[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by Oxy

Thanks everyone. The Samsung A52 seems to have been discontinued though, it's not available on the Samsung website atleast. Same is the case with the S20 FE 5G.

So it appears that their successors are going to hit the markets soon.

The A22 has just hit our shores. It's a compact phone (by today's standards, with 6.4inch display).

There is the value-for-money M32 as well.
For senior citizens/non-gamers etc. M32 is sufficient in my opinion.
I got one for my wife, and she is happy with it.
I spent half an hour to remove all the 3rd class bloatware, and it is running like a charm.

[mav2000]

I am waiting eagerly for the Pixel 6 and I hope Google launches it in India. On the Pixel 5, if I remember right, there was some sort of sensor that was not allowed to be used by private citizens in India and that was the reason for not launching it here.

The 6, with their in house chip should be very interesting. My only gripe with Pixel phones has been the small batteries and I hope this chip will (like Apple's M1) be far more efficient.

[civic-sense]

My friends mother needed a phone and I suggested he get her a MI 11 Lite. And according to him she is very happy with it because of it's weight (or the lack of it).

I think it is cruel to make old people handle huge 200+gram phones. I would have suggested a smaller form factor too, but old people often have trouble with their sight, so a bigger screen is often better.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by mav2000

I am waiting eagerly for the Pixel 6 and I hope Google launches it in India. On the Pixel 5, if I remember right, there was some sort of sensor that was not allowed to be used by private citizens in India and that was the reason for not launching it here.

The 6, with their in house chip should be very interesting. My only gripe with Pixel phones has been the small batteries and I hope this chip will (like Apple's M1) be far more efficient.

Hope they drop a Pixel 6A with the same chip. History says they will do it.

[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by Oxy

The Samsung A52 seems to have been discontinued though, it's not available on the Samsung website atleast. Same is the case with the S20 FE 5G.

Originally Posted by abhishek46

The A22 has just hit our shores. It's a compact phone (by today's standards, with 6.4inch display).

There is the value-for-money M32 as well.
For senior citizens/non-gamers etc. M32 is sufficient in my opinion.

Unfortunate that the A52 has been discontinued; just checked Flipkart- it does show up as Out of Stock. It's a pity if Samsung has discontinued it, was a good device unlike many of the others in that bracket. The S20 FE was always riddled with niggles, glad to see that go.

Haven't come across any reviews for the A22 as yet, but specs-wise it does look promising. The M32 looks good on paper, but owing to some bad experiences with the M-series devices, I am constrained to note that Samsung has, for some ungodly reason, crimped on the quality of this series consistently.

[Oxy]

Stay as much away from the A22 as you possibly can. A hell lot of compromises only to have 5G, not worth it at all.

https://youtu.be/g9zsLn3HZAQ

[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by Oxy

Stay as much away from the A22 as you possibly can. A hell lot of compromises only to have 5G, not worth it at all.

https://Youtu.be/g9zsLn3HZAQ

Thanks for posting this Oxy. Seems almost all companies are hellbent on pushing half-baked devices down our throats just by the lure of "5G". Personally feel that investing in a 5G phone right now is useless, considering there's no timeline in sight yet for it's introduction in the country. As always, the policy will have to jump through endless loops before final implementation. I'd rather go for a sturdier and dependable 4G Device than pay for a 5G Device with kinks.

[sukhoi]

Originally Posted by mav2000

I am waiting eagerly for the Pixel 6 and I hope Google launches it in India. On the Pixel 5, if I remember right, there was some sort of sensor that was not allowed to be used by private citizens in India and that was the reason for not launching it here.

The 6, with their in house chip should be very interesting. My only gripe with Pixel phones has been the small batteries and I hope this chip will (like Apple's M1) be far more efficient.

Same here but am not very sure if we would see it getting launched in India. The sudden move by Google to release some details and provide a preview seem to have added to the buzz around it. Came across this video yesterday and it looks interesting. Hope they do launch it in India, both the 6 and the 6 pro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hEPj13PUGc

As per this article

While Google hasn’t confirmed final Pixel 6 availability details and the list of launch countries could be longer, landing pages for the Pixel 6 series have already gone live in eight countries. Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro could be released in the following ten markets; Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States, Spain (landing page not live), Italy (landing page not live)

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Hope they drop a Pixel 6A with the same chip. History says they will do it.

6A would happen next year, or would we get that also this year itself?

[shashank.nk]

Asus phone users, how regular is the updates with the Zenfone ? I'm tempted by the upcoming Zenfone 8 packs the SD 888 despite being a compact phone. I read that Asus gives only 2 major software upgrades but how long do they give security updates and is the frequency monthly or once a quarter for security updates ?

