What can you do with a flagship phone?

[VirusDumb]

So my uncle was in the Market for a new phone, now he's getting promoted and moving out of the country and was in need of a new phone, so I suggested him to get a Samsung s20 Fe as it was right in his budget, and Samsung's hardware is known to last longer in terms of durability (I have a samsung galaxy grand prime 4g which I got free with our 55" uhd tv back in 2015, the tv runs brand new, the phone does too as long as you don't turn on the internet and everything starts updating), but instead he went to the store and bought a Xiaomi 12 pro 2x his budget on EMI after being suggested on the retailer's advice. It has the current flagship, Snapdragon 8 gen 1 and 12 gig of RAM which even the Samsung phones don't have yet, but apart from that, it doesn't have any other special or exclusive feature. It has a lot of neat tricks like a (3 of em actually) 50 megapixel camera, and a 120hz display, but there are phones half of it's price which have those features too, but yes, this phone's processor will last for 5-6 years without lagging once because of the really high end processor but so would phones half of the price that come with a snapdragon 888 do, but let's assume it'd probably last longer than those, so apart from that what do you do with a ultrapowerful like that, gaming is something, but my uncle doesn't game, he doesn't even use his phone that much until he needs to, so what's the point of a flagship phone?

[Neroon]

What can I do with my flagship phone? Fold it open.

 

It's common knowledge that a flagship phone is not worth it for the majority of people. I didn't have one for like 7 years. Don't get me wrong, having a high end phone is great, aside from it folding (Fold 3 btw), the camera is really quite solid, especially compared vs budget phones, it's really fast, 120hz quality displays, generally more updates and of course great for gaming.

 

The majority should never spend more than like 300 honestly.

[Spotty]

> moved to the Phones and Tablets subforum

[Lurking]

Why are you worried about your uncle having too much phone? And if he bought it, it likely was in HIS budget. Maybe he spent $400 more than he NEEDS, but people drive cars costing $50k more than they actually NEED. 

 

If you say the Samsung phone you had is great, as long as you don't turn on internet.... that would be reason for me to NOT buy a Samsung phone. What's the point of a smartphone if you can't use internet? It literally turns into a regular cell phone with a nicer screen. I realize it is an old phone, but this isn't a good promotion to say that.  

 

Considering the phone is a thing one has 100% of the time in day, it isn't the worst thing to splurge on. Maybe the nice phone makes him use it more. Before I had a smartphone I never watched YT in the kitchen, or listened to podcast all day. So before I had  a good one, I didn't even know I NEED it. 

 

Many years ago I used to have a dumb phone, an iPod (with cable buds), a Garmin navigation in my car, a point-shoot camera... all together it was more expensive than a smartphone, and much less useful and convenient. 

 

I always have flagship phones, even if I'm not a gamer. Typically you get better cameras, battery, screen, wireless charging, water-proofness, longer useful life, more speed (no stuttering etc.). Do we NEED all these things? No. But 20 years ago no one NEEDED a smartphone, no one had one, and everyone was fine. 

[VirusDumb]

8 hours ago, Lurking said:

 

If you say the Samsung phone you had is great, as long as you don't turn on internet.... that would be reason for me to NOT buy a Samsung phone. What's the point of a smartphone if you can't use internet? It literally turns into a regular cell phone with a nicer screen. I realize it is an old phone, but this isn't a good promotion to say that.  

No you don't get it, the phone has lasted over 7 years and still works fine on the hardware side, but because of out dated software, using the internet is a hassle in 2022, it worked fine upto 2015 and it's a low end phone, so I'm surprised by it's build quality, if that phone had a processor which was equivalent to the snapdragon 870 of that time, it'd have still been more than usable today. It's not a promotion, it's just that I like the long lastingness of samsung phones, something which my uncle needed while he was out of the country, which I'm not sure if Xiaomi would.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

