Budget 25-30k What Phone around 30k

farrukjavid

farrukjavid

Level D
Hi guys, im looking for a phone under 30k for my father who is upgrading from realme 3 pro. Current considerations are s21fe, iqoo neo 7 pro, oneplus 11r, moto edge 50 pro,pixel 6a. Good to have : water resistance, telephoto lens. Need something long lasting as he doesn't change phones frequently.Compact under 6.5 would be prefe
 
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I like the S21 FE (and own it) but have you considered the Nothing Phone 2a or 2? It got released recently so the odds of it receiving updates longer than most others should be good. Unsure about the rest though. Moto Edge 50 Pro might be an issue cause it has the curved display thing going on (Waterfall display? I am unsure of the name). Pixel 6a is a nice phone but heard the battery is quite bad.

Others may have a good idea than I do.
 
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FXGalvatron said:
I like the S21 FE (and own it) but have you considered the Nothing Phone 2a or 2? It got released recently so the odds of it receiving updates longer than most others should be good. Unsure about the rest though. Moto Edge 50 Pro might be an issue cause it has the curved display thing going on (Waterfall display? I am unsure of the name). Pixel 6a is a nice phone but heard the battery is quite bad.

Others may have a good idea than I do.
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I personally find samsung os better than nothing. I used nothing phone 1 for 2-3 days and went back to OP 7T because I was facing issues with the OS like flash light wasn't turning on and a few apps crashing while using. I would suggest OP to get a samsung s22 or s21FE or you can opt for honor 90 which released in India recently on amazon.
 
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FXGalvatron said:
I like the S21 FE (and own it) but have you considered the Nothing Phone 2a or 2? It got released recently so the odds of it receiving updates longer than most others should be good. Unsure about the rest though. Moto Edge 50 Pro might be an issue cause it has the curved display thing going on (Waterfall display? I am unsure of the name). Pixel 6a is a nice phone but heard the battery is quite bad.

Others may have a good idea than I do.
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Haven't considered nothing, will check it out and moto software seems to be an issue. Will eliminate pixel.
NevermoreLove said:
I personally find samsung os better than nothing. I used nothing phone 1 for 2-3 days and went back to OP 7T because I was facing issues with the OS like flash light wasn't turning on and a few apps crashing while using. I would suggest OP to get a samsung s22 or s21FE or you can opt for honor 90 which released in India recently on amazon.
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The size did made me eliminate the op11r, so s22 and s21fe,both seem valid choices. S22 has glass back will makes it more vulnerable I feel and smaller battery but the small screen is a plus.maybe have to check them out in person
 
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You can never go wrong with a Google pixel, it's perfect for people who don't care about all the fancy gimmicks that phone have these days. The 6a will be perfect. It's a workhorse, camera rivals current flagships, easy to use and live with and everything on a google phone is intuitive.
I used to own a Pixel 4a and then got an iPhone 13. I felt like the experience is as good as it gets.
 
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Within the listed options, +1 for S21 FE.

Pixel is also know for connectivity issues other than the battery issue mentioned above.
Would suggest to avoid the Moto edge 50 pro as it seems to be running on UFS2.2! (I had to look it up on multiple sources to verify; UFS2.2 in 2024 is basically a joke) Their reputation for OS updates is already sinking and this'd only make it worse. In short, might not be long lasting.
Neo 7 pro is basically an undercut 11r, both of which don't have a telephoto. If you're considering this, meaning you're not-so-serious about having a telephoto, IP68 or under 6.5" size, consider the 12r instead. Comes with Android 14, promised updates till 17, 5500mAh battery and much better SOC than the S21 FE. So the extra money from the 30k spent is actually worth it here.

Under 30k smartphones come with a lot of compromises these days, so it's not really recommended for parents, as they can't be expected to deal with custom ROMs and such. The VFM under 40k smartphones is better for such users as opposed to smartphones under 30k.
 
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I don't think the features you mentioned (water resistance or telephoto lens) would matter even the slightest for your dad. I mean he is still still using a Realme 3 Pro for God's sake. You need to be realistic and observe (or even ask) what your dad needs the most.

Elderly parents wants functionality and convenience more than performance or gimmicky features. For instance, none of the models you mentioned come with a headphone jack, and for a elderly person (can relate to my dad), it is a must have feature because using wireless headphones or dongles can become cumbersome. Having an option is always a plus.

