Oh well, I was looking forward to getting an iPhone XR after having Samsung Androids for years (just wanted a change) and would have liked the dual-SIM option but on further investigation none of the three operators that I use have the eSIM option on their networks (O2 in the UK, Bouyges in France and Spark in NZ for visitor SIM) so it's a no go for me unless I can get to HKG at some time and buy the physical dual-SIM version there (Apple HKG will only ship within HKG).

I purchased the Moto G5 International version at Amazon for ~$200 two years ago. It met all my requirements.

https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_g5-8454.php

- Wide bands and dual sims. Worked perfectly in Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Sicily, and Spain so far.

- Wifi hotspot. Great for using my tablet when on a bus/train without wifi.

- 5 inch screen. I dislike big screens.

- 13MP camera.

- 32/3 GB memory and microSD slot.

- Replaceable battery. One battery can last for a full day, and I carry an extra one just in case. Less weight and bulk than carrying a battery pack. Should the phone be frozen (never happened), replacing the battery can be the fix.

- Lean and clean Android without ads.

- Extensive documentation and a helpful forum.

https://support.motorola.com/uk/en/p...torola/moto-g5

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Moto-G5...-p/MotoG5thGen

The G5 is not thin like many other phones though. Updates can be slow, still with Nougat.

The Mi Mix 3 launched yesterday looks like the one to beat!

I have this phone as well (European dual-SIM version with 2GB/16GB). It's missing American LTE bands, but with everyone on the LTE network these days, the HSPA bands are often just as fast (and always fast enough). Even though it was a low- to mid-range phone 2 years ago, the performance is still excellent, and the display is surprisingly good.

It's a great phone, especially for the price. My one complaint is that it runs whichever SIM you're not using for data as GSM-only. Some carriers have turned off their GSM networks in favor of HSPA alone, so if you're using one of those on the second SIM it doesn't work at all. Lenovorola promised this would be fixed with a software update 18 months ago but has yet to deliver. For the more common Flyertalker use case of carrying two SIMs in the phone but only having one active, this is a non-issue.

I am still on a OnePlus One, purchased at launch thanks to an invitation generously shared here. I am also looking for a dual SIM phone with a great camera - thinking of the P20 Pro or even its older sibling Mate 10 Pro.

As a long long time proponent of stock Android phones, the P20 Pro was a hugely pleasant surprise.

The OEM software does not get in the way; any added software feature is generally for the better (such as their dual-app multitask); and while it does not have the absolutely newest release of Android (which is on the way), i'm running 9.0 on another phone and do not miss it at all.

The processor is benchmarked to be a step behind it's generational counterpart, but I've not ever perceived a performance lag. And moreover, the battery life has been utterly stellar.

Phone camera is great. 3x optical zoom wayyy more useful than I anticipated - almost a must on new phones for me now. Downside is the smoothening algorithm is aggressive, but 98% will be satisfied.

On pure aesthetics I think it looks better than the Mate

I just looked at the Moto6 and it's dual connectivity - so can use it with GSM. Is that the same as Moto5 but upgraded?

I still have my One. I have the 3 now because the dual SIM was needed.

Tomorrow I will put in for the new OnePlus 6T. This is just an awesome phone at a reasonable price.

In China and HK. I've been using a Samsung Galaxy C9. A little old now, but I'm very happy with that phone. Mid-range performance, big screen, very thin, OLED screen and dual SIM, headphone jack, Micro SD slot. However, it does have the Samsung skin, Touch Wiz. Camera is so-so but good enough for me. If I had to replace, I'd probably look at the A8+.

Not sure what you mean by "can use it with GSM" since you can do that with any phone. In Europe we have dual-SIM versions of the G6 and G6 play, but there's no dual-SIM G6 plus. As usual, no dual-SIM anything for the North American market. I haven't played with one yet, but on paper and in reviews, the G6 looks to be a far better phone than the G5 was.

Just as a warning, the T-Mobile version of the OnePlus 6T is only single SIM and not dual SIM. You may want to continue buying direct from OnePlus if dual SIM is important.

