[Fuldagap]

Originally Posted by Oxy

If number of future android updates is an important parameter then please stick to Samsung. Check out the A36, it comes with a Snapdragon SOC.

Moto have recently upped their game in providing the upgrades. Some even come with 5 major upgrades for mobiles launched in 2025. Meaning surety till at least Android version 19. Given the Android experience on Motos to be as close as possible to stock, people who prefer stock Android are in for a treat. Priced around 25k INR is a steal, I suppose.

[Samarth 619]

How Ethics change from one time to another

Samsung F55 on Flipkart has been discounted by Samsung to 13k, this midranger phone once costed around 22k. This phone is entirely based on M55, which costed 28k at one time.
It's biggest competitor, NORD CE4, hasn't received a single major price cut, and retails proudly at 22k approx. Yet, I suggested CE4 to 3 people, despite the price.

So, essentially a F55 is a 28k phone in 13k, that too from Samsung, should you rush and get one? Well, read me out before you open FK and order one.


M55's Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 uses some old Axx cores which are known to be buggy and overheating and this reflects in the phone. Not all units are the same, you might get a good piece, but if you don't- you should be ready for cheek burning overheating on calls, 7 seconds to take one pic, restarting after 29 seconds of video record, etc, etc.
Samsung made this 7 Gen 1, so essentially it's like an old, misfated Exynos.
F55 uses the exact same M55 hardware in a leather like shell. M55s is also a fork of the same phone.

M55 received 2.2 stars at one time on Amazon, before it was discontinued. F55 about 3 stars, then for some reason it improved, maybe due to better quality control.

But what if you get a lemon phone? Service center tells you to keep the display brightness low in sunshine when it's needed the most, and to uninstall apps that you actually need and to restart, or format the phone, all useless methods.
Then you hunt for someone to adopt your Rs. 20~k misery.

There's no known buyback for M55, F55 or M55s in my knowledge.

Is this the same Samsung that risked its entire reputation in 2016 by calling back each unit of the ill fated Galaxy Note7, because they were exploding? They incurred a billion dollar loss at least to save their customers, even though only a few (single digit) customers actually saw the phone exploding.
Where are the ethics gone?

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by Samarth 619

How Ethics change from one time to another


Is this the same Samsung that risked its entire reputation in 2016 by calling back each unit of the ill fated Galaxy Note7, because they were exploding? They incurred a billion dollar loss at least to save their customers, even though only a few (single digit) customers actually saw the phone exploding.
Where are the ethics gone?

Note was a flagship device while this is a budget phone. So the priorities would be different. Also, the possibility of explosion was a much bigger risk than complaints about overheating or hanging which are difficult to prove.

[fiat_tarun]

My 1.5 year old Pixel 8 started having screen issues recently (flickering, green lines...) and a quick search showed that it is a known issue acknowledged by Google with a 3 year extended warranty for the screen.

A visit to the Bangalore service centre and I had a new screen in 1.5 hours ! Amazing service and I hope this scales to other cities soon which still require the phone to be shipped out to a central service centre from my earlier experience.

[ramnaresh_2000]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

S25 Ultra was a no brainer to me. I used Note 20 ultra for 3 years and I am well versed with One UI. Went ahead with the pre-launch offer and booked it even before the reviews came out.

One nifty and very underrated feature these days in smartphones is the reverse wireless charging.

When this feature was first introduced, I laughed at it. Who would ever use it? Few years down the lane, it has become mainstream feature in many phones.

I am currently at my hometown and forgot my Smartwatch charger. I thought of buying a new one here, the original was costing some 2.2k. The compatible first copy one is some 500 bucks, but did not want risk it. I then remembered reverse wireless charging feature and tested it.

My phone was at 83% and watch was at 9% when I started reverse wireless charging. My phone is now at 65% and watch is at 50% now.

The watch has to be placed exactly at the center, else it will not charge. The phone tends to heatup a bit (nothing alarming).





This is really helpful feature, I am sure many have already tried it, but I am using it for first time. Most of us tend to use only 20-30% of the features in smartphones, it is always good to have such nifty features.

[Samarth 619]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Note was a flagship device while this is a budget phone. So the priorities would be different. Also, the possibility of explosion was a much bigger risk than complaints about overheating or hanging which are difficult to prove.

It's a midranger, not exactly a budget device (it never reached 4 digits price, and it's a 7 series chipset), plus overheating and hanging is easy to prove with this some units of this device, it's actually this bad.
Your other points are true/ factual, but it would be like saying, you don't deserve warranty because you have a Hyundai, not a Lamborghini.

Where do the lemon phone owners go? If they sell it off on Olx, their misery passes on to someone, but the product remains in the market anyhow.
The guy who got M55 for 26k not even an year ago, can sell it at best for 7k, because 13k today gets you a brand new F55, essentially the same phone with better QC. So, even resale value is dead.

And they continue to sell it discounted as we speak, & no buyback either. If this is not Scam 2024, then what is?

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

One nifty and very underrated feature these days in smartphones is the reverse wireless charging.

