Xiaomi phones are not a good choice now. They have some phones in Poco which have good hardware, but UI is not up to the mark. Same is the case with vivo/iQoo, UI is not up to the mark for 2025.
IMO buy Oppo K13 256GB for 18k after CC discount. Its main USP is the battery, UI is good as well (Color OS has improved a lot) & performance is good for under 20k. 256GB storage is good enough for most people & get maybe a 1.5k TWS or neckband earphones.
He had selected a samsung phone, probably M35, but started looking else where for options that have SDCard and 3.5mm. I think he is happy with Samsung otherwise. Although i dunno how irritating these AI stuff will be, i see its getting hyped by Samsung. One logic he had with samsung was that its not chinese, but not much choice that way.
Performance doesnt matter much for their usecase as they wont be playing games or anything heavy beyond video playback. So unless performance is bad even for normal usage, its not a factor. Just preferably doesn’t get hot.
Ill give him Oppo K13 as an option with Battery and UI as a pro, but what other options can we consider that have atleast one or both of these ?
How about Nothing phone 2 pro ? 6 year security updates and has SD card slot.
And what is a good option that has 3.5mm ? I think he wants to avoid bluetooth usage. Type C to 3.5mm adapter ill give him as an option, i think he already knows but its an extra hassle.
Its a bit crazy, cheaper options with worse screens seem to have both, but with more expensive options they are phasing it out. Samsung Galaxy A06 5G seems to have both and a LCD display for 10k..
Lastly - your opinion on Oneplus ? Is the long warranty against green line issue worth something ?
Yes, that’s the best option, I guess. No display issues so far it’s a clean experience. And yes, a 6 year security patch is the best under 20k and I don’t trust Samsung anymore due to the lightsaber issue. For the headphone jack, you can buy a decent DAC like the D07 or a cheaper option from Concept Kart.
Yes, i have heard that they have weaker soc. But if they release os updates, they will have to test it too? So whatever they release should work well on it?
As such, by updates i meant security updates more. None of us are much into android specifically, so getting latest stuff generally isn’t a concern. But i guess even security updates are less relevant for their usage as they wont bank on mobile.
Right now they are considering below
Samsung Galaxy A06 5G - has both sd card and 3.5mm. display isnt great, but mother currently uses a tablet with ips too, so for normal usage probably wont matter.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 5G - But as you said xiaomi software reputation now isn’t good. Updates are also lower so he probably wont go for it.
Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro - looks alright but no 3.5mm. Probably between 3 or 1.
Oppo K13 he checked, and he doesnt prefer it vs Nothing as it lacks SD card. I see it has lots of gamer oriented stuff + better soc and fan too, But all of it is irrelevant for use case. Fan will bring dust into the phone so that;s a negative. But phone looks good if someone needs perf.
I too started looking, i have a 4g M30s right now and might move to 5g in diwali. My use case is pretty similar to parents, no gaming, just browsing + videos + music and basic app usage. Also want a good HDR screen just for tp. For now i have shortlisted below from your comments and others, but haven’t looked much. Anyway this is for later.
OnePlus Nord CE5
Nothing. One drawback might be that people are saying that HDR doesnt work on Netflix/Primevideo. If so, probably will skip this one.
If you want long software support, hands down Samsung is your only option. If you’re thinking about M35, it has 3 OS update left so is for CMF Phone 2 Pro and Realme P3. So M35 doesn’t have the same advantage it had last year. Instead of M35, check out M36 it’s pretty much same as M35 with some downgrades and very few upgrades.
Redmi Note 14/Poco M7 Pro probably is the only phone that has both the things you want. But it was launched last year, so only one update left.
These are your best options without 3.5mm but with SD card support.
So now he added another requirement - he wants good stereo speakers. He already has bluetooth speakers, but he wants built in to be not terrible.
He saw multiple negative reviews about Xiaomi software, so probably will drop it.
M36 doesn’t have stereo but M35 does. So he is considering it and is ok with reduced support. Doesnt have 3.5mm
I tried to look again by searching gsmarena (filter below) and i got one that has all of what he wants and looks ok - OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite
Its one year old and already has lower support. So only 2 years left. That is main drawback, but otherwise he gets what he wants - sd card + 3.5mm + stereo too and has HDR also as a bonus . One plus should also provide warranty against green line issue. So i gave this option to him. He will i think choose between this and M35.
Are you sure? That SoC is very old and CE 4 Lite has got just one update left.
If you’re okay with 1 OS support (but in that case, there will be tons of models from last year will make it to the list to consider), check G86 Power too before pulling the trigger.
Man, i have 0 knowledge on mobiles. How bad is is it ? They only need it for regular day to day use. Bad reviews do complain of mobile hanging but i dunno what they are doing.
I have no issue with something like 5 year old M30s, so that should be enough for them too. Is it weaker than this ? Or android that it comes with is heavy ?
Else i guess he will have to give up on 3.5mm, just need and adapter or bluetooth, and then there are more options. If not this then his no 1 is Samsung M35
M35 or G86 Power ? He doesn’t care about HDR ( bonus for me to test but not imp).
Even stereo is like a bonus for him, his thinking is that if i am buying new i might as well get one with good speakers. So if not CE4 lite, then he will have to give up one of these things.
I told him to make an excel, put all these in there and just choose something …
Rebranded/tweaked SD695 are found in under 10k phone, that’s how old it is.
Yes, Android is getting heavier every generation and top of that maker’s skin makes it even heavier. 3.5mm jack is a very minor thing, buying decision heavily relying on that is not a wise one. There are work around for that, but there is no workaround for weaker chip.
If whatever upgrade M36 is bringing is not enough to consider, then M35 is fine.
E1380 ~ 6 Gen 4 ~ D7300. E1380 would be the least energy efficient among these.
D8350 will be 4000+ (say in Realme P3 Ultra)
So OP CE4 Lite is bad for 15-20k.
If not Oppo K13, Moto G86 Power can also be considered as suggested earlier. Has SD card slot, so 128GB storage should be ok. Cons against Oppo K13 would be the slow charging but cameras are likely better.
I gave M36/Nothing 2 pro/G86 Power/F06/M35 as options. Oppo K13 doesn’t have SD card so he did not want it, but otherwise it looks good.
He got tired of comparing these and more, and decided to stick with Samsung. Saw that cheaper samsung have 3.5mm too. LCD though, but doesn’t need oled for this ( already has another) and no green line risk is a bonus.
So i think he decided to go for M06 for basic usage. As long as its soc is same or faster than M30s, it would be enough hopefully. He saw user reviews and is ok with it.
Thanks for info to all, i’ll have better starting point for my own purchase in diwali. I am still ok with M30s even now, but jio 4g is slow.
Steam deck on arm with arm version of proton + sim slot + some android translation for apps is the only possible mobile that i might get excited for. Probably wont happen.