Just as an FYI, iOS 12.1, released today, enables the eSIM on the iPhone XS and XR. Apparently T-mobile and AT&T support eSIM already. Verizon announced it will not activate eSIMs until Apple fixes some bugs. It says it will be done before the end of the year.

Not until later this year on T-Mobile and AT&T.

So having got the Oreo 8.1 update to my G5 a couple of weeks back, I got back some storage and had almost 2GB free - which saved me having to go through deliberating over what next phone to get. Or so I thought. All of a sudden I got the "you are running low on storage" message. Very strange I thought. So I went through the apps and the noticeable one that had increased in size was Google Photos. I do not know if this is a known problem or not but as I send all pics/vids to the SD card I could not understand it. Nor could I find, using either the laptop or file manager etc, what on earth was filling it up. So, backup of phone in hand I decided to uninstall updates to Photos and see what happened. Storage went from >1.3GB to about 75MB. All the photos loaded correctly, I then thought that I would give it a go applying all the updates back on again (and these were ones I already had applied so I thought that I would be reproducing the issue) but it is now behaving itself and is at about 98MB now. Just wanted to mention that in case anyone has had the same issue.

On a similar note, has anyone tried on the G5 (or any Android that allows it) using the "format internal storage" to turn the SD card into potential storage for apps. I know some apps cannot change their storage to the SD card and wondered how much it bought people if they had tried it as I am trying to avoid buying a phone for now. I am interested in how much it freed up as well as any problems that may have been noticed. I know you need a speedy little SD card, I'm not a gamer so it is not going to be used for that if it makes a difference.

In US not all phones allow GSM. That's why - OK no one snicker - I'm still on a Blackberry Z10. I actually love this dang phone. Dropped it many times and it's still fine. No issues with connectivity. No issues with swapping out cards in other countries. So, it's a bit beat up and the "OMG That is SOOOO LAST SEASON" folks roll their eyes at me, but, hey, it's paid for. It works. I know how to use it. AND the kicker, I'm sick and tired of adding to the used-tech-landfill problem.

So, I may stick with my Blackberry as long as my carrier lets me.

Oh, and just for grins, I also carry my old motorola flip phone which is still hooked up to a number via Ting.com. I just transferred my landline number for people like my Mom (age 97) who can't seem to remember or reprogram new numbers. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to pull the flip phone out when a Millenial asks me to look at something on my phone or wants to text me something. It's worth the extra $10 a month just to have it. LOL

I'm guessing T-Mobile? Because AT&T killed their 2G network fairly recently and all.

Even with the carrier shutting down BIS the BB is still very usable. I can still send msg on my BB using the keyboard one-handed without looking at it with 99.9% accuracy.

Do you have one of these too?
Motorola

By now, most phones that have an SD card slot allow that -- it was first introduced in 6.0 or something like that. I usually don't do it, because I *want* photos going to the card to be accessible (I've had phones die, and being able to pull the card saved the photos), and I want to be able to pop the card out to dump media on it -- but on the older travel phone that my daughter uses (an Honor 5X) we used the expand internal storage because it's encrypted and it allows her to cache more music/video from streaming apps which won't download to the SD. Seems to work fine, although it's a relatively slow phone by present standards.

Bringing this thread back up ,
anyone using the Motorola G7 power with dual Sims ? Model seems to be 1955-2
It seems to have the LTE bands or USA , Asia and Europe , plus it's only around $200.

Just wondering how the dual SIM set-up works , are both Sims LTE ? Can you receive a call on either sim ?

These have a large 5000mah battery, so last over a day

Thanks for your thoughts

Not a direct answer to your question - but you are looking at some non-US version, the US version has a single SIM.

So that means that while you are paying full price for the phone, most likely you will not have a warranty that is good in the US. Given that many credit cards extend the manufacturer's warranty by a year or two, that is a significant deficit.

I also suspect that the model you are looking at will not work on Verizon or Sprint, will not work on Tmobile bands 12 or 71, and probably lacks some other tweaks that would make it fully compatible with US carriers (HD Voice, VoLTE, etc.)

