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How the Google Pixel 6a falls short against other midrange phones in India
Catering to the local needs isn't obviously a priority for Google
Google appears to be doubling down on the Indian market this year. First, it launched the Google Pixel 6a alongside other global markets, and recently it launched the Google Pixel 7 at a reasonable launch price. Google even corrected the Pixel 6a's price in India recently to bring that coveted Pixel experience to a larger user base.
Should you buy the Galaxy A51 in 2021?
Short answer: no, long answer: maybe, if you get a killer deal
The Galaxy A51 is Samsung's middle-of-the-road smartphone for 2020. It's now 2021, so is it still worth a second look? In short, we think the answer is probably not — unless you're getting a particularly compelling discount. With its successor the Galaxy A52 now available (though tough to find), the A51 simply lacks the kind of premium features you'd expect of a $400 smartphone right now, even if your options might be limited at the moment.
OnePlus phones have slowly crept their way into flagship territory, but are the juicier margins that the company now enjoys have coming at the expense of its old market? These flagships may simply be out of reach for past fans — not everyone's ready to spend an arm and a leg for a phone. That's probably why the company is doubling down on its sub-brand Nord, with plans for at least two new phones in the pipeline.
A couple of months ago, my brother in law came to me with a question: he needed an affordable $200-300 Android smartphone that he could purchase from the UAE or Lebanon and that would do the basics right. My ready-made answer in the category in the past few years has been Samsung's A/C/J series. You get nice hardware, decent software with less bloat nowadays, excellent after-sale support no matter which mom-and-pop repair store you stop at, easy accessory purchase, and it's super fast to sell it on when the time comes to part with your phone. But that's only because Samsung's presence in Lebanon is huge, LG's midrange devices are too costly for the features, Moto and HTC essentially don't exist, Nokia/HMD hadn't begun selling phones again yet, and Huawei started breaking into the market about a year or so ago. Even so, EMUI's zealous background process killing remains a cause of concern in our WhatsApp-or-nothing society so I generally stay away from it in my recommendations.