Android phone for 20k - Avoiding heavily customized OS versions

[Cool Buddy]

1. Budget?
Up to 20k

2. Display type and size?
I prefer as small as possible, under 6 inches, but there's really no choice in the market for small screens these days

3. Dual sim?
Not particular about it

4. Preferred choice of brand?
No Nokia. I am just discarding a Nokia which developed problems within 9 months but was refused warranty service. So Nokia is no go.

5. What camera option you want (flash, front facing camera)?
Don't care about camera.

6. Preferred operating system? (Android, iOS,Stock Android etc).
Android, as close to stock as possible, minimal bloatware which can't be removed.

7. Preferred connectivity options (Dual 4G,802.11AC/5Ghz(not 5g mobile network) wifi).
5G not needed

8. Primary use of handset (multimedia, camera, internet, gaming etc)?
Usual day to day usage, no heavy gaming, I do a lot of reading on my phone

9. Any specific mobile phones in consideration?
Moto One Fusion+, but too heavy (200+ gm)

10. Any other info that you want to share:

• Don't care about bloatware as long as it can be removed (not just disabled) without rooting.
• Would like to avoid mediatek processors.
• Would prefer a 3.5mm headphone jack

I was looking at OnePlus Nord, but that lacks 3.5mm port. Does it come with USB-C to 3.5mm adapter?

Was also looking at Pixel 4a, but price and availability are still unclear. Any info on that.

The above two phones are out of my budget, but I don't mind spending a bit more for these. In case of Oneplus, I like their build quality and overall feature set. In case of Pixel 4a, the fact that it's small (5.8" screen) and light (143 gm) is really attractive for me. Coupled with the fact that Pixel phones generally have good build quality and zero bloatware.

 

[Neo]

You can't go wrong with Pixel 4a, but it's 10k above your budget.

 

[Cool Buddy]

You can't go wrong with Pixel 4a, but it's 10k above your budget.

That, and it's listed as coming soon on Flipkart. Tbh I can afford the 30k, I just don't like spending that much because it's pretty much guaranteed that I'll not be able to use it for more than 2-2.5 years. That's why I was considering Pixel because I've seen people use it for over 3 years.

Any opinions on Realme X3. Again, no headphone jack and quite heavy, but specs look really good, with SD855, 30w fast charging, and 120Hz display

 

[omega44-xt]

Forget compact phones at that budget, Pixel 4a is the closest option for someone looking for a compact phone. Pixels have after sales as good as Chinese companies, not Samsung.

For 20k, Realme 7 Pro is relatively light & compact. Not many stock android options. IMO Realme's UI is good enough, spend some time personalizing it, removing recommendations & bloatware & you should be good. For normal usage, it should suffice. There are ADB methods to remove bloatware, check xda.

Nord doesn't come with a 3.5mm adapter nor a type C headphone.

 

[Cool Buddy]

For 20k, Realme 7 Pro is relatively light & compact. Not many stock android options. IMO Realme's UI is good enough, spend some time personalizing it, removing recommendations & bloatware & you should be good. For normal usage, it should suffice. There are ADB methods to remove bloatware, check xda.

Realme 7 pro and Realme X3 are so close in pricing but so different in specs, that I'd rather go for the X3. Don't see any point in going for the 7 pro. I guess I'll have to make my peace with not having a 3.5 mm jack

 

[omega44-xt]

Realme 7 pro and Realme X3 are so close in pricing but so different in specs, that I'd rather go for the X3. Don't see any point in going for the 7 pro. I guess I'll have to make my peace with not having a 3.5 mm jack

7 Pro has its advantages over X3.

Advantages of 7 Pro:
- AMOLED display (much better panel for general use)
- Better rear cam (Sony IMX 682 vs Samsung GW1)
- Better battery life
- Faster charging
- Smaller size & lighter
- 3.5mm jack
- SD card slot

Advantages of X3:
- Much better performance
- 120Hz panel, better for games that support it
- Telephoto cam
- Ultrawide selfie
- Faster storage

There are the differences. Redmi K20 Pro is another option, just runs 1 version older android (got android 10 update & 11 is likely its last). So take your pick.

 

[Cool Buddy]

I'm going with the Realme 7 pro as Flipkart has a 3000 card discount, which means I can get the 6 GB RAM version for 17k and additional exchange value of 3.5k for my old phone, which means net 13.5k. This brings it well within my budget.

I think at the end of the day, battery life is more important than 120Hz display because I don't play games anyway. And the lighter weight makes it better for reading, where you mostly end up holding the phone with one hand.

 

[omega44-xt]

I'm going with the Realme 7 pro as Flipkart has a 3000 card discount, which means I can get the 6 GB RAM version for 17k and additional exchange value of 3.5k for my old phone, which means net 13.5k. This brings it well within my budget.

