Phone Recommendation : Budget - INR 30K - Camera and Longevity is a priority

[123hero]

I will say the battery & thermals situation is worse or similar at best with S21FE. NP1 is better for battery life because of S778, fabbed at TSMC not Samsung.

S21FE vs S20FE - both are almost the same phone with slightly different design but former has a Exynos fabbed at Samsung vs latter has S865 fabbed at TSMC. Generally chips fabbed at TSMC have better efficiency. Same can be seen in SD 8 gen 1 vs SD 8+ gen 1.

There are no other upcoming compact phones. Pixel 7a is coming soon, but will have an Exynos rebadged as Tensor SoC (same as Pixel 7). 7a will have a 90Hz panel though. 6a is a good choice if the camera is a priority & if you aren't jumping from a phone with a high refresh rate screen (as 6a has a 60Hz panel).

I have a Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 with 60Hz IPS LCD display so I guess that wont be a big bummer for me. The screen on my Mix 2 is a very good panel and colours are very close to AMOLED levels.

I guess, I should get a Pixel and get over with it.

Will moving to an e-SIM be problematic ? As I need a phone with 2 SIMS

 

[omega44-xt]

I have a Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 with 60Hz IPS LCD display so I guess that wont be a big bummer for me. The screen on my Mix 2 is a very good panel and colours are very close to AMOLED levels.

I guess, I should get a Pixel and get over with it.

Will moving to an e-SIM be problematic ? As I need a phone with 2 SIMS

Airtel & jio supports esim. My friend converted his jio sim to esim via steps mentioned on their website, didn't visit their store for it. The same is possible for airtel from what I heard.

 

[123hero]

Just saw the Pixel 7A and its pricing.

Cant believe how close the Pixel 6A Seems to Pixel 7a in terms of its real life usage. The cameras on the 7A unfortunately dont seem deserving of the INR 16000 price difference (7A is retailing at 44k and 6A is at 28K)

I guess I should just shut up and get the pixel 6A and end all discussion.

@omega44-xt : Request your closing remarks on the same.

 

[omega44-xt]

Just saw the Pixel 7A and its pricing.

Cant believe how close the Pixel 6A Seems to Pixel 7a in terms of its real life usage. The cameras on the 7A unfortunately dont seem deserving of the INR 16000 price difference (7A is retailing at 44k and 6A is at 28K)

I guess I should just shut up and get the pixel 6A and end all discussion.

@omega44-xt : Request your closing remarks on the same.

6a was 40k+ when launched initially as well, was not a great choice, esp with software issues back then.

IMO 7a doesn't seem worth it, esp if you have never used a high refresh rate screen earlier (60+ Hz). 7a still has an inefficient SoC, so not like battery life would see a big jump, like say S22 vs S23. I think prices will drop to closer to 35k soon from 40k right now.

Nothing Phone 1 & Pixel 6a are still solid choices under 30k.

 

[TigerKing]

*youtu.be/W6QNSYRxnVA

 

[nac]

Samsung A52s 5G -
Pixel 6a
Realme 9 pro+ will likely go for 20k, good camera phone for that price.

Would the suggestion differ now after 9 months?
All are important but camera gets higher weightage. User is currenlty using Oneplus 6T.
Since the requirement is same and it's already discussed, I don't see the point of creating a new thread.

 

[omega44-xt]

Would the suggestion differ now after 9 months?
All are important but camera gets higher weightage. User is currenlty using Oneplus 6T.
Since the requirement is same and it's already discussed, I don't see the point of creating a new thread.

For 30k, get Moto Edge 40 or Poco F5, former has stock android, latter has bit better battery life.

 

[nac]

For 30k, get Moto Edge 40 or Poco F5, former has stock android, latter has bit better battery life.

I am surprised. I didn't expect to hear anything other than from Samsung and Google for a good camera phone. In fact, I was bit confident and went ahead and said Pixel 6A is the best one can get in the budget.

 

[omega44-xt]

I am surprised. I didn't expect to hear anything other than from Samsung and Google for a good camera phone. In fact, I was bit confident and went ahead and said Pixel 6A is the best one can get in the budget.

For cam, Pixel 6a is still good, but can't hide the fact that it has a 60Hz panel & SoC is inefficient. NP1 used to be its alternative for most with bit inferior cam (their android 13 update fixed all the issues with OS).

Now I feel that Moto Edge 40 & Poco F5 are just the better allround choices for most people. Surely not as good of a cam as 6a, but still good. Good new SoCs surely help. F5 is kind of the top performer in games under 30k, except those S888 phones (those might overheat though). Another con is slow updates compared to 6a, but still both will get android 15.

 

[nac]

For cam, Pixel 6a is still good, but can't hide the fact that it has a 60Hz panel & SoC is inefficient. NP1 used to be its alternative for most with bit inferior cam (their android 13 update fixed all the issues with OS).

Now I feel that Moto Edge 40 & Poco F5 are just the better allround choices for most people. Surely not as good of a cam as 6a, but still good. Good new SoCs surely help. F5 is kind of the top performer in games under 30k, except those S888 phones (those might overheat though). Another con is slow updates compared to 6a, but still both will get android 15.

Yes, 6A spec score isn't impressive. But as you mentioned it's the best camera phone for the price. Checked if there is any good Samsung phone in that budget. F54 5G was there but synthetic score is much lesser than 6A. If 6A SoC is inefficient, then no point considering F54 5G. Synthetic score of Moto Edge 40, Pixel 6A and Nord 2T 5G are about the same and also costing the same. Nord 2T 5G camera scores decent in DXOMark, since user is already using 6T, will feel right at home. Poco F5 for it's powerful chip and Moto Edge 40 for all around performance. These 4 made to the final shortlist, actually didn't expect any phones other than 6A in this list.

www.smartprix.com/mobiles/compare.php?ids=pd19c5axw70,pd1bz3re0gj,pd1u5zsytnd,pd1zy6mxfil

 

[omega44-xt]

Yes, 6A spec score isn't impressive. But as you mentioned it's the best camera phone for the price. Checked if there is any good Samsung phone in that budget. F54 5G was there but synthetic score is much lesser than 6A. If 6A SoC is inefficient, then no point considering F54 5G. Synthetic score of Moto Edge 40, Pixel 6A and Nord 2T 5G are about the same and also costing the same. Nord 2T 5G camera scores decent in DXOMark, since user is already using 6T, will feel right at home. Poco F5 for it's powerful chip and Moto Edge 40 for all around performance. These 4 made to the final shortlist, actually didn't expect any phones other than 6A in this list.

www.smartprix.com/mobiles/compare.php?ids=pd19c5axw70,pd1bz3re0gj,pd1u5zsytnd,pd1zy6mxfil

Nord 2T has QC issues, also boots android 12 with just 2 OS updates, avoid.

Check GSMArena reviews.

 

[nac]

Realme GT 2 looks interesting for the price. It's already a year old, but that's the reason we're seeing at this price. The real bummer is it has no IP rating.