I need one for general purposes only, NOT for gaming, so I don’t really care about gaming-related features.
I’m going to buy it in Asia, as that’s where I live (Vietnam specifically), and would appreciate any advice. 🙂
A general rule of thumb is to get a year or two old flagship instead of a budget new one. One can usually find a great deal on something like S21 Ultra or similar.
What’s the best way to find actually good flagships of the past? I mean, to learn of which model was good.
Read reviews in GSMArena.
If you want to install a custom ROM you should check what phones your future ROM supports
I believe for GrapheneOS it’s pixel 6
I checked GSMarena for the most popular <$200 Android phones with decent specifications.
The top results are:-
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Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 (6GB RAM, 128GB HD, Snapdragon 4 Gen 1, 48MP camera)
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Samsung Galaxy A14 (6GB RAM, 128GB HD, Mediatek MT6769, 50MP camera)
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Realme C53 (6GB RAM, 128GB HD, Unisoc Tiger T612, 50MP camera)
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Tecno Spark 10 Pro (8GB RAM, 256GB HD, Mediatek Helio G88, 50MP camera)
Personally I’d go for the Redmi Note 12 because of the better processor.
Edit: Also, here is GSMarena’s buyer guide for <€200 phones:- https://www.gsmarena.com/best_midrange_allrounders_buyers_guide-review-2032.php
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I’d personally recommend the second hand market depending on what your budget is.
I’d get a generation or two old pixel, can get fully unlocked ones on Amazon for pretty cheap. Just replaced my mother’s pixel 2 with a pixel 5 for less than $200
Agreed. I’m about to update to the new (to me) Google Pixel, probably the 6a. (I think they’re on the 8 now?) The battery on my current pixel is not holding up. My last two phones were pixels and probably my next couple will be as well
My whole family is on pixels, very reliable phones. My mother’s pixel 2 was 6 years old and only failed because the battery began to swell.
I can not recommend pixels anymore after owning my 7 pro for a year (been using google phones since the nexus 5x). Their own tensor chip is behind the competition by 2 years, but importantly they use a shitty modem which causes issues for a large portion of users.
Also pixels used to have a significantly better camera than others, but I feel that gap is so small now that it doesn’t matter at the high end, they’re trading blows now.
The only edge compared to the competition is getting access to google app features earlier than others, like magic eraser. Ain’t what it used to be anymore…The single best feature and the only one that I looked for before buying my pixel was the custom ROM support. Installed grapheneos on day 1, nothing is the only other company in the market here that allows you to unlock bootloader without voiding the warranty so didn’t really have much choice to go for tbh. Would be nice if other ones like fairphone would expand out soon.
Get a flagship phone from a generation or two ago, I’m still using my Pixel 5 and I love this phone and they’re dirt cheap at the moment, both new and refurbished, because it’s 3 generations behind
Thanks! But what newest features are missing there? Does Pixel 5 have anything useful the newer models don’t?
Pixel 5a has back fingerprint sensor and a headphone jack, plus it can run grapheneos
