Budget 10-15K Phone for pure multimedia usage and long battery life and fast charging. Minimal gaming. 5G not needed.

iPwnz

Brutally Honest
Skilled
Is there any good option?

Chipset can be any as long as it gets the job done without any problem. Though Snapdragon is obviously preferred over it's Exynos counterpart.
Camera not a priority. Damn 5G.
 
Actually, between 10-15k, exynos would be you're best friend for battery life. Low to mid range exynos chips are not subject to whatever that plagues their flagship chips. My mother's 4 year old Samsung M20 still gives about 9-10 hrs of SOT on a full charge, primarily because the exynos chip inside it is not that powerful and but is very efficient. I disabled most of the foreground services on it as well. Check M53 or M34's battery tests, both have the same chip.

5G is now standard across all 10-15k phones, you'll get 4G only under 10k. Under 15k, all phones are the same, they only ship with different UI. Moto G54 and Samsung M34/F34 are good around 15k, F34/M34 would be better for you since it has an AMOLED display. With a bit of tweaking (AppOps + debloating), OneUI will be as snappy as stock android, so performance is not something you'll have to worry about either.

You can't expect much from the charging speeds of M34 though, since you'll have to stick with the 25w adapter (not included in the box as well).
 
I would say Motorola will be a better choice. But get one with snapdragon one. They offer stereo speakers in all their mid range. My mom has a Moto G52 and you can't tell it's a mid range phone it feels that good in usage and feel.

Having used multiple Moto in the past i can say even though now Lenovo owns it; Moto still has maintained the same quality and offers no BS phones.
While they can't offer better camera than other and people will just scold you for buying Moto instead of vivo/Samsung; you will sleep better with Motorola at the end of the day.
 
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Actually, between 10-15k, exynos would be you're best friend for battery life. Low to mid range exynos chips are not subject to whatever that plagues their flagship chips. My mother's 4 year old Samsung M20 still gives about 9-10 hrs of SOT on a full charge, primarily because the exynos chip inside it is not that powerful and but is very efficient. I disabled most of the foreground services on it as well. Check M53 or M34's battery tests, both have the same chip.

5G is now standard across all 10-15k phones, you'll get 4G only under 10k. Under 15k, all phones are the same, they only ship with different UI. Moto G54 and Samsung M34/F34 are good around 15k, F34/M34 would be better for you since it has an AMOLED display. With a bit of tweaking (AppOps + debloating), OneUI will be as snappy as stock android, so performance is not something you'll have to worry about either.

You can't expect much from the charging speeds of M34 though, since you'll have to stick with the 25w adapter (not included in the box as well).
Thanks a lot for the comprehensive answer. Admittedly I was secretly hoping for a "Moto" or Poco or any phone with 60-80w fast charger lol.
My mom has the M31 but it had a lot of problems despite using only for the most basic tasks like calls and WhatsApp and casual web browsing. Service center couldn't do anything about it. And my S10+ also with Exynos is not really smooth even with no gaming. But I bought it only for camera use.
So I thought that Exynos has some problems which cannot be addressed reliably. The benchmark and numbers be damned.
I've never owned a "good" SD SoC phone so wanted to try that.
 
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Thanks a lot for the comprehensive answer. Admittedly I was secretly hoping for a "Moto" or Poco or any phone with 60-80w fast charger lol.
My mom has the M31 but it had a lot of problems despite using only for the most basic tasks like calls and WhatsApp and casual web browsing. Service center couldn't do anything about it. And my S10+ also with Exynos is not really smooth even with no gaming. But I bought it only for camera use.
So I thought that Exynos has some problems which cannot be addressed reliably. The benchmark and numbers be damned.
I've never owned a "good" SD SoC phone so wanted to try that.
The only new SD phones under 20k are Moto G84 or Poco X5/X5 Pro. There aren't much SD powered phones even under 30k, it has something to do with Snapdragon's 5G modem monopoly I think. So you'll mostly find mediatek SoCs, which IMO are just as good as Snapdragon.

Poco X5 is still good if you want SD only, but I'd suggest spending a little extra for Moto G84. Both charge at 33w.
 
