Need help navigating the sea of budget smartphones

[RiskyBomberPT]

I've been using an iPhone 7 Plus that I got used from a friend for over 2 years now. I would like to upgrade as it gets extremely hot, specially during video playback (Youtube/Tiktok), and the battery life is just abysmal.

 

I'm at approximately 350€ budget (I'm from Portugal, no Pixel phones here btw), and I'm not locked to the walled garden. No-one I talk to uses iMessage, and I should be able to (I hope so at least) transition from Apple Pay to Google Pay without an issue.

 

What I use my phone for: Media (Youtube, Tiktok, VLC), Social stuff (Twitter, Reddit, Discord, Teams), Google Chrome, Spotify, contactless payments. I might want to try some light gaming if that's an option at this budget.

I don't care about camera performance at all as I won't be using it.

 

What I'd really like is: Good battery life, snappy performance when moving from app to app and just using apps in general, a decent looking screen (anything OLED I guess would be an upgrade already) and at least 2 years of OS updates would be ideal. I'd also like to keep the phone size close to my 7 Plus or even smaller.

 

On another note, I'd really want to avoid Xiaomi. I've had a Redmi 5 Plus before my current iPhone and it was an awful experience: ads on system apps, basically 0 updates whatsoever, horrendously slow and sometimes even crashing... It was just awful, even for a "cheap" phone.

 

I've looked around some price comparison websites but I'm honestly just super lost. There's many identical looking phones from all sorts of weird brands and the specs are all over the place. I haven't shopped for a phone in ages and it really is looking a whole lot harder.

 

Thanks for anyone who can help me narrow down my search. It would help a lot. I know I might have to compromise on some of my "wants" but I'd like as good of an overall experience as I possibly can at this limited budget.

[BiotechBen]

I'm going to steer you toward Motorola. Solid budget performance, last year flagship specs for this year budget price.

The one downside is software support, most are stuck on Android 12 permanently. you get one, maybe two os updates, and then about 4 years of security update support.

[WhitetailAni]

If you want to stick with iPhones, I'd look into the iPhone XS or SE 2. SE 2 doesn't have great battery life, but it does keep a home button.

[RiskyBomberPT]

12 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

I'm going to steer you toward Motorola. Solid budget performance, last year flagship specs for this year budget price.

The one downside is software support, most are stuck on Android 12 permanently. you get one, maybe two os updates, and then about 4 years of security update support.

I see, a shame on the software support, but at the very least I'm hearing a somewhat familiar name for once. How likely is it that getting stuck on Android 12 could lead to missing on app support? Also can you give me a few pointers on their available models?

 

Thanks for the quick response

[RiskyBomberPT]

27 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

If you want to stick with iPhones, I'd look into the iPhone XS or SE 2. SE 2 doesn't have great battery life, but it does keep a home button.

I don't really have a need to stick to iPhones as I mentioned, and I steered the post away from iPhones as I expected them to be overpriced and thus overbudget, however I appreciate your input on iPhone alternatives as well.

 

I'm having a hard time finding any XS that isn't refurbished, and I'm kinda skeptical on refurbished phones, specially if I can't even see the phone in person before buying it.

 

As for the SE 2 (just to be sure, that's the 2020 model right) I did find a brand new one for 400 euros, which is slightly above budget but I can still manage, however it does seem like an "old" phone in a way. Would you say the battery life is at the very least better than the iPhone 7 Plus (I'm at 82% health btw), and is it still worth the price considering I'm not strictly bound to iPhones?

 

Also, thanks for the quick response

[WhitetailAni]

1 hour ago, RiskyBomberPT said:

As for the SE 2 (just to be sure, that's the 2020 model right) I did find a brand new one for 400 euros, which is slightly above budget but I can still manage, however it does seem like an "old" phone in a way. Would you say the battery life is at the very least better than the iPhone 7 Plus (I'm at 82% health btw), and is it still worth the price considering I'm not strictly bound to iPhones?

The 7 Plus at 82% health has a battery capacity of about 2300 mAh, while the SE 2 has only 1900 mAh. That's the only complaint I have with the phone - my sister has one and the phone works great, just the battery life isn't the best.

 

I am not a person you should ask for opinions on battery life though, as I used an iPhone 7 on 73% battery health for 6 months. It lasted about two hours. After replacement it lasts about 5.

[RiskyBomberPT]

50 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

The 7 Plus at 82% health has a battery capacity of about 2300 mAh, while the SE 2 has only 1900 mAh. That's the only complaint I have with the phone - my sister has one and the phone works great, just the battery life isn't the best.

 

I am not a person you should ask for opinions on battery life though, as I used an iPhone 7 on 73% battery health for 6 months. It lasted about two hours. After replacement it lasts about 5.

Putting it into numbers it does seem pretty bad, even considering power efficiency upgrades from the newer chipset. I will still consider it as an option if nothing in the Android space seems as good of a deal when it comes to usability and performance though, but the battery life does seem pretty concerning.

[RiskyBomberPT]

2 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Ok 350 Euros

 

Can you provide links to the stores from which you intend to get the phone

 

So that I can find you the best you can get that...

• Is actually available in your country
• And is sold for no more than 350 Euros

I have never been to Portugal or any of its neighboring countries

There's a few price comparison websites that I've been using, though this is the only one available in English:
https://www.kimovil.com/en/compare-smartphones

 

This other one is unfortunately only in Portuguese, but it does add a few more local stores:

https://www.kuantokusta.pt/c/157/smartphones

 

The first website seems pretty extensive, just make sure it's either Shipment from Portugal or Shipment from your Continent, to guarantee no customs taxes (no customs when transacting inside the EU). If it's from somewhere outside the EU, like India, UK, US, or China, it will be stopped at customs and I'll have to pay VAT + Import Duties, making it considerably more expensive.

 

I've also noticed some cases where the offers for brand new phones are, in fact, not brand new, specially for older iPhone models like the XS, that I was looking into after the suggestion from the other forum member. Though for most phones from other brands it seems to be categorised just fine.

 

Thanks for helping out.

[RiskyBomberPT]

21 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Galaxy A52s 5G

159.9 x 75.1mm

Snapdragon 778G

OLED 120Hz

 

iPhone 7 plus is 158.2 x 77.9mm

 

Why not the newer A53? Inferior chipset and battery endurance

 

Thanks! That spec sheet does seem pretty promising, and Samsung does appear to have proper software support on top of all that.

[Imbadatnames]

Just FYI, OLED doesn’t mean better. LCD iPhone still crush cheap OLED models.