Budget 15-20K Need Mobile for around 15k-20k

Ssreek

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Broke one of our phones today during journey. Need to buy a phone in a couple of days.

Please suggest any good phones within 15k-20k.

I've considered Samsung M34, but it's almost a year since it was released and processor is almost 2 years old in that 15k range.
For a slightly more budget, Oneplus Nord CE 4 is available for 23.5k, but has Panda glass as protection. Has anyone bought this phone?

Only interested in brands that have no nonsense OS, so poco, xiaomi, etc are out of question. and better warranty/service so probably moto/vivo are out.
So considering that, Samsung and oneplus seems possible choices.

I don't care abt gaming performance. Decent camera and battery life, less heating, a very good display and no hang/lag issues are the needs.

Let me know ur suggestions.
 

OMEGA44-XT

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Get OP Nord CE4, solid allrounder under 25k. OP's UI is better than Xiaomi, but still it is Color OS now, not the old clean Oxygen OS. For UI, get Nothing 2a. If you are in a Tier 1/2 city, support shouldn't be a big issue.

Samsung phones have poor SoCs & a notch, else can live with other limitations like 25W charging, no charger in box, etc.
 
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Ssreek

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Get OP Nord CE4, solid allrounder under 25k. OP's UI is better than Xiaomi, but still it is Color OS now, not the old clean Oxygen OS. For UI, get Nothing 2a. If you are in a Tier 1/2 city, support shouldn't be a big issue.

Samsung phones have poor SoCs & a notch, else can live with other limitations like 25W charging, no charger in box, etc.
The only thing I'm worried about Nord CE4 is, it doesn't have Gorilla glass protection.. Redmi atleast gave that in redmi note 13 pro, but that os is garbage.
 

Kaleen Bhaiya

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+1 for Nothing Phone 2a if not brought already. It is a jack of all, master of none. Personally using Nothing Phone 1 and I can say I am very impressed with Nothing phones and the brand in general.

Oxygen OS is basically Color OS and my friend recently got the Nord CE3. Not impressed with the OS. The phone is better than CE4 physically.
 
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Ssreek

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+1 for Nothing Phone 2a if not brought already. It is a jack of all, master of none. Personally using Nothing Phone 1 and I can say I am very impressed with Nothing phones and the brand in general.

Oxygen OS is basically Color OS and my friend recently got the Nord CE3. Not impressed with the OS. The phone is better than CE4 physically.
Isn't it buggy? No matter what youtube video I see about nothing phone 2a, they keep saying there are bugs. Besides ce4 seems better in battery, display and processor.
 

Kaleen Bhaiya

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2a has gotten 4 updates since the launch and 90% bugs have been sorted out. Only thing now is camera which still needs some optimisation.

Any popular reviewer who has criticised 2a initially has been singing praises as they did a 15-30 days review and they have mentioned that the the phone has become quite good.

If you are looking for a spec hungry phone, then Nothing is not a choice. There are other brands available if you want a demanding phone, mostly gaming. Nothing phones are about optimising the existing hardware to get the best from it.
 

Ssreek

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Bought Oneplus Nord CE 4. Used it for more than 48 hours and I am happy regarding processor performance and battery life.
If anyone has questions about this phone, feel free to ask.
 
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Ssreek

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There are better phones for gaming near 25k, like Poco X6 pro.
I second this; especially when the main use case is gaming in such budget. I've seen couple of reviews where they said nord ce 4 doesn't have any special cooling for gaming purpose (like vapour chamber or smthg). So poco x6 pro makes sense with that processor.
 

rootyme

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Samsung phones have poor SoCs & a notch, else can live with other limitations like 25W charging, no charger in box, etc.
I just compared OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite and Samsung Galaxy M15.

SD 695 and Dimensity 6100+ are almost the same thing.

M15 has a grand total of five years of software support till 2029. Two less in OP.

What would be the better option here?

Sucks that Samsung has stopped including chargers in box. Gutted with Apple for starting this trend.
 

Ssreek

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M15 has a grand total of five years of software support till 2029. Two less in OP.

What would be the better option here?

Sucks that Samsung has stopped including chargers in box. Gutted with Apple for starting this trend.
Just a doubt here... In such budget range phones, what's the use of getting latest software updates till 4 or 5 years? Security updates are essential and it's understandable. But software or OS updates?

Usually they tend to slow down the phones with such long updates. Since it's very budget range, even the new features that are pushed to these phones will be too gimmicky/useless or just for namesake.

2 to 3 years of updates seems good enough provided the customer keeps the phone safe for 3+ years.
 
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rootyme

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Just a doubt here... In such budget range phones, what's the use of getting latest software updates till 4 or 5 years? Security updates are essential and it's understandable. But software or OS updates?
1. Increases resell value.
2. Helps environment
3. All modern SOCs can effortless can definitely handle four OS updates. The jumps are not ground breaking akin to Windows 7 from XP.
4. Some people do prefer using phones for 5 years unless they have a reason to ditch it.
Usually they tend to slow down the phones with such long updates. Since it's very budget range, even the new features that are pushed to these phones will be too gimmicky/useless or just for namesake.
They don't slow down unless the updates are poorly optimised. Try it yourself. Zenfone Max Pro M1 launched with Android Oreo. And it handles A14 just as good. No slowdowns or anything along that.

The SOC powering this is from 2016-17. And we are in 2024.