[One]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

Asus phone users, how regular is the updates with the Zenfone ? I'm tempted by the upcoming Zenfone 8 packs the SD 888 despite being a compact phone. I read that Asus gives only 2 major software upgrades but how long do they give security updates and is the frequency monthly or once a quarter for security updates ?

Am a user of Zenfone and their security updates are regular. You can see the release notes per phone model at https://zentalk.asus.com/en/categories/release-notes-en

If you need any other inputs on my experience with Asus, would be happy to provide them as I have used multiple Zenfone models.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by One

If you need any other inputs on my experience with Asus, would be happy to provide them as I have used multiple Zenfone models.

How good are Asus phones to own over a 3 year horizon ? I'm mainly asking from a user experience POV, do you notice lags and stutters a year or two later?

Also,considering the low volumes cases, tempered glass etc might be hard to source 2-3 years down the line ? I'm ok with 2 major OS upgrades but would like security patches for 3 years atleast hopefully on a monthly basis.

EDIT-Any bloatware you cannot uninstall?

[One]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

How good are Asus phones to own over a 3 year horizon ? I'm mainly asking from a user experience POV, do you notice lags and stutters a year or two later?

Also,considering the low volumes cases, tempered glass etc might be hard to source 2-3 years down the line ? I'm ok with 2 major OS upgrades but would like security patches for 3 years atleast hopefully on a monthly basis.

EDIT-Any bloatware you cannot uninstall?

Incidentally, my current model is 2+ years old. It is slightly more sluggish than when it was new. I don't have any performance intensive uses like gaming , though I do have around 100 browser tabs open at any given point in time so I don't get impacted much with the slight sluggishness of a few micro seconds. Also it gets sluggish when I am using a heavy app like Microsoft Teams in a video conference call and trying to watch YouTube at the same time (not sure if this pattern is normal behaviour though), essentially picture in picture mode. I also think that this mode is impacting the screen a bit in terms of possible burn-in but can't be sure about it.

You are right in the fact that accessories will not be available a couple of years down the line for these phones, that's one advantage popular models have. For example, am not sure if I will get a phone case for my phone now, haven't tried searching for one so far though. Using the transparent phone case provided in the box (but no tempered glass) and so far so good. The only thing is that the transparent phone case is yellowing and hardened by now and breaking. Fortunately it came in the box so can't complain after 2 years on this.

Security patches keep rolling in but I don't upgrade. My background is in tech, we do mobile app development amongst other things but still I don't upgrade as I feel it keeps the phone faster (unless I start digging into each update and see if there are performance improvements but I don't do that).

I think the generation of Zenfone 6 is getting upgrades till Android 12, the 5z generation got till 10.

There are no extra apps displayed which can't be installed. But under Settings, there is a support option which helps connect with Asus faster and these cannot be uninstalled. Attaching few screenshots of the same.

Have used two Zenfones so far and I never faced hardware issues in terms of something failing. Incidentally their laptops are pretty stable too.

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

My friends mother needed a phone and I suggested he get her a MI 11 Lite. And according to him she is very happy with it because of it's weight (or the lack of it).

I think it is cruel to make old people handle huge 200+gram phones. I would have suggested a smaller form factor too, but old people often have trouble with their sight, so a bigger screen is often better.

So true. Even I find the 200g bricks very cumbersome to use.

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

Thanks for posting this Oxy. Seems almost all companies are hellbent on pushing half-baked devices down our throats just by the lure of "5G". Personally feel that investing in a 5G phone right now is useless, considering there's no timeline in sight yet for it's introduction in the country. As always, the policy will have to jump through endless loops before final implementation. I'd rather go for a sturdier and dependable 4G Device than pay for a 5G Device with kinks.

Completely agree, but it seems that we have a new problem now. If you are looking for a 4G phone, there are not many options available (specifically that are not 200g bricks). Maybe will pick up the Mi 11 Lite before that goes extinct too.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by One

Have used two Zenfones so far and I never faced hardware issues in terms of something failing. Incidentally their laptops are pretty stable too.

Thank you for the detailed response. In 2 years the phone getting slightly slow is ok, just don't expect it to be severely throttled. I'll probably get a few extra accessories when they're easily available to use later on. It'll be interesting if the Zenfone 6 really gets Android 12 as that would be 3 major OS upgrades!

I have a 5 year old ROG laptop and so have no hesitation in going with Asus again especially given how the UI is only getting closer to stock android and the VFM pricing. I hope in August we finally get to see the Zenfone 8 as they've been postponing launch since June, Samsung foldables are also expected next week so hope to decide soon.

[Oxy]

The Samsung F62, Moto G60 and Poco X3 Pro - all pretty good phones that are now available on Flipkart for about 17k. But I cannot buy any of these as all of them are bulky and heavy that make them unsuitable for seniors. Extremely annoying.