This is really helpful feature, I am sure many have already tried it, but I am using it for first time. Most of us tend to use only 20-30% of the features in smartphones, it is always good to have such nifty features.

I have used this quite a few times to lend charge to friends/colleagues's phone when we are outside and their phones don't have enough juice to book a cab or make it home. Hassle free compared to looking for a charger at an unknown place and leaving your phone with them until it gets some juice.

[Raghu2284]

Originally Posted by fiat_tarun

A visit to the Bangalore service centre and I had a new screen in 1.5 hours ! Amazing service and I hope this scales to other cities soon which still require the phone to be shipped out to a central service centre from my earlier experience.

It's great to know that there's now a service center in Bangalore. This was a significant consideration for me when I was thinking about getting a new Pixel. I vividly recall having to ship my Pixel 4a to either Mumbai or Hyderabad due to the camera switch-off issue. Having a local service center will definitely make things more convenient and stress-free.

[fiat_tarun]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

One nifty and very underrated feature these days in smartphones is the reverse wireless charging.

...

I am currently at my hometown and forgot my Smartwatch charger. ...

Have used this quite a bit since I carry 2 phones and use a smart watch sometimes.

Samsung however has locked their watches to charge only with Samsung phones, so now with my Pixel I can't charge the watch with power share anymore

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

One nifty and very underrated feature these days in smartphones is the reverse wireless charging.

Samsung has removed this feature from Watch 7 and Watch 7 ultra. They have some way of identifying the most usable features and removing them.

[ads295]

It's rare for me to write about stuff like this, but here goes...
After my previous phone had its display damaged (Sony Xperia 10 IV), I chose to go for a new phone.

My budget was initially ₹10k, but the devices I found in that budget were found to be unreliable based on various sources. I'm not a power user by any means, but battery life is top, top priority for me and the devices I found in that budget had poor reliability reviews. It was a hit or miss affair (effects of poor quality control).

I made a decision to try out Oppo - one of the Chinese brands I had grown averse to, as they touted gimmicky features (or so I felt) and mediocre reliability (bias).

I bought a device called the Oppo K13 on launch, without any prior reviews. Why? Because it had a very power-efficient yet fast chipset (SD 6s Gen4), a great 120Hz AMOLED display with high resolution, and a massive 7,000mAh battery - made possible by the use of advanced battery tech (silicon + carbon) within reasonable (within this size) weight.

I've been using the phone since the past few days, and the performance is as I expected - it's fast and fluid given the power of the processor. The camera is mediocre but I didn't expect much given that the rest of the boxes were ticked and the price is a bargain given the specs (₹18k).

What has totally shocked me, and the reason for my writing this post, is that for my usage pattern, this phone gives me almost 3 days of battery life. And I'm the kind of person that activates battery protection and charges only to 80%, making sure to charge again at 25%, so this 3-day figure is actually only for 55% of the actual battery capacity.

It does take 2.5hrs to charge from 25-80% (I refuse to use the 80 watt charger supplied in the box).

It's like going back to the good old Nokia days where you could actually go with your phone without worrying too much about whether you had a charger with you.

I've purchased a 2 year warranty since I've never used Oppo before and I'm still working on my biases. That said, I would recommend this device to anyone that's looking for a fast phone with a great display in 2025 on a budget (I cannot wrap my head around people that spend ₹40k+ on a phone these days).

My quest to find a small phone failed after the Sony's display cracked... It was imported from the UK!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by ads295

... ... ... (I refuse to use the 80 watt charger supplied in the box).

Why? Because battery life is likely to be longer if only charged slow and cool?

I think you are right. But there are so many myths and misconceptions (mythconceptions?) about Lion batteries that I can never remember what is right and what is wrong.

My Moto has a humble-these-days 30W charger. I too prefer to plug my phone into old-and-slow, overnight. But keep that fast charger handy! It will probably give you 50% in half an hour or less, and that will probably see you through your day out, if you forgot the overnight charge. Even half an hour in the car, on my now-old QC3 car charger will get me through an evening.

You may not want to charge your phone at superfast speed, but it's great being able to .

[DiMaGo]

Originally Posted by fiat_tarun

A visit to the Bangalore service centre and I had a new screen in 1.5 hours ! Amazing service and I hope this scales to other cities soon which still require the phone to be shipped out to a central service centre from my earlier experience.

I too use a Pixel [Pixel 6a]. Could you please share the Bangalore Service centre location and phone number?
Touchwood, I do not have any issues with my phone; however, in case it happens, I want to be ready with this basic info.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by DiMaGo

I too use a Pixel [Pixel 6a]. Could you please share the Bangalore Service centre location and phone number?
Touchwood, I do not have any issues with my phone; however, in case it happens, I want to be ready with this basic info.

Pixel Service Center is in the 1 MG Road mall at Trinity junction (last storefront facing the Taj hotel gates).

Map coordinates:
Google Exclusive Service Centre (Bangalore)
https://g.co/kgs/nxWhBjR

[fiat_tarun]

Originally Posted by DiMaGo

Could you please share the Bangalore Service centre location and phone number?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/HkG7WiRaYEAaXskz5

It's at the One MG mall.