New phone - Samsung S10e, Xiaomi Mi 9 or Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro?

Hardware Hub Phones, Tablets, & Wearables
1

Earlier today i mentioned on the lounge about changing my current phone, a Xiaomi Black Shark 1.
What i need from my new phone is:

  • Decent battery life;
  • Good or great camera (specially at night/dimly lit ambients);
  • Great signal reception (one of the few high points of my BS1) &
  • Decent support from the manufacturer.

I’m not exactly spoiled for choice here, the only 3 models that seem to be worth my time and money right now, in my country are those listed on the top.
I kinda wanted a Samsung Note 9, but since its more expensive than all of those and has older hardware, it doesn’t sound like a good deal.
What do you guys think, which one of those should i pick?

2

Not a factor in the decision but, i already got a pretty decent S10e case, my friend gave it to me after he decided to buy an iPhone 11 instead.
I can still sell it if i’m not going to use it.

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3

You will not have a great deal of support with those brands phones, but Samsung would be the less bad. And the S10e would also have the more capable camera. abut have considered the Pixel 3a? The camera would be great, along with the support.

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4

I did, but unfortunately Google doesn’t sell Pixels over here.

5

After i posted this topic i saw some more video reviews of the 3 phones, all by GSMArena, just for the sake of keeping all of the reviews in the same place.
I also googled some topics that regard to features i’m in dire need at the moment.

S10e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sHrQq4R9D4

Mi 9T Pro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNe6GcRxY7U

Mi 9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEXuh7KQQQ0

It seems that the Mi 9 is out of place next to those other two, it lacks some features and has a lackluster camera in comparison to both of them.
As for the S10e and Mi 9T Pro, they are equal in processing power and similar in image quality from the camera, but they do have their pros and cons.

S10e:

Pros: smaller size, fast side mounted fingerprint scanner, IP68 rating, SD card slot, wireless charging, fast updates from Samsung and 3 years warranty from the store.

Cons: Smaller battery, “eye socket” front camera in a corner of the screen and apparently it has signal strenght issues (which is highly concerning, possibly a deal breaker).

Mi 9T Pro:

Pros: Larger battery, motorized selfie camera (which will likely be used only once or twice), strong (er) signal reception, under screen fingerprint scanner and fast updates from Xiaomi.

Cons: Larger size, no IP rating (which i don’t need, but its nice to have), no wireless charging, no SD card slot and a ridiculously small 3 months warranty.

Putting everything on the scales, the S10e comes out ahead, but i’m worried about the signal strenght, should i perhaps avoid it and pick the Xiaomi?

6

Footnote about this:
Just found out our version of the S10e has the Exynos 9820 SOC instead of the Snapdragon 855 found in the american version.

7

Buy a camera. Seriously, any 200,- Euro phone will do everything else.

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8

Actually was my first idea, remember the post i did a few weeks ago?
I still came out of a bit confused and not knowing what camera i was going pick up.

9

I’m asking myself the same question, and it looks like Samung S10e might be my next phone, unless something of similar size, but better HW comes to marked within the next few weeks (months?) - my Huawei P10 still does it’s job, so not in a hurry.

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10

The S10e is really, really interesting, a flagship phone on a small package.
However that does come with some issues, like battery life.
Also the version available in my country runs on an Exynos 9820 SOC instead of the more popular Snapdragon 855 the USA version has, which isn’t a huge problem, but its inferior.

11

Exynos here as well, but it doesn’t matter - I don’t use the phone for gaming, so most likely won’t notice any difference between the two.

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12

I do, but not like Fortnite or PUBG, i mostly play the mobile ports of GTA and do some emulation.
I also do a lot of web browsing, but i think even something with a Snapdragon 730g should be enough for my browsing needs alone.

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13

Absolutely the S10e without a shadow of doubt. The MIUI is getting worse again and I don’t get why. A friend of mine has a Xiaomi and sees frickin ads when an app has completed its installation. He had to switch to an AOSP based ROM. Also the MIUI has always had issues since the dawn of time when it was just a ROM on XDA with notifications and general weirdness in behaviour with some apps (weirdness mostly resolved).
In my opinion, no moving parts is the best choice from a durability standpoint.
The only reason I’d get a Xiaomi is because you can unlock the bootloader and there’s a ton of support from the modding community for it.

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14

Very true, not a huge fan of MIUI as well, i bought my mom a Note 7 Pro not long ago, stock MIUI is despicable to use with the stock launcher, so i “wrapped” it with Poco Launcher, which helped quite a bit.

Also a few minutes ago i found this model, The Lenovo Z6 Pro at a considerably lower price (if i import it, which given the circumstances, i can), so now its in my list as well.

15

That looks like a very decent phone. What I’d check is the bands compatibility with US carriers, just in case.

If I had to suggest a reliable brand of phones it would be Motorola (I know it’s run by Lenovo, stick with me on this). Their phones might not be the best when it comes to price vs specs but, in my experience, the stock Android on them keeps those device reliable and well functioning for a while.

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16

I’m from Brazil, chinese phones use the same bands as ours, so its fine.
Its also from a proper brand, Lenovo, so Anatel is not going to mess up with it.

Me too, i’ve had a great experience with my Moto X Play, it lasted me 3 years, in the very end of its life it was running AOSPextended.
I always recommend Motorola devices for people i know are going to be confused with overly complicated Android versions, not only that, their phones are solidly built.

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17

No matter what phone you get, tho I would hold out on Android 10, it’s an absolute mess right now.

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18

Good tip, this Lenovo is already set to receive it, users can opt for Beta tests of it, but perhaps it will take a few weeks or a few months for them to release the stable version.

19

Sorry for assuming you were from the US.

I think you won’t be going wrong with that Lenovo. Slap a GCam on it and live happily ever after.

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20

No problem!

Sounds like a very good deal indeed, and its almost half the price of the other ones i mentioned before.
I’ll have to wait a little bit for it to arrive and potentially pay some import tax, but still, it won’t come close to the price of the other ones.
Gcam is a solid, solid recommendation, i use a san1ty GCam mod on my Xiaomi BS1.

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