The Complete Smartphone Buyer's Guide

[OrrBitt]

The budget has made mobile phones cheaper. To those who know about such matters: Is there going to be a noticeable drop in prices, and how soon before we can expect such a drop? I'm thinking of buying a new phone and am ready to wait for a while if prices are really going to drop.

 

[omega44-xt]

The budget has made mobile phones cheaper. To those who know about such matters: Is there going to be a noticeable drop in prices, and how soon before we can expect such a drop? I'm thinking of buying a new phone and am ready to wait for a while if prices are really going to drop.

How much cheaper? It shouldn't be a big difference, so likely no price drops except for sales.

 

[OrrBitt]

If there's going to be a drop of at least a 1000 to 1500 rupees, I'll wait. Combined with a card offer, that will make it cheaper.

 

[TheSloth]

Moto Edge 30 still a good choice at 23k? Options are only Samsung and Moto. Don't care much about software updates, battery and performance takes higher priority here. Any suggestions?

 

[omega44-xt]

Moto Edge 30 still a good choice at 23k? Options are only Samsung and Moto. Don't care much about software updates, battery and performance takes higher priority here. Any suggestions?

Nothing Phone 1 is under 27k with card offer, Axis FK CC.

Battery is not the best on Edge 30 because of smaller capacity, 4000 vs 4500 mah. But Edge 30 is still decent for its price as Samsung has worse options (not battery wise).

 

[TigerKing]

How is POCO X5 Pro 5G 256 GB compared to POCO X4 Pro 5G?

 

[SaiyanGoku]

How is POCO X5 Pro 5G 256 GB compared to POCO X4 Pro 5G?

Just get a Motorola phone or Pixel 6a unless you want to flash a custom rom.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

 

[omega44-xt]

How is POCO X5 Pro 5G 256 GB compared to POCO X4 Pro 5G?

No point in getting X4 now. X5 pro is good hardware wise, but Xiaomi has the worst software update cycle among the big brands, along with Moto. X5 launching with android 12 shows that they aren't improving, like how BBK did (oppo, vivo, OP, realme, iqoo). Its 5000mah battery might suggest a great battery life, but it seems similar to Nothing Phone 1 with 4500mah acc. to GSMArena, likely because of poor optimisation from Xiaomi.

 

[OrrBitt]

What do you all think of this phone:

Realme Narzo 60 Pro 12 GB RAM 1 TB Storage - Rs. 30K.

**www.amazon.in/dp/B0C787GXXR

I'm not thinking of buying it, just asking for your opinion. For a person whose main requirement is storage, this should be good, but if the phone goes dead and internal storage is inaccessible even via a computer, you're screwed. On the other hand, a 15 or 20K phone with an 8K SD card should serve the same purpose, at the same price.

 

[omega44-xt]

What do you all think of this phone:

Realme Narzo 60 Pro 12 GB RAM 1 TB Storage - Rs. 30K.

**www.amazon.in/dp/B0C787GXXRwww.amazon.in/dp/B0C787GXXR

I'm not thinking of buying it, just asking for your opinion. For a person whose main requirement is storage, this should be good, but if the phone goes dead and internal storage is inaccessible even via a computer, you're screwed. On the other hand, a 15 or 20K phone with an 8K SD card should serve the same purpose, at the same price.

Phones like Poco F5 & Moto Edge 40 have 256GB under 30k, do you really need more?

If 1TB is a deal breaker, then Narzo 60 pro is decent or some phone with an SD card slot (which is getting rare). OP Nord CE3 has a hybrid slot.

 

[rohitshakti_sehgal]

Phones like Poco F5 & Moto Edge 40 have 256GB under 30k, do you really need more?

If 1TB is a deal breaker, then Narzo 60 pro is decent or some phone with an SD card slot (which is getting rare). OP Nord CE3 has a hybrid slot.

Heard that poco has MB issues in all their older gen phone.

Infinix, moto, redmi gives no software updates.

This leaves us with samsung vivo & realme brands only in price range upto 15k which provide decent phones.

Is it correct?

 

[whitestar_999]

Heard that poco has MB issues in all their older gen phone.

Infinix, moto, redmi gives no software updates.

This leaves us with samsung vivo & realme brands only in price range upto 15k which provide decent phones.

Is it correct?

Poco X series(mainly x2 & maybe x3) seem to had issues but never F series or recent X series. Moto comes with near stock android. Vivo is from same group as oppo & realme. Only samsung is different company from a different country(South Korea) but even samsung phones are known to have issues especially in their budget range models where many ppl reported hardware failure during/just after a long update as some online comments suggested samsung used some cheap soldering material which couldn't withstand prolonged heating during such long updates.

