Best smartphone out there these days?

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sonyxperiageek

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#312401 13-Apr-2024 22:15

I'm testing the waters and looking to potentially buy a new phone. My current one is a Huawei P30 Pro and is still pretty decent, despite the battery dieing faster and faster. Have had it for 5 years now and it's still going strong and not laggy.

What's the best phone out in the market these days? Must have:

- Super fast charging
- Big battery
- Excellent camera (current one has 5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom)
- Dual/eSim capability so I can keep my NZ sim in the phone while also being able to grab a local sim/eSim if overseas for cheaper roaming
- Not too heavy either

Sony

johno1234

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#3217926 13-Apr-2024 22:35

I was dragged against my will into the Apple IOS world but now wouldn't want to go back. When this iPhone 11 battery finally becomes unusable it will be whatever iPhone I can afford/justify.

sonyxperiageek

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#3218770 15-Apr-2024 20:30

Does Apple have international warranty on their iphones? E.g if I buy one in Malaysia will it be covered here?

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mrgsm021

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#3218779 15-Apr-2024 20:39

For super fast charging and big battery - OnePlus 12 has 80W wired charging and 50W wireless charging (with proprietary chargers) and 5400mAh battery.

gehenna

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#3218780 15-Apr-2024 20:41

I enjoy my S24 Ultra

Technofreak

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#3218781 15-Apr-2024 20:48

sonyxperiageek: I'm testing the waters and looking to potentially buy a new phone. My current one is a Huawei P30 Pro and is still pretty decent, despite the battery dieing faster and faster. Have had it for 5 years now and it's still going strong and not laggy.

What's the best phone out in the market these days? Must have:

- Super fast charging
- Big battery
- Excellent camera (current one has 5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom)
- Dual/eSim capability so I can keep my NZ sim in the phone while also being able to grab a local sim/eSim if overseas for cheaper roaming
- Not too heavy either

It all depends on what features you value as to what is best. Price? Processor speed? Screen resolution? Physical size? Battery Life? Camera quality? Memory capacity?

I'd probably say the Samsung S24 Ultra, but not everyone likes Samsung nor wants to pay the price. Samsung has an excellent camera ans dual sim.

A big battery and not too heavy don't go hand in hand as most of the weight is in the battery.

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sonyxperiageek

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#3218784 15-Apr-2024 20:55

I just had a play around with both the s24 ultra and iphone 15 pro max. The Samsung was slightly heavier and thicker than the iPhone for starters. The iphone didn't actually feel too bad to be honest. Maybe it's time I try the iphone out again haha. In Malaysia and the iphone is about $400 cheaper for the same model here if I'm not mistaken. Hoping I can get the GST portion of it refunded too. Just need to figure out if the iphones here will work when back in NZ. I know the Samsung ones can be a bit hit and miss but hear iphones are more internationally compatible?

Sony

sonyxperiageek

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#3218787 15-Apr-2024 21:04

Anyone who's had a Huawei P30 Pro (camera is very good on this as you'd know) and now an S24 Ultra, how do you find the camera in comparison?

Sony

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MaxineN

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#3218792 15-Apr-2024 21:37

Hi

I've had the P30 and now own a S23 Ultra (that I am highly considering getting rid of, :) ).

The photos on the S23U are simply miles better than the P30. Auto mode in low light is good but you can do better in the pro modes.

Pro modes there's a ton of settings exposed. You can go nuts.

I mainly use the 12MP mode which is heavily binned. Produces great results 9/10 times I'd say.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

Scott3

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#3218800 15-Apr-2024 22:11

sonyxperiageek: I'm testing the waters and looking to potentially buy a new phone. My current one is a Huawei P30 Pro and is still pretty decent, despite the battery dieing faster and faster. Have had it for 5 years now and it's still going strong and not laggy.

