Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Gadgets, Computers & Software (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/)

-   -   Android Thread: Phones / Apps / Mods (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/83859-android-thread-phones-apps-mods-2113.html)

I agree with your argument that today's Androids use so much of ram.

However, i don't agree when you said apps can run on mediocre iPhones bought many years ago while that is not a thing on Androids.
iPhone of many years ago had flagship chips and if you compare a 4-5 year old Android flagship it is also able to run today's apps easily. My OnePlus 6T which is almost 4 years old runs almost everything I can throw at it except probably heavyweight games like Genshin Impact. Infact, my sister's 5 year old 5T still runs beautifully.
Compare this to my brother who had a iPhone 8 plus, yes it ran everything but the overall experience was sluggish, it took a lot of time to open up apps.

When we compare yesteryears iPhones, we should also remember that compared to those times standards, people still paid through their noses for iPhones and so we should also be comparing only flagship Androids (many of which were cheaper).

Coming to look of the Android. I find the Oxygen OS and Samsung's one UI beautiful and they have very useful features built in which people easily overlook by saying "bloatware filled Android UIs".

I always used to be mesmerised by iOS but once everyone in my family got one, I realised it was only the attraction of something unknown. Android is much more user friendly, and easier to navigate quickly across the UI. There are so many little nuances of iOS which I only realise when I have to use my mother's iPhone and then I happily come back to Android.

For example - I see someone above complaining that iOS caller app is beautiful and Android's is clunky. In Android, if you search a number in your caller app, it searches the recent dials and contacts along as you type in the number.
In iOS, first you have to navigate to the 'contacts' tile (unlike Android) and then type in the number. Only when you have typed the complete number and pressed call, it will show - oh you had the number saved, here's the name! This is such a stupid app design!
I can give many such examples where Android's intelligent touches just wipe the floor with iOS.
Coming to the beautiful animations and fluidity, middle-high end Androids with fast refresh displays are almost, if not just as, equally fluid. On the other hand, it is myth that iPhones don't have bugs, crashes, lags etc. I have & my now apple-fan turned sister both have experienced many bugs in iOS as well and there are videos on YouTube as well.

The only catch with Android is that you need to do your due research before getting an android unlike apple where you can blindly buy a new iPhone. Give value to user experience and don't chase mad specs that most of these Chinese vendors advertise. If you spend equall money as an iPhone on an android you are going to have a good experience.

Samsung Galaxy S20+ green line on the display issue and it's repair under goodwill warranty:

After 1 and half years of ownership my Samsung Galaxy S20+ started showing the infamous green line right in center of the display.

Although it is out-of-warranty, I believe 1 and half year is not long for an AMOLED screen to go like this. And I didn't wanted to pay 15.5k just to get it replaced. Many users faced this after a few days into some or other OS update, more so after this year's June update. So after a lot of research, I talked to customer care over call, who acknowledged that this is a known issue, asked me to submit the phone at service centre. The folks there acknowledged that this is a "manufacturing defect" and not caused by me, but declined to get that replaced under goodwill warranty or even at discounted price.

Frustrated, I DM'd Samsung on Twitter which immediately got escalated and after explaining everything again and also pointing to many such complaints even on their community portal, I was asked to submit the mobile again for more thorough verification. Fortunately, except for a small scratch on the metal frame at the top, my mobile was flawless. After 2 days of waiting, I finally got a call that they approved replacing the display under goodwill warranty and by the next day, I got my mobile with a brand new screen. Surprisingly the scratch on the frame has also disappeared, so, they might have replaced that as well.

Even though, it was their fault to start with and I had to contact multiple folks from multiple platforms, I'm actually still happy that Samsung did replace it free of cost for an out-of-warranty mobile.

Looking for a sturdy phone for a relative under 8000 Rs. 90% of use will be for phone calls & whatsapp. Only occasional use of banking or swiggy or UPI apps. Camera will be rarely used. Is the Samsung Galaxy A03 a good choice? Any other good recommendations? Mainly looking for sturdiness & very good after sales service.

You can also check out the Realme C31. The 4Gb+64Gb (storage) variant is for 9,999 and it is a pretty good phone at that price point. These are available on Flipkart or on the Realme website.

I would recommend you get the POCO C31 although I am not a fan of Chinese phones but under Rs.8,000 it is one of the best you can get. Grab it while it is in stock

Link: https://www.amazon.in/POCO-C31-Royal.../dp/B09NY874NW

As regards Samsung Galaxy A03 Core, the processor is not great (Unisoc SC9863A) and has only 2gb RAM, whereas you get at least 3gb RAM and a Helio G35 processor in the POCO C31.

