Phone below 20 K for online classes, multimedia, no gaming, no Chinese

[sling-shot]

Looking for a stop-gap phone which will also continue to live on usefully with software updates. Current ASUS ZenPhone 5Z is awaiting charging port replacement which will take at least 2 to 3 weeks. Lenovo P2 which is being used now feels little slow and does not ring, so causes missed calls.

Hate MIUI and clones. Also do not like ads. I like software updates from OEM. Prefer no or least notches. Full HD is enough.

Shortlisted Nokia 7.2 and Samsung M31. Came to know of M31s the changes in which seem to be significant. Phone being recently launched and Samsung showing more commitment towards updates seem to be positive. Also storage speed of Nokia seems to be negative in comparison.

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Budget? Below 20 K.

2. Display type and size? Full HD, less than 6" if available.

3. Dual sim? Yes with discrete SD slot.

4. Preferred choice of brand? Sony, Samsung, Nokia, Xiaomi

5. What camera option you want (flash, front facing camera)? No pop-up, OIS if available.

6. Preferred operating system? (Android, iOS,Stock Android etc) Android 10+ with continuing software support.

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

8. Primary use of handset (multimedia, camera, internet, gaming etc)? Online class conducting, multimedia, camera, internet. No gaming.

9. Any specific mobile phones in consideration? Nokia 7.2, Samsung M31, Samsung M31s

10. Any other info that you want to share. Prefer latest technology for components.

 

[whitestar_999]

No phones other than the ones you already selected.
@SaiyanGoku @omega44-xt

 

[SaiyanGoku]

TBH, I'd recommend Poco X2 with custom rom but then again it is Chinese which you don't want.

Phone being recently launched and Samsung showing more commitment towards updates seem to be positive.

Seriously doubt Samsung's statement. They promised "3 years of updates" but I think that'll be limited to newer S and Note phones.

Motorola One Fusion+ has clean UI but isn't available readily.

M21, M31 and M31s have very few differences. M31s has 25W charging.

*www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=10111&idPhone2=10333&idPhone3=10079#diff-

 

[sling-shot]

Yes. The update related commitment was for premium phones. But I am looking at the trend these days. Samsung has launched OneUI across the range. Google is doing work on Treble etc. Companies in general are providing at least some updates. I hope for the best.

Other than the charging, camera sensor is probably a better one. And the dreaded notch has turned into a smaller hole. And it is a newer model on paper so if they are looking at the model launch date for updates, it might help.

And I am extremely frustrated at models launched in limited flash sale mode. Everyone keeps recommending them which leads us down a wild goose chase only to discover that it is not available.

 

[omega44-xt]

Changes in M31S is no way significant. Samsung is still milking the Exynos SoC which performs similar to S660 found in 2 year old phones. Definitely bad for a 20k phone, otherwise no major con of M31S. I feel only Samsung M21 or base model M31 are worth buying.

Good phones under 20k are Moto One Fusion+ & Poco X2, as already said earlier. My top pick would be the Moto. You could have picked Poco X2 during the sales on 6/7/8, not sure if Moto was on sale. Realme 6 at 16k is also a great choice, not the best battery life though, but makes up with 30W fast charger.


I'd say Realme UI is cleaner than MIUI & not as much adds right now. Even in Redmi phones, you can disable a lot of those recommendations, there are guides online which I followed for my mother's Redmi Note 8 Pro. Remember that Poco phones don't have ads like Redmi Note series & cheaper.

 

[omega44-xt]

Seriously doubt Samsung's statement. They promised "3 years of updates" but I think that'll be limited to newer S and Note phones.

Yes, its for flagships starting from S10. This makes S10 series worth considering even after a year, if you can find a good deal on it. Samsung has been pushing 2 android updates to 10-15k mid-rangers for some time now, so I expect that will continue. Only if they put a more powerful SoC, not necessarily S730 or S720 level, but even S710 level would do, with a smaller fabrication used which will help with battery life.

 

[pulkitpopli2004]

Try for Moto One Fusion +. Else Samsung m21 I would suggest though it's processor is not great