Budget 10-15K Suggest Android phone for senior citizen, samsung preferred

M series are the ones in that budget, but the problem with those series is reliability and experience. Reviews are mixed.
They serve ads, bloatware in the name of updates.
M32(4G) or M33(with 5G) are the ones that kind off fit in your budget after extending by 1-2k.

Since an elderly person would be using the phone, I would suggest something which gives a clean experience, close to stock Android so as to not overwhelm the user. Do consider Moto G52 if looking outside Samsung. The only issue I found with G series is they lack the frequency of updates, but get security updates within 2 months. But that should not be an issue with the user.

Unfortunately, other brands(Chinese primarily) have the same Modus Operandi as Samsung M series. Slow down the phone, bloatware and buggy.

I've heard that Samsung M series phones start causing some hardware related problems (bootloop, sudden death, some hardware not working etc) right after warranty expiry. So I don't know. Also, as the above user said, Samsung UI is infested with ads. I mean it always has been, but senior citizens do not mind ads I've found, they have the patience to slide away those ads, some even go to the length of taking the ads seriously (like my 10 IQ mother).

Moto G series indeed are better. But do the Moto phones come with built in call recording facility, I mean one without that stupid warning thing anyway?

sauravghosh said:

But do the Moto phones come with built in call recording facility, I mean one without that stupid warning thing anyway?

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Unfortunately no... Satyawadi Google dailer will inform the other party that the call is being recorded. This is one aspect wherein Samsung dailer scores above Google ones.

You can take a look at the Samsung F22 (6GB/128GB). Currently sitting at around 14K INR on Flipkart.

Should be perfect for your dad's needs. Moreover, it comes with an AMOLED display (although 720P). However, the phone is slick fast due to its One UI Core (lightweight version of the full One UI experience) coupled with the 720P display and Mediatek G80 SoC.

Also, it recently received the One UI 4.1 Core Android 12 update. Should be getting one update more, i.e. Android 13.

https://www.flipkart.com/motorola-g52-metallic-white-64-gb/p/itm1efa717b16445
Moto G52 - stock android, so no ads or nagware

AINDRASIS_GUPTA said:

You can take a look at the Samsung F22 (6GB/128GB). Currently sitting at around 14K INR on Flipkart.

Should be perfect for your dad's needs. Moreover, it comes with an AMOLED display (although 720P). However, the phone is slick fast due to its One UI Core (lightweight version of the full One UI experience) coupled with the 720P display and Mediatek G80 SoC.

Also, it recently received the One UI 4.1 Core Android 12 update. Should be getting one update more, i.e. Android 13.

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It's good for the price but consider the ergonomics. Weight is literally double the SE.

Going from 113gm to 203 gm ? that's quite a jump

The screen size going from 4" (16:9) to 6.4" at (20:9) will be easier to deal with visually.



When i saw the OP i was thinking of a nokia that can do whatsapp but that won't be as good as the samsung.

There is a new Moto phone about to launch on flipkart under 15k.

blr_p said:

It's a good for the price but consider the ergonomics. Weight is literally double the SE.

Going from 113gm to 203 gm ? that's quite a jump

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The weight should not be much of an issue. With a good grippy case (preferably from Spigen), it will only take a week or so to get accustomed to the weight.

My mom also made quite a similar switch - from a Nokia 5233 (113g) to a LG W41 (201g).

raksrules said:

Additonally, I am reading about something called samsung smart switch app, does that work with these M / F series phones? As we will need to transfer content from iphone to the Samsung phone.

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Every One UI device these days support Smart Switch. You only need to download the app from the Play Store (if it isn't already installed by default).

I got the M21 for my father a couple of years ago, mainly for the large battery and he handles it pretty well. So will recommend the M series in general.

For my mother, I got the Nokia 6.2 around the same time as it is lighter and the stock Android is less confusing.

AINDRASIS_GUPTA said:

The weight should not be much of an issue. With a good grippy case (preferably from Spigen), it will only take a week or so to get accustomed to the weight.

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Spigen will add another 30-40gm to the weight. I agree with getting used to the weight. But that's me and you.

Holding such a phone up for more than 10 minutes becomes tiring.

The reason for the weight is the 6,000mah battery.

A smaller battery 4-4.5k mah would make handling easier given the use but those phones will cost more.

A case that protects the screen or at the minimum a tempered glass protector to handle drops is essential. This phone will land on its face if dropped and physics will do the rest to crack the screen.

AINDRASIS_GUPTA said:

My mom also made quite a similar switch - from a Nokia 5233 (113g) to a LG W41 (201g).

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How did she handle holding a bigger screen ? I notice some people are fine with this but others have problems with a larger size phone.

Up to OP to make this point to his f-i-l. He tends to obsses about price to the exclusion of everything else.

If you want Samsung, consider F23 over F22:
https://www.flipkart.com/samsung-galaxy-f23-5g-aqua-blue-128-gb/p/itm89d3030e3857e.

https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=10996&idPhone2=11406&idPhone3=11457
F23 has better SoC, 5G, 1080p panel but panel is TFT though. Also will get android 14 update as it boots 12. Still, Moto G52 will be my top recommendation. Samsung usually use eMMC storage in cheap phones, although not sure if G52 has UFS 2.1 though. But at least G52 has AMOLED panel & is lighter. One UI in M series has nagwares, stock OS will not have those. You can optimize One UI to remove those nagwares though.

OMEGA44-XT said:

Still, Moto G52 will be my top recommendation. Samsung usually use eMMC storage in cheap phones, although not sure if G52 has UFS 2.1 though. But at least G52 has AMOLED panel & is lighter. One UI in M series has nagwares, stock OS will not have those. You can optimize One UI to remove those nagwares though.

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That's the thing, the G52 is lighter. And i would recommend the 6GB variant over the 4GB

Nothing to beat snapdragon over mediatek

All it needs is a good grippy case

I'm using the m33 5g . The display although lcd is fine to use . My other phone is an s9 and s9+ . One ui is not having ads. You can disable them in marketing information .. option in settings . The phone comes with android 12 and latest may 2022 patch .
Samsung promises 2 android updates for 2 years and 4 year security updates for this phone . Having other samsung phones as mentioned above , samsung is very good with regular updates. Also the phone has a samsung dialler so no call recording update to opposite party. It's ufs 2.2 and not emmc as storage . Mentioned on samsungs own page of m335g and also as reported by the Aida app I installed . I've filled the entire 128gb barring the last 10gb with music and videos and no slowing down of the phone at all . Do not compare a qhd+ super amoled of s9 and other samsung phones with fhd+ lcd . But for regular usage I honestly don't notice much of a difference . Also it has a dedicated SD card slot which I have put my 64gb sdcard.