Selecting an Unlocked, Mid-Range, Phone

What I look for:

• AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon 5G
• Mid-Band 5G (C-Band)
• Memory Card Slot
• AMOLED (not LCD)
• Full HD + (1080p) or better
• Fast Charging
• NFC
• IP67 or better
• 3.5mm Analog Headphone/Microphone Jack
• 90 Hz or better refresh rate
• Stereo Speakers
• Minimum 6GB RAM
• Minumum 128GB Flash Memory
• Antutu Minimum 300,000
• Geekbench Multicore Minimum 1500

Here is the search I did on Phone Scoop:
<https://www.phonescoop.com/phones/finder_results.php?w=s&sao=y&car=r&ca_2=y&ca_4=y&ca_5=y&avr=r&av_2=y&ter=r&te_10=y&te_9=y&te_1=y&plr=r&pl_20=y&dwr=r&dw_1439-9999=y&dw_1079-1438=y&dtr=r&dt_6=y&dpr=r&dpv=6.5&drr=r&dr_89-119=y&dr_119-143=y&dr_143-999=y&rmr=r&rmv=6&f30r=r&f30_31=y&m14r=r&m15r=r&m13r=r&m16r=r&f89r=r&f90r=r&f90_7=y&f83r=r&f32r=r&f32_3=y&f60r=r&f55r=r&f73r=r&f72r=r&f92r=r>
The only phone that resulted from that search is the Samsung Galaxy A52
5G. No iPhones of course since no iPhones offer a headphone jack or a
Memory Card Slot

The A42 5G, the next phone down, is $370, around $100 less than the A52
5G, still decent, but not IMVAIO, the extra money for the A52 5G is well
worth it.

What would be nice is wireless charging, but the phone manufacturers
feel compelled to leave some things off their mid-range phones in order
to not cannibalize sales of their high-end phones.

Ironically, in the case of Samsung, the A52 5G has some features missing
from even their most expensive flagship, the S21. The S21 has no memory
card slot, no headphone jack, no FM Radio, and no MST (Magnetic Secure
Transmission, see <https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/what-is/mst/>).
I find MST very useful because there are still a lot of stores that
refuse NFC payments with Apple Pay or Google Pay but that take Samsung
Pay with MST. Since I get 3% back on mobile wallet purchases on my
credit card I try to always pay with my phone. The analog
headphone/microphone jack is very nice to have when you're doing remote
meetings on your phone, much better than Bluetooth ear pods.

Unfortunately, the successor to the A52 5G, the A52s 5G, is not sold in
the U.S.. The A52s 5G has a significant performance boost over the A52
5G, but doesn't support CDMA which may be why Samsung is not offering it
in the U.S..

The days of unsubsidized, unlocked, $200, mid-range phones is over. The
cheapest I've seen the unlocked A52 5G for is $400, and it's about $462
now, with Samsung promo codes.

I think that buying a subsidized phone is fine as long as you're not
stuck for years. Often you only have to do six months before you can get
a subsidized, non-financed, phone unlocked.

On Thu, 20 Jan 2022 19:56:32 -0800, sms wrote:

> Selecting an Unlocked, Mid-Range, Phone

Thanks. This is a perfectly apropos thread, where the requirements are
completely different for low end, versus mid-range, versus high end phones.

It's wonderful that you went to the purposefully helpful effort to create a
list, where others will definitely benefit given the list of desired
requirements changes depending on the three ranges (low, medium, and high).

> What I look for:
>
> * AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon 5G
> * Mid-Band 5G (C-Band)
> * Memory Card Slot
> * AMOLED (not LCD)
> * Full HD + (1080p) or better
> * Fast Charging
> * NFC
> * IP67 or better
> * 3.5mm Analog Headphone/Microphone Jack
> * 90 Hz or better refresh rate
> * Stereo Speakers
> * Minimum 6GB RAM
> * Minumum 128GB Flash Memory
> * Antutu Minimum 300,000
> * Geekbench Multicore Minimum 1500

That seems like a decently well vetted list of things you'd expect most
people might want in a mid-range Android phone.

Should Steve add a fingerprint scanner, ANT+, MST and the fast
charger-in-the-box as features to be expected in mid-range phones?