You can get the 4gb ram variant of the POCO C31 under Rs.9,000 too if you are interested

Hello, Condor.

Have you bought the G52? If yes, please share your experience. I have zeroed in on the Motorola brand for precisely the same reasons like you - no 100% Chinese phone.

Would like to know about the Motorola experience as such, not specific to model.

I have a friend of mine who bought a Motorola G52 recently and he is pretty happy with the phone overall. He says the 90hz pOLED display is gorgeous, battery life is excellent, it has a clean UI and the stereo speakers are great too.
The phone is light despite the 5000 mAh battery.

The cameras and performance though are average. He just does basic stuff on the phone and doesn't click too many pics.

But for someone looking for a well-built phone with a good display, good battery backup, excellent speakers and clean software, the Motorola G52 would be a good choice.

If reliability & after sales service is far more important than RAM or Disk or Processor would it still make sense to go for these brands over Samsung? Is the Samsung A03 RAM, processor etc good enough for the basic usage I mentioned? 90% of usage is going to be making calls & whatsapp. Remaining 10% would be UPI, Banking, Zomato etc. There is really not going to be Youtube or any such usage.

I got the G71. Working fine, no complaints at all. Phone came with a transparent silicone cover (bottom) in the box itself.

Only wish - would have been nice if there was an option for a low resolution option for photos :) Photos are otherwise good. Since gaming is not a requirement for me, but just the occasional video on YT, I didnt think too much about the refresh rate etc.

As far as RAM or Storage or Processor go, the Samsung's budget phones hardly come close to Chinese counterparts and yes, the Samsung's Unisoc SC9863A is one of the most basic of SOCs you can get compared to Mediatek Helio G35 on POCO C31.

If you really want a Samsung Phone itself wait for the upcoming sales on Flipkart and Amazon you will probably get a good deal on some M series and F series devices, maybe even on lower range A series phones as well.

Stock camera app in Motorola always sucked big time despite having decent camera hardware in most of their mobiles, that app is the reason they mostly get bad reviews for cameras.

Install Open Camera app (open source and free) and enable the Camera API 2 to access all the customizations. Set the resolution at around 8MP. Turn off noise reduction and edge enhancement in the processing settings. Also experiment by enabling only the edge enhancement and set it to high quality for very detailed images with bit of noise which is acceptable if the scene is decently lit. You also get Noise Reduction, HDR and DRO photo modes which are far better than the stock app, you only need steady hands while shooting in these modes since the app clicks multiple photos and merges them for better results.

Clicking images at around 8MP is better suited for tinny sensors found in the most mid range mobiles, its mostly because the traditional noise filtering algorithm can't handle bigger images and it messes with the quality. Thats what I found in the mobiles I used so far in last decade, except the Pixel where again their dedicated image processing algorithms do the most part of the job. You can also enable full manual control for photo and videos both in the Open Camera app.

Alternative of this app with a bit better UI is Hedge Cam2 which is based on the source code of the Open Camera, but it may not detect all of the cameras in some mobiles. For eg it does not sense wide angle camera in my Pixel 6.

Another better option will be to find the modded Google Camera app for your mobile, the AI based HDR+ processing does magical job on any camera hardware given that the app is working in the particular mobile.

Thanks, @tbppjpr. It doesnt trouble me as such. And I just want to keep things simple. I got the moto for some specific uses, and will let things be as they are. It's a tool I need to use. Something I dont carry on me all the time.

This is not my primary phone (which is a smaller one, and one on which I dont have even a banking app). I could do what you have suggested, but what would happen in due course is many such customizations & apps that are on the phone, using memory & resources, needing updates ..

I think you get the hang of things. However, thank you for the post here - Hope it helps folks who may be looking for something similar.

Well, after posting the above, I went back to the camera settings, and there is an option to set it at 8MP / 4MP. The normal for rear is 12MP.



Reason I was looking for something lesser - there are times when a lower resolution is sufficient.

Nothing Phone 1 starts having quality issues. It seems the Nothing Phone 1 Glyph LED light strip is peeling on its own inside. Instead of this fancy gimmicky Glyph, they should have bundled a proper charger.

The Nothing Phone(1) is not a value for money device. It is just a mid-range smartphone using SOCs from last year with LED lights at the back, what a gimmick!. ALso the QC issues make this phone a not so worthy buy in the segment.