Trying to decide on new phone

[tpapictures]

(This is for Canadian variants, if it makes a difference)

I have a great opportunity to get one of these phones with my carrier for a decent price and have been doing what I usually do which is watch and read lots of videos and reviews.

In the price range and fitting my needs, this is what I have access to...
Huawei P30
LG Velvet 5G
Samsung Galaxy S20 5G

Huawei I think is already a write-off because it seems now that despite them being allowed to keep supporting the P30 line on Android, that that actually won't be the case going forward according to new reports.

With the needs I have (50% camera - 40% news, browsing, social - 10% gaming) I don't see better phones for the price. Not a huge fan of Samsung's UI but there are launchers (is the Snapdragon version rootable?), the LG appears to have a really unimpressive camera, and because everyone recommends Pixel, I CAN also get a Pixel 3a but having the LG G6 right now it's not much of an improvement to get a 3a. There's a 4XLbut it's out of my price range and I just found out that Google's discontinuing the Pixel 4 line anyway. Keep in mind, I do most of my shooting on manual mode in the camera and that's important to me more than filters, etc. I'm saying that because people/reviews tend to talk about "night mode", HDR, zoom detail, and I'm only interested in the base specs and what the camera can do on manual.

Any help/opinions would be amazing!! Thank you!

 

[B. Diddy]

What about the Pixel 4a? Pixel cameras are fantastic, and you could always install a 3rd party camera app that gives you manual control. The guaranteed updates for 3 years will be light years ahead of LG's support as well. Battery life is supposed to be excellent as well.

But among the phones you suggest, I'd go for the Samsung, primarily because of Samsung's much better update support compared to LG.

 

[tpapictures]

What about the Pixel 4a? Pixel cameras are fantastic, and you could always install a 3rd party camera app that gives you manual control. The guaranteed updates for 3 years will be light years ahead of LG's support as well. Battery life is supposed to be excellent as well.

But among the phones you suggest, I'd go for the Samsung, primarily because of Samsung's much better update support compared to LG.

I cant get the Pixel 4a, only the 4XL and it's out of my range price-wise. I agree on the LG but my current G6 has never had problems receiving updates. However I think LG spreads itself too thin with so many models and suffers from that.

 

[tpapictures]

Hmm, those reports I mentioned now seem to have been somewhat incorrect. There's apparently no plan to ever stop supporting the P30 series from Huawei's behalf or Google since updating apps or GMS on P30s doesnt require interaction between Google and Huawei.

 

[Morty2264]

Have you made a purchasing decision yet, OP?

 

[tpapictures]

Have you made a purchasing decision yet, OP?

Yeah. I got an S20.
Really wanted the P30 but it wouldn't have been the wisest choice with the uncertainty of future problems of Google on the phone. Personally, I would have preferred it, but in happy with the Samsung.

 

[Morty2264]

Yeah. I got an S20.
Really wanted the P30 but it wouldn't have been the wisest choice with the uncertainty of future problems of Google on the phone. Personally, I would have preferred it, but in happy with the Samsung.

That's so awesome! Glad you are liking the S20!

I hear you. I was wanting the P30 this time last year but due to all that was happening with Huawei, I didn't chance it and got the S10 instead, and I'm very happy with the purchase.

Enjoy your new phone!