I'd debate whether 4GB or 6GB should be the minimum, but certainly 6GB is
nicer than 4GB. The question really is whether the missing 2GB makes all
that much difference given you rarely max out on RAM nowadays even with 4GB.

Right?

> Here is the search I did on Phone Scoop:
> <https://www.phonescoop.com/phones/finder_results.php?w=s&sao=y&car=r&ca_2=y&ca_4=y&ca_5=y&avr=r&av_2=y&ter=r&te_10=y&te_9=y&te_1=y&plr=r&pl_20=y&dwr=r&dw_1439-9999=y&dw_1079-1438=y&dtr=r&dt_6=y&dpr=r&dpv=6.5&drr=r&dr_89-119=y&dr_119-143=y&dr_143-999=y&rmr=r&rmv=6&f30r=r&f30_31=y&m14r=r&m15r=r&m13r=r&m16r=r&f89r=r&f90r=r&f90_7=y&f83r=r&f32r=r&f32_3=y&f60r=r&f55r=r&f73r=r&f72r=r&f92r=r>
> The only phone that resulted from that search is the Samsung Galaxy A52
> 5G. No iPhones of course since no iPhones offer a headphone jack or a
> Memory Card Slot

That is a really nice phone.
<https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_a52_5g-10631.php>

As for the missing features in the list, here's what that phone has:
* Fingerprint = (Yes, under display)
* ANT+ = (No? I don't see it in the specs, do you?)
* MST = (No? I don't see it in the specs, do you?)
* fast charger in the box = (Yes, Fast charging 25W, 50% in 30 min)
> The A42 5G, the next phone down, is $370, around $100 less than the A52
> 5G, still decent, but not IMVAIO, the extra money for the A52 5G is well
> worth it.

Cnet calls it the best budget phone around $500 which I wouldn't call
"budget" so much as medium (as $200 to me is "budget" & $1000 is "high").
*Galaxy A52 5G review: Samsung's best budget phone with flagship features*
<https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/galaxy-a52-5g-review-samsungs-best-phone-under-500/>

> What would be nice is wireless charging, but the phone manufacturers
> feel compelled to leave some things off their mid-range phones in order
> to not cannibalize sales of their high-end phones.\

Funnily enough, that marketing decision to create an arbitrary
good-better-best lineup goes both ways....
a. They _remove_ good stuff (like wireless charging) from lower-end phones
b. They also _remove_ good stuff (like sdslots & aux) from high-end phones

In the first case (of removal of things like wireless charging), I agree
with Steve they're just trying to make an L-XL-GXL marketing distinction.

But in the second case (of removal of sdslots and aux jacks), I think
they're assuming anyone who buys a $1000 phone is probably already paying
for a cloud account and they probably are paying for expensive bluetooth
headphones too. I guess.

> Ironically, in the case of Samsung, the A52 5G has some features missing
> from even their most expensive flagship, the S21. The S21 has no memory
> card slot, no headphone jack, no FM Radio, and no MST (Magnetic Secure
> Transmission, see <https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/what-is/mst/>).

Yup. This is the point I just made above, where I hadn't seen this when I
made that point since I respond inline.

It's a MARKETING gimmick which Apple pioneered.

I guess if you are willing to pay for a 1,000 phone that makes the same
phone calls as does a $500 phone, then you're willing to pay for your cloud
account and you're willing to pay for expensive bluetooth headphones.

> I find MST very useful because there are still a lot of stores that
> refuse NFC payments with Apple Pay or Google Pay but that take Samsung
> Pay with MST. Since I get 3% back on mobile wallet purchases on my
> credit card I try to always pay with my phone.

I've had NFC on most of my phones and have never used it.
To me, it's like that IR thing on my older laptops.

It's a feature looking for someone to figure out what it's good for.
I know you like to do electronic payments, so for you it's useful.

For me, the _last_ thing I want to do is pay for something with my phone.
But what matters is what _most_ people want to do - not what we want.

What do most people want? Dunno.
Your original list (above) isn't bad as starters though.

> The analog
> headphone/microphone jack is very nice to have when you're doing remote
> meetings on your phone, much better than Bluetooth ear pods.

There's a good reason over 99% of all Android phones ever made and that are
currently being made have the industry standard headphone jack.

