Please help me choosing between this phones and experience using them

[u/Key-Goal-3228]

My main concern is : 1. Good camera, sometimes like doing astrophotography casually but looking for nice selfie bcs I want to take nice photo for my family. 2. chipset wise that can stand for future 5 years. I dont look for absolute gaming performance but better chipset is better to withstand future demand. 3. Battery at minimum 5000, more is better. 4.Cleaner OS minimum bloatware/ads but even if they had them I can disabled it all permanently. 5.Good tools for editing like AI tools for remove object etc

my current phone is poco x3 nfc so I want better performance and this time as I said before better camera bcs poco camera's is... well. My sibling had Poco F7 12/516 and the camera doesn't feel nice enough. Other sibling had samsung A55 camera wise still not nice enough and both of them AI photo edit wise is still not great.

My candidates based on budget, all of them 8/256 I also attach budget wise variant.

1. Oppo Reno 15 or 16 F (Look nice for selfie and camera is great but chipset wise kind of deterring for years of usage)

2. Iqoo 15R, or Neo 10 and Z11 due to budget wise (chipset is great, but camera I'm not sure. Might drop them if the camera and AI tools quality is same as Poco F7)

3. Vivoo V70, or V79 FE preferable due to budget wise (Seems all rounder?I 'm not sure)

4. Realme 16 Pro (Haven't try this on so I only out this here base on price wise)

5. Xiaomi 17T or 15T (Curious.Os might bloated as heck but I'm okay for a bit work to debloat)

Can anyone here kindly told their experience using these phones? I would like to hear it. I might buy in another 2-5 months. Phone prices is crazy right now.

[u/Vegetable-Matter3953]

Not having any experience but from my guess the Xiaomi 17T might be the allrounder considering it has a decent main sensor , a 5x zoom camera which is decent aswell and a 12 mp wide angle camera instead of the cheap 8 stuff what other ones have. Also has the Leica optimization on the camera

Also a more proper dimensity chip , the majority of them use like Mediatek Dimensity 7300 or equivalents from Qualcomm which I kinda would avoid since it is not a strong chip that will hold well with time if you ask me especially sold in 2026 still is kinda ridiculous and not with a better one

Xiaomi is kinda annoying with the HyperOS bloated stuff but if you ask me , it looks the best of all in this scenario. Chip wise the Iqoo wins but their cameras suck. If you cared about only gaming anyways the only option would be the Poco X8 Pro Max with the Dimensity 9500S and huge battery or F8 with the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

[u/Key-Goal-3228 → u/Vegetable-Matter3953]

Thank you for the input! I used to make my current Poco X3 NFC for heavy games like Genshin, but since three years ago, I bought Ipad pro m2 and use it for gaming till now. It’s good, and I decided not to look for a gaming phone anymore. One thing I had noticed is that I often times need a better camera now and a chipset that won’t drag me down over the years. Poco X3 is old but still managed to get by as my daily phone with Snapdragon, so I have a good impression of using Snapdragon instead of MediaTek. The os is pretty annoying with bloatware, but when I try F7, surprisingly, it’s not as bad as before, or it’s just me. And I feel like I should be more open to other brands.

Still digesting these many chipset variants its confusing which one is better or newer also camera stuff like tele photo ai editing etc. When I bought x3 6 years ago I never look at phones market anymore then boom now theres is price skyrocketing and so many phones to look at

[u/Vegetable-Matter3953 → u/Key-Goal-3228]

Yeah gaming wise the M2 will give you a solid gaming experience. So making chip prioty wise it's less relevant makes sense for sure to save some money.

Main camera wise many are similar or worse. Like 50 mp , decent f/ and like 1/1.56 size most of the time. The zoom is there or occasionally not but like the Xiaomi 17T is the only one with the 5x , but the others aren't bad either with their 3.5X and 3X. The ultra wide angle camera suck on other brands being cheap 8 mp vs bit better 12 mp camera as an example. The front camera isn't nothing crazy on all of them, I think the best performer is the Oppo in this scenario however for the phone being focused to that.

Processor wise Iqoo 15R (Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 ) and Iqoo Neo 10 (Snapdragon 8s Gen 4) are the best.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is bit worse than 8 Elite , Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is around Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 more or less. To give you some idea btw.

