A general rule of thumb is to get a year or two old flagship instead of a budget new one. One can usually find a great deal on something like S21 Ultra or similar.
this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2023
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100% - also try and budget to get the battery replaced with this method though, most modern smartphone batteries start showing significant wear after 2 years
What's the best way to find actually good flagships of the past? I mean, to learn of which model was good.
Read reviews in GSMArena.
I'd personally recommend the second hand market depending on what your budget is.
I've been thinking about it but Amazon here is not an option and other local shops are not very trustworthy. The warranty they give is about 3 months on average, or none at all.
I've bought phones on Lazada in Vietnam and everything went fine. And I've bought phones from some of the bigger chain phone shops here and it's usually a one year warranty.
Yes, I've been thinking of going the online shopping path, too.
What phone would you recommend?
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I'd get a generation or two old pixel, can get fully unlocked ones on Amazon for pretty cheap. Just replaced my mother's pixel 2 with a pixel 5 for less than $200
What does fully unlocked mean? Can such phones be sold at official retailers? And if not, why would I want it unlocked? Plus, is it easy to do so?
Unlocked means it's not tied to a carrier (mobile phone provider).
Not too sure about the rest of the world, but North America has a huge problem with carrier-locked devices. You buy a phone from YourCellProvider, and you're stuck using the phone only with YourCellProvider.
Damn america is so good at coming up with the most distopian solutions ever and it sucks that people still allow them to
It's more because they'll let you pay for the phone in two years with 0% APR, but you can't just leave, not pay, and use the phone on another provider.
Before it used to be free or heavily discounted, but now it's just a 0% APR credit service.
What a pain. They finally ended this in Canada at the end of 2017. All phones sold since then have to be sold unlocked. Any phone sold before that time is likely still locked to a carrier, but that carrier must provide the unlock code for free upon request. Feels like they did this one right, and it is great to be able to keep an old flagship device for 5+ years and travel with it or move services around as needed.
You've had that for 6 years? Holy damn, I'm envious. It's OEM or get fucked over here.
Ah, we don't have anything like that here.
In australia we have it too and really bad. Basically all phones are locked to the former nationalized carrier Telstra.
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Agreed. I'm about to update to the new (to me) Google Pixel, probably the 6a. (I think they're on the 8 now?) The battery on my current pixel is not holding up. My last two phones were pixels and probably my next couple will be as well
My whole family is on pixels, very reliable phones. My mother's pixel 2 was 6 years old and only failed because the battery began to swell.
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I checked GSMarena for the most popular <$200 Android phones with decent specifications.
The top results are:-
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Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 (6GB RAM, 128GB HD, Snapdragon 4 Gen 1, 48MP camera)
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Samsung Galaxy A14 (6GB RAM, 128GB HD, Mediatek MT6769, 50MP camera)
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Realme C53 (6GB RAM, 128GB HD, Unisoc Tiger T612, 50MP camera)
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Tecno Spark 10 Pro (8GB RAM, 256GB HD, Mediatek Helio G88, 50MP camera)
Personally I'd go for the Redmi Note 12 because of the better processor.
Edit: Also, here is GSMarena's buyer guide for <โฌ200 phones:- https://www.gsmarena.com/best_midrange_allrounders_buyers_guide-review-2032.php
Motorola has a bunch on Amazon currently. Pick out the one that is most affordable.
It's been a few years since I've had one, but budget Motorola phones have treated me well in the past.
Which model would you recommend?
And we don't have Amazon here.
Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G 2023
The last one I bought was a few years back. But it has a big battery. Moto G8 Power Lite if you can find it don't pay too much it's a older model.
I'm rocking the Moto 5G Ace One and it's been doing me just fine for the last two years.
Redmi Note... Something.
Poco F something.
Depends on how you define good budget.
To me, the Samsung galaxy a phones and the pixel a phones are good. They strike the balance between value and having an actually usable phone.
Any Pixel + graphene os
Poco f5 ,if you dont like miui flash a custom rom
Moto edge 30/20 pros
How do you get graphene installed, and why is it good?
Non-profit, open source and extremely privacy consious. You'll need a rooted Pixel device and you can download/learn about the ROM here: https://grapheneos.org/
I liked GrapheneOS but I didn't like the pixel hardware personally
Definitely not more than 200usd. Thanks for the advice!
I would echo what OP said there, I had to get a temporary replacement phone while my main one was getting a screen repair, and I was amazed at how good a Galaxy A was for the price. Think it was about ยฃ120 or so, and it's a great phone.
Which model specifically?
As a fellow Vietnamese, I would like to recommend a used Pixel. 6th gen Pixels are pretty cheap right now. Last I checked a used 6 Pro used was around 7m VND. They have flagship hardware and 3 years of updates left. And they're open to custom ROMs unlike Samsung or Xiaomi. Honestly can't beat them for the price.
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Fairphone 4 maybe? You pay a little extra for the faitrade stuff, but it's still not awfully expensive
Thanks but it's not sold in Vietnam.
If you want to install a custom ROM you should check what phones your future ROM supports
I believe for GrapheneOS it's pixel 6
Cheap pixel a is like 300ish
Look at the budget Moto G series. Model designations might be different where you are. They start around $110 unlocked in US.
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Realme phones are pretty good for the price. You may need to remove a couple of bloat applications and tune some settings after getting it though.
Get a flagship phone from a generation or two ago, I'm still using my Pixel 5 and I love this phone and they're dirt cheap at the moment, both new and refurbished, because it's 3 generations behind
Thanks! But what newest features are missing there? Does Pixel 5 have anything useful the newer models don't?
Well, in my opinion the fingerprint sensor is far superior for one. Other than that it's a little smaller than current generation phones but I think it's a more manageable size than the current generation
I currently use a ZTE Blade V Smart/ZTE 2050, which cost me 150โฌ, pretty cheap, but still very usable (bought it a few years ago so that exact model isn't worth it anymore, I had generally not absolutely terrible experience with ZTE phones before, tho). I also have a newer phone that I don't use for no reason, a Xiaomi Redmi Note 11, which cost me 200โฌ.
Samsung Xcover
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is great if you want a new budget phone, you can look up reviews on YouTube for that phone. Trying to find a used flagship is another good idea.
Margot's budget phones thread has also good recommendations: https://lemmy.world/post/4846313
This is a good phone, but OP wants something below $200.
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