All the guides I’ve seen are like “check out this budget phone for $350, it has five cameras”

I only need one camera and it just has to be good enough to take pictures of documents while still being readable.

Android 12

Like 16gb storage minimum. 2gb ram minimum.

Most phones seem to be way over those specs knocking up price. A bunch that r more affordable don’t go up to Android 12. I assume Android 12 is important so I don’t get hacked when I’m trying to do banking on my phone on unsecured public Wi-Fi (which is where I do all my banking :( )

  • One thing to look into is refurbished devices. I don’t know where you are in the world, but in the US I was able to get a Samsung Galaxy A51 with 5G in good condition refurbished on eBay for like $300 with a one year extended warranty. The warranty was about $30 so the phone was only ~$270 shipped. I got Android 12 last month, and I think this phone should get Android 13, along with 1 subsequent year of security but not feature updates. If searching eBay seems too sketchy or time consuming, services Backmarket will aggregate reputable refurbishers for you, and handle warranty as well. Of course, you do have to check the individual model to know how long it still has updates wise.

    If a new device is a sticking point, then I’m not sure what would be best. Like you say, it seems that a lot of the decent looking devices from companies like Motorola and Nokia only have Android 11. As long as they are still going to get security updates and you can live without Android 12 features then that might work, but obviously that’s going to vary by manufacturer and device. Depending on how (if?) you have an active SIM for your phone, you could also see if any carrier has a deal to switch to them. Having been a salesperson for carrier devices for a brief while in the past, I can tell you that it’s probably not a good deal in the long run, but if you already pay a traditional carrier and are willing to switch it could be worth it. Even pre-paid MVNO type carriers will sometimes offer a deal, though for them it’s typically some money off the service plans over the next two years in exchange for buying a new, higher end device through them.

    •  sascuach   ( @sascuach@lemmy.ml ) OP
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      2 years ago

      i’ve never had a regular phone plan i think? Because i’ve had no phone contract. I’ve been using the same month to month phone plan since 2010 and just buy phones when i need a new one. I’ve never had data - not in the budget - only unlimited calls/sms.

      active SIM for your phone

      What’s an active sim?

      • By active SIM I meant having a phone plan activated on the SIM card in your phone. Since you only mentioned doing banking over WIFI, I wasn’t sure if you had a phone plan or were just using the phone when connected to WIFI. In your case, I think even the deals that prepaid providers do typically are tied to service plans that include data, but could be worth double checking with your provider just in case.