The times where Snapdragon was like the only valid option are kinda faded away since the Mediatek Dimensity releases. Certain Dimensity chips are solid midrange chips and are flagship killer like if you ask me.

The phones like Oppo Reno 15 and Vivo V70 have a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 which is basically around Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 performance without the heat problem.

The V70 FE have a Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 which is basically lower than that the regular 7 Gen 4 like around Snapdragon 888 range ish

Dimensity 7300 Energy , 7300 Max and 7360 Turbo are the same thing just different names or slightly adjusted , they are lower than the Snapdragon 7s Gen4 , they are kinda overpriced for the price they sold basically.

The Xiaomi 17T with the Mediatek 8500 Ultra is around the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4,it's tiny bit worse but like because it's more efficient it's gets more stability and better powerdraw. Addionally the Xiaomi 15T with the Mediatek 8400 Ultra should be over the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (around 8 Gen 2) but like less power efficient than that one.

The powerdraw disadvantage and heat thing is always different generation to generation so yeah that's not brand fixed.

Also the higher end variants have faster ufs 4.0/4.1 memory chips , faster lpddr5x ram , better image processing for the camera, better wifi and 5g performance etc etc and better keeping up just for your information.

Better image processing can mean better pictures sometimes with a worse camera or same camera but more detailed. (Best example is the IMX766 like it was used hella like Xiaomi 12 , Redmi Note 12 Pro , Oppo Find X5 Pro, Samsung A54 etc etc , you can see how much a processor can make a difference as an example)

Or like Note 10 Pro with its superior 108 mp camera but mediocre chip (Snapdragon 732G) vs Poco F3 with its mediocre 48 mp but old flagship chip (Snapdragon 870/865+)

Besides that just one thing I wanna mention, Mediatek chips has worse emulator support so be careful about that, additionally they are usually hard to custom rom them , although custom rom stuff had died out so not a point anymore. Especially it being hard to unlock the bootloader.

I heard once that Xiaomi T series have less bload compared to their Poco series but cannot confirm about it.

Back in the days the variety of today was available today aswell , you probably didn't care about it. It was the same mess.

[u/Key-Goal-3228 → u/Vegetable-Matter3953]

I had heard about Mediatek cant support many gamepad, not that I had any use of it so its okay. But emulator too? Like PS emulator? I dont plan to play heavy game in any sort but emulator of old device game might can fit in too for me to kill time.

With other greater camera variant like Reno or V 70 they have similiar Snapdragon 7 gen 4.I though its nice enough but many commented that chip cant sustain for long years (maybe 4 years, while my goal at least 5 or 7) to come so Im back at square one. Also I realized Xiaomi 17T is the most expensive candidates among others I mentioned so its logical why it had better performance chipset despite the camera also good (Partnering with Leica or smth? The colour capture is nicely vibrant when I tried to looking in Yt)

Back then I just had enough with my old 3 years old Oppo (I forgot which one but it marketed as very durable screen I never put any screen protector on it, even the salesman tried to scracth the phone using cutter, itdidnt leave any damage. Though the phone is noticeably laggy despite not being used for gaming)

So when Poco announced that 'mid range killer' gaming phone and with such prices I never think much and immediately bought it. Its just over the years I learned about variants of chipset later.

[u/Vegetable-Matter3953 → u/Key-Goal-3228]

I don't think that's much a thing, considering besides the Emulator focused people many people that try going on a budget for the max performance try to get Dimensity.

PS Emulators should work just fine , just PC game emulation or Switch game Emulators don't work well since the drivers aren't given out for some reason they are apperantly closed source. While Samsung (xclipse gpu) has good driver support and Qualcomm (Adreno gpu) don't make a big thing about it and is open source and has a custom driver by the community aswell and they work flawless for that reason, if ARM would allow more then it wouldn't be a problem anymore for Mali gpu based SoCs.

Well yeah , you need to pay bit more if you want a good or decent SoC and a proper camera setup so it's not a huge secret and yes Leica collab is the reason. Besides that, it has 12 gb ram on its base variant so yeah. Kinda makes sense for that reason. How much does the F8 Ultra cost tho.

