Budget 20-25K Looking for 5G phone (rather phone with more 4G bands)

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diy-maniac

Disciple
Summary: I'm looking for a 5G phone as most 4G bands are kept open in such devices. This enables me to use the device when abroad with local SIM. Most 4G variant phones in India have limited bands enabled in 4G/LTE. I currently have Redmi Note 8 Pro, and this for sure doesn't work with local SIM in USA.

I see Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G a potential candidate fitting my requirement. Please hightlight if there are drawbacks with this device. Also please do suggest if you have any personal experiences with so-called 5G phones currently in market.

1. Budget?
A: INR 20k-25k, lesser the better though

2. Preferred display size, type and resolution?
A: >5.5", IPS LCD/AMOLED

3. Preferred operating system? (Android (with version), iOS, Windows Phone etc).
A: Latest android

4. Preferred connectivity options? (4G, 3G, 2G etc).
A: 4G with more bands open

5. Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them.
A: I prefer to avoid Apple, Samsung due to their control over OS/apps

6. What is your intended use for this phone (internet, camera, multimedia, mails etc.)?
A: Calls, Whatsapp kind of services, Camera, Mails, occasional browsing

7. Single SIM/ Dual SIM?
A: No preference

8. New or Used? Online or Offline?
A: New, prefer online

9. Any other requirements?
A: Need more 4G bands to be able to use the device in USA with local sim card

10. If you have already considered a phone, then please mention the model
A: I noticed most makers with a 4G phone variant has limited(2) bands open for LTE, instead a 5G phone although has limited 5G bands, most bands in 4G are left open. So leaning towards a 5G phone to be able to use 4G bands when abroad.

Thank you in advance!
 
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Maybe increase your budget & get Samsung A52S 5G (30k). Chinese phones try to cut costs in any way possible to get that attractive price.

Or even better, buy a phone in the USA.

Else Realme 9 pro+ for 25k, has a lot of bands open even in 5G. It's an all-rounder IMO.
 
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OMEGA44-XT said:
Maybe increase your budget & get Samsung A52S 5G (30k). Chinese phones try to cut costs in any way possible to get that attractive price.

Or even better, buy a phone in the USA.

Else Realme 9 pro+ for 25k, has a lot of bands open even in 5G. It's an all-rounder IMO.
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The specifications/features look similar across all these models, this would give me more options to get lost among ;)
I'm not in big rush, so I will wait for a couple of days for more suggestions, and finally decide on one. Thanks much for the very quick reply.
 
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Have a look, if you are expecting a phone to have all the bands then it might be difficult, zero in on your operator in the US and decide accordingly.
Screenshot_20220314-104321_(1).jpg


Just realised it doesn't show SPRINTS bands, well t-mobile has acquired sprint so it would largely be t-mobile bands
 
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JMak said:
Have a look, if you are expecting a phone to have all the bands then it might be difficult, zero in on your operator in the US and decide accordingly.

Just realised it doesn't show SPRINTS bands, well t-mobile has acquired sprint so it would largely be t-mobile bands
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Thanks for the infographic. I see most 4G/LTE bands are available in the 5G phones here. Most service providers are MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) largely operating on the listed networks here. I may switch between different providers based on the coverage they give around the residing location.

And unless I go with the mentioned providers, the device cost is little less in USA when compared with options in India, but they offset the gains via their cellular plans.
OMEGA44-XT said:
Maybe increase your budget & get Samsung A52S 5G (30k). Chinese phones try to cut costs in any way possible to get that attractive price.

Or even better, buy a phone in the USA.

Else Realme 9 pro+ for 25k, has a lot of bands open even in 5G. It's an all-rounder IMO.
Click to expand...
How about Realme 9 Pro variant? I see similar bands and also little budget friendly.
 
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Have a look at Motorola devices.... They seem to support log of bands in 4g and 5g variant, if cellular network receiption is your main priority. Below is the list for Moto edge 20 fusion.
Networks + Bands
  • Networks:
    5G: NR sub-6GHz | 4G: LTE (UL Cat 13 / DL Cat 18) | 3G: UMTS / HSPA+ | 2G: GSM / EDGE

    Bands:
    2G: GSM band 2/3/5/8;
    3G: WCDMA band 1/2/4/5/8/19;
    4G: LTE band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/26/28/32/34/38/39/
    40/41/42/43/66
    5G: n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n20/n28/n38/n40/n41/n77/n78/n66
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I did read in the lenovo forums or YT videos that it is internationally supported, both 4g,5g.
 
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Kaleen Bhaiya said:
Have a look at Motorola devices.... They seem to support log of bands in 4g and 5g variant, if cellular network receiption is your main priority. Below is the list for Moto edge 20 fusion.

I did read in the lenovo forums or YT videos that it is internationally supported, both 4g,5g.
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Thank you for the pointer. While the number of 5G bands displayed do look exhaustive, there are only 3 bands that will be useful if this device is used in USA. 5G right now is all marketing gimmik IMO, not sure which country will end up using which bands.

What I noticed is if we pick a 5G variant, they atleast keep all the 4G bands open/enable, while it is not the case with a 4G variant phone.
 
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I posted it from the perspective of 4g as it will support many bands internationally. And comparing to the chart given above, I think it fairly covers some good bands across most telecom providers.
I guess that could be a reason why there are so many open 4g bands in Moto devices.
diy-maniac said:
there are only 3 bands that will be useful if this device is used in USA.
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3 bands in 4g or 5g?
 
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Kaleen Bhaiya said:
I posted it from the perspective of 4g as it will support many bands internationally. And comparing to the chart given above, I think it fairly covers some good bands across most telecom providers.
I guess that could be a reason why there are so many open 4g bands in Moto devices.

