Budget 30-40k Under 40k phone with good camera and battery

M

mallik

Adept
Questions:-
1. Budget?
A: INR 40k and below

2. Preferred display size, type and resolution?
A: Around 6 inch, OLED

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

4. Preferred connectivity options?
A: 5g with wireless calling

5. Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them.
A: No preference. Phone should be good for at least 2-3 years

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

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

8. New or Used? Online or Offline?
A: New. Don’t mind buying online

9. Any other requirements?
A: Need good battery backup, wireless calling

10. If you have already considered a phone, then please mention the model
A: Asus Zenfone 8z

Need to help a friend buy a phone who will be using it mainly for calls WhatsApp, and routine functions. Not much gaming, if any. The camera should be good (I love pixel, but battery sucks), and so should the battery life. Wi-Fi calling and 5G also needed

Thanks for the help folks!
 
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IF you need a compact phone, Asus 8z it is, no other option.

If the camera matter a lot, but comfortable with a bit larger phone, S20 FE 5G is the best bet, I feel only something like S22 will outmatch it as been OP9 pro can't (compared side by side in low light + all 3 cams are good in S20 FE). Android 13 will be its last OS update, same as Asus 8z though. Only something like OP9RT will outlive it in OS updates, but just till android 14. The advantage of Oxygen OS is gone now & IMO Samsung's One UI is easily the best UI (I don't like stock android because of lack features compared to custom UIs).

For value for money, iQoo 7 at 30k seems like a good deal.

I personally use S20 FE 5G, was waiting for Asus 8z but its launch was put into doubt & 34k was a great price for S20 FE 5G back in Diwali. But its size is still not as comfortable as my old S8 was. Xiaomi 12 seems like a great compact phone alternative, no idea on availability & price.
 
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If you are willing to wait a while, A53 5G seems a good option. It has just been released so available for pre-oder. Since its an A-series phone so you will get global updates, meaning no screwups like what you see for global version and Indian version Roms with Chinese brands.
It has good camera, OIS, 5G, Oled, vowifi. Fits in your budget. 33k box price, real price will be definitely lower than that.
 
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Kaleen Bhaiya said:
If you are willing to wait a while, A53 5G seems a good option. It has just been released so available for pre-oder. Since its an A-series phone so you will get global updates, meaning no screwups like what you see for global version and Indian version Roms with Chinese brands.
It has good camera, OIS, 5G, Oled, vowifi. Fits in your budget. 33k box price, real price will be definitely lower than that.
Click to expand...
A53 5G will be the best for someone who cares about android versions, but that's it. A52s 5G has a better SoC, S20 FE 5G is still the fastest of the bunch (along with best camera):
https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=11039&idPhone2=11268&idPhone3=10377

A53 5G has an Exynos chip & exynos is bad for efficiency generally, I don't think it will change soon unless they change their fabrication technology:
1648040214471.png

S870 vs SD Gen1 on identical phones, not a fair comparison, but former is TSMC 7nm vs Samsung 5nm in latter.
 
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mallik said:
Thanks everyone. Ordered a Samsung S20 FE 5G after much deliberation. The camera with 3x optical zoom and good images sealed the deal at the end. Updates only till Android for S20 FE were the sticky point. However, convinced my friend that hardware matters more.
Click to expand...
May I know how much you got it for? Congrats btw.
 
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mallik said:
Thanks everyone. Ordered a Samsung S20 FE 5G after much deliberation. The camera with 3x optical zoom and good images sealed the deal at the end. Updates only till Android for S20 FE were the sticky point. However, convinced my friend that hardware matters more.
Click to expand...
Good choice.I was going to suggest the phone.
 
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blr_p said:
This would be the one with the Snapdragon 865 ? have you noticed much heating with it when on data

arstechnica.com

The Snapdragon 865 will make phones worse in 2020, thanks to mandatory 5G

Qualcomm is so obsessed with 5G, it’s hurting 4G performance to spur adoption.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
Click to expand...
I have the s20fe (the sd865 variant)
No issues with heating.. only time I saw it throttling was after 5-6 hours of google maps on android auto..

On the flip side, the camera module (or software) is gimped..
The night shots esp are not good, and likely crippled in software…esp considering the camera module is the same as the regular s20
Day time photos also seem to do something odd to skin tones and add excessive contrast and a plasticky feel (oversmoothening?) to human faces ..more noticeably so if the subjects are not close/ imperfect lighting

To be fair, its probably nitpicking, esp considering the price - but you should be aware that the PQ is not up to the mark if you are hoping for 2020 flagship levels of imaging
 
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superczar said:
I have the s20fe (the sd865 variant)
No issues with heating.. only time I saw it throttling was after 5-6 hours of google maps on android auto..
Click to expand...
Good to know.
superczar said:
On the flip side, the camera module (or software) is gimped..
The night shots esp are not good, and likely crippled in software…esp considering the camera module is the same as the regular s20
Day time photos also seem to do something odd to skin tones and add excessive contrast and a plasticky feel (oversmoothening?) to human faces ..more noticeably so if the subjects are not close/ imperfect lighting

To be fair, its probably nitpicking, esp considering the price - but you should be aware that the PQ is not up to the mark if you are hoping for 2020 flagship levels of imaging
Click to expand...
Well i was hoping for a decent camera and it beats out the competition at the price point. I think i could live with it. The reference is the LG V20. and this one has a pro mode so i can fix whatever if needed.