The only new SD phones under 20k are Moto G84 or Poco X5/X5 Pro. There aren't much SD powered phones even under 30k, it has something to do with Snapdragon's 5G modem monopoly I think. So you'll mostly find mediatek SoCs, which IMO are just as good as Snapdragon.

Poco X5 is still good if you want SD only, but I'd suggest spending a little extra for Moto G84. Both charge at 33w.
Wouldn't recommend Poco X5 though because it has serious build quality issues like all plastic-based Xiaomi devices. Issues with the motherboard, USB port and colour peeling off are common.

Always makes sense to get something that is at least IP67 rated. If not at least get an aluminium build to reduce flex and help with heat dissipation.

SD of course charges a premium and Mediatek is definitely not far behind in performance, though security and support are another thing altogether.
 
I have had one major issue with this newer Xiaomi/poco/redmi phones. They are basically same and all have this issue till late 2022 atleast when i completely stopped buying them even the lower cost ones.

The proximity sensor is not a hardware one but they use some kind of software thing.
Problem arises when your screen won't turn off when you are on call and everybody knows around you who are you talking to.
And your ear starts feeling warm and hot iron in indian summer.
I keep telling this single issue whenever someone talks about MI phones.
It's a basic & necessary phone feature and they shouldn't skip on this.
If your phone has a hardware proximity sensor it will flash purple or something when you look at it from other phone's camera. If it isn't, yours might will have this same issue.

Software, performance, camera, updates are not even considered for me when a brand does this in almost all phones including flagship ones.

Choices are personal and you can ignore this totally.
 

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i don't know how you feel about oneplus, but until my 7t was stolen last week I wasn't planning on buying a new phone for 3-4 more years. I bought the phone in oct 2019 (MIA after almost exactly 4 years of service :cry:). I don't play mobile games but everything about it was just perfect, (except ofc the missing headphone jack). It had a great screen that was non-fatiguing and a really good battery life (5.5hrs sot on a 4 year old device). Charged to full in about 50 mins iirc. I wish OnePlus just kept selling it's older models at a lower price over this all nord and ce bs they have going on rn. Also OnePlus has the second highest LineageOS coverage after the pixel - so there's your case for longevity (if you like the option of that route.) See if you can find a good quality used one.
 
Guys, Moto G54 (Dimensity 7020) or G60 (SD 732G)?
Also quick question regarding the fast charging support, do the phones need to support it? 60W max for the charging brick and 33W for the phone for example and is there a chance of overloading the phone with the higher wattage of the charging brick?
 
Consider 5G handset, as in a year1 or 2 years (may be, non-officially) service providers will stop 4G (just my speculation, as they are throttling 4G Service for 5G, so it's good to be, near by, future proof).
If you are considering BSNL/MTNL 4G Service, than, GOD knows when they will launch same and how you will keep connected in non-bsnl area (if other players disturb 4G)
 
Guys, Moto G54 (Dimensity 7020) or G60 (SD 732G)?
Also quick question regarding the fast charging support, do the phones need to support it? 60W max for the charging brick and 33W for the phone for example and is there a chance of overloading the phone with the higher wattage of the charging brick?
G54 is released in 2023 and g60 is released in 2021, that's what gsmarena shows. Why do u want to go for such old phone. Also both has ips display, if multimedia consumption is ur main use case, go for amoled displays.
I also see their battery capacities are 5000 and 6000mah, but with fast charging, it doesn't matter much I guess.
Anyways, have a look at realme narzo and pro series, they come around 20k, have good amoled screens, mid level SOCs and great camera setups. Battery cap at 5000mah with fast charging too.
Edit - just saw ur 15k limit in the headline - these models can come down 16 to 17k with offers during sale days
 
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Guys, Moto G54 (Dimensity 7020) or G60 (SD 732G)?
Also quick question regarding the fast charging support, do the phones need to support it? 60W max for the charging brick and 33W for the phone for example and is there a chance of overloading the phone with the higher wattage of the charging brick?
G54, newer & similar or bit better performance. Even if G60 had an AMOLED display, even that won't make it a choice worth considering in 2024 at G54's price range.

Overcurrent, over voltage protections exist.
 
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