Looking for Phone Suggestions

[BusinessCasualSauron]

Hello there internet,

So, the issue at hand is that I'm looking to figure out a good phone to recommend for one of my grandparents. After having gone over what they intend to do with the phone, I'm looking for a few key things:

1. It has to be very reliable indeed. This is the number one priority, and it should make it through at least one day on a charge with light useage.
 

2. A screen towards the larger end of the spectrum to make reading easier.

3. A solid voice-to-text feature to save them typing wherever possible would be good, but isn't a strict requirement..

They have no intention of watching media or playing games on the phone, and the only application they'll be running to any real extent is their bank's app. In other words, performance is absolutely not a priority by any means.

As I'm more of a computer guy than a phone guy, I'm not too well versed with phones that would meet these requirements at a reasonable pricepoint (Note: This doesn't mean the cheapest phone on the market, but I'm looking to avoid saddling them with flagship-tier pricing). Hence I'm turning to you guys for advice, as I'm sure that there are plenty of knowledgeable people on the forums. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

[SupaKomputa]

Samsung A51, Redmi Note 9 Pro

They have 5000mah battery will last you 1-2 full days.

[Entropy.]

8 minutes ago, BusinessCasualSauron said:

Hello there internet,

So, the issue at hand is that I'm looking to figure out a good phone to recommend for one of my grandparents. After having gone over what they intend to do with the phone, I'm looking for a few key things:

1. It has to be very reliable indeed. This is the number one priority, and it should make it through at least one day on a charge with light useage.
 

2. A screen towards the larger end of the spectrum to make reading easier.

3. A solid voice-to-speech feature to save them typing wherever possible would be good, but isn't a strict requirement..

They have no intention of watching media or playing games on the phone, and the only application they'll be running to any real extent is their bank's app. In other words, performance is absolutely not a priority by any means.

As I'm more of a computer guy than a phone guy, I'm not too well versed with phones that would meet these requirements at a reasonable pricepoint (Note: This doesn't mean the cheapest phone on the market, but I'm looking to avoid saddling them with flagship-tier pricing), and hence I'm turning to you guys for advice, as I'm sure that there are plenty of knowledgeable people on the forums. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

I mean there are some very decent phones on the market for $250-$350. They do have nice specs, such as 8gb of ram, snapdragon 845-equivlent processors, 4 cameras, with something like a 64mp wide, 8mp ultrawide, 2mp macro, and a light sensor (along those lines), with a huge 4000+ milliamp batter but in the practical world they aren't as good as they seem to be on paper- but still good on a budget. For the lower end, I recommend a xiamio Mi note 8 pro, which is along the lines of $250, the Pocofone X2 or X2pro, depending on your use case (Pocofone X2 for the 120hz display and for its bezeless display, the Pro basically for anything else), which come in at $300-$400, then the Xiaomi Mi note 10 (non-pro) at around $450. All of these phones are pretty good value and come from xiaomi, which is a fairly large and reliable brand. Only thing is they're based in china so claiming warranty (if the phone ships with it, some dont, be careful about that) might be difficult, so try to make sure it both has warrenty and amazon prime shipping (if you have a membership). Otherwise I would point to oneplus for more expensive phones. They don't do anything better (the value is actually worse), but customer care is better, along with warrenty, ect. 

[Entropy.]

Just now, SupaKomputa said:

Samsung A51, Redmi Note 9 Pro

They have 5000mah battery will last you 1-2 full days.

Both are decent but the jump between the note 8 and note 9 is negligible in basically all terms (software, cameras, cpu/gpu performance, user experience, ect)

and I wouldn't pick the a51 simply because of the CPU/GPU performance. Samsung kind of sucks at smartphone value. 

[EL02]

Any budget?

[BusinessCasualSauron]

Just now, EL02 said:

Any budget?

I wasn't given a specific budget, but knowing their inclinations, I'd say around mid-tier pricing. So not the lowest common denominator of "it's a phone", but also not something that's supposed to be some kind of status symbol or fashion statement.

[SupaKomputa]

1 minute ago, Brok3n But who cares? said:

Both are decent but the jump between the note 8 and note 9 is negligible in basically all terms (software, cameras, cpu/gpu performance, user experience, ect)

and I wouldn't pick the a51 simply because of the CPU/GPU performance. Samsung kind of sucks at smartphone value. 

A granma doesn't need cpu/gpu performance.

A51 and note 9 is comparable, both have mid level specs.

not the best but good enough.

And mid level cpu doesn't suck as much battery like flagship chips.

[EL02]

Just now, BusinessCasualSauron said:

I wasn't given a specific budget, but knowing their inclinations, I'd say around mid-tier pricing. So not the lowest common denominator of "it's a phone", but also not something that's supposed to be some kind of status symbol or fashion statement.

Okay around 200-250$ should be fine then. Redmi Note 8 pro or Redmi note 9s. The 9s is a little newer(by that i mean 6 months), is more efficient and has a larger battery. The 8 Pro has a faster chipset, brighter screen and I still get around 10 hours of use with around 2 hours of heavy gaming.

[Commodus]

17 hours ago, BusinessCasualSauron said:

Hello there internet,

So, the issue at hand is that I'm looking to figure out a good phone to recommend for one of my grandparents. After having gone over what they intend to do with the phone, I'm looking for a few key things:

1. It has to be very reliable indeed. This is the number one priority, and it should make it through at least one day on a charge with light useage.
 

2. A screen towards the larger end of the spectrum to make reading easier.

3. A solid voice-to-speech feature to save them typing wherever possible would be good, but isn't a strict requirement..

They have no intention of watching media or playing games on the phone, and the only application they'll be running to any real extent is their bank's app. In other words, performance is absolutely not a priority by any means.

As I'm more of a computer guy than a phone guy, I'm not too well versed with phones that would meet these requirements at a reasonable pricepoint (Note: This doesn't mean the cheapest phone on the market, but I'm looking to avoid saddling them with flagship-tier pricing). Hence I'm turning to you guys for advice, as I'm sure that there are plenty of knowledgeable people on the forums. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

An iPhone XR or 11 would be good if the budget allows, though possibly overkill.

 

If it needs to be more affordable, maybe a phone in the Motorola G8 family.  They have a relatively light-touch version of Android and should still perform well.  Samsung's Galaxy A51 may do the trick if you don't mind a more heavily customized take on Android (there's even a senior-friendly mode, as I recall).

 

I'm guessing you live in the US or Canada.  If so, I would ignore all recommendations for Redmi, Poco and similar brands.  Not because they're necessarily bad phones, but because you'll have a harder time getting support if something goes wrong.  They're not usually intended for the North American market and tend not to have as robust support as companies with a more established presence here.

[BusinessCasualSauron]

Thank you all for your recommendations, you've given me some solid advice and I'll be going with the A51, as it's also available from a retailer local to my grandparent's town with fabulous return policy and customer support. Being able to get your phone in on warranty's a pretty big deal, after all.

Again, thank you all for taking your time to make your suggestions!