You can game on it or you can take good pics

 

not useful for most ppl but nice to have, you can actually get some really good deals on flagship phones as they deprieciate rapidly so 2 gens older than the newest gen usually means 1/2 or 2/3 price cut vs msrp and that makes for some really good value, especially ones that depreciate really really quick like (unfortunately) your uncles xiaomi, i mean 11t pro goes for 400$ now here in indo after 7 months which is half the msrp, it isnt even old and its a very powerful phone yet its depreciated to complete sht, though youll have to wait a few more months for the custom roms and kernels to catch up aka the real value of these phones

 

Personally considering a mi 10t pro, can get one <270$ and it has great spec particularly cause i wanna play mc somewhat competitively, the camera is an extra bonus ontop of that. Pretty much sold on xiaomi due to having a massive modding community for easy rooting, tons of roms and kernels to choose from and customizing the device (anything from some qol improvements to god forbid overclocking)

[VirusDumb]

4 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

your uncles xiaomi, i mean 11t pro

*It's a 12 pro not 11t, my uncle told me his budget was around the same price (₹30-35k, $400-$500) so 11t pro along with s20 Fe and some other phones I had suggested him which come with older flagship processors like Snapdragon 870,888 , but he bought the 12 pro double his budget on EMI after being suggested by the store guy who convinced him that the processor is far faster and last longer

[Somerandomtechyboi]

6 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

especially ones that depreciate really really quick like (unfortunately) your uncles xiaomi, i mean 11t pro goes for 400$ now here in indo after 7 months which is half the msrp

Howd you get that out of context?

 

2 hours ago, VirusDumb said:

*It's a 12 pro not 11t, my uncle told me his budget was around the same price (₹30-35k, $400-$500) so 11t pro along with s20 Fe and some other phones I had suggested him which come with older flagship processors like Snapdragon 870,888 , but he bought the 12 pro double his budget on EMI after being suggested by the store guy who convinced him that the processor is far faster and last longer

Yea he got ripped off, rip bro could have just bought a used older flagship for dirt cheap while keeping a good camera

 

well i also get your pain cause my parents forced me to buy a new pos phone and look where that got me, this pos y51 cant even keep a pitiful 30fps stable in mc, but i got the better end since everything else its mostly fine other than a few nitpicks (no battery low warning, horrific throttling <5% battery but still better than samsung which throttles <20%)

[VirusDumb]

59 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

well i also get your pain cause my parents forced me to buy a new pos phone and look where that got me, this pos y51 cant even keep a pitiful 30fps stable in mc, but i got the better end since everything else its mostly fine other than a few nitpicks (no battery low warning, horrific throttling <5% battery but still better than samsung which throttles <20%)

This just got a little out of context, but sad for you, I am personally not in any pain, it's just that I was messing around with my uncle's phone, as I've never used a flagship phone with the current most powerful mobile processor before, so I had some high expectations, but apart from the 120hz display and camera, there wasn't nothing cooler than that, yes there was some stuff which I could've tried like gaming, but when I was messing around with the phone we were actually at a restaurant and I didn't have Wi-Fi so I couldn't really try things which I'd have done if I had a flagship phone, now I personally mostly enthusiastic about PCs, but at one point back when Snapdragon 845 was the top dog, during that time I got into smartphones only because of 2 things, fortnite was coming out for Android and had really high system requirements than any other Android game I've seen, and flagship smartphones for the first time is where you could emulate Wii games on the go.

 

 

For me those 2 things are the only reason I'd get a flagship phone for, but apart from that, there was nothing cool I could try on the phone, it was just another boring phone.

[Commodus]

32 minutes ago, VirusDumb said:

This just got a little out of context, but sad for you, I am personally not in any pain, it's just that I was messing around with my uncle's phone, as I've never used a flagship phone with the current most powerful mobile processor before, so I had some high expectations, but apart from the 120hz display and camera, there wasn't nothing cooler than that, yes there was some stuff which I could've tried like gaming, but when I was messing around with the phone we were actually at a restaurant and I didn't have Wi-Fi so I couldn't really try things which I'd have done if I had a flagship phone, now I personally mostly enthusiastic about PCs, but at one point back when Snapdragon 845 was the top dog, during that time I got into smartphones only because of 2 things, fortnite was coming out for Android and had really high system requirements than any other Android game I've seen, and flagship smartphones for the first time is where you could emulate Wii games on the go.

