[carboy]

Originally Posted by carboy

Thank you for the recos.
Cousin ended up ordering the Narzo 50i & received it.

So cousin purchased the Realme Narzo 50i around 6 months back & it's an excellent phone except for one problem. Recently, cousin is on vacation & has been watching videos on the phone for really long hours everyday. This gets the phone quite warm. I hardly ever watch videos on the phone, so I don't know if this is a common problem with cellphones in general or with this model? Is the phone getting warm a problem? Will it damage the phone - is there a solution to this?

[Sri Vathsa]

I was looking at a few options and need recommendations for new phone as my trusted One Plus 6 has hardware issues (touch and battery performance is degraded).

Need

• No heating issues and/or performance issues (I rarely play games on phone), but this phone should handle opening multiple apps at once, including GPS navigation while streaming music etc.
• Good call quality (My office provided Samsung phone has far better audio quality than my OP6)
• Good camera (both video and still pictures) along with at least 128GB storage
• Preferably an Android phone (I somehow don't like iOS)
• Decent battery life (SOT of 3-4 hrs. per day and standby for 4 hours, looking at something which does not die within 8 hours from 100%)
• Looking at devices which don't have lot of bloatware or some crappy apps which you cannot uninstall without rooting.
  
  

Budget does not really matter but looking at value for money options.

checked few options, please advise

1. Google Pixel 7A - Good photo quality, Looks VFM, you will get updates for next 3 years from Google and no bloatware

Unknown - Most users complain that the Phone reception (5G) is sketchy, and it keeps getting disconnected or has call quality issues.

2. Samsung S21 FE - Particularly good picture quality, good support from Samsung

Negative - Some users have reported heating issues with the Exynos processor (no other processor available), already an old model

3. OnePlus Phones - I was an early adopter of One Plus (I had 1+1, 1+3, my 1+6 and my wife's 1+6t). I hear only negative things about their latest phones now, any current One Plus users - Please advise if they provide regular updates which fixes their OS Bugs?

4. S23 and S23 Ultra - Is it worth the extra money over say Google Pixel 7 or pixel pro?

[bijims]

Originally Posted by carboy

So cousin purchased the Realme Narzo 50i around 6 months back & it's an excellent phone except for one problem. Recently, cousin is on vacation & has been watching videos on the phone for really long hours everyday. This gets the phone quite warm. I hardly ever watch videos on the phone, so I don't know if this is a common problem with cellphones in general or with this model? Is the phone getting warm a problem? Will it damage the phone - is there a solution to this?

The Realme Narzo 50i is an entry-level smartphone with a Unisoc SC9863 processor, which is not the most thermally efficient processor out there, so the phone getting warm on long usage isn't uncommon and not an issue. Most phones in the budget segment with this processor have this issue when used for prolonged periods of time, unless the phone gets really hot, it isn't a cause for worry.

Originally Posted by Sri Vathsa

I was looking at a few options and need recommendations for new phone as my trusted One Plus 6 has hardware issues (touch and battery performance is degraded).

Need

• No heating issues and/or performance issues (I rarely play games on phone), but this phone should handle opening multiple apps at once, including GPS navigation while streaming music etc.
• Good call quality (My office provided Samsung phone has far better audio quality than my OP6)
• Good camera (both video and still pictures) along with at least 128GB storage
• Preferably an Android phone (I somehow don't like iOS)
• Decent battery life (SOT of 3-4 hrs. per day and standby for 4 hours, looking at something which does not die within 8 hours from 100%)
• Looking at devices which don't have lot of bloatware or some crappy apps which you cannot uninstall without rooting.

The Pixels aren't necessarily known for good battery life and the S21 FE is already too old, OnePlus isn't what it used to be.
Flagships definitely have that "it" factor and are worth the money if you are able to afford them, the S23 Ultra is perhaps the best phone money can buy right now and there are no two ways about it.

[montsa007]

Originally Posted by Sri Vathsa

I was looking at a few options and need recommendations for new phone as my trusted One Plus 6 has hardware issues (touch and battery performance is degraded).

Need

• No heating issues and/or performance issues (I rarely play games on phone), but this phone should handle opening multiple apps at once, including GPS navigation while streaming music etc.
• Good call quality (My office provided Samsung phone has far better audio quality than my OP6)
• Good camera (both video and still pictures) along with at least 128GB storage
• Preferably an Android phone (I somehow don't like iOS)
• Decent battery life (SOT of 3-4 hrs. per day and standby for 4 hours, looking at something which does not die within 8 hours from 100%)
• Looking at devices which don't have lot of bloatware or some crappy apps which you cannot uninstall without rooting.
  
