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

[mallik]

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!

 

[blr_p]

Always on display on or off. Off will give you more standby. I don't need AoD.

How often do your apps check the net. Email ? does it go out every minute or every hour.

If you can synchronise apps to go out at the same time then there will be less standby drain.

How high is you brightness ? adaptive on or off. Are you using dark mode or light.

The one thing i will not do is reduce refresh to 60hz. It's staying on 120hz.

Battery on this phone will be better than the 4G Exynos variant because it heats up less.

How much is your standby drain leaving the phone alone without touching for 5 hours at least ?

 

[rockstah]

Always on display on or off. Off will give you more standby. I don't need AoD.

its needed to check time

How often do your apps check the net. Email ? does it go out every minute or every hour.
If you can synchronise apps to go out at the same time then there will be less standby drain.\

No idea

How high is you brightness ? adaptive on or off. Are you using dark mode or light.

Adaptive On, light mode but youtube in dark mode

The one thing i will not do is reduce refresh to 60hz. It's staying on 120hz.

I keep it on 120hz, like it that way

Battery on this phone will be better than the 4G Exynos variant because it heats up less.

How much is your standby drain leaving the phone alone without touching for 5 hours at least ?

Havent checked that yet

 

[blr_p]

Now at night ambient temp is low so i'll keep this as baseline, at noon it'll be close to 39-40c here so ill check at that time.

If the throttle threshold is at 44 degrees C then the max ambient you can get away with without throttling is 44-10 = 34-35 degrees C

If it throttles at 39-40C meaning internal temps are approaching 50 then that is by design. Battery will drain quickly at this temp that too not doing much.

If you want to do away with that limit then its going to take rooting.

A 50+ degree phone will be warm to the touch in a case, too hot otherwise to handle and WILL halve the expected life span of your battery.

 

[rockstah]

If the throttle threshold is at 44 degrees C then the max ambient you can get away with without throttling is 44-10 = 34-35 degrees C

If it throttles at 39-40C meaning internal temps are approaching 50 then that is by design. Battery will drain quickly at this temp that too not doing much.

If you want to do away with that limit then its going to take rooting.

A 50+ degree phone will be warm to the touch in a case, too hot otherwise to handle and WILL halve the expected life span of your battery.

So I tested it now and it is performing poorly as before, not sure if i should replace or keep it

 

[bssunilreddy]

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!

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G (Cloud Mint, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage) @ 37k

 

[blr_p]

So I tested it now and it is performing poorly as before, not sure if i should replace or keep it

I did my wifi test which i explained earlier and found no throttling. No internet in this equation. Just phone, laptop and R7000 router.

Using the Wifi Speed Test Pro app, i set it up to upload and then download 1GB to my laptop which is running a cmd line server.

Over 2.4Ghz, it took 3 mins to upload and another 3 mins to download with an average speed of 50Mb/s. No wifi throttling. Ran it twice so 2GB up and 2GB down.

Then over 5 Ghz, ac with link speed of 866 Mb/s did the same test
- took around 75s to upload 1GB with an average speed of 107 Mb/s
- Download was slightly quicker, took just a minute to download 1GB with an average speed of 137 Mb/s

See the difference between link speed and actual speed

Keep in mind there are two wifi hops here. Phone to router and then to PC. If i hooked the laptop via ethernet to the router speeds would be faster still.


Ran these tests one after the other. First 2.4Ghz 'n' and then 5Ghz ac

I have uploaded the equivalent of 3GB and downloaded 3 GB for a total of 6GB traffic.

I don't see any throttling. Average speeds as indicated by the app remained fairly constant.

Phone battery temp never went over 34 degrees C and my present ambient is 29 degrees C

You can replicate this test if you pay the Rs.65 odd for that app and test with your ISP's router to a PC.

I doubt you will see any throttling unless your ambient is nearing 40.

