Need a good all-rounder phone for Rs 10,000 to 20,000

[powerstarprince]

Hi, I want to purchase a good mobile phone for my mother. Her phone is vivo y81 which is five years old. It can be sold for an exchange value of Rs 3000. Can you please suggest me a new phone to buy?

Current options are from Samsung Galaxy A14, A23, A24, A34, M34, F34

It would be nice also to prefer a Pixel 6a if possible. Are there any other options that are worth around this price range?

 

[omega44-xt]

Get M34 IMO, will be enough.

 

[powerstarprince]

Is F34 the same as M34? I see that Galaxy F34 is a Flipkart exclusive. IMO exchange values are more on Flipkart than on Amazon.

How is the build quality compared to the A series? I know that both phones have a plastic frame and a plastic body but the Galaxy A series has better features and value.

What is the current best price for the Galaxy M34?

 

[nac]

All Chinese mobiles have sub brands, so they make the same phones with different brands. Since Samsung doesn't have any sub brand, looks like they are making the same phones and branding it in different series. What's the major difference between A14/F14/M14?
Going by spec sheet, F34 and M34 looks pretty much the same. A34 won't come in your budget and it's in a different league.

 

[omega44-xt]

Is F34 the same as M34? I see that Galaxy F34 is a Flipkart exclusive. IMO exchange values are more on Flipkart than on Amazon.

How is the build quality compared to the A series? I know that both phones have a plastic frame and a plastic body but the Galaxy A series has better features and value.

What is the current best price for the Galaxy M34?

Yes, F34 = M34

Both will get 4 OS updates. Unless the price difference is significant, I will purchase from Amazon for better after-purchase support in case anything goes wrong within the return period.

 

[powerstarprince]

I still haven't purchased the Samsung Galaxy F34 (6GB RAM, 128GB Storage) [Mystic Green] for around Rs 14,000 from Flipkart. I get an additional Rs 2000 discount on the exchange value of Rs 3000 for the old vivo phone. I considered other options now the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G (8GB RAM, 128GB Storage, Snapdragon 865) from Amazon for Rs 23,000 when it's on sale and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G (8GB RAM, 256GB Storage) from Flipkart for Rs 20,000. I get an additional Rs 4000 discount on the exchange value when I purchase the Redmi Note 12 Pro and an exchange value of Rs 2500 on Amazon for the old vivo phone, which is less.

Which of these phones should I purchase? Is the Galaxy S20 FE 5G released in Oct 2020 worth it? A headphone jack and a memory slot would be preferred.

 

[omega44-xt]

Redmi Note 12 pro is not worth considering IMO. Check how much Poco F5 will be after exchange, much better phone. It has 3.5mm jack & will get 2 OS updates. Rear cams won't be as good as S20FE for sure.

S20FE 5G is a good device hardware-wise, but no more OS updates. It started with Android 10, and now ended up with 13. The rear cameras are great but the front cam isn't good for the price at all. After 2 years, my phone gives me 3hr SOT on 5G & 4+ hrs of SOT on WiFi. It had a consistent 5hr SOT on WiFi when it was new.

F34/M34 are ok for their price & have 4 OS updates ahead of them, so till Android 17.

 

[powerstarprince]

I saw on GSMArena, a new 2022 variant of the Galaxy S20 FE 5G was released in Korea and Mexico. It comes out of the box with Android 12. Does it still support four years of additional OS updates?

How is the S20 FE 5G now? Is there a battery replacement programme available from Samsung? Doesn't it also come with the 15W adapter rather than the 25W fast charge adapter?

Why is Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G not worth it? For the price of Rs 20,000, I think it is a valuable phone. What are the cons? Is Realme better than Redmi?

Samsung Galaxy F34 is the first choice. I'm a little confused with the other phones. Galaxy S20 FE 5G seems a value-for-money phone if I can purchase it for around Rs 22,500, while Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G for the 256GB variant is not bad for its price. I do not want to exceed my budget by more than Rs 22,500. For a price of Rs 14,000, the F34 seems like a good purchase.

 

[invisiblebond]

Will Honor be launching a 5G phone priced between 9999 and 13999

 

[powerstarprince]

Xiaomi Poco F5 is priced at Rs 25,000 with the exchange value added.

 

[omega44-xt]

I saw on GSMArena, a new 2022 variant of the Galaxy S20 FE 5G was released in Korea and Mexico. It comes out of the box with Android 12. Does it still support four years of additional OS updates?