Thanks for your reply ,
I would be using this phone most of the time for overseas use , and it needs to have bands 1-3-7 at least and bands 8 and 20 would be nice.

I have an international prepaid AIS sim that works in Asia, Europe and USA so sometimes I would use it in the USA on T-Mobile or AT&T ,

I am still using my Nexus 6 and I like the size for my old eyes :) .but the Nexus has a few cracks but still works good for work.

Anyway the things that pull me to this phone is all the LTE bands it has , the 6 inch screen and the large 5000 mAh battery ,
It seems that the E5 plus has about the same LTE bands , screen size and 5000mah battery.

Are there any other Motorolas to look at around $200 ?

Thanks again for your thoughts

I turned in my Nexus 6 for an upgrade and I wish I had not. That was a very good phone.

If I have US ATT iphone w/ dual sim capability and put a UK Three sim in the second slot, can I turn off the ATT sim while traveling abroad? I don't want to end up with the $10/day international calling fee!

Yes.

This is what I've done when I've been able to secure a local SIM.

Very happy with my Samsung Note 9 dual sim N9600, it supports:
1. Dual 4G simultaneously.
2. VoLTE and Wifi Calling (I'm using a TracFone T-Mobile SIM card for this)
3. An activated Verizon SIM (Need to activate the SIM card in other Verizon phone first. No VoLTE or Wifi Calling for Verizon in N9600).
4. TD-LTE in some countries. (Especially in Hong Kong and China)
5. Samsung Pay (Not US version, but it still supports adding US credit cards)

All features are available without root with the most recent software update. Some features above might NOT be supported in the N960F Exynos version. So please choose N9600 (Qualcomm) version of Note 9.

Yes. You can also disable data for your other sim if I can remember correctly.

So the AT&T iphone actually has slots for 2 sims?

No, the latest art xs/xsmax/xr has one esim and one physical sim slot

was looking at a backup phone, saw this brand

Umidigi f1 , usually around $170 (4GB/128GB)
Umidigi s3 pro, usually around $240 (6GB/128GB)

Both contain 5150mAh, 6.3" LCD FullHD, NFC, dual SIM dual standby (though 2nd sim shared with microSD), and very good LTE specs with some VoLTE support, works partly on Verizon too(CDMA voice and lte works, but not volte supposedly)

S3 pro is cermaic and much heavier though, P70 vs P60 and cameras slightly different but both suckish

Mediatek CPU though. Some people complain about bad qc/units and ram management issues on F1, people with working devices seem happy

https://howardforums.com/showthread....ok-pretty-good

On xda, some people run GSI ROMs on there F1/s3 pro with minor issues (volte typically not working. hotspot not working on earlier GSi but may be working on newer GSI builds, known issue with other GSi devices too), so support longevity isn't that big of a problem if you are technical enough




Umidigi X, release date Sep 2019 (4GB/128GB), should be around $200, 6.3" AMOLED but only 720p. has LTE band 66/71 (that the ones above doesn't)

Umidig F2, release date ?Oct 2019 ?specs, likely have 66/71 too

Got the F1 back in July and have a couple of months experience plus one trip to the UK under my belt. Given the limitations expected with any sub-$200 phone, I'm pleased with my experience so far. Plenty of onboard storage, reasonably fast, the screen is fine, the camera is acceptable for my limited purposes, and the battery is good for more than a day. In the UK, I used the phone extensively as my GPS plus used a golf app during numerous rounds of golf that requires extensive screen time. The battery still did not go down below 30% on any day. That's more than enough battery power for me as I always recharge at night.

I also had good coverage in the UK using a giffgaff SIM on the O2 network. The only time I ever was completely without a signal on a trip that took me from the northern Highlands through Inverness, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews to Edinburgh was near Elgin when I played on a little nine-hole course in a cove of cliffs and dunes. I have also had no problems using H2O Wireless in the US on the AT&T network, but my travels here haven't taken me any place as remote. Of course, signal reception is certainly aided by the multiple bands on which the F1 can receive a signal. Call quality on Google Voice when in Scotland according to the people I called was definitely better than on previous phones, and I noticed less "echo" in those calls. One thing I really appreciated--data can be used and calls can be made from either SIM so there's no need to move the SIM from one slot to the other when you get to your new country. You just make the change in settings regarding the preferred SIM for calls and data, and you're good to go.

