Budget 20-25K Need a decent mobile for smooth experience

[Jee]

Questions:-
1. Budget?
A: INR 20k-25k. Might go above if there's a compelling option.

2. Preferred display size, type and resolution?
A: AMOLED 90+ Hz preferred. Good pixel density (~400) with longer aspect ratio like 20:9 would be nice.

3. Preferred operating system? (Android (with version), iOS, etc).
A: Android 13 but planning to flash a custom rom.

4. Preferred connectivity options? (4G, 3G, 2G etc).
A: 5G

5. Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them.
A: Need something that supports LineageOS or clean stock android that I can tweak. Will be degoogling the device. So definitely not samsung and manufacturer service based ones like miui unless I can run it with custom rom.

6. What is your intended use for this phone (internet, camera, multimedia, mails etc.)?
A: Web surfing, scrolling.

7. Single SIM/ Dual SIM?
A: Dual sim, physical sim slots preferred as switching e-sim seems to be a pain.

8. New or Used? Online or Offline?
A: New. Need GST bill for claiming refund.

9. Any other requirements?
A: I use wired iem so headphone jack would be nice. Good battery life. Not gonna be running any heavy games on mobile so just looking for customizable, comfortable user experience.

10. If you have already considered a phone, then please mention the model
A: Pixel 6a, Moto g84.

Having quite a predicament choosing between the 2 as I really want a Pixel 6a to try out GrapheneOS but display is only 60 Hz, no headphone jack, only 1 sim slot and expensive, time consuming repair process. Moto g84 seems decent but camera is average, lower IP rating and weaker in performance. Not too sure about the battery life in both but pixel does seem to be super slow in charging with only 18W.

Currently running a Samsung M51 which has a nice amoled but 60 Hz display, 7000 mah, headphone jack, slender body. But the os was awful, heavily bloated and had to use adb to remove garbage as I didn't want to root and break knox and void warranty. Would have liked some waterproofing and fingerprint scanner on the side was quite limited and annoying sometimes. Replacing the screen costed 8.5k which I find quite high but will be handing it over to my dad as everything else was fine.

Would like more recommendations, suggestions, some experience about other custom rom's and would like to hear about any prior experience with google and moto customer service. Thanks.

 

[OMEGA44-XT]

You probably will at some point.

Just like in cars, the older you get the more you want to drive an automatic instead of manual.

Like OP, I will never buy an Apple product. I had the highest hope from MacOS among Apple products, but that has some stupid design decisions which Windows & Linux do the right way IMO. The iOS is worse in such terms IMO, so unless there are major U-turns in Apple's philosophy, Apple will never be an option for a lot of people. I have just settled with the Samsung UI for the sake of convenience, old Oxygen OS was a good alternative, but OP killed it. Not to forget the cost factor of iPhones.

I don't think age is stopping people from getting automatic cars, cost is. AMTs don't perform well if you test drive it, just laggy. TC, CVT or DCT costs 1 lakh+ easily. So 10% of the cost of even a 10 lakh car is a big deal for most. There's a reason scooter sales have been increasing over the last decade or so. Activa was a revolutionary product in terms of price & value. In terms of models sold, Splendor still sells the most, but Activa is 2nd consistently. In 4 wheelers, automatics sell nowhere close to manuals but the market share of automatics is slowly increasing over the years.

 

[Ssreek]

I don't think age is stopping people from getting automatic cars, cost is. AMTs don't perform well if you test drive it, just laggy. TC, CVT or DCT costs 1 lakh+ easily. So 10% of the cost of even a 10 lakh car is a big deal for most. There's a reason scooter sales have been increasing over the last decade or so. Activa was a revolutionary product in terms of price & value. In terms of models sold, Splendor still sells the most, but Activa is 2nd consistently. In 4 wheelers, automatics sell nowhere close to manuals but the market share of automatics is slowly increasing over the years.

I think for the amount of traffic we have and stop-and-go torture every minute, people mostly consider automatic cars. Some people say having 1 foot free is a great deal when driving, apart from the need to constantly change gears. Wish we had perfect automatic system by now, but it could take few more years, maybe.

I think it is well-documented at this point that the earlier Samsung M series phones were plagued with multiple issues, especially the ones released circa 2020-21/22. There have been multiple reports in the Samsung community forums about motherboard failures, device slowdowns, etc. Might be possible due to bad QC and/or use of poor quality components to keep the prices competitive, since the M series was primarily targeted to compete with the aggressive offerings from Xiaomi/Realme.

Exhibit A | Exhibit B | Exhibit C

Samsung did a good job covering up the issue (took down a SamMobile article), which is the reason why you do not see people talking about motherboard issues for their M series phones but do so for Poco models. Also, I'm not sure if the newer Samsung M series devices are immune from these issues. Only time will tell.

My cousin's Samsung M33 recently turned off all of a sudden. It was just 3 months after, the warranty finished. Now service center says they need to change motherboard and it costs total 9.5k. The phone itself was bought for 14.5k and I don't understand why it costs so much for mobo itself. Samsung should have provided extended warranty, now the phone itself is of no use and would mostly go for recycling.
I feel we should stay away from Samsung budget to mid range phones (sub 30k??).

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Poco X5 pro on paper looks very interesting, but I wouldn't trust this sub brand at all. Earlier models were plagued with several issues and several people said back camera didn't work after software update and without warranty the phone is useless, unless you go for some unofficial repairs. Besides, poco ui/mi ui being such crap, they make rooting the phone a lot difficult in the name of security. Oneplus was super easy back then, not sure how it is now.