The real reason they oh-so-courageously removed it in the highly marketed
phones is to force people to buy stuff, which is a marketing ploy every
company wishes they could get away with, but only the biggest companies can
afford the risk of fucking their customers too hard at once.

It's a classic marketing move though, which garners profits for them.
*One by one remove basic functionally - so that you have to buy it back.*

> Unfortunately, the successor to the A52 5G, the A52s 5G, is not sold in
> the U.S.. The A52s 5G has a significant performance boost over the A52
> 5G, but doesn't support CDMA which may be why Samsung is not offering it
> in the U.S..

Here is a review of the A52s 5G
<https://nrrating.com/samsung-galaxy-a52s-5g>

The bands it suports (according to that review) are:
Technology = GSM / HSPA / LTE / 5G
2G bands = GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
3G bands = HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G bands = 2, 4, 5, 12, 17, 26, 40, 41, 66
5G bands = 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41, 66, 78 SA/NSA/Sub6
Speed = HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (CA) Cat18 1200/150 Mbps, 5G
GPRS = Yes
EDGE = Yes
> The days of unsubsidized, unlocked, $200, mid-range phones is over. The
> cheapest I've seen the unlocked A52 5G for is $400, and it's about $462
> now, with Samsung promo codes.

I don't think you can expect a "mid-range" phone to be $200 but certainly a
mid-range phone should be in the under $500 price range.

Here's a review which calls the A52-5G an impressive midrange phone.
*Samsung Galaxy A52 5G Review*
<https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/samsung-galaxy-a52-5g>

But they thought the performance was "pokey" (whatever that means to them).
<https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ditionary+pokey>
pokey === slow

> I think that buying a subsidized phone is fine as long as you're not
> stuck for years. Often you only have to do six months before you can get
> a subsidized, non-financed, phone unlocked.

I think many people do this stuff in a direction I consider to be backward.

Personally, I would first aim for a good plan (because they grandfather
those things so that you won't want to change them all that often).

My plan, for example, is $100 a month for 6 devices, unlimited US calls and
unlimited text and data (5G or otherwise), and the same deal in Europe with
only the calls changing to 20 cents per minute (the rest being free).
<https://i.postimg.cc/L6dFGXVd/tmopromo03.jpg> $100 for six lines + $16 tax

Once you have the right plan, only _then_ do you worry about the phone.

You can get unlocked phones almost anywhere nowadays, or, every once in a
while, the carrier offers you a subsidized phone (often for free) where all
they do is up your plan contract from 0 to two years (and then back to 0).

In summary, the way I'd work it is that I think the PLAN comes first.
Then the phone. (The plan lasts a decade, not so much each phone.)

Andy Burnelli wrote:

> In summary, the way I'd work it is that I think the PLAN comes first.
> Then the phone. (The plan lasts a decade, not so much each phone.)

The Galaxy A53 5G mid-range phone comes with a high-res display, a big
battery, and a quad-camera system, for $450.
https://gizmodo.com/samsungs-galaxy-a53-is-a-well-stocked-mid-range-smartph-1848664501

6.5-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display, capable of a maximum of 800 nits at a
refresh rate of 120Hz using the Exynos 1280 processor, and 6GB of RAM.

It has a huge 5 amp hour battery, typical nowadays of Android phones (and in
stark contrast to Apple's plan to not only throttle batteries, but to put in
far too puny batteries so that people have to replace the phone sooner).

Samsung says the phone should last for two days (mine easily lasts for three
days so it may actually be true for this phone too).

There are four cameras on the A53 5G: a 12-MP ultra-wide camera, a 64-MP
primary camera with an aperture of f/1.8 and OIS, a 5-MP depth camera, and a
5-MP macro lens. The front-facing camera is 32-MP with an aperture of f/2.2.

Samsung guarantees four generations of One UI and Android OS updates and
five years of security updates but it could be even longer as Android 10 and
above can easily be updated without the carriers over the Internet nowadays
(where most of the layers of Android are now updated forever).

Hi,
In the coming new year I hope there will be a lot of new phones in market in the buying range. Many companies are launching and I hope there will be some advancements. From my side I wish everyone good luck.

Here are some good wishes for the year 2023 for everyone: https://happywishes4you.com/happy-new-year-text-messages/