There is something interesting about this phone. The 5G bands

FDD Sub6: N1(2100), N3(1800), N5(850), N7(2600), N8(900), N28(700)
TDD Sub6: N40(2300), N41(2500), N78(3500)

What surprised me was the frequency. Those are 4G frequencies. I expect 5G to be 25Ghz and above.

Well, this flavour of 5G is called Sub6 or under 6 Ghz. So its a more souped up 4G

Let's just call it what it really is. Not 5G. It's 4.5G

Airtel conducts India’s First 5G trial in the 700 MHz band in partnership with Nokia

Airtel conducts India’s First 5G trial in the 700 MHz band in partnership with Nokia
www.airtel.in www.airtel.in

Will Airtel offer 5G in the 700 mhz band :woot:

You know what that means. There will be no SOT difference between data and wifi if that is the case.

Battery on data will be like nothing we're ever seen.
 
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superczar said:
On the flip side, the camera module (or software) is gimped..
The night shots esp are not good, and likely crippled in software…esp considering the camera module is the same as the regular s20
Day time photos also seem to do something odd to skin tones and add excessive contrast and a plasticky feel (oversmoothening?) to human faces ..more noticeably so if the subjects are not close/ imperfect lighting

To be fair, its probably nitpicking, esp considering the price - but you should be aware that the PQ is not up to the mark if you are hoping for 2020 flagship levels of imaging
Click to expand...
I've observed something similar on my cousin's S20FE 5g too.. I have Galaxy note 9 and S20fe is supposed to be better as per some reviews I've seen... But i was not impressed with the image quality on S20 fe..
 
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blr_p said:
This would be the one with the Snapdragon 865 ? have you noticed much heating with it when on data

arstechnica.com

The Snapdragon 865 will make phones worse in 2020, thanks to mandatory 5G

Qualcomm is so obsessed with 5G, it’s hurting 4G performance to spur adoption.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
Click to expand...
Yes, S20 FE 5G has S865. I think the heating issues of S888 & SD Gen 1 have eclipsed any heating issue that S865 might have had. I have observed phones to be hotter on mobile data than on WiFi since a long time, so nothing new to me. Now in summer, phone gets even hotter with mobile data on, but its not too much I'd say. I have a case on the phone as well, so maybe that helps a bit.
superczar said:
I have the s20fe (the sd865 variant)
No issues with heating.. only time I saw it throttling was after 5-6 hours of google maps on android auto..

On the flip side, the camera module (or software) is gimped..
The night shots esp are not good, and likely crippled in software…esp considering the camera module is the same as the regular s20
Day time photos also seem to do something odd to skin tones and add excessive contrast and a plasticky feel (oversmoothening?) to human faces ..more noticeably so if the subjects are not close/ imperfect lighting

To be fair, its probably nitpicking, esp considering the price - but you should be aware that the PQ is not up to the mark if you are hoping for 2020 flagship levels of imaging
Click to expand...
For me, the camera was an upgrade over S8 & even when compared the primary cam with friend's OP 9 pro, got better results in artificial light with S20 FE 5G when pixel peeping. I felt selfie cam output was a bit weird looking at times even though it is sharper than the selfie cam of my old S8.
 
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Something i wanted is native to the OS even with android 12. On the V20 i use ACR and it works well.


Apparently we don't have restrictions about this in India or in neighbouring countries like in the west.
superczar said:
On the flip side, the camera module (or software) is gimped..
The night shots esp are not good, and likely crippled in software…esp considering the camera module is the same as the regular s20
Day time photos also seem to do something odd to skin tones and add excessive contrast and a plasticky feel (oversmoothening?) to human faces ..more noticeably so if the subjects are not close/ imperfect lighting

To be fair, its probably nitpicking, esp considering the price - but you should be aware that the PQ is not up to the mark if you are hoping for 2020 flagship levels of imaging
Click to expand...
here is a camera comparison between flagship S21 Ultra vs. S20 FE 5G

The S21 front selfie camera is better. You can see the over smoothening with the S20 there. Any way to turn it off?

The rear camera of the S21 strikes as warmer compared to the S20's cooler shots. More dynamic range with the S21.

The details on the S20 are sharper than on the S21. I like that. Others will say over sharpened.

The apertures for normal, tele and ultra are the same. So no better light gathering with the S21 at lower ISO's. However the sensor size for tele & ultra are larger on the S21. So the IQ is going to be better for those lenses. Main camera has the same size sensor which will be used the most.

The night shots for both are crap but then i expect that with auto. Only manual will get that right and can do so even with 5 yr old phone with decent manual controls.

But otherwise i'm not seeing too many differences.

To get 30% better with the top end you have to pay 110% more or close to. Whether at launch or even today.

I can see why everyone is recommending the S20 FE as VFM

It's been five years since i looked at phone cameras in depth but the difference between a good mid ranger and the high end are much tighter these days compared to back then.

Midranger for camera was out of the question 5 years ago. Only for battery and bigger screen. Not camera.

Just see the 'pro' options for the FE. Even has focus peaking. Gain control for audio in pro video. Neck and neck with the V20 that came out in 2016 for possibilities. The V20 is still a little more flexible with both lenses and nicer interface.
 
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mallik said:
My pixel 4a takes better night shots than any other phone I have seen, including iphones. It's the software which is superior in my opinion. Is there a Gcam for the S20fe?
Click to expand...
I tried 1 Gcam version on my S20 FE 5G, the pic output was less saturated, dimmer & lower details from dark areas from primary cam. Do try out different versions of GCam that you can find.
 
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