Looking for a Budget Phone

[ETK893]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and I was wondering if I could get some advice.

I'm planning to upgrade my current phone which is an ASUS Zenfone 2 Laser ZE550KL to preferably still an Android phone. Specs wise, looking for a really good budget camera phone (hardware and software wise) to improve on my phone photography. A good display and battery life would be a plus too since I frequently edit my photos at the phone. RAM would be around 4GB or above since it is 2019. Gaming would be a bonus (I play the new Call of Duty Mobile). Also, kind of skeptic with the whole Huawei spying on us thing, but if you can recommend it, I might give it a shot. I live in Southeast Asia if phone availability is a concern.

Budget is really limited to about USD 350 to USD 400. I'm not really a techie kind of person but I would love to hear any opinions and information that you guys might have about mobile photography.
Thank you so much and if you have any information to ask, I can freely provide.

[rcmaehl]

Used Pixel 3 from swappa shouldn't do you wrong and will continue to receive updates unlike other manufacturers 

[Firewrath9]

What about a Xiaomi Mi9/Mi9T Pro? its ~400$, 1080p OLED, headphone jack, snapdragon 855, 6GB ram iirc.

https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Mi-9T-Pro-Snapdragon/dp/B07X5VF1FM

Should have good availability in asia. Its also xiaomi which is not huawei if that matters much.

Basically a Samsung S10 for half the price, and a slightly lower screen res

 

As for photography, It'll work, but any "real" camera will beat a phone camera.

 

[ZXR]

mi 9t or mi 9t pro. No contest really.

[SnowTech]

Realme X i think.

[PCGuy7]

I have been using the Pixel 3a for several months now, and It's a great budget phone. Great camera, batterly life, and its around $400 USD. 

[ETK893]

10 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Wait so you are not in Southeast Asia?

My bad for the confusion, I just converted the curency to USD in order to easily narrow down any concerns regarding to pricing.

 

10 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Consider the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro

64MP sensor can resolve a lot of detail, and aid in capturing light in night shots

4 camera array including ultrawide, macro, and depth sensing

4,500mAh battery

IPS display goes up to 500nits

Models come with 6 or 8GB of RAM

Expandable storage and headphone jack

Thanks for your recommendation. I'll check it out.

[kokakolia]

19 hours ago, ETK893 said:

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and I was wondering if I could get some advice.

I'm planning to upgrade my current phone which is an ASUS Zenfone 2 Laser ZE550KL to preferably still an Android phone. Specs wise, looking for a really good budget camera phone (hardware and software wise) to improve on my phone photography. A good display and battery life would be a plus too since I frequently edit my photos at the phone. RAM would be around 4GB or above since it is 2019. Gaming would be a bonus (I play the new Call of Duty Mobile). Also, kind of skeptic with the whole Huawei spying on us thing, but if you can recommend it, I might give it a shot. I live in Southeast Asia if phone availability is a concern.

Budget is really limited to about USD 350 to USD 400. I'm not really a techie kind of person but I would love to hear any opinions and information that you guys might have about mobile photography.
Thank you so much and if you have any information to ask, I can freely provide.

Xiaomi all the way! They're killing it this year. The specs for the money is insane. There are just too many models, it's hard to keep up. Xiaomi is releasing new phones every 2nd week it seems. The Redmi Note 8 Pro is the latest "value king" phone. But it gets confusing AF with the Note 8, Note 8T, Mi 9 lite etc...

[Dubba]

Any drawbacks with these Xiaomi phones? Are they spying on us? Do they die after the first year? Do they break easily or can they stand -20C or lower temps?

I'm still trying to decide whether to sell a kidney and go with samsung note 10 or something like pixel 3/a for a decent camera (low-light photos and adequately stabilized video)