 

 

For me those 2 things are the only reason I'd get a flagship phone for, but apart from that, there was nothing cool I could try on the phone, it was just another boring phone.

There's certainly diminishing returns as you move up in phone prices. I don't know that most people would be completely happy with a $300 phone, as was suggested earlier, but there a lot of people for whom a $600 phone would be just as good as a $1,000-plus beast.

 

I'm one of those people who genuinely benefits from a flagship, like the iPhone 13 Pro I use these days. I care deeply about phone photography, and the high-quality cameras (particularly the 3X telephoto) have been useful more than a few times. I thrive on a fast, responsive device, so the top-end processor and 120Hz screen make a difference. Having 512GB of fast, built-in storage is important for accessing all my apps and media. I want a quality build with good water resistance; I want a phone that feels capable throughout its practical lifespan, not just the first year or two.

 

But I should stress that I'm an outlier. Many iPhone fans would be just fine with a 'plain' iPhone 13, or even an iPhone 12. Many Android users would be just as happy with a Galaxy S21 FE as they would an S22 Ultra. And as I've heard more than once, the performance of mid-range phones is much better than it used to be. It's just important to note that flagships still have their place.

[Lurking]

1 hour ago, VirusDumb said:

This just got a little out of context, but sad for you, I am personally not in any pain, it's just that I was messing around with my uncle's phone, as I've never used a flagship phone with the current most powerful mobile processor before, so I had some high expectations, but apart from the 120hz display and camera, there wasn't nothing cooler than that, yes there was some stuff which I could've tried like gaming, but when I was messing around with the phone we were actually at a restaurant and I didn't have Wi-Fi so I couldn't really try things which I'd have done if I had a flagship phone, now I personally mostly enthusiastic about PCs, but at one point back when Snapdragon 845 was the top dog, during that time I got into smartphones only because of 2 things, fortnite was coming out for Android and had really high system requirements than any other Android game I've seen, and flagship smartphones for the first time is where you could emulate Wii games on the go.

 

 

For me those 2 things are the only reason I'd get a flagship phone for, but apart from that, there was nothing cool I could try on the phone, it was just another boring phone.

Does your uncle like it? Because that is the only thing that matters here. 

 

I assume he is older than you, has a job (is even moving to another country due to promotion). Unless he asked you to help him pay for it, he is able and allowed to buy himself things without you approving. When you buy yourself a phone with your money, you can make all the best decisions you want. Are you going around your entire family telling them how they should have found different cars, TVs, spouses, pets, houses, and jobs? 

[Imbadatnames]

On 8/14/2022 at 6:27 PM, Neroon said:

What can I do with my flagship phone? Fold it open.

 

It's common knowledge that a flagship phone is not worth it for the majority of people. I didn't have one for like 7 years. Don't get me wrong, having a high end phone is great, aside from it folding (Fold 3 btw), the camera is really quite solid, especially compared vs budget phones, it's really fast, 120hz quality displays, generally more updates and of course great for gaming.

 

The majority should never spend more than like 300 honestly.

Lol thinking folding phones are flagships. They’re beta hardware at best and haven’t seen a real upgrade since they launched. 

[Commodus]

5 hours ago, Imbadatnames said:

Lol thinking folding phones are flagships. They’re beta hardware at best and haven’t seen a real upgrade since they launched. 

I'm sorry, but while I'm not sure if I'd call them flagships, they're high-end phones and have seen major upgrades since launch.

 

The original Galaxy Fold had a small, generally poor external display. Its cameras were so-so (including a conspicuous carve-out for the inside cam). It was considerably more fragile, even after the updates following the review unit debacle. It didn't support an S Pen.

 

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 isn't as big a step forward as some might like versus the Z Fold 3, but it does make strides in camera quality, durability and a more usable aspect ratio on top of the usual performance updates. And compared to the Z Fold 2, let alone the original... it's miles better.

