Budget 15-20K Samsung Galaxy M21 or Nokia 6.3 - which one to get?

vishalrao

vishalrao

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How's Samsung M21 with its 6000 mAh battery?! I'm tempted to get this if not Nokia 6.3



Any issues/complaints for Samsung OS/customisations of Android, like any ads or play store limitations or annoyances?



I'm mostly interested in stock android or annoyance-free android experience.



I don't do gaming and not much media consumption, just whatsapp/email mostly.

Any comparisons between the two? Pros and Cons?
 
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vishalrao said:
I meant *how* did you transfer these things?

I also ordered same day late evening off Amazon and mine hasn't shipped yet though it shows delivery by the 30th now.
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For SMS and call logs, you can use SMS Backup and Restore app on play store. Very simple, fast and easy to use.
Audio, video and documents can be done either using bluetooth (very slow), copy to OTG storage and transfer (slow), or using wifi transfer (very fast). For wifi transfer, I would recommend Xender app on play store.
 
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Samsung, like all other phone manufacturers, has its own app. It will ask you during setup itself and guide you to install the app on the older phone. It will transfer everything. I could transfer 10GB of contents in 8 minutes.
 
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Renegade said:
Samsung, like all other phone manufacturers, has its own app. It will ask you during setup itself and guide you to install the app on the older phone. It will transfer everything. I could transfer 10GB of contents in 8 minutes.
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What was the transfer connection? I mean does it transfer via bluetooth or wifi or via internet or what?
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Got the phone a few hours ago, following is my note I posted on a whatsapp group about it :D

havent tried camera or audio yet. features/customisation options seems to be more than stock android.

feels good in the hand even though it is "plastic" (polycarbonate) body but i like that anyways.

weight is not heavy even though it is 6000 mAh battery. display is of course very good looking (super AMOLED) but i dont like dark mode even though it is best for OLED displays.

NOTE you need to sign up for samsung account (you can login with google credentials) to enable "find my phone" feature.

regarding bloatware - Some samsung apps cannot be uninstalled but its OK just removed them from main home screen. facebook and netflix cannot be uninstalled. others could be uninstaled like "HELO" and some other stupid apps it tries to install like TikTok of all things

havent even tried making or receiving calls yet but seems to catch network just fine. Dual simultaneous VoLTE working on both SIMs (airtel and jio).

One potential problem is WIFI sometimes shows "could not authenticate" with my netgear wifi router I have to manually connect - hope it's not a continuing issue.

fingerprint sensor is nice but i prefer it to be in front instead of back. you need to press firmly for it to unlock, if i lightly swipe it does not unlock properly.

fast charger is not really fast - it seems to be taking around 20% per hour to charge rate.

and samsung seems to be slow with updates. it is showing February update only as latest. nothing for march april may til now.
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WiFi calling (VoWifi) on both SIMs (airtel and jio) is working fine on my BSNL FTTH connection.
 
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chetansha said:
How dis you enable dual VoLte . Csnt seem to get it working on m31
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Sorry I dont know - It was already enabled by default it appears on the M21. In the settings there is just option for preferred SIM for calls, messages and data.

I have put SIM1 (airtel) for calls and messages and SIM2 (jio) for data but in the phone dial you can select which SIM to initiate a call from.

In the status indicator bar at the top it shows VoLTE on both SIM signal levels next to the battery indicator.

In fact, I want to DISABLE calls and messages for SIM2 (jio) to use it only for data (and avoid spam callers/SMS) but can't figure out how to do that :D
 
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Hi forum,
I was looking to get the m21, is it laggy?
Also, how loud is it? I've used a redmi note 4 and a Mi A2, both have pretty loud speakers.
I appreciate your help, thank you :D
 
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@KrishT the M21 is not laggy at all - I mean the UI - have not played games but you can see youtube video reviews for gaming performance (not recommended for heavy games I guess).

And it is pretty loud while playing youtube videos :D I cant compare against redmi note4 or mi a2 coz I've never come across them.
 
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Today I installed Microsoft SMS organiser - awesome app - Samsung messages app could not block spam SMS saying "invalid phone number" error :D

Also, I enabled developer options and reduced the animations delay/duration time to 50% and the UI feels super snappy now, as if the CPU got a big boost!
 
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vishalrao said:
Today I installed Microsoft SMS organiser - awesome app - Samsung messages app could not block spam SMS saying "invalid phone number" error :D

Also, I enabled developer options and reduced the animations delay/duration time to 50% and the UI feels super snappy now, as if the CPU got a big boost!
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Yeah it is simply the best SMS application. I was blown away that MS can make such a great mobile app.

Thanks for the tip on the animations. Will try that out.
 
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How is the battery life? I have an A50 or something like that with 4000mah battery for about a year and the battery goes below 15 percent by early evening ( no gaming, few YouTube video, moderate browsing,and a lot of emails)
My last phone (OP 5T) with possibly smaller battery used to last longer.
 
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Battery life is very good!

After tweaking some settings and with my very moderate usage, I get battery drain of around 10-15% per day - meaning it can last me 5 days at least! My previous Nokia 6.0 used to last me around 2-3 days (for comparison) and I believe it has a 3000 mAh battery (half the size) so it's par for the course.

I rarely do intensive stuff like watching videos or music and no gaming and hardly any web browsing. Just some whatsapp, email, SMS/calls mostly that's it.

By tweaking settings I mean stuff like disable "auto brightness" because it uses the front camera to detect lighting and also disabled always-on-display and there is a setting to peg the CPU to 70% capacity and stuff like that. Enabled dark mode for the OLED screen power savings.
 
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KrishT said:
Is this an app? Or a built-in setting?
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Built in setting in the device health - battery section.
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Crazy_Eddy said:
GSMArena's review says the M30s/M21 fingerprint sensor is slow and that the M31 FP sensor is much better. Any idea?
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FP sensor on M21 is fine, my comment was on the first day (maybe my fingers were damp/moist) but since then the FP unlock is fast and effortless.
 
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