There are negatives. I've had issues with the fingerprint reader, as many others on Amazon have reported--it seems to have more recognition problems than the Blu Vivo XL it replaced. The power button is placed almost perfectly--it's almost exactly midway down the right side of the phone--so that I seem to squeeze it unintentionally when I'm carrying objects in one hand and handling the phone with the other, causing a reboot. Some Amazon reviews complain about spontaneous reboots--I haven't had that problem and wonder whether the reboots aren't related to the location of the power button. I've also noticed that occasionally, signal reception is significantly reduced as soon as I step indoors. Although I have no complaints with the camera, my camera needs are minimal; many expert and user reviews have strongly criticized the camera. And some have criticized the candy bar styling of the screen, taller than wider, so that it's less of a "phablet" than some people like nowadays, but since I want a phone that comfortably fits in my pocket, I don't consider this a problem.

For anyone who operates in the off brand phone universe, there are two issues that I cannot yet address. First, updates. I learned with Blu that the Android you get when you buy the phone is likely the Android you'll have so long as you have the phone. Of course, Android 10 is just rolling out so I don't know yet whether Umidigi will provide this update. That generally doesn't mean much to me as I tend to replace phones approximately every 18 months so I'm never more than one OS behind. Second, the phone's durability. I like the build quality, but with no track record, my ultimate judgment on this phone may very well depend on whether it will continue to work for the lifespan I need.

Despite these reservations, I very much recommend the UMIDIGI F1 for those looking for a budget phone with dual SIM capability. I think this phone delivers strong value

thanks for the info

Amazon has the s3 pro for $204 during a lighting deal, going to try that (f1 was $170, happy to spend $34 for the extra ram)

I almost got the F1 Play because of the 6GB RAM, but I haven't felt that the regular F1 is too slow.

BTW , umidigi f2 was officially announced, USD$250 releasing on 10/14

https://www.umidigi.com/page-umidigi...ification.html

Page says this, not sure if it's implying dual SIM dual active LTE/voice? Haven't kept up with how dual sim works with LTE, is it possible for a dual standby device to keep both LTE sessions open?

Also, dual SIM and microSD can all be used simultaneously, most of their recent phones share sim2 slot with microsd

My s3 pro should be coming tomorrow

I'm not sure that implies dual active support. For instance, this claims that the OnePlus 6 has dual VoLTE but I'm pretty sure mine still shuts off one of the SIM cards during a call.

https://www.techmesto.com/dual-sim-w...ported-phones/

Yeah, DSDV (dual SIM dual volte) is new technology...

I was wrong, not dual active, is dual standby and only the VoLTE voice part can be simultaneous

How is the VoLTE IMS compatibility for these unofficial devices? I know Verizon and AT&T doesn't like it and VoLTE typically doesn't work on these devices- how about operators in other countries?

I noticed iOS 13 adds the ability for dual SIM simultaneous calls and call waiting across carriers if WiFi calling is enabled. It also allows iMessages and FaceTime on both numbers now.

Still no unique ring tones though.

i got my umidigi s3 pro

wifi calling AND voLTE works for t-mobile US, surprisingly....

camera isn't great (as expected), but I'm content for $204



dont have another T-mobile/other SIM to verify DSDV VoLTE though

I switched to a dual SIM Huawei P30 Pro couple of months ago finally giving up my 5-yr old OnePlus One. Main SIM is in UK (+ Europe) with the second SIM for India which I visit frequently. My experience so far has been very good with exceptional battery life (day and a half routinely), very good camera experience and general usability. I am not a fan of EMUI though and replaced it with Nova within a few days.

People have asked if I am not bothered about the possible lack of updates but this phone does come within the update window and I do believe that eventually, Huawei will make a deal with the US government.