Discounts and deals keep the Pixel 7 relevant following the launch of the 7a, meanwhile the Galaxy A54 is getting some solid deals. Now might be a good time to grab some earphones, too (unless you’re waiting for Sony to drop the WF-1000XM5).
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The Google Pixel 7 is in danger of becoming obsolete after the 7a launches, but good deals are keeping it in the game: While not a direct discount, Amazon is selling the phone for $600 with a $100 gift card, effectively reducing the price to $500.
For comparison, the Pixel 7a has an MSRP of $500, but its actual price in stores is already starting to drop. Not much yet, but the phone is just a month old.
If you want a 120Hz QHD+ display and a telephoto camera, the Pixel 7 Pro is still the only relevant option in the Google family, and that won’t change until the Pixel 8 series arrives later this year.
If you want a budget Pixel instead, the Pixel 6a is down to $300. Since the 7a’s price hasn’t come down much (yet), so the older 6a doesn’t feel the compression.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 series has been selling below the MSRP for a while now. This week, in particular, the price of the Galaxy S23+ is lower than it was several weeks ago.
We will conclude with the Galaxy Buds2. They’re quite light and feature ANC plus Qi wireless charging, and at $100 they’re priced below AirPods (3rd generation) by about $50 at current prices.
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The Google Pixel 7 and 7a are priced the same right now, and the older flagship has better hardware with a slightly better screen, larger main camera sensor, and faster wireless charging.
A cheaper option with excellent software support is the Samsung Galaxy A54, which will receive the flagship level of updates – 4 OS versions and 5 years of security patches. It’s larger than the Pixel 7a (6.4″ vs 6.1″ display) and comes with a bigger battery (5,000mAh vs 4,385mAh), giving it much better endurance (119 hours vs 76 hours) .
A budget model of the A-series 2023 is the Samsung Galaxy A14. As cheap as it is, it has a 1080p display (6.6-inch FHD+ LCD) and an ultra-wide-angle camera (only 5MP but still). In addition, there is a headphone jack and a microSD slot on board (this unit comes with 128GB of built-in storage).
While there are many Android-based handheld consoles on the market, few of them are as powerful as a typical mid-range phone, let alone a flagship. Most phones have better screens too. So instead of a dedicated device, you can just get a set of controllers to plug into your phone. GameSir X2 Pro comes with 1 month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, so you can experience various Xbox games via streaming as well.
Speaking of streaming, here are a couple of ways to spruce up an outdated TV: Both the Chromecast and Fire TV Stick support 4K streaming and run custom versions of Android targeting TV-scale UI.
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The Samsung Galaxy A54 is a great all-rounder with an IP67 body, great display (one of the best in its class), impressive battery life, flagship-class update program (4 OS, 5 years of security patches) . Right now it’s at RRP, but you can get a £100 cashback to make the actual price around £350. This offer is available from both Samsung and Amazon.
The iPhone 13 mini is the last mini that Apple will make in the near future and it will probably be on sale for quite a while. However, Apple charges £650 for the base 128GB model, but you can get it for £50 less if you get it from Amazon.
For something more current, the 128GB iPhone 14 is down to £764. That’s just over the price of an iPhone 13 from Apple’s online store (£750).
Next are several tablets. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE is a 12.4-inch slate with a 2,560 x 1,600 px (60Hz only) LCD. This is the Wi-Fi model, so it gets the more powerful Snapdragon 778G chipset.
Similar in size but more powerful is the Galaxy Tab S8+. This one has a 12.4″ 120Hz AMOLED (2,800 x 1,752px with HDR10+) and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. This is the LTE model and is double the price of the Tab S7 FE.
There are budget options too, for example the Galaxy Tab A8 10.5 costs around £200, a little more or a little less, depending on whether you want LTE or not. It has four 10.5-inch 1,920 x 1,200px LCD speakers and a 7,040mAh battery.
The Lenovo Tab M10 HD (2nd generation) is cheaper but with a 10.1-inch 1,280 x 800px display, it can’t make good use of the high-quality streaming options. The 5,000mAh battery is also small.