Similarly, you need to look at models that are lightweight, has a bright display, and have a very good battery life, because for them having a heavy paperweight or something that needs multiple cycles of charging will be an inconvenience.

I'd suggest looking at the Poco X6. It is a lightweight all-round device that comes with stellar performance for the price (7S Gen 2), pretty good camera, has a headphone jack, very good battery life, bright display, and fast charging. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
 
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I agree with @AINDRASIS_GUPTA, if the phone is for your dad, then you should focus on what he wants rather than what you think are good to have.

You should consider Moto Edge 40 Neo. It's slightly lighter weight, has IP68 ratings, and Moto has good, no nonsense UI with little to no bloatware. At least, there are no adwares built-in.
 
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Anirudh Sanjeev said:
You can never go wrong with a Google pixel, it's perfect for people who don't care about all the fancy gimmicks that phone have these days. The 6a will be perfect. It's a workhorse, camera rivals current flagships, easy to use and live with and everything on a google phone is intuitive.
I used to own a Pixel 4a and then got an iPhone 13. I felt like the experience is as good as it gets.
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Hows google service in india? i kinda have a bad feeling about google since they are inconsistent
m1tr said:
Even the Nothing Phone 2 looks like a great deal if you're willing to stretch your budget a bit.
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its too big
BullettuPaandi said:
Within the listed options, +1 for S21 FE.

Pixel is also know for connectivity issues other than the battery issue mentioned above.
Would suggest to avoid the Moto edge 50 pro as it seems to be running on UFS2.2! (I had to look it up on multiple sources to verify; UFS2.2 in 2024 is basically a joke) Their reputation for OS updates is already sinking and this'd only make it worse. In short, might not be long lasting.
Neo 7 pro is basically an undercut 11r, both of which don't have a telephoto. If you're considering this, meaning you're not-so-serious about having a telephoto, IP68 or under 6.5" size, consider the 12r instead. Comes with Android 14, promised updates till 17, 5500mAh battery and much better SOC than the S21 FE. So the extra money from the 30k spent is actually worth it here.

Under 30k smartphones come with a lot of compromises these days, so it's not really recommended for parents, as they can't be expected to deal with custom ROMs and such. The VFM under 40k smartphones is better for such users as opposed to smartphones under 30k.
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definitely need a compact phone, else would've got the 11r for 32k.
AINDRASIS_GUPTA said:
I don't think the features you mentioned (water resistance or telephoto lens) would matter even the slightest for your dad. I mean he is still still using a Realme 3 Pro for God's sake. You need to be realistic and observe (or even ask) what your dad needs the most.

Elderly parents wants functionality and convenience more than performance or gimmicky features. For instance, none of the models you mentioned come with a headphone jack, and for a elderly person (can relate to my dad), it is a must have feature because using wireless headphones or dongles can become cumbersome. Having an option is always a plus.

Similarly, you need to look at models that are lightweight, has a bright display, and have a very good battery life, because for them having a heavy paperweight or something that needs multiple cycles of charging will be an inconvenience.

I'd suggest looking at the Poco X6. It is a lightweight all-round device that comes with stellar performance for the price (7S Gen 2), pretty good camera, has a headphone jack, very good battery life, bright display, and fast charging. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
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My father works with construction and real estate. He takes lots of pictures of buildings to send to clients and have seen him zoom only to get pixelated image (need for telephoto ). He travels a lot in bike and have to be in construction site , so being water resistant is also a bonus ( his current phone has held up without ip rating,but its always extra risky). So his usage is lots of calls, send and receive documents in whatsapp , taking pictures . Having a good soc makes sure it lasts a bit long. He definitely needs a phone that is easy to handle . My father doesn't use headphones, no headphone jack is not needed. The new the M55 seems like a good fit for him, but it's a bit big.
gourav said:
I agree with @AINDRASIS_GUPTA, if the phone is for your dad, then you should focus on what he wants rather than what you think are good to have.

You should consider Moto Edge 40 Neo. It's slightly lighter weight, has IP68 ratings, and Moto has good, no nonsense UI with little to no bloatware. At least, there are no adwares built-in.
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Looks good, will look into it
Arjun said:
S21FE is too old now
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What other compact options do i have ?
 
