I'm trying to figure out which phone to buy to replace my old Samsung Galaxy A3 with. Android 8, woefully lacking in storage space, and falling apart. Yeah, definitely needs replacing.

So I've been looking around. Glanced at the S20 FE and A33, both suggested by people I know. Then glanced over at the A53, even debated A52, but either they're too pricy or there's something not quite right in the reviews I've read that makes me hesistant to throw a lot of money at it.

I am still of the opinion that phones shouldn't be expensive. 200-ish euro should be fine enough.

I'm so tempted to just go eff it and buy an A13 4G instead. 175 euro, seems still sane, and the phone is in every aspect an improvement on my old A3 that I've managed to use for almost 5 years now. :P

I really will need to make a decision by tomorrow when it's Cyber Frigging Monday. I am hugely disappointed at the 'discounts' given so far around here.
#Phone #Mobile #Samsung

@trinsec You guys can't get Pixel phones in the Netherlands, can you?

@obi We can, but they don't have an MicroSD card slot, so that's a dealbreaker for me.

The #1 reason for me to upgrade is storage space shortage. I highly doubt that 128GB will be enough.

Ok, it's the #2 reason, as #1 is the Android version.

@trinsec Oh wow. I have had the 4a for over 3 years and have 30GB out of 128GB used. But I have server under my desk that all my data transfers to, so I guess thats why haha. Never thought about storage issues. OnePlus Nord or Samsung A23?

@obi There's an A23? I'll have to check out that one then.

@obi I just checked the specs and the price of the A23 here. At the current price (240 euro) I might as well go A33 (266).
I'm surprised that it got a Snapdragon CPU though. Weird thing also is that I don't seem to find any user experience on it on my local tech forum.

@trinsec Not Exynos?

@obi

I thought that weird as well. But you know what I find weirder? Samsung's own site doesn't list the specific CPU in the specifications of the A23.

But on https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/1848902/samsung-galaxy-a23-5g-4gb-ram-128gb-opslag-zwart/specificaties/ (Dutch biggest tech site) it's listed as having a Snapdragon 695.

@trinsec Something screwy is going on there.

@obi gsmarena.com does mention a Snapdragon 695 too. So that's probably correct.

@trinsec not at my PC anymore, but the video review I watched said exynos. Usually exynos would be for Asia and EU, Snapdragon NA, so having the snapdragon available in your area seems backwards. Weird.

@obi Yeah. The Exynos I've not heard great stories about for the A53, it's said to be lagging terribly.

But I've also read here and there that with an update from October the lag's largely gone. And with turning off some features like menu animations and such (I'd turn that off anyway), that it's largely fixed.

But it's said that the Exynos 1280 (which both A33 and A53 have) is about 33% slower than the Snapdragon 778G of the A52. The A53 also has a 120Hz screen which might worsen the situation, though I'd probably just put it to 60Hz if that fixes it.

Mm, kinda wish I knew someone with personal experience with an A53 to ask questions to. It still looks good on paper, just the reports of 'IT IS SLOW! IT LAGS! IT STUTTERS!' isn't looking good to me.

@trinsec I guess I keep going back to the S20FE as your best option lol.

@obi Except I find 375 euro for a model of last year a bit ... I'm a cheapskate, truly!

@trinsec Refurb??

@obi I checked, there is no refurb available of the S20 FE in our list. I'm a little bit wary of refurbs though.

@obi Oh, and it's a model from 2020 I see, so a shorter update cycle left. I'm not really in favor of that I'm afraid. Buddy suggested it to me but he's got an S20 and he's already had it for years, so it's easier for him to say that. ;)