The Samsung Galaxy A04s is a basic £100 phone but it’s been updated to Android 13 (with One UI Core 5). It has a fairly large 5,000mAh battery with 15W charging, a microSD slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The 6.5-inch HD+ LCD isn’t very sharp and the 50MP camera is only on the back, but it’s a solid package for the price.
If you are looking for TWS gems, here are some Apple gems. Third-generation AirPods come in two flavors: wired-only charging (Lightning) and MagSafe. The latter costs just £10 in mode, and we think the wireless charging is worth the small premium.
However, the second generation AirPods Pro aren’t much more expensive (£55 more). They have wireless charging by default and have recently gained new features such as Adaptive Audio, Custom Volume and Conversation Awareness.
The new Apple Mac mini with M2 chip (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU) is available at a £50 discount on the 8/256GB base model. This little desktop computer punches above its weight when it comes to performance.
If you just want a high-end streaming device, check out this refurbished Apple TV 4K (3rd generation). We’d recommend paying the £10 extra for the 128GB model as as well as having double the storage, it also has an Ethernet port, which can help if you’re in apartments with crowded Wi-Fi.
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Let’s kick things off with a couple of older high-end models. The OnePlus 10R celebrated its first birthday in May, but it packs a fairly powerful Dimensity 8100-Max chipset and a large 6.7″ 120Hz (FHD+) AMOLED display, which keep it relevant. Don’t forget to request the coupon from ₹3,000 as this will reduce the price to ₹32,000.
The Xiaomi 12 Pro is even older: it was launched in China on the last day of 2021. However, it was a real flagship with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, a 6.73″ QHD+ AMOLED (an LTPO panel at 120Hz) and a 50MP triple camera, as well as fast wired and wireless charging (120W and 50W respectively).
Tecno launched the Camon 20 series last month. The Camon 20 Pro 5G isn’t the flagship model in the series (there’s the Premiere with that extravagant 108MP ultra-wide camera), but it’s a capable enough phone. It gets its 5G modem courtesy of the Dimensity 8050 chipset, which drives a 6.67-inch 120Hz AMOLED display (FHD+). It is powered by a 5,000mAh battery with 33W charging. The 64MP main camera (1/1.7″ sensor) has OIS, but lacks an ultra-wide companion.
The Tecno Camon 20 is a cheaper 4G option with a Helio G85. The slower chipset is paired with a 60Hz AMOLED display (same size and resolution as the Pro) and the same 5,000mAh (33W) battery. The 64 MP main camera has the same sensor, but loses the OIS function.
The Redmi 11 Prime 5G is cheaper and yet has next-generation connectivity (although the Dimensity 700 it uses is far from next-generation). It has an IPS LCD (90Hz) instead of AMOLED and 5,000mA (18W charging). There’s no ultra-wide-angle camera here either.
The Realme Narzo 50i Prime starts at ₹7,000 for the 3/32GB model, and upgrading to 4GB RAM and 64GB storage costs just ₹500, so it’s the one to get. You can get even more storage thanks to the microSD slot (yes, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack too). The 5,000mAh battery is large but slow to charge at 10W. The Unisoc T612 also has a pair of Cortex-A75 cores, so that’s not a problem (especially with the extra gig of RAM).
The Samsung Galaxy Buds2 are heavily discounted, especially the black/white color scheme, although the white/lavender one is only slightly superior. These buds come with a lightweight case (with Qi wireless charging) and ANC.
The Realme Buds Wireless 2 Neo are neckband headphones and are quite cheap. There’s no ANC here, but the 17 hours of listening time and IPX4 water resistance are good features to have in this class.
A couple of weeks ago we listed GoPro Hero11 action camera at ₹45,000. It is now down to ₹43,000, but that may still be too much for some. If you’re willing to forgo some of the 11’s recent image stabilization features, there’s the Hero10 and Hero9 at significantly lower price points.
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