 

Don't get me wrong, Samsung's foldables are still best-suited to early adopters. But isn't that one of the target audiences for flagship phones? And even if we do see them as beta products, the truth is that some real-world experience is necessary to understand what foldables need to appeal to everyday users.

[VirusDumb]

On 8/15/2022 at 6:51 PM, Lurking said:

Does your uncle like it? Because that is the only thing that matters here. 

 

I assume he is older than you, has a job (is even moving to another country due to promotion). Unless he asked you to help him pay for it, he is able and allowed to buy himself things without you approving. When you buy yourself a phone with your money, you can make all the best decisions you want. Are you going around your entire family telling them how they should have found different cars, TVs, spouses, pets, houses, and jobs? 

Well you're going out of context, I mean it's my uncle's phone, he's satisfied knowing that the phone would be more than usable for the next 5-7 years, my question was that is that all a top of the line flagship can do? Because the features which that has are also available in some midrange phones, so what difference does it offer apart from the processor which makes it worth paying 2x money for.

[VirusDumb]

Update: So I used the Mi 12 pro more today, and now I want one, I mean I think I need one.

 

The thing was that I just forgot the most important thing to try, I had the phone for a day today and I downloaded aether sx2 and dolphin along with some 50% legally obtained PS2 and Wii games, and it ran the games better than they run on the actual console, or even on my family PC (my family PC is an explosive potato which I don't use anymore).

 

I played Mario kart Wii with 1080p upscaled and it ran with a 50 fps lock.

Same with NFS Underground on PS2, it didn't lag once even when I recorded the gameplay 

 

Then I was bored so I decided to edit the gameplay I had recorded on kinemaster, and made a really cool montage, exported it in 1080p 60fps, it took half the time of the video. It even supports upto 4k. 

 

So in my opinion, if you're into video editing, or into emulation a flagship is totally worth it.

 

[venomtail]

Generally the feature set. I bought my V30 because that's when Apple set the trend of no headphone jack and I still refused to invest into Bluetooth earphones. I still wanted to try new features like wireless charging and a 1440p screen that wasn't the size of a phablet. I wasn't left with much choice but flagships. LG had an upgraded headphone jack over Samsung, so if the headphone jack is to die I'll go out with a bang. And beknown to me, LG was about to announce that they're leaving the phone phone market so I got my V30 at a significant £300 discount.

 

5 years later nothing has changed, in a way it's worse. Flagship phones just have more features again rather than unique designs and most don't fit what I'm looking for. I might try the foldable phones one day but they'll have to come down half price from where they are now. £1000 is a ridiculous sum. Then again I've always dived head first into new technology before it's mainstream so I wouldn't be surprised if I yolo. Saw an ad that they're offering £500 off if you trade in your phone which would make it cheaper than the Zenfone 9 I am looking at.

[VirusDumb]

44 minutes ago, venomtail said:

5 years later nothing has changed, in a way it's worse.

So, it wasn't future proof?

[venomtail]

48 minutes ago, VirusDumb said:

So, it wasn't future proof?

I didn't buy my phone to be future-proof. I bought my phone because it had the minimum amount of features I wanted and to last me and so far it has. Has survived a ton of falls and kind of proud how cracked, broken yet functional it still is. Software is now falling behind as hardware is still ok. Android 8.0 is being left in the dust. 

[VirusDumb]

44 minutes ago, venomtail said:

I didn't buy my phone to be future-proof. I bought my phone because it had the minimum amount of features I wanted and to last me and so far it has. Has survived a ton of falls and kind of proud how cracked, broken yet functional it still is. Software is now falling behind as hardware is still ok. Android 8.0 is being left in the dust. 

So is it still hassle free for daily uses? Also about the software you can get a Custom ROM and upgrade it to Android 11/10

[venomtail]

38 minutes ago, VirusDumb said:

So is it still hassle free for daily uses? Also about the software you can get a Custom ROM and upgrade it to Android 11/10

Wouldn't say hassle free, I've lost some 45% battery capacity, extreme burn in, fingerprint keeps disabling itself, I have to clean out the ports often enough and back is coming off with glue holding in 1/4 of the sides. But I'm still using it, some say abusing it every day.

