Help me choose between Samsung, Poco and Honor!

[haloking]

So I'm looking for a smartphone that would last for few years with minimum or no issues. My criteria and the spec. I look for are:

Battery life: A phone that would last +5.5 hours SoT; I'm a casual user just need it for browsing, social media, reading, watching movies, calling.. etc.

Doesn't lag and very good performance.

Very good camera

Affordable; below $400

With my research I found below brands and models but need help to know which is the best fit for me?

Samsung: Galaxy A52 or A52s 5G or A53 or A33

POCO: Poco F3 or Poco x3 pro

Honor: Honor x9 5G or Honor x7 or Honor play6t pro

 

[Morty2264]

Hello! I am a bit biased because I've used an Honor 8 and absolutely LOVED it. For the price, it was a superb mid-range phone. It was one of my favourite phones to date.

Honor gives good cameras, has decent battery life, and I don't think I ever really noticed any lag on my phone. My husband ended up using it for a time and he enjoyed it too. He is a heavier user than me and I can't recall him talking about lag or stuttering.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide!

 

[B. Diddy]

Your best bet in terms of reliability and support is probably a Samsung phone. The A53 sounds pretty formidable in terms of specs, especially considering the price, and I think it'll continue to get security patches and OS upgrades for longer than Poco or Honor.

Poco always seems great on paper, but my concern would be how well it's supported in the US (if that's where you live). Poco is also a Xiaomi sub-brand, and Xiaomi is known for including adware in its system apps (which can be turned off, but it's a process: https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-ads-xiaomi-miui-1019139/).

Honor made a splash in the US a while back around the time of the Honor 8 and the Honor V10, but since then, I haven't seen that much about it (again, in the US). So, much like Poco, I'd be concerned about support.

 

[Madd62]

From some initial reviews the A53 with Samsung"s Exynos 1280 doesn't perform as well as the A52s 5G.
There's an A73 coming out in some markets with the SD778 that was in the A52s, a 108mp main camera (also with OIS.

I like the Poco F3, I have the F2 Pro, but I think I missed the last chance to catch the F3 for around £200 GBP.
Camera is just OK in daylight. I don't expect it to be supported for morw than 18 months though.

Newer Xiaomi branded (replacing Mi models) will have 3 years OS and 4 years security updates.

Again I don't know where you are but there are deals on the Xiaomi 11t, 11t Pro and Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G (SD778).
Software is excellent. Ads, bloatware not an issue with 15 minutes (except for very base Redmi models apparently)

Honor I have not kept an eye on but reviews are good. I would be unfamiliar with the OS and update situation for the former Huawei sub brand.

 

[Morty2264]

Your best bet in terms of reliability and support is probably a Samsung phone. The A53 sounds pretty formidable in terms of specs, especially considering the price, and I think it'll continue to get security patches and OS upgrades for longer than Poco or Honor.

Poco always seems great on paper, but my concern would be how well it's supported in the US (if that's where you live). Poco is also a Xiaomi sub-brand, and Xiaomi is known for including adware in its system apps (which can be turned off, but it's a process: https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-ads-xiaomi-miui-1019139/).

Honor made a splash in the US a while back around the time of the Honor 8 and the Honor V10, but since then, I haven't seen that much about it (again, in the US). So, much like Poco, I'd be concerned about support.

Unfortunately, continued support for Honor devices is the one drawback associated with them. Otherwise, they're a great line! I haven't heard much about them of late, either.

 

[J Dubbs]

I would also lean towards the Samsung

 

[haloking]

Hello! I am a bit biased because I've used an Honor 8 and absolutely LOVED it. For the price, it was a superb mid-range phone. It was one of my favourite phones to date.

Honor gives good cameras, has decent battery life, and I don't think I ever really noticed any lag on my phone. My husband ended up using it for a time and he enjoyed it too. He is a heavier user than me and I can't recall him talking about lag or stuttering.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide!

Thanks for sharing your experience and recommendations! The only concern I have with Honor is that I might not be able to use google apps\services. The ban includes Honor or is only for Huawei?

 

[B. Diddy]

Unless something has changed since this article, it looks like newer Honor phones have Google services: https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/16/...atures-google-mobile-services-apps-play-store