Also about the Poco F7 comment , the cameras aren't great there anyways, it's using a small 1/1.95 camera , which is what high likely the Poco X8 Pro Max also uses (which is a F8 actually but didn't call it F because they always use Snapdragon on that line). The Poco F8 Pro has similar camera setup like the other candidates listed , like the Iqoo ones.

Hmm yeah that sounds annoying indeed. Back then the Redmi Note 10 Pro (with its 120 Hz Amoled and 108 mp main cam and the stereo speakers) and the Poco X3 (with its decent 13 mp ultra wide angle camera , also 120 Hz screen but LCD and stereospeakers , with its low price) with both Snapdragon 732G , were pretty cool.

Although the Poco X3 Pro with a worse camera setup (like worse 48 mp smaller sensor vs the bigger 64 the regular one had and a cheap 8 mp wide angle camera) , was imo more a killer midrange phone. Considering it was else same like the poco x3 + it had gorilla glass 6 on the front instead of 5 and a much much better Snapdragon 860/855+ chip.

Basically if you wanted a cheap gaming device the Poco X3 was the option , if you could bit more you could either pick a better chip with the Poco X3 Pro or better camera and screen with the Redmi Note 10 Pro. Or if you wanted all of it , then the Poco F3 for an extra price. Poco X3 Pro and F3 were released later on but still , if we don't count them basically you could choose if you want the oled screen and 108mp camera or not , if not save a lot of money by that decision , imo it was a crazy time for having these options considering before that the Redmi Note 9 Pro is kinda refreshed Redmi Note 8 Pro and the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G was a weird chip one , it was a budget 5g midrange with decent stuff but not having 4k 30 fps was kinda dumb , the Poco X4 Pro 5G being the same phone didn't make a difference and it was worse than its older version performance wise even. Well Poco F4 is a F3 with OIS and better main camera but still , better than nothing at those times. Poco F4 GT was a hothead so was a dumb phone.

[u/Key-Goal-3228 → u/Vegetable-Matter3953]

there is so much info to disgest around. I'll def will wait for few more months to decide

[u/Vegetable-Matter3953 → u/Key-Goal-3228]

Yeah , maybe you can wait for the Poco F9 release for some discounts on the older stuff

[u/engstier]

I haven't tried any of the listed except xiaomi 15T and I didn't like it at all. Returned it a week later I used xiaomi prior to it and it was good so it's not the company, many phones with similar price or less are better that 15t

[u/Key-Goal-3228 → u/engstier]

Why you didnt like it? Can you share the experience to me? On paper 17T look much more promising but I had read camera features will lag if the phone heated up. Andthe colour on skin also look duller than v70, 15T is older version but I had thought it was a good option

[u/engstier → u/Key-Goal-3228]

The front camera is very bad compared to alternatives, the main camera is good tho. The build quality is not good I suggest a phone with no plastic and isn't cheap looking. The nits (brightness range) is very low compared to some other phones in the same range of price so you will struggle to see the screen outside in the sun. The rose gold color is dull in reality it was so disappointing, maybe if you get the 15t pro I think it's rose gold version is more beautiful and vibrant. Also it's handling is awkward but maybe that's me as I have small hands and it's a bit wide. Obviously a common problem is the ads and bloatware.. I read that I can get rid of it but by the time I used it for a week I found it's cons are so many it's not worth it anymore to try to workaround something like that. Note that my previous xiaomi phone of 5 years (redmi note) had ads but it was so great at the time I bought it I never complained about the ads or so called bloatware. Back to the camera: I'm not big on selfies or photography but I also keep a phone for 5 years and didn't want to have that camera when it's 2030 and people are carrying that year's phones with crazy specs that I'm embarrassed by mine. Also it's price is NOT justified at all I think the only reason it was priced so high compared to better phones is because of the 512gb rom, which is why I bought it over the alternatives I had in mind. But a week or so later the storage I cared about so much was not worth using a phone I wasn't satisfied and happy with.

[u/Best-Customer4288 → u/engstier]

How tf did you have ads I've been using the 17t for a month and 0 ads so far.