I can't upgrade because I have a lot of legacy apps that I still need to use every day that have been removed from the play store and aren't updated, even a banking one that for some reason work...? Google play has removed a lot of them and I don't trust backup APK's online, especially for the banking one.

[Imbadatnames]

6 hours ago, Commodus said:

I'm sorry, but while I'm not sure if I'd call them flagships, they're high-end phones and have seen major upgrades since launch.

 

The original Galaxy Fold had a small, generally poor external display. Its cameras were so-so (including a conspicuous carve-out for the inside cam). It was considerably more fragile, even after the updates following the review unit debacle. It didn't support an S Pen.

 

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 isn't as big a step forward as some might like versus the Z Fold 3, but it does make strides in camera quality, durability and a more usable aspect ratio on top of the usual performance updates. And compared to the Z Fold 2, let alone the original... it's miles better.

 

Don't get me wrong, Samsung's foldables are still best-suited to early adopters. But isn't that one of the target audiences for flagship phones? And even if we do see them as beta products, the truth is that some real-world experience is necessary to understand what foldables need to appeal to everyday users.

Does it still have a plastic screen that can be damaged by a fingernail and develops a crease that eventually breaks the display? 
 

Adding bells and whistles to a product which is bad from the base concept doesn’t make it better. 

[rikitikitavi]

On 8/14/2022 at 8:34 PM, VirusDumb said:

No you don't get it, the phone has lasted over 7 years and still works fine on the hardware side, but because of out dated software, using the internet is a hassle in 2022, it worked fine upto 2015 and it's a low end phone, so I'm surprised by it's build quality, if that phone had a processor which was equivalent to the snapdragon 870 of that time, it'd have still been more than usable today. It's not a promotion, it's just that I like the long lastingness of samsung phones, something which my uncle needed while he was out of the country, which I'm not sure if Xiaomi would.

That's any hardware... so pretty much ANY phone... like my 14yo Nokia (smartphone) that still works like the day I got it, minus the battery, minus 4G, minus a capable internet browser... a memento of mine.

[VirusDumb]

15 hours ago, rikitikitavi said:

That's any hardware... so pretty much ANY phone... like my 14yo Nokia (smartphone) that still works like the day I got it, minus the battery, minus 4G, minus a capable internet browser... a memento of mine.

But not my dad's oppo f5, which is newer (2017) but everything is coming off, some companies just don't make good enough or durable hardware 

[VirusDumb]

19 hours ago, venomtail said:

Wouldn't say hassle free, I've lost some 45% battery capacity, extreme burn in, fingerprint keeps disabling itself, I have to clean out the ports often enough and back is coming off with glue holding in 1/4 of the sides. But I'm still using it, some say abusing it every day.

I can't upgrade because I have a lot of legacy apps that I still need to use every day that have been removed from the play store and aren't updated, even a banking one that for some reason work...? Google play has removed a lot of them and I don't trust backup APK's online, especially for the banking one.

That's just, shocking, paying more than 700€ on something that doesn't last atleast 5 years without any issues is disappointing, specially if you bought it on EMI like my uncle did

[Commodus]

16 hours ago, Imbadatnames said:

Does it still have a plastic screen that can be damaged by a fingernail and develops a crease that eventually breaks the display? 
 

Adding bells and whistles to a product which is bad from the base concept doesn’t make it better. 

It's been ultra-thin glass for a while. It's still more fragile than regular glass and still produces a crease, but it's not that delicate and isn't guaranteed to break the screen. I know of heavy-duty Z Fold 3 users who haven't had any crease problems. 

 

I'll be honest: it sounds like you made up your mind when the original Galaxy Fold came out and just haven't paid attention to the changes since. I'm not saying everyday users should rush out to buy a Z Fold 4 or Z Flip 4, but things have changed a lot in the past few years.