[civic-dk]

Originally Posted by SRS

Sad to see you had such a bad experience with the Samsung, I guess you had the Exynos version which was notorious. The newer ones are better. Now moving to Exynos 1480, it's a tried and tested chip no slouch but nothing great either but sometimes people just want something that works and gets updates. Samsung has made all their devices with 4 to 6 years updates now except for the ultra cheap variants.

Anyways, the Samsungs don't sell for a reason but for better value for money products the Chinese are the way to go. Now to the new CMF has a lot going for it but for the price, there are bound to be some features which have to be cut. It is good that atleast they now have a charger in the box in India.

Hope you find the best value for money device for youself

I have been a long term user of Samsung phones (including my family), staring with galaxy S2 (which use to heat up like anything, Note 2 (which was pretty solid), Note 3 Neo (again solid but unspectacular), galaxy s10 (a beautiful phone which my wife dropped somewhere and lost it), Note 9 (pretty good), galaxy s20 plus (pretty solid phone, going strong even after 4.5 years, had one screen and battery replacement foc after 2.5 years) which my wife is using nowl. At present, I am using galaxy s22 ultra for last 2.5 years and my experience has been great so far.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that the Samsung flagship phones are pretty good even though they use exynos processors in most of the instances.

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by SRS

Maybe but despite the same Nothing has a good product on its hands and it will surely well. If you are looking at Nothing's portfolio the 3a, 3a Pro are options with many more features. Now the Nothing Phone 3 will release and it will be a flagship killer no doubt.

I wish they provide better hardware for the buck. For a 30K phone, 3a has UFS 2.2 storage, while even 25K phones these days have 4.1 storage. The processor is dated. Offcourse, their software is pretty good and optimized.

[SRS]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

I wish they provide better hardware for the buck. For a 30K phone, 3a has UFS 2.2 storage, while even 25K phones these days have 4.1 storage. The processor is dated. Offcourse, their software is pretty good and optimized.

The only phones under 30000 with UFS 4.0 or above storage are Poco X7 Pro, OnePlus Nord 4, Poco X6 Pro, Poco F6 and Realme GT 6T. Of these, all the Pocos are performance-centric with compromises in camera and other departments, while the Nord 4 is definitely a good all-rounder. The GT 6T is good too but the Nord 4 is definitely the pick of the lot.

[DetectiveMiles]

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

Has anyone downloaded the Samsung One UI 7 for S23 family? I got the notification for the update today, not sure whether to install it straightaway or wait for a stable-er release.

This is the Stable release from Samsung. I have upgraded S23 Ultra to OneUI 7 yesterday as it dropped. UI is smooth, no issues. One thing I noticed during few hrs of usage is battery life seems to have improved, but it was only with few hrs of IPL. Will know better after a few weeks of regular use.

You can update or wait to see how are the reviews. I found it is good.

[Rapid]

Samsung A50, used to shoot many photos due to its unusually good camera. Now thinking of upgrading to an S23 or 24.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

..Moto Edge 60 Stylus has flat display but sadly this year all of their models are getting launched with Mediatek, no Qualcomms. And 60 Stylus also misses the telephoto camera.....

(Gulp)

To clarify, you mean this year's Moto Edge 60 Stylus will have Mediatek and not Snapdragon? Both the Motorola site and Flipkart mentions as Snapdragon processor.

Just ordered the phone yesterday.

[SRS]

Originally Posted by DicKy

(Gulp)

To clarify, you mean this year's Moto Edge 60 Stylus will have Mediatek and not Snapdragon? Both the Motorola site and Flipkart mentions as Snapdragon processor.

Just ordered the phone yesterday.

Don't worry, the Edge 60 Stylus comes with the old Snapdragon 7s Gen 2.
https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_ed...s_5g-13785.php

[Oxy]

Not sure why there's this hate in general for Mediatek processors. I find them on par with Snapdragon.

I am currently using a Moto Edge 40 since two years (which has a Mediatek processor) without any major hassle.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

I wish they provide better hardware for the buck. For a 30K phone, 3a has UFS 2.2 storage, while even 25K phones these days have 4.1 storage. The processor is dated. Offcourse, their software is pretty good and optimized.

Originally Posted by SRS

The only phones under 30000 with UFS 4.0 or above storage are Poco X7 Pro, OnePlus Nord 4, Poco X6 Pro, Poco F6 and Realme GT 6T …. Nord 4 is definitely the pick of the lot.

As someone who recently bought a Nothing Phone 3a for my father, I thought I’d add my 2 cents to this discussion.