 

[true_lies]

My college going nephew needs a new phone, about 20K (absolute max 25) with offers. Currently using Samsung M31s. Opting to exchange.
Been looking at a few options:
Motorola Edge 40 and Edge 40 neo
OnePlus Nord CE 3 5g
Recommended Poco F5 and Samsung A23 5G as well

Config of 8/128 preferred. Average to heavy user (no high end games/social media) and needs a change from heavy lag UIs. Good camera quality for the price.
How is the Dimensity processor in Moto compared to the Snapdragon phones for long term usage?
Any other suggestions are welcome.

 

[omega44-xt]

My college going nephew needs a new phone, about 20K (absolute max 25) with offers. Currently using Samsung M31s. Opting to exchange.
Been looking at a few options:
Motorola Edge 40 and Edge 40 neo
OnePlus Nord CE 3 5g
Recommended Poco F5 and Samsung A23 5G as well

Config of 8/128 preferred. Average to heavy user (no high end games/social media) and needs a change from heavy lag UIs. Good camera quality for the price.
How is the Dimensity processor in Moto compared to the Snapdragon phones for long term usage?
Any other suggestions are welcome.

Poco F5 should be solid, camera is good for current sale price, but considered inferior to phones like NP1, obviously inferior to Pixel 6a.

SoC of Edge 40 is inferior to Poco F5's SoC, but is powerful enough to not be a con, unless gaming is a requirement. Moto has a curved display, so display protection is an issue. NP1's SoC is the weakest of the three, but a good light OS. I feel Nothing will be faster than Moto for updates, NP1 got stable A13 in Jan.

IMO watch reviews of F5, Edge 40 & NP1, take call on what is needed & what can be sacrificed.

 

[TigerKing]

F5 Price increased now.
Don't buy.
Wait for the next sale.
Track pricing using "buy hatke" chrome extension.

 

[OrrBitt]

I'm not asking for buying advice, I just need to know what others think of this phone - Samsung Galaxy A05s. It has a Snapdragon 680 4G processor.

The 6GB RAM 128 GB storage version is available on Amazon for 15K. Is it a good price for a non-5G phone?

*gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_a05s-12584.php

 

[omega44-xt]

I'm not asking for buying advice, I just need to know what others think of this phone - Samsung Galaxy A05s. It has a Snapdragon 680 4G processor.

The 6GB RAM 128 GB storage version is available on Amazon for 15K. Is it a good price for a non-5G phone?

**gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_a05s-12584.php

Do not buy, get Moto G54 instead or if you really want Samsung, pay extra for M34.

With 5G already launched a year ago, why would you consider a 4G phone at 15k?
www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=12584&idPhone2=12503&idPhone3=11290

M34 6/128GB is 15k after coupon discount on amazon, I see no reason to even consider A05s over M34.

 

[OrrBitt]

But the M34 has Exynos... I've used the M21 earlier and found it heated up a lot. Not sure if M34's Exynos 1280 has similar issues.

I wasn't going to buy it, the main thing I wanted to know is if a 4G phone at 15K is worth the money, to which you answered that it isn't. Thanks for the reply.

Btw, does anyone know if any Samsung phone around 20K has custom rom support? I checked a few models in xda but didn't find anything, found only redmi phones.

 

[omega44-xt]

But the M34 has Exynos... I've used the M21 earlier and found it heated up a lot. Not sure if M34's Exynos 1280 has similar issues.

I wasn't going to buy it, the main thing I wanted to know is if a 4G phone at 15K is worth the money, to which you answered that it isn't. Thanks for the reply.

Btw, does anyone know if any Samsung phone around 20K has custom rom support? I checked a few models in xda but didn't find anything, found only redmi phones.

Exynos is bad indeed but at such low performance, not as big of an issue. My aunt has it, she is satisfied.

My first suggestion is Moto G54 but there are people who want Samsung & say no to Chinese phones, so M34 is decent enough for them.

I doubt you will find much luck with custom ROMs on any Samsung phones except flagships. Exynos & Mediatek SoCs have poor ROM support in general.

 

[OrrBitt]

The Samsung A05s (SD 680, 6 GB RAM, 128 GB storage) phone is available on Amazon and Flipkart at 13K, compared to 15K about a month earlier.

This is just for info, in case anyone wants to buy. It's a 4G phone (see discussion above).