Which will last longer ?

[Pokyccc]

Hello, I need a phone which records very good videos and will last 3-4 years. I know iPhone SE Is a great choice for that but at the same time it costs $650 here and for that I can get Samsung S10 lite or something at that price range. So I dont really know if there's no better choice than SE 

[jj9987]

The new iPhone SE 2020 will last 3-4 years, you will get software updates for the whole period too.

Android phones offer 2 years of software updates and 1 more year of security updates only. It is also highly dependant on the manufacturer, these updates might be quite useless and security updates might come quite late compared to when Google publishes them.

 

I haven't used Samsung devices in a long time, so I don't know how they have changed. But I know OnePlus used to be about a month behind with security updates.

 

Are there any specific features you need in a phone?

2 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

In that case the SE will cost a lot more than $650 for you, because the battery is definitely not going to hold up for 3-4 years. Battery replacement is not free

This is a valid point to take into account too. Though the issue is most likely with other devices too, their batteries won't last that long too.

[PEagle]

5 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Also, software updates dont affect usage, and there has not be any reported cases where someone got a bad experience that is directly attributable to the lack of updates. Android phones dont lose any functionality without updates.

 

I agree with that, My mom still uses my former Note 3, the battery was not changed and a few updates arrived a year or a year and a half ago. 

No problem with security so far, and performance is still ok (though she does not use it for games).

[EL02]

For $650 the iphone se is the worst deal you could possibly get. The S10 lite or maybe the Xiaomi K30 Pro, the latter being more powerful, are both great choices. The xiaomi seems like a good video recorder to me, but I would suggest checking YT videos to get a better idea and decide off of that.

[Commodus]

7 hours ago, Pokyccc said:

Hello, I need a phone which records very good videos and will last 3-4 years. I know iPhone SE Is a great choice for that but at the same time it costs $650 here and for that I can get Samsung S10 lite or something at that price range. So I dont really know if there's no better choice than SE 

I'd go with the iPhone SE, or if you can swing it the iPhone XR.

 

There's a simple reality at work here: iPhones are, as a general rule, the best at video recording.  Strong image stabilization, HDR video recording, good overall picture quality.  Don't get me wrong, Android phones are definitely getting better and may have multiple cameras at the SE's price point, but it's still disconcerting at how they struggle with stabilization... and at that SE price level, I wouldn't expect stellar image quality.

 

The SE's battery life is not "miserable" from the reviews I've seen.  It's not spectacular, but it'll be fine for 3-4 years if you aren't thrashing it hard (that is, running it low) every day.  Battery capacity alone isn't an indication of how long a phone will last; it's how much the phone draws on that battery that matters.  To use analogies, think of it like drinking whiskey -- a shotglass might be much smaller than a pint of beer, but you're also sipping much less.

[EL02]

23 minutes ago, Commodus said:

The SE's battery life is not "miserable" from the reviews I've seen.  It's not spectacular, but it'll be fine for 3-4 years if you aren't thrashing it hard (that is, running it low) every day.  Battery capacity alone isn't an indication of how long a phone will last; it's how much the phone draws on that battery that matters.  To use analogies, think of it like drinking whiskey -- a shotglass might be much smaller than a pint of beer, but you're also sipping much less.

But for $650? I understand that the choices are limited for "good video quality", but the SE is a sad reality for $650.

High quality videos require a large amount of space, which the iPhone simply doesn't offer(based on having to pay a lot more for double the storage and no micro sd card slot).

Secondly, 4K recording uses a lot of battery. The se has a small battery size and no fast charger in the box which may add up to the cost later. Small battery = more cycles = Faster degradation = money spent on battery replacement.

[freeagent]

A battery replacement for the SE 2020 is fifty bucks. You could use your free AppleCare for that before it expires. My old 7 was pretty durable, I’m sure the new SE will be fine.

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, EL02 said:

But for $650? I understand that the choices are limited for "good video quality", but the SE is a sad reality for $650.

High quality videos require a large amount of space, which the iPhone simply doesn't offer(based on having to pay a lot more for double the storage and no micro sd card slot).

Secondly, 4K recording uses a lot of battery. The se has a small battery size and no fast charger in the box which may add up to the cost later. Small battery = more cycles = Faster degradation = money spent on battery replacement.

You can get an iPhone SE with 256GB of storage.  Now, the OP may wince at paying more for storage, but that'll certainly hold a fair amount of video.

 

Also, it seems like you're making some bad assumptions: first, that the OP will record at 4K (maybe, but not necessarily), and that they'll be recording for long periods.  I can understand if they're trying to record a movie, but if they just want recordings of a child's first steps?  No, it shouldn't be an issue.

 

And I have to stress something: as a rule, you can't go back to re-record something if you're not happy with the technical quality.  That concert video (not that concerts are really a thing in 2020) will never get less washed out; that precious childhood memory will never get less shaky.  It's worth paying the most you can justify if it means videos you'll be happy to look at a decade from now.