shows phones with varying storage all intermixed.
Well as an example from the most recent tests, two different iPhone 12 Pro Max storage options are scored separately. So the fact a community member has recommended the 256GB model wouldn’t show for the 512GB model.
Hi @Peterchu, our score on these two phones are the same, if you you use the compare function you can see it across the different fields. The review function is linked to the website and not related to the forum (I appreciate this is confusing), it just happens that someone has decided to review one and not the other. From what I understand, there is some interest on improving this on our website in the future, but it might also take some time to address.
Apologies if I’ve missed something here, let me know and I’ll talk to our product testers and clarify any questions
Price is also a factor in scoring, as they both have different prices bang for buck may be a consideration for a buyer. Noting these 2 are not any different in other areas other than storage but are some hundreds different in cost. A person may choose in some phones the cheaper option and buy a microSD if it is supported to increase capacity at a much cheaper price point.
Some phones due to storage limits might actually even score differently due to that storage limitation issue. Particularly with the iPhones as there is no microSD slot to make the choice to expand the storage yourself aftermarket, Some of Samsung’s releases are also no longer sporting microSD storage capability.
Note I deleted your other post (same question) in favour of this one to avoid parallel discussions.
BT does not appear to have been tested. BT versions are listed.
I understand your point. My Moto G6+ BT is, to be kind, challenging at times because it doesn’t use the BT headset even though it is paired and connected to same according to the system status. When it ‘gets lost’ half way through a call it might suddenly go from speaker to the headset.
It would be a valuable addition to future tests but might defy meaningful laboratory testing, save for basic connectivity (yes/no) that might in practice be ‘maybe/sometimes’.
Interesting. I have used android phones on the cheaper end, and even though the MicroSD was an option, it also required that apps could be installed there, rather than to main storage, and this was not always available. I found, generally, that this system was not adequate for my needs at the time. I like iPhones for a lot of reasons, and price is most definitely not one of them Horrendous, these days.
Horrendous, these days.