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BullettuPaandi said:
Within the listed options, +1 for S21 FE.

Pixel is also know for connectivity issues other than the battery issue mentioned above.
Would suggest to avoid the Moto edge 50 pro as it seems to be running on UFS2.2! (I had to look it up on multiple sources to verify; UFS2.2 in 2024 is basically a joke) Their reputation for OS updates is already sinking and this'd only make it worse. In short, might not be long lasting.
Neo 7 pro is basically an undercut 11r, both of which don't have a telephoto. If you're considering this, meaning you're not-so-serious about having a telephoto, IP68 or under 6.5" size, consider the 12r instead. Comes with Android 14, promised updates till 17, 5500mAh battery and much better SOC than the S21 FE. So the extra money from the 30k spent is actually worth it here.

Under 30k smartphones come with a lot of compromises these days, so it's not really recommended for parents, as they can't be expected to deal with custom ROMs and such. The VFM under 40k smartphones is better for such users as opposed to smartphones under 30k.
Click to expand...
if beebom's benchmarks are to be believed, the speed is on par with 3.1 if not outright better, they did show some benchmarks in their video, but its still got that shitty curved display so meh
farrukjavid said:
Hows google service in india? i kinda have a bad feeling about google since they are inconsistent
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crap to say the least
 
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altair21 said:
if beebom's benchmarks are to be believed, the speed is on par with 3.1 if not outright better, they did show some benchmarks in their video
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Just watched; they didn't specify whether it was with 12GB or 8GB RAM variant. CE4, which they'd compared with, only has 8GB of RAM. The RAM reads & writes were about double and only that has contributed to the higher score for the Moto. Storage read and write speeds are about 50-70% faster on the UFS 3.1 model; UFS 2.2 is clearly not on par. Also, efficiency is not even taken into account here.

Regardless, amount of RAM space required may depend on usage, but storage speed is crucial for long-term usability. Worst part is the SoC on Moto does seem to support UFS 3.1; questionable choice for cost-cutting.
 
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For all its software prowess, Samsung lacks in SoC front. IMO avoid all Samsung fab made flagship SoCs, like Exynos, Tensor, S888/888+ & 8 Gen 1 (8+ Gen 1 is made at TSMC) because of poor efficiency.

I assume your father will have preference against Chinese, if that is the case, Samsung A34 will be a much more practical phone for him than S21FE because of the battery life & less heating. I know it is overpriced. Otherwise consider NP 2a or Nord CE 4 or Poco X6 pro, check their pros & cons. Moto Edge 50 pro can be considered as well, Moto is slow in updates but has promised 3 OS updates. Xiaomi & Moto are the slowest among big brands, with BBK, Samsung & Pixels being faster in that order.
 
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BullettuPaandi said:
S22, with two more years of OS updates left; but inefficient SoC & small battery.


Then no decent option in your budget.


Here's a list of smartphones under 6.5" with telephoto & with IP6x or IPx8 rating: [LINK]
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And only s21 fe and s22 are available in my budget in india
altair21 said:
if beebom's benchmarks are to be believed, the speed is on par with 3.1 if not outright better, they did show some benchmarks in their video, but its still got that shitty curved display so meh

crap to say the least
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If not for the crap service, would've gone with the 7a
singenaadam said:
S21FE ticks all he boxes. Get the SD888 version.
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Amazon reviews mention heating and battery issues but still the most vfm option and top of my list now
OMEGA44-XT said:
For all its software prowess, Samsung lacks in SoC front. IMO avoid all Samsung fab made flagship SoCs, like Exynos, Tensor, S888/888+ & 8 Gen 1 (8+ Gen 1 is made at TSMC) because of poor efficiency.

I assume your father will have preference against Chinese, if that is the case, Samsung A34 will be a much more practical phone for him than S21FE because of the battery life & less heating. I know it is overpriced. Otherwise consider NP 2a or Nord CE 4 or Poco X6 pro, check their pros & cons. Moto Edge 50 pro can be considered as well, Moto is slow in updates but has promised 3 OS updates. Xiaomi & Moto are the slowest among big brands, with BBK, Samsung & Pixels being faster in that order.
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I don't want a big phone, that's the problem . Currently my choices are s22, s21fe, moto edge 40, edge 40 neo, edge 50. So samsung or moto guys?
 
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