What's the best phone out in the market these days? Must have:

- Super fast charging
- Big battery
- Excellent camera (current one has 5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom)
- Dual/eSim capability so I can keep my NZ sim in the phone while also being able to grab a local sim/eSim if overseas for cheaper roaming
- Not too heavy either

Really depends on what ratio of those things you want.

I have a S24 ultra.

45W fast charging which is good (Samsung calls 25W and above super fast charing), but miles away from the market leader (the realme GT3 with 240W max charging
Great battery life. Really impressed vs my prior Samsung phones.
Camera is impressive (but the flagship iPhone is the market leader for phone camera's)
Duel & Esim
It's really heavy (I think the stylus adds to the weight). Every time I pick up my wife's phone (S23+) I am amazed at how light it is.

Issue with the S24 phones for NZ is in the s24 & s23 ultra (the Samsung you would likely be interested in given the weight concern), is they get the slightly slower and less efficient inhouse processer for our market, with only the ultra getting the snapdragon. (USA and China get snapdragon on all tiers).

In reality, going from a 5 year old phone to a current flagship from any brand is going to be a huge leap. A year ago I was running a S10, then changed to my wife's old S21 when she upgraded to an s23. All these phones worked fine (other then the S10 dropping out of android updates meaning I got locked out of my employers email). And spec wise the current phones are only a little bit better. But with battery life and camera, the phones have stepped up a lot, and the user experience is just more slick.

If camera is your highest priority, get a high end iphone

If ultra fast charging is the highest priority, get a Chinese brand phone.

MaxineN

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#3218801 15-Apr-2024 22:21

S23 series was all Snapdragon just so we're clear.

S24 and the plus yes are Exynos but the Ultra gets the SD variant.

Won't lie my S23U feels heavy but it's that good feeling heavy.

As much as I almost agree with Scott's point I have to steer away from most important phones unless you KNOW what you're getting into (I.E VoLTE, VoWiFi and 5G concerns.)

Most Xiaomi get 5G and VoLTE out of the box. No VoWiFi(could have changed with the recent flagships such as the 12, 13 and the 14 series).

Oneplus is the same (from my knowledge the 10, the 11 and the 12 and some of their nord series have all 3 above working.)

Oppo is there too all 3.

If you want it to just work. Samsung, Oppo, Apple are your go to.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

timmmay

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#3218880 16-Apr-2024 08:57

As the owner of a Pixel 8 I suggest going with Samsung. Ideally go for a Snapdragon chipset, they're faster and have a much better modem than Exynos. I'll very likely buy a Samsung next time I need a phone.

My wife's S22 charges faster and stays cooler than my Pixel 8 - the pixel gets MUCH hotter which is bad for battery life. The Samsung has more cameras, no camera bump, and the photos are comparable. The Pixel probably can't be repaired in NZ easily. The Samsung is supported in NZ, including VoWiFi. The only real advantage of the Pixel is it's plain Android, but Samsung's skin these days is fine, and if you use a launcher it makes little difference which phone you have.

iPhone is worth considering. I've not used one, but the hardware and software being created by one company is a big advantage, and their CPUs are the fastest available. I suspect there's less flexibility on the iPhone than Android, though Android is a bit less flexible and more prescriptive than it used to be.

eracode

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#3218882 16-Apr-2024 09:16

Impossible so not a proper answer but for a long time I have thought that I would love to have Samsung phone hardware running in the Apple ecosystem.

An S24 with iOS 17 (and all the ecosystem linkages that brings) would be perfect for me.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

sonyxperiageek

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#3219141 16-Apr-2024 15:57

Anyone have the OnePlus 12? I've been hearing and reading decent things about them. Dual sim, 100w supervooc fast charging, a pretty decent camera, very good display, similar weight to the iphone 15. If I were to get one, it would be the international version not the China version. And apparently it works on NZ carriers VoLTE and Wifi calling too!

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mrgsm021

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#3219142 16-Apr-2024 16:00

Have a look at the OnePlus 12 thread: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=97&topicid=311969