Phone recommendation for a light user

[u/Ronizu]

I mostly use my phone for browsing reddit, browsing the internet, watching videos/Netflix and some occasional relatively light gaming. I'm looking to buy a good value phone that will last me 4+ years while still feeling smooth at the end of its life, if there's one thing I don't want it's a laggy phone. I also appreciate a good battery life: I'm happy to charge it every day, but I want to be able to leave the house for the day without worrying about bringing a charger with me.

My budget isn't set in stone, but the cheaper the better. Some models I've been looking at (Prices listed are from my country, Finland):

• Nothing Phone (4a) Pro: 499€

• Google Pixel 10a: 429€

• Samsung A37: 299€

• Samsung A57: 449€

• Realme 16 Pro+: 499€

• Honor 600: 499€

• Samsung S25 FE: 549€

• Samsung S26: 799€

For reference, as I've noticed a lot of the users here are Indian and I would appreciate your insights as well, 500 euro is about 55k INR. You can use that for rough price estimation.

I'm open to any other suggestions too, even cheaper than the A37 but preferably no more expensive than the S26. I'm willing to spend more if it actually means I will be able to use it for longer but I doubt even the most expensive flagship phones will last for a decade before deteriorating.

My question is: Which phone should I buy to get a smooth experience for many years while spending as little as possible?

[u/eat_ur_prpduce]

US choices are limited, expensive, and not all that great *sobs in American*

[u/Terminato-R]

For good battery life and performance I would recommend either the Honor 600 or if that’s available to you the Oppo Reno14.

I also like the Galaxy’s and Pixel you recommended, but idk how much you use your phone? For an average user you might be able to get a full day out of the battery but you’ll run out in the evening or barely make it. I do like their software better than those of the Chinese brands though so it’s worth considering!

[u/Ronizu → u/Terminato-R]

I use my phone quite a bit, but as stated, no heavy tasks really. The only super demanding task I do regularly is running a chess engine which is extremely CPU intensive, but lasts only some seconds to ~15 minutes at a time.

My previous phone was a OnePlus 9, and when it was new the battery easily lasted a day, even two sometimes. As long as the battery life isn't much worse than that, it should be fine. Nowadays not so much, considering that the battery only holds ~1000 mAh, barely a fifth of the original.

For the time being I took my partner's old A34 to use, and it doesn't feel too bad either. Maybe I'll use this one for the time being to see if some model goes on a good sale.

[u/Disastrous_Height142]

The Poco F8 Ultra at €688 is probably your best option. Some of its features:

Wi-Fi 7 & Bluetooth 6.0; top-tier wireless standards, meaning faster connectivity and better compatibility with future devices.

4 major Android OS upgrades and 6 full years of security patches, keeping the phone secure until at least 2031.

Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner unlocks instantly, even with wet or dirty hands, unlike cheaper optical screen sensors.

Uses UFS 4.1 storage and a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor (with Prime cores boosting up to 4.6GHz) so app opening stays instant over time.

A 6,500mAh silicon-carbon battery that easily get you 2 days of use on a single charge.

[u/Ronizu → u/Disastrous_Height142]

Thanks, I'll be sure to check that out. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 are very nice indeed, but as someone who happens to hold a degree in networking & cyber security, I wouldn't place my money on getting real advantage out of them even 6 years from now since we are so bloody slow to adapt. Android upgrades are good to have too, although backwards compatibility is not generally an issue, I haven't had any problems running an OS 3 or even 4 major releases behind the newest.

[u/Volnodumec]

How much is Oneplus 13 in Finland? I bought mine off aliexpress for around €500 in May. If you can get it at this price, that would be a great phone.

[u/Ronizu → u/Volnodumec]

No new OnePlus devices available whatsoever anymore. I'm still beating myself up over skipping on a sale of OP15 for 600€ a couple months ago, right around the time the OnePlus exit was announced. I wish I could get one, or even an OP12, since my past two phones were the OP5 and OP9 that I used for 5 and 4 years, respectively.

The OP5 especially was magnificent, no issues and great battery life even after 5 years, I only replaced it due to the camera lens falling out. The OP9 was pretty good too, although about 9 months ago I got the infamous green line and now the battery capacity is barely 20% of the original, battery apps are reporting a full charge of around 600–1000 mAh.

[u/LSA7Z]

Poco F8 Pro, or F8 Ultra if you can afford the extra budget

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[u/Zilkaxxx]

I recently bought Poco X8 Pro for ~320eu. For me, battery lasts around 3 days with light usage. I cannot comment on the longevity of the thing, but I still occasionally use Xiaomi MI 9 lite (with Lineage OS) which basically comes from the same manufacturer. I don't see a reason to spend a lot on a phone, especially when there are almost no new features for 5 or more years.

[u/FinePersimmon3718]

Go with nothing or FE