  

Budget does not really matter but looking at value for money options.

checked few options, please advise

1. Google Pixel 7A - Good photo quality, Looks VFM, you will get updates for next 3 years from Google and no bloatware

Unknown - Most users complain that the Phone reception (5G) is sketchy, and it keeps getting disconnected or has call quality issues.

2. Samsung S21 FE - Particularly good picture quality, good support from Samsung

Negative - Some users have reported heating issues with the Exynos processor (no other processor available), already an old model

3. OnePlus Phones - I was an early adopter of One Plus (I had 1+1, 1+3, my 1+6 and my wife's 1+6t). I hear only negative things about their latest phones now, any current One Plus users - Please advise if they provide regular updates which fixes their OS Bugs?

4. S23 and S23 Ultra - Is it worth the extra money over say Google Pixel 7 or pixel pro?

Heating issues - you wont have any escape from this, even the best of the best phone will heat up with too much pressure.

I'd recommend going for a phone that has atleast 67W fast/turbo/dash/dart charging, unfortunately Pixel phones support a maximum of 18W charging (I had been using a Nokia 8.1 in the past which had the same charging speed) and trust me its a pain in the wrong place to watch it charge, if I were you I would cut that out of the shortlist.

I've been using a Oneplus 8T (12/256 variant) for nearly 2 years now, given that its old but the processor is quite stable & gets good number of updates + has a 67W charging. I did thorough research before buying it, had an option to buy OP 9 Series but they were using the 888 processor which was super flawed, heated up like anything. Even saw Sony Xperia IV 1 (Yes that phone is a beautiful built), but all reviewers said that due to processor the camera cannot record in 4K and there's no way to make it do so , so again OP 9 series was struck out from my list. Also OP 8T had a USB C to USB C type charger it does make a difference.

Here are some brands I avoid at all costs,
Redmi (Bloatware & updates are shady/lazy)
Poco (We have a Poco X5 in the house, updates are thin, its more of a budget phone with occasional lags)
Nokia (They've lost their charm & their pricing is a complete mess compared to the hardware they're providing, imagine asking 40K for hardware that's worth 15K)
Iqoo (Have read in reviews about privacy issues and they load up bloatware, but their price to performance ratio is unbeatable, but again I love my privacy so this brand is a no)
HTC/Honor/Huawei/LG (These guys have closed shops except HTC but they don't produce anything great now so buying anything from them is a bad bet)

Here are some brands I look for,
Samsung (As a backup, if they have something exceptional)
Oneplus (Any given day, but the phone has to have established itself)
Oppo/Vivo (Oneplus sibling since they have the same parent, they launch the same phone with slight modifications in hardware, sometimes its the same hardware with a different branding)

Here are some brands depending on their model I may look at,
Motorola (For backup phones, their after market value has gone down, not sure how good updates they provide)
Sony (I still eye the Xperia 1 II)

Samsung, though their UI is very clean & all, they do give regular updates, they have reached a max of 25W in turbo charging if I remember correctly, try the 67W charging once, you'll never go back. I've been in countless scenarios where I had to leave in 10-15 minutes & my battery was at 20%, had it been the 18W charger I'd have topped it up to max 25%, but with the 67W I can go near 40-45% easily. My wife used to have a Redmi Note 8 and always used to envy my phone's charging speed (Hers was 33W and mine was 67W)

So in conclusion I'd request you to revise your priorities in the following order,

1. Turbo/Fast/Dash/Dart/Warp charging with 67/65W minimum
2. Solid Processor/Solid Camera
3. 4500 mAh or above battery
4. Minimum 128 GB storage alongwith SD card expansion or 256 GB onboard

P.S. - Since you have a OP 6T at home which supports a max of 20W charging, if you are going with a Samsung/Pixel you'd be stuck with the same charging speed.

Avoid phones that are launched on a newest chipset (applies at all times), OP 9 series was launched on 888 processor and was all the rage, but people later found out that they're stuck with a processor which heats up even when asked to do miniscule tasks. I have a habit for going with something that is a bit older, have paid dearly when trying to adapt to newest launches in the past, got phones that had many hardware level issues.

The current latest chipset is Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (Funny how Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 came and Gen 2 came so fast), makes me think if Gen 1 was a failure.

A review video summed everything in 1 line : Instead of looking for what phone/features you want, strike out the ones you dont want, your life will be easier.

I hope this post helps you in making your next smartphone purchase.

[GeneralJazz]

Originally Posted by Sri Vathsa

I was looking at a few options and need recommendations for new phone as my trusted One Plus 6 has hardware issues (touch and battery performance is degraded).

Take a look at Samsung A54 also, it has some great reviews. Stay far away from OnePlus, its a disaster now. Go through the OnePlus subreddit, you can find plenty of horror stories.

