Thanks for the assurance about GMS and you're also correct in that the no. of models is baffling. I'm considering whether 64GB internal memory is sufficient as I'm running on about 40GB currently. As soon as you go into the 128GB model you change price point and other options flood in.
If you do decide to go Xiaomi they have decent offers in the mi.com daily pick offers. For example on Sunday the Poco X3 NFC 6GB + 128GB is £80 off reduced to £169.
I bought a 64gb phone and added another 64gb by buying a £7 memory card
Not sure what your budget is like but a pixel 4a is a good option if you fancied going new. Good camera, good battery life (I regularly get 2 days out of mine), headphone jack, no extra bloat installed.
My Dad has his birthday close to Christmas so I tend to be a bit lazy and lump his presents together; he's currently running a Moto G4 (perhaps 5) that is really really struggling.The only thing he seems to want out of a new phone is wireless charging that seems absent on the budget offerings? I certainly don't have it on my Nokia 5.4 (which I'm not loving at all). Any recommendations? I've been looking at the Xiaomi sales daily.
I'm definitely not going contract. We're all on Three SIM only deals where Go Roam should roll on until we actively change or upgrade.Sorry for the circular answer but it (budget) depends. It would seem a bit daft to be spending more than we both did on our own phones simply as his gets used a lot lot less.