How is the S20 FE 5G now? Is there a battery replacement programme available from Samsung? Doesn't it also come with the 15W adapter rather than the 25W fast charge adapter?

Why is Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G not worth it? For the price of Rs 20,000, I think it is a valuable phone. What are the cons? Is Realme better than Redmi?

Samsung Galaxy F34 is the first choice. I'm a little confused with the other phones. Galaxy S20 FE 5G seems a value-for-money phone if I can purchase it for around Rs 22,500, while Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G for the 256GB variant is not bad for its price. I do not want to exceed my budget by more than Rs 22,500. For a price of Rs 14,000, the F34 seems like a good purchase.

No, most likely. Will be stupid to give that phone 3 OS updates. If it does happen though, the community should be easily able to port it to S20FE 2020.

No battery replacement program. Battery replacement price is fair, if I remember, 2.5k incl. labour & taxes.
www.samsung.com/in/support/spare-part-pricing-list-for-repair/


RN12 pro is fine, I avoid recommending Redmi usually because of higher ads & bloatware vs Mi or Poco branded phones. If you can get Poco F5, is a better choice. So is Moto Edge 40, but saw lower offers/deals on this.

 

[powerstarprince]

So does it mean the Galaxy S20 FE 5G won't receive Android 14? This phone would be a good purchase if it came below Rs 23,000. Anyways the new phone should be usable for at least the next 5 years like the old phone did. What do you suggest me to purchase between the S20 FE 5G and the F34?

The previous vivo phone also received ads and had bloatware. Are Redmi phones worse than their vivo counterparts?

 

[Æsoteric Positron]

RN12 pro is fine, I avoid recommending Redmi usually because of higher ads & bloatware vs Mi or Poco branded phones. If you can get Poco F5, is a better choice. So is Moto Edge 40, but saw lower offers/deals on this.

Have you used xiomi phones lately? I was also surprized by the situation being not as bad as previous years, ads have been minimized to a really low point. Still worst than other brands though.

 

[omega44-xt]

Have you used xiomi phones lately? I was also surprized by the situation being not as bad as previous years, ads have been minimized to a really low point. Still worst than other brands though.

My mother has RN 8 pro, my aunt has RN 10. Full screen ads were not an issue on RN10 as well but there were annoying notifications & all which I had to disable, many bloatware as well. Sadly have to do these even on Samsung these days but Redmi is usually the worst among those 2 & even BBK. Samsung's UI is at least better than MIUI.

 

[powerstarprince]

Since the Galaxy S20 FE 5G doesn't have an offer anytime soon and it is an old phone that was released 3 years back help me choose between Galaxy F34 5G for Rs 14,000 and an additional Rs 1000 spent on charger versus the Galaxy A23 5G for Rs 17,000 that comes with the old 15W charger I believe. I will order the phone today.

 

[omega44-xt]

Since the Galaxy S20 FE 5G doesn't have an offer anytime soon and it is an old phone that was released 3 years back help me choose between Galaxy F34 5G for Rs 14,000 and an additional Rs 1000 spent on charger versus the Galaxy A23 5G for Rs 17,000 that comes with the old 15W charger I believe. I will order the phone today.

M34/F34 because of AMOLED & longer OS update schedule (till A17 vs A15). Sure A23 has a more efficient chip, but M34 can force its way because of the higher size battery.

 

[powerstarprince]

Ordered the Samsung Galaxy F34 5G from Flipkart. Thanks, Omega for the recommendation.

Do you mean both Galaxy F34 and A23 have the same battery life or an endurance value of 138 hours as listed on GSMArena?

 

[omega44-xt]

Ordered the Samsung Galaxy F34 5G from Flipkart. Thanks, Omega for the recommendation.

Do you mean both Galaxy F34 and A23 have the same battery life or an endurance value of 138 hours as listed on GSMArena?

Can be similar enough. My mother has F23, she is happy with its battery life, easily lasts more than a day but she charges it every morning, not always to 100%, so couldn't get SOT numbers.

 

[powerstarprince]

I want to ask whether 6GB RAM would be sufficient for four future OS updates. I went with the 6GB variant rather than the 8GB variant that costs Rs 2000 more. I read about the RAM Plus 6GB + 6GB = 12GB RAM from Samsung's homepage. Would 8GB RAM make the Exynos 1280 better?

 

[omega44-xt]

IMO 6GB is fine for sub-20k phones. I'll say 8GB RAM is a must beyond 25k. I doubt your mother will burden the RAM.