If you have a budget to work to and many of the new smartphones on the market are just a little beyond your reach, you could consider going for a pre-owned handset. Pre-owned, second hand or whatever you want to call it may not necessarily be a last ditch attempt at owning a smartphone that you might have thought. There are many people out there who will upgrade to the latest model brought out by the manufacturers regardless of whether any of the changes enhance the usability or not. This means that for the canny buyer, there are bargains out there to be had.
Take a look back say 12 or 18 months and the smartphones then had all of or the majority of the features that are present on brand the brand new smartphones of today. The question you need to ask is are these constant upgrades really about improving the smartphones or are they more about introducing a few little tweaks to remarket and sell more new units. That question can be answered by taking a step back to 2011 and reviewing the top 3 phones of that year. If you can find a good condition example of any of these then you are likely to have just the same functionality as you would if you lashed out hundreds of pounds on the latest versions.
Samsung Galaxy S II
This was a phone that really captured the attention of the media as well as the buying public. This was a fantastic smartphone that was said by many people to be the phone of 2011. With everything you would expect from a modern smartphone including a 1.2 or 1.5ghz processor, a stunning display, and an 8-megapixel camera able to capture HD video at 1080p, this phone would still be a desirable device even in today’s market. If you can pick one of these up on the second hand market you can’t go wrong.
The iPhone 4s
Yes this phone really has been around since 2011 and was another challenger for the phone of the year. In fact no list of desirable phones is ever likely to be complete without an iPhone appearing on it somewhere. The 4s looks very elegant and in many ways the superb performance matches the looks. The hardware in the phone meant that it outperformed some phones with much higher specs and with just about the best camera on the market at the time as well as its full suite of preinstalled apps meant that millions of people bought them and now as the iPhone is rolled out, the second hand market is awash with them. Still a great phone if you can get one.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Manufacturing giant Samsung seem to have been leading the way for ever. In 2011 the Samsung Galaxy Nexus certainly started turning some heads. In 2011 it was reputed to be the best Android phone around and was the first to feature Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich OS. Many aspects of this phone were and indeed still are cutting edge. Maybe the 5-megapixel camera could have been a little better but it still did the job. If you see one of these for sale on the second hand market, snap it up. You will not be disappointed.
Eric Underhill has been considering buying a pre-owned iPhone so that he can take one of the iphone deals on offer