 

[rockstah]

I did my wifi test which i explained earlier and found no throttling. No internet in this equation. Just phone, laptop and R7000 router.

Using the Wifi Speed Test Pro app, i set it up to upload and then download 1GB to my laptop which is running a cmd line server.

Over 2.4Ghz, it took 3 mins to upload and another 3 mins to download with an average speed of 50Mb/s. No wifi throttling. Ran it twice so 2GB up and 2GB down.

Then over 5 Ghz, ac with link speed of 866 Mb/s did the same test
- took around 75s to upload 1GB with an average speed of 107 Mb/s
- Download was slightly quicker, took just a minute to download 1GB with an average speed of 137 Mb/s

See the difference between link speed and actual speed

Ran these tests one after the other. First 2.4Ghz 'n' and then 5Ghz ac

I have uploaded the equivalent of 3GB and downloaded 3 GB

I don't see any throttling. Average speeds as indicated by the app remained fairly constant.

Phone battery temp never went over 34 degrees C and my present ambient is 29 degrees C

It looks like a common hardware issue where the mobile heats up and throttles wifi speeds. I did practical tests between my lg g8x and s20fe with speed test app, testmy.net and downloading games from playstore. After the mobile heats up it throttles download speed and it's clearly noticeable while downloading big size app/games from playstore.For normal browsing, YouTube it isn't noticeable though.

For future owners do not get the s20Fe if you live in a region where ambient temps get real hot like 35c plus.

 

[blr_p]

It looks like a common hardware issue where the mobile heats up and throttles wifi speeds.

Your games are bigger than 3GB ? You make it sound like you download that every day !!!

you can run more tests.

There are no issues with wifi that i can see here.

I did practical tests between my lg g8x and s20fe with speed test app, testmy.net and downloading games from playstore. After the mobile heats up it throttles download speed and it's clearly noticeable while downloading big size app/games from playstore.For normal browsing, YouTube it isn't noticeable though.
For future owners do not get the s20Fe if you live in a region where ambient temps get real hot like 35c plus.

What is your temperature indoors ? nobody live with 35 degrees indoors. You have an AC surely.

I find it ludicrous that people would not recommend this phone given that for once we see a snapdargon chip instead of an exynos.

When was the last sammy to have that in India ? on top of that the price is attractive.

This phone is a go anyway you look at it

 

[rockstah]

Your games are bigger than 3GB ? You make it sound like you download that every day !!!

you can run more tests.

There are no issues with wifi that i can see here.

Maybe try it in a hot environment and you'd see the same. I have talked to another guy with the same issue and he said its a common issue among many users.

What is your temperature indoors ? nobody live with 35 degrees indoors. You have an AC surely.

You'd be surprised at how many people live without AC here, its only 30-37c now. Ac is only needed next month when it gets really hot.

I find it ludicrous that people would not recommend this phone given that for once we see a snapdargon chip instead of an exynos.

When was the last sammy to have that in India ? on top of that the price is attractive.

This phone is a go anyway you look at it

Its needed to be said so people can choose for themselves. This is a great piece of hardware only let down by this one issue, its a great mobile nevertheless but you cant be blind to its limitations. Hopefully they fixed it in the 2022 version.

 

[blr_p]

Maybe try it in a hot environment and you'd see the same.

Run the test i did and show your results. I doubt your results will differ from mine.

Create dummy GB files on your network and copy them over or upload them to your LAN. Watch the average speeds.

I have talked to another guy with the same issue and he said its a common issue among many users.

If its a common issue why no activity on the topic since those two guys got their refund. Why did the topic die ? because it has no substance.

Wifi chip is the same for this phone across the world. Its on the SoC. The mobile one is different and is external.

You'd be surprised at how many people live without AC here, its only 30-37c now. Ac is only needed next month when it gets really hot.

You might get away at 35 given temps only rose 5 degrees in my tests. 40 will be pushing it.