I think at the end of the day, battery life is more important than 120Hz display because I don't play games anyway. And the lighter weight makes it better for reading, where you mostly end up holding the phone with one hand.

As I said earlier, if you care about size & weight, 7 Pro is a good option under 20k as other good options are bulkier relatively.

 

[Cool Buddy]

As I said earlier, if you care about size & weight, 7 Pro is a good option under 20k as other good options are bulkier relatively.

Yeah, your suggestions helped me finalise it, along with the hefty card discount.

 

[Cool Buddy]

It's been a while, but I wanted to update this thread. I ended up replacing 7 Pro with Pixel 4a last week, in less than 6 months.

7 Pro was heavy and unweildy, I would drop it quite often and found it really frustrating to use because of how tall it was. It was full of bloat, at least 20 pre-installed apps. They pushed a system update which caused my phone to go into a boot loop and eventually lose my data. Its proximity sensor stopped working last month (which could have been a side effect of all the drops). By this point, I was too frustrated to wait out the pandemic to get warranty service. So I sold it off to Cashify for 7k, accounting for all the damages from the drops and bought Pixel 4a for 25k after Flipkart sale and card discount.

 

[sling-shot]

Thank you for the update. I generally like to avoid Chinese brands due to similar reasons. Motorola (although owned by Lenovo now) still seems to be an OK choice for now.

 

[TheSloth]

It's been a while, but I wanted to update this thread. I ended up replacing 7 Pro with Pixel 4a last week, in less than 6 months.

7 Pro was heavy and unweildy, I would drop it quite often and found it really frustrating to use because of how tall it was. It was full of bloat, at least 20 pre-installed apps. They pushed a system update which caused my phone to go into a boot loop and eventually lose my data. Its proximity sensor stopped working last month (which could have been a side effect of all the drops). By this point, I was too frustrated to wait out the pandemic to get warranty service. So I sold it off to Cashify for 7k, accounting for all the damages from the drops and bought Pixel 4a for 25k after Flipkart sale and card discount.

Hi Buddy!

According to your experiecen, Is buying last gen Pixel at this point worth for such a price? I am looking for a small phone for myself.

 

[Cool Buddy]

Hi Buddy!

According to your experiecen, Is buying last gen Pixel at this point worth for such a price? I am looking for a small phone for myself.

You mean Pixel 4A? I can't really say if it's worth it. Pure performance wise, there are better phones at 15-18k. Camera is unbeatable though, unless you go above 30k.

If small and light is your priority, I'd say go for it. The phone si pretty solid.

You can, of course, always chose to wait for 5a, expected around September. But given we have no details yet, that's totally your call.

 

[sling-shot]

Motorola G40/G60?

 

[TheSloth]

You mean Pixel 4A? I can't really say if it's worth it. Pure performance wise, there are better phones at 15-18k. Camera is unbeatable though, unless you go above 30k.

If small and light is your priority, I'd say go for it. The phone si pretty solid.

You can, of course, always chose to wait for 5a, expected around September. But given we have no details yet, that's totally your call.

Thanks for small review.
I yearn for small size with decent performance since I use phone with just one hand. Currently I use a Moto G5+ and anything from current market will be better than this so performance is fine for me. Problem is such a huge price. Actually don't want to spend more than 15K and also don't want ads.
How does the battery hold? 3000mAh is really small in 2021. I don't have a habit of keeping apps minimize and switch between them. But I do use several tabs of browser when using it. That and some games will be the only heavy usage. And occasionally switching on GPS and data. We know that battery degrades over the period of time, will it survive 1 full day after 1 year of usage or I will need to carry a power bank with me all the time?
Pixel 5 will be costly. i can't buy that.
Sorry for long post.

 

[Cool Buddy]

Motorola G40/G60?

6.8" and 225 gm!

Realme 7 pro was 183 and I found that itself far too heavy for a phone, this is 42 grams heavier. I have no idea what is going through the minds of phone manufacturers. Have they forgotten that these are supposed to be Mobile phones?

I guess I'm a bit old school, but I prefer my phones small and light. 5" screen is enough for me, and it should weigh below 150 gm.

 

[Cool Buddy]

How does the battery hold? 3000mAh is really small in 2021.

If you play games on your phone, battery won't last a whole day. If you spend more than 12 hours outside, I'd say you'd be better off carrying the charger or a power bank.

That said, USB ports are fairly ubiquitous now, so carrying a cable should get you through emergency situations. But in general, don't expect much from the battery. That is the major point of compromise for light weight phones.

Also, batteries don't degrade that much till 2 years at least.

 

[sling-shot]

Sony would have been an option but since they left we have few clean options now.

 

[RumbaMon19]

How much can you wait? Asus zenfone 8 lite is coming. It is expected to be medium sized with good hardware. Also, asus gives almost stock ui with no ads.

 

[sling-shot]

I think even that is likely to be 6.2" or something.