[montsa007]

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

Take a look at Samsung A54 also, it has some great reviews. Stay far away from OnePlus, its a disaster now. Go through the OnePlus subreddit, you can find plenty of horror stories.

Its a good phone if he can live with 25W charging speeds, has water proofing, chipset on 5 nm technology. Do go with 8 GB RAM instead of 6.

The OP 9 series was a disaster (read my above post), thanks to choosing 888 as processor, I haven't used OP 10/11 series so cannot comment if they're good or bad.

The 8 series did have complains from users about screen receiving green lines, but I haven't had any issues so far.

Oh I forgot to add, i purchased an additional year warranty with the phone for complete peace of mind.

[null]

I am pretty happy with the Iqoo Z7 5g model phone (with mediatek chipset) which was an impromptu purchase after I dropped & cracked my samsung S22 screen. It is an 8GB/128GB version & I happened to get it for 17500 after all card discounts few months back when it was launched.

I had never ventured outside of Samsung, MI, Apple & Oneplus brands for a phone within our family till now.

I am impressed with it's call quality, screen time / battery life (8-10 hours of screentime), performance (common apps, no gaming) & OIS camera (for its price) and would recommend it to anyone who needs a no nonsense phone in the Rs 20,000 price range.

[sairamboko]

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

Take a look at Samsung A54 also, it has some great reviews. Stay far away from OnePlus, its a disaster now. Go through the OnePlus subreddit, you can find plenty of horror stories.

I have the A54. Downgraded from s22 Ultra to A54 as s22U was getting tough to use due to its size. I wouldnt recommend A54 as it's laggy often in a day due to Exynos processor. I am living with it. Camera and battery backup is decent.

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by montsa007

Its a good phone if he can live with 25W charging speeds

The Samsung S23 Ultra and S23 Plus support 45W charging, so they are getting there slowly I believe.

The S23 Plus would be my pick but the ideal time to buy it would be around September during the Big Billion/Prime Day festive sales.

[Doonite]

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

I'm looking for a new phone preferably Samsung S22 or S23. Do they still provide Samsung watch at discounted price for these flagship phones ? From where can I buy the phone so that I can get the watch too. I love the design of that smartwatch

Currently, there is an ongoing offer at Samsung S23 Ultra in Australia where they're offering the Galaxy 5 44mm 4G watch for free with the phone. I'm really tempted to buy the phone but waiting if the discounts increase further considering newer launches later this year from both Samsung and Apple.

Deciding between Samsung S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 pro max is one of the hardest decision a person can make IMO.

Honestly, I would rather have a fat discount equivalent to the watch price than getting the watch . Considering how bad the battery life on these watches are, i believe the novelty wears off after a couple of months of use where you just can't be bothered to take it off and charge everyday.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Doonite

Honestly, I would rather have a fat discount equivalent to the watch price than getting the watch

The company suffers only the cost value when giving away the watch: a fraction of the retail value.

[Doonite]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The company suffers only the cost value when giving away the watch: a fraction of the retail value.

Thanks for putting it in much simpler terms and yes, I do understand the economics behind such a decision from the brand's point of view.

As a customer who doesn't really prefer wearing a watch (analogue or digital), i would rather have any sort of discount on the retail price than the bundled offer.

Also, i don't know why but Samsung Australia offers the S23 Ultra 256GB version in 8GB RAM guise only!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Doonite

As a customer who doesn't really prefer wearing a watch (analogue or digital), i would rather have any sort of discount on the retail price than the bundled offer.

Me too. I haven't worn a wrist watch for over fifteen years. If I want to know the time I look at my... phone!

[montsa007]

Originally Posted by Oxy

The Samsung S23 Ultra and S23 Plus support 45W charging, so they are getting there slowly I believe.

I was talking about the A series phone. S23 is a different league, Ultra High End Flagship.

[Doonite]

I couldn't live with the tension inside of me and gave into the urge of buying a new phone

Ordered the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 512GB in red colour as it's a Samsung website exclusive colour. Purchased the 65W fast charger as well which costs an eye watering $100.
I don't care much for the watch that comes bundled but anything is better than nothing.



I got a 20% corporate discount thanks to my sister which made the deal too sweet to turn down.

Samsung was offering roughly 350$ on top as trade-in for my S20 Ultra 5G which i felt wasn't worth it. I'd rather keep the phone as backup.

Originally Posted by montsa007

Samsung, though their UI is very clean & all, they do give regular updates, they have reached a max of 25W in turbo charging if I remember correctly.

Here, Samsung offers the 65W charger and AFAIK, India gets the 45W charger only. Your 25W figure might be outdated.