In terms of the physical hardware that you touch, nothing in the budget/midrange category comes close (not even my pixel 8a). There are zero gaps between the back and front glass and the frame it is tight and consistent. Both my Dad and I are long term iPhone users and we find that the Nothing Phone is probably the easiest android to switch to from an iPhone because it feels like it is built solidly and the OS feels smoother to swipe through and navigate than any other budget android. When buying the phone, a Oneplus rep at the Croma store, tried convincing me to go for the Oneplus Nord 4. I was intrigued and felt I owed him atleast the thought of changing my mind, so I played around with it. I don’t know about the type of storage being used and all but everything from the touch sampling rate, to the oleo phobic coating, to the build, all felt far superior on the Nothing Phone 3a, so I stuck with my decision to have it billed. End of the day it is easy to read specs and assume things but for any realistic assumptions to be drawn, it is important to try the devices out in person. Atleast when it comes to non flagship products.

I am someone who has always used and advocated using only flagship devices and I felt justified in holding this opinion after my recent disappointment with my first budget/midrange purchase which was the Pixel 8a, but having used the Nothing Phone 3a, all I can say is that it is an extremely polished device storage type and processor aside, it literally feels slicker and better built than phones with faster storage and better processors. To me it just goes to show how the vision of one man or a small team can trump products released by large corporations that are just trying to fill gaps in their portfolio. I encourage anyone on the lookout for a budget android, to go for the 3a eyes closed

[deathwalkr]

Been trying to ditch my old LG V40 which i use as a music player thanks to it's nice DAC. But the battery is almost at life's end and charge drops rather rapidly.

Thinking of selling my Nothing 2 and getting a new phone with microSD slot and a DAC dongle.

Is there any phone with a memory card slot in the 50k range these days?

Or maybe i should just buy a DAP. But trying to avoid two devices...

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Is there any phone with a memory card slot in the 50k range these days?

Many Android phones including few models of Moto Edge series come with SD card support upto 1 TB.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

Many Android phones including few models of Moto Edge series come with SD card support upto 1 TB.

Isn't that around 20k odd? I would love to get a phone around 50k for the overall phone experience as well

[PreludeSH]

With the new UI upgrade to S24 Ultra, it looks fresh and feels I am using a new phone

Wish they keep doing this to feel good without having to upgrade the hardware which stays good for at least 5 years !

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Isn't that around 20k odd? I would love to get a phone around 50k for the overall phone experience as well

Edge series has many models at different price points. Rest its all about perception. I use Pixel but suggest Motorolas to my family and friend circle since I prefer bloatware free Android.

Whenever I use their Motorolas, they feel far more ergonomic and lightweight to handle compared to my Pixel. There is no harm in saving money by going for VFM consumables when their life span is so short. Mobile companies emphasis more around cameras to increase the price of the models where the actual camera hardware typically costs barely 2K-7K in all the mobiles.

Today the technology has plateaued and you hardly feel any difference in the performance between mid range or high end mobiles like it used to feel a few years ago. And after 3-4 years of usage the mobiles anyway contribute in the day by day growing e-waste dump-yard due to business policy of the manufacturers of not providing the compatible batteries anymore for the older models turning rest of the working hardware useless.

If you just want to spend for the sake of perception then probably you gonna left disappointed since no high end Apple, Pixel, Samsung or even the Motorola RAZR series comes with the memory card support.

[meerkat]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

.... And after 3-4 years of usage the mobiles anyway contribute in the day by day growing e-waste dump-yard due to business policy of the manufacturers of not providing the compatible batteries anymore for the older models turning rest of the working hardware useless.

There is no point lamenting the manufacturers' business policies. We all know they are there only to enhance their profit margins at the cost of everything else.

Rather I hold the various governments of the world responsible for creating all this mess through dereliction of their duties of keeping the businesses in line through appropriate laws and regulations.

Here I quote from one of my posts (in the Android Thread) a few monts back on just this topic:

Originally Posted by meerkat

... My ~7.5 year old Samsung still runs just fine, and I've been happy with it, -- it didn't need a replacement with a new phone, -- only needed a new battery (which happens to be user-replaceable). But I could not source a new battery from any reliable source!

The root cause, in my view, is no standardization of the ubiquitous Lithium batteries, unlike the good old rechargeable AA, AAA, C, D etc. cells .... The manufacturers of various devices design in as many different kinds with different dimensions and pin-outs and so on, as there are different devices, --of course, with only a view to make a profit at whatever cost to the environment and to the customers. -- So I couldn't just go out and buy a new battery from a reliable manufacturer that fits my old phone!

Just think, wouldn't it make sense to standardize just a few different sizes of Lithium batteries that would fit all the various devices? --- But noooo...., that would come in the way of the manufacturers reaping ill-gotten gains at the expense of the customers, -- to say nothing of the immeasurable damage to the environment as a consequence.

.....

I'll end with just another example: my old Canon and Olympus digital cameras run on AAs, while another Nikon bridge camera runs on a Lithium battery that is identical in every respect to the batteries that went in the good old indestructible Nokia feature phones, --- except for one important respect, -- the pin-outs are different! So one is forced to buy a proprietary battery at 3-4x the price!
.

.