3 bands in 4g or 5g?
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Yes 4G -> quite a lot of bands are open and most devices are similar in this category. So given any 5G device, its the other specs like processor, camera etc are varying

I meant 3 bands in 5G that are being used currently in USA, the rest of them which are enabled in the device may not be useful atleast for now.
Sanav3 said:
I have the xiaomi 11 lite ne 5g, do check about the proximity sensor issue. It's a little irritating considering its a 25k device. No other complains.
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Good to hear from an existing user. Yes I read about the proximity sensor issue, and somewhere I remember reading it was taken care after an OTA or something?

Otherthan the proximity sensor, how did you find the device?
 
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The device is overall excellent, I have the 8 GB version. The OTA update makes it better but it is still slower than a actual physical proximity sensor, this device has a software implementation algorithm. Let know in case of any questions.
 
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Sanav3 said:
The device is overall excellent, I have the 8 GB version. The OTA update makes it better but it is still slower than a actual physical proximity sensor, this device has a software implementation algorithm. Let know in case of any questions.
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I went through specifications again for this phone, and noticed "Virtual proximity sensing" instead of proximity sensor. And it lead me search for various other phones in market which uses this tech. Here is the list just in case. Unfortunately, we may not have much options left going forward. I think I should make peace with this proximity thing.

Can you please post a photograph of the network bands (4G, 5G) displayed on the box if you still have it. I believe it should be displayed somewhere on the box.
 
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If looking for more 5G or 4G Bands then Best bet is to Go for Samsung & Motorola Devices. Within that Budget Samsung A52s is the best buy,You can get 6GB variant in offline market for 26K & 8Gb variant for 28K-29K ,Other option is Moto Edge 20. Do not go with Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE ,Too many issues like Poor Display panel of Delta pixel (You can find more details about it on Google) ,Proximity sensor issues & worst of all Xiaomi buggy updates lately bricking devices even their Flagship devices like MI 11 Ultra getting bricked by software update.So Don't go for Xiaomi.
 
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luca2008 said:
If looking for more 5G or 4G Bands then Best bet is to Go for Samsung & Motorola Devices. Within that Budget Samsung A52s is the best buy,You can get 6GB variant in offline market for 26K & 8Gb variant for 28K-29K ,Other option is Moto Edge 20. Do not go with Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE ,Too many issues like Poor Display panel of Delta pixel (You can find more details about it on Google) ,Proximity sensor issues & worst of all Xiaomi buggy updates lately bricking devices even their Flagship devices like MI 11 Ultra getting bricked by software update.So Don't go for Xiaomi.
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Thank you for the insights on the display differences. I see it highlighted on a similar variant ( Mi 11 Lite 5G, likely global), but we have a different model in India. I can't right away rule out the same tech being used in the new variant (Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE, India) @Sanav3 Can you please confirm on the device you hold?

Motorola Edge 20 reviews says the camera quality is sub-par. And A52s looks little beyond the budget when looked at online pricing. How can we get at 26k in offline? Do they sell at reduced prices in showrooms outside?
 
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Yes when it comes to Vivo & Samsung phones,You can get better deals at offline store than online. Giving example of Vivo V23 ,It sells for 29K-28K at Flipkart with offers but at Offline stores One can easily grab it at 25K. Same thing for Most Samsung A series phones, A series is more offline centric. You'll get better pricing at offline stores for A series phones. So just ask around few samung offline dealers for A52s pricing,I am sure You'll get 6GB variant for 26K. One of my friend bought it last week at 26K,Even My Mother uses A52s 8GB variant which we got for 28500 at offline store.
 
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diy-maniac said:
Motorola Edge 20 reviews says the camera quality is sub-par.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the camera quality is a bit on the downside. It clicks great pics under great lighting conditions but under reduced lighting the quality takes a hit. For front camera the matter is more serious. They have pushed some updates since the device launched via Play store but since I am not into camera, I didn't bother to check much. I recently got this device some two weeks back. You can install Gcam and the results are more than satisfactory. The camera hardware is great as the results shown by Gcam. It's just the post-processing from Moto seems a bit lacking. Mind you, it's not horrible, it would get the job done.
If camera is among the list of priorities, I would not suggest this phone. Either one from Mi or Samsung would do a far better job.
diy-maniac said:
How can we get at 26k in offline? Do they sell at reduced prices in showrooms outside?
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If you have some old phone to sell then maybe prices would come down. Regarding offline, I am not sure if they would accept it. But using my analogy as I exchanged my old dell laptop for HP laptop and price reduced by 10k. It's better to enquire with Samsung store, for safe bet.
 
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Kaleen Bhaiya said:
Yeah, the camera quality is a bit on the downside. It clicks great pics under great lighting conditions but under reduced lighting the quality takes a hit. For front camera the matter is more serious. They have pushed some updates since the device launched via Play store but since I am not into camera, I didn't bother to check much. I recently got this device some two weeks back. You can install Gcam and the results are more than satisfactory. The camera hardware is great as the results shown by Gcam. It's just the post-processing from Moto seems a bit lacking. Mind you, it's not horrible, it would get the job done.
If camera is among the list of priorities, I would not suggest this phone. Either one from Mi or Samsung would do a far better job.

If you have some old phone to sell then maybe prices would come down. Regarding offline, I am not sure if they would accept it. But using my analogy as I exchanged my old dell laptop for HP laptop and price reduced by 10k. It's better to enquire with Samsung store, for safe bet.
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Thanks for the details.

This device is for my home-ministry. I don't see her talking on cellular network for hours together, but need to ensure connectivity at all times ICE. Other usage of this device includes video calls, camera, and other media consumption. I'm little picky with Samsung as they are known for tight control over software, which leaves me with Mi.
 
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