Hi all :)
I need to replace my Xiaomi Mi 10t Lite 5g, so my wife has agreed to buy me a replacement for Christmas. I’m clueless when it comes to phone chipsets though, so I need some help.
I posted a similar request last year for my wife, and we’re in pretty much the same boat now, so I’ve quoted the relevant part of that post below. The main differences are, she went for a Motorola Moto G85, but I can’t stand the wraparound screen, and if possible, I’d like to get a phone with usb 3 that can potentially act as a desktop replacement and connect to AR glasses, but the last part isn’t important.
The main things she needs are, decent battery life, an SD card, NFC, and more than 64GB of internal storage. If the OS can be changed in the future to get security updates, that would be a bonus. Given the direction that they seem to be going, with collecting data and locking down the bootloader, I’d prefer to move away from Xiaomi if possible.
The catch is though, we’re on a small budget. Thanks to Christmas, we’ve only got around £200 to £250 to spend. If there’s a significant upgrade, we can go to about £300, but that’s a stretch.
I did look at the Poco M6 Pro, the Samsung A55, and the Tecno Spark 20 Pro, which seems to be ridiculously cheap, but don’t know if they’re still considered decent.
Thanks :)
EDIT: Sorry, I forgot this bit. Pixels are no good for me because of the lack of SD card support. I’m regularly in places with no internet connection, so keep my media on my SD card.
Update post:
After reading the replies, and the suggestions from @[email protected] and @[email protected], and a load of research, I’ve narrowed the choice down to three phones
The Samsung Galaxy A55, The Nothing Phone 3a Lite, and the Motorola Moto G86
https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=13917&idPhone2=14267&idPhone3=12824
They’re all a pretty similar spec and price, but I think the G86 is just edging it out for me. I’m going to sleep on it tonight and have a look again tomorrow evening once my head clears a bit :)
Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply and to help, it’s appreciated :)
EDIT: It looks like the Samsung is out 😳
Is the pixel 9a not in budget there? Can you expand on why you don’t want a pixel, is it purely budgetary?
Sorry, I meant to put it in the body. They don’t have SD card support, and that’s a must have for me. I regularly go to places with no internet, or a very poor signal, so I keep a lot of media on the card.
USB C storage device, or USB C micro SD card reader
“I need a laptop because I work on the go a lot”
“Just get a carrying case for your desktop so it’s easy to haul”
A big unsecured bump sticking out of the bottom of your phone during normal daily use is a great way to ruin your port. Plus then you can’t charge while using your media.
They could work, depending on where I am, but as Noodles pointed out, it makes things a lot more inconvenient a lot of the time :(
I’m in the same boat, e.g. the phone stores the entire season of what I am watching and then I copy from the USB C device the next season or whatever it is. USB is plugged in infrequently despite being the source for much of what I am accessing
At that point though, I may as well be plugging it into my computer to update, and it’s just inconvenient. The majority of my storage is taken up by music and podcasts, and photos. I don’t plan what I’m going to listen to, or which photos I’ll use, so I can’t organise them in advance, other than making playlists, so the bulk of it would need to be on the phone anyway.
Get a used Pixel if it is just due to budget!
Sorry, I’ve just edited my post after a similar reply. A Pixel with GrapheneOS would be ideal, if it had an SD card slot, but the lack of one is a deal breaker. I’m regularly in places with no internet connection, so keep my media on one :(
You can use this list to get a basic idea how chipsets compare to each other.
That’s awesome, thank you :D
Discovered Nothing Phones and love my 3a.
Unbloated android, slim and fast UI experience, no fuss brand. Crappy call tones tough.
Thanks for the suggestion :)
Unfortunately I had to rule it out because of the lack of SD card slot :(
Missing SD slot is not nice, but since moving away from it I can honestly say i dont miss it.
My life would be easier at the moment if I didn’t need one >.<
I’m currently using a bit over 300GB for things like music and photos, as I tend to be in places with bad internet coverage. Including apps on the phone storage I’m over 350GB, and that’s with regular cleaning, and moving files between the phone and PC. It’s annoying, but I’m stuck with it for the time being at least :(
Get the A55. It is superior in every way to the 10t lite. The software will be decent considering its samsung.
But, if you want you can check your options on gsmsarena’s phone finder https://m.gsmarena.com/search.php3?nYearMin=2024&nPriceMax=350&nRamMin=6000&nIntMemMin=64000&chkNFC=selected&nBatCapacityMin=4800&idOS=2&idCardslot=1
It is very tempting. The only thing putting me off is that it’s a Samsung, and they seem to be getting worse with regards to advertising and privacy. It’s definitely in the running though :)
Also, thanks for the link, I didn’t realise they had a phone finder :)
A55 is an super midrange smartphone. I have a A22 5G. The software did have bloat but no ads.
Even if the A55 does include some of that. You can install Shizuku, and Canta to remove any unnecessary apps from the phone itself.
Another thing you can do is install PersonalDNSFilter from Fdroid or Playstore to block trackers and ads.
That’s a good point, thanks :)
I use AdGuard at the moment, and one of the Android Debloater scripts, so there’s no reason I couldn’t use them on a new phone :)
Great! I too use Adguard on my phones. But, I suggest a foss DNS filter app to others. Because, not everyone may be comfortable with a paid closed source app.
Believe it or not, I hadn’t actually considered that. I’ve switched to Linux, and FOSS for a lot of other things, but completely forgot about my adblocker. In fairness to them though, I set it up a few years ago, and haven’t had a problem with it, other than when Sky, a British ISP, seemed to restrict traffic to it.
I’m writing this from Poco x7 pro, and it’s a nice phone!
Thanks for replying :)
It looks like a great phone, but the lack of an SD card slot rules it out for me :(
Oh, sorry, I missed the requirement
No worries, thanks for taking the time to answer in the first place :)