Its needed to be said so people can choose for themselves.
This is a great piece of hardware only let down by this one issue, its a great mobile nevertheless but you cant be blind to its limitations. Hopefully they fixed it in the 2022 version.

You internet tests don't prove anything. If the results vary then they are not reliable. Why would they be when you include external factors beyond your control.

When people say wifi issue, test only wifi and nothing more. I did that.

There was only one guy on IBF that did an iperf test and did not find any issues.

 

[rockstah]

Run the test i did and show your results.
There was only one guy that did an iperf test and did not find any issues.

send me again, ill try and post.
I have no idea about the technical aspect of network or wifi but i can clearly see that it is slow compared to my lg which is enough for me to know that its an issue.

 

[superczar]

Don't see any issues with the WiFi even on speedtest. Lan should be presumably same or better

 

[rockstah]

Don't see any issues with the WiFi even on speedtest. Lan should be presumably same or better

s20fe? your ambient temps? can you send battery temp screenshots.

 

[superczar]

s20fe? your ambient temps? can you send battery temp screenshots.

s20fe
Ambient would be probably around 30 or so.

Not that I would argue that this is a perfect phone - but anecdotally, I haven’t really seen at least the network performance lacking on hotter days.
Looking at this thread, It seems the argument is that the phone Wi-Fi network module throttles over 40 C- but wouldn’t that be an extreme and unusual scenario ?

 

[rockstah]

s20fe
Ambient would be probably around 30 or so.

Not that I would argue that this is a perfect phone - but anecdotally, I haven’t really seen at least the network performance lacking on hotter days.
Looking at this thread, It seems the argument is that the phone Wi-Fi network module throttles over 40 C- but wouldn’t that be an extreme and unusual scenario ?

sadly it's happening in my case where battery temps are crossing 39c and it's throttling bad and I was told by another user it's common in a hot environment. My friend has a s20fe too, I'll check his mobile tomorrow and see if it's an issue. Can you check running speed tests back to back for more than 5 times and monitor battery temps and see if there's any throttling when battery temp crosses 38-39c

 

[superczar]

sadly it's happening in my case where battery temps are crossing 39c and it's throttling bad and I was told by another user it's common in a hot environment. My friend has a s20fe too, I'll check his mobile tomorrow and see if it's an issue. Can you check running speed tests back to back for more than 5 times and monitor battery temps and see if there's any throttling when battery temp crosses 38-39c

Ok, will try that in the day time tomorrow

 

[rockstah]

Another update

Now I checked it on another s20fe and it's pretty much the same as i expected. kindly see the images for yourself and decide. s20fe vs s20fe vs lg g8x. Both s20fe throttles after running speed test for 5 times while LG did not.
I did test downloading pubg from playstore and it was throttling clearly in that too.

My friend also has a xiaomi 11t Pro but even after this he likes the s20Fe over that. I was also considering buying xiaomi 11t Pro as both were coming in same price after exchange and offers but i chose the s20Fe and i don't regret it.

 

[icysmoke]

S20fe 5g is available for 31k. Is there any phone in less than 40k that beats it for the camera. I just need the best camera phone in that range. Would Oneplus 10r, 9rt, 9r, iqoo 9 se etc beat the s20fe 5g on the camera front.

 

[solo_wing]

S20fe 5g is available for 31k. Is there any phone in less than 40k that beats it for the camera. I just need the best camera phone in that range. Would Oneplus 10r, 9rt, 9r, iqoo 9 se etc beat the s20fe 5g on the camera front.

Realme pro 9+ rear camera is just superb specially low light.

 

[rockstah]

S20fe 5g is available for 31k. Is there any phone in less than 40k that beats it for the camera. I just need the best camera phone in that range. Would Oneplus 10r, 9rt, 9r, iqoo 9 se etc beat the s20fe 5g on the camera front.

Overall s20fe is the best when it comes to rear cam, front cam is not that good though. OnePlus 10r might have better night time photos but it's bad in video stabilisation.