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00:00What's up guys, today I'm going to be making a video for my people who want me to recommend
00:04some phones that, you know, is fairly new but still a reasonable price point, you know,
00:10well under $1,000.
00:11We know most flagships these days are going to be, you know, $1,000 plus.
00:15So I want to give you guys five phones that I think are still, you know, these are, you
00:20know, this year new but these are some pretty good phones that you should definitely check
00:24out with, you know, a pretty decent discount in the used refurbished marketplace.
00:28The first up is going to be the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
00:31Alright, so first off is the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
00:34You need to cross check Amazon and eBay for the best prices but if you pick this phone
00:39up in the used refurbished marketplace and remember this is for the USA market, this
00:43is an excellent phone.
00:45The discount on this phone, it's come down to $629 for a certified eBay refurbished and
00:50then some sellers, they'll sell it for like $579 as well too.
00:54So this is an amazing phone and honestly, when it first came out, it was kind of close
01:00to nearly perfect.
01:02So it's not really that much different from the S24 Ultra and this phone does have pretty
01:07much the same design.
01:08It's aluminum frame, it's IP68 as well too.
01:11You have the built-in S-Pen as well, essentially the same design on here as well too.
01:16Now this one does have the dynamic AMOLED display at 6.8 inches but it's a slightly
01:21curved display which is something that I personally really, really liked.
01:25Samsung moved to a completely flat display.
01:28I just think it makes the phone look a little bit more premium than the A-series models
01:33and all the other phones and stuff like that.
01:35So I do like the curve but it's got 120Hz HDR10+, 1750 nits peak brightness, full 1440p,
01:43540ppi, an absolutely beautiful panel.
01:46We know that Samsung makes some of the best panels on the market when we're looking at
01:50color and just the overall quality of the panel.
01:53Now this phone launched with Android 13 and got the Android 14 update.
01:57It's going to get years and years of more updates so updates is something you do not
02:02have to worry about on this phone in particular because Samsung gave it a really good lifespan
02:07so really excited about that.
02:09So it has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and this phone performance wise is very, very fast.
02:15It's super fast, it doesn't heat up when you're gaming.
02:18It's got pretty decent cooling capabilities.
02:22Pretty much whatever you're doing, even if you're a power user, it's just going to be
02:26a great experience.
02:27So I've had nothing but good things to say about this.
02:29I was using it as my main phone when it came out as well too.
02:33Absolutely love this device.
02:34It's got 256GB of internal storage and you can get the 12GB version of RAM pretty easily
02:42so that's the one I would go for.
02:43The 8GB I'm sure is fine too.
02:46But yeah, the speakers on the S23 Ultra are phenomenal as well too.
02:51Really great speakers on here.
02:53Great bass, good depth sound, crispy mids and highs, excellent sound on these speakers
02:57on here.
02:58The fingerprint scanner is awesome as well and then you also do have pretty much the
03:03same camera setup in the S23 Ultra and it's got a 200MP standard which is awesome, 10MP
03:13telephoto, 3x optical, 10MP periscope, 10x optical, 12MP ultrawide.
03:19It's got 8K30 on here, 12MP selfie with 4K60.
03:24This is a phenomenal camera.
03:25It pretty much takes the same exact photos as the S24 Ultra.
03:29There's really no essential difference.
03:31Like yeah, there's little minor differences and stuff with the specs but in general, you
03:37honestly can't tell the difference between the photo and video quality.
03:40It's still pretty much the same for the most part.
03:43So I do want to talk about battery life because this was the first Samsung flagship that I
03:48experienced with excellent battery life.
03:51So if you buy this phone, battery life is going to be really good as well too.
03:54It's a 5000mAh battery, 45W charging, wireless and reverse wireless charging.
04:00There's a noticeable difference in battery life on this phone compared to all of the
04:04other previous Galaxy flagships.
04:06So this was like the first Galaxy flagship where I was really impressed with the battery
04:10life.
04:11So definitely give this phone a look.
04:13Alright so next is going to be the OnePlus 12R.
04:15So this was a phenomenal phone when I was using it and also it comes in at, you can
04:21get it $500 on Amazon but if you get it straight from OnePlus, if you trade in any device,
04:27you get $100 off.
04:28So I think that is a really good deal if they're still doing it.
04:33But yeah, so it's absolutely a phenomenal phone.
04:36I really like this phone at this price point.
04:38It's got the aluminum frame, it's glass back, it still looks really good.
04:42It's IP64 water and dust proof.
04:45So that's the only thing it's not, you know, IP68 or anything like that.
04:49But hardware wise it looks beautiful, beautiful device.
04:52Definitely looks like a flagship, feels like a flagship phone.
04:56So the display on here is a really nice display, it's a LTPO4 AMOLED display.
05:00It's 120Hz HDR10+, and then you get up to 4500 nits peak brightness, so really bright
05:06display if you're outdoors, if you're at the beach or something like that in direct
05:10sunlight.
05:11It's a really easy display to see.
05:14So it's got a 1264x2780 resolution at 450.
05:18The display is really sharp and the screen is easy to hold as well too.
05:22It also has a curved panel as well.
05:24I have really no issues with the display on here, it's a beautiful looking panel as well.
05:29So the screen on here is really awesome as well.
05:32So this phone does run Android 14 Oxygen OS, and I really liked Oxygen OS.
05:39I thought it looked really clean.
05:42It's not like one UI where, you know, you don't have a lot of the advanced power user
05:46stuff especially, you know, take advantage like Good Lock and the other Samsung apps
05:50and stuff like that, or the AI, but I did appreciate that it was really clean and fast.
05:56So that's something that I really liked about it, and I like the way that it looks.
06:00You also do have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 on here.
06:03So this is a very, very fast phone.
06:05So when you're gaming on here, you're going to get great gaming settings whether you're
06:09playing PUBG, Call of Duty, whatever, and overall the speed of the phone is going to
06:13be really fast.
06:14The base model is 128 gigs and 8 gigs of RAM.
06:18There's a 256 gig and 12 gigabyte version that you can get as well too.
06:23And the speakers on here are pretty good as well, so no issues with that.
06:27What's really cool about this phone is that it does have an infrared port as well too,
06:32which I thought was pretty cool.
06:34So that's just something to take advantage of if you're somebody who, you know, likes
06:38to control TVs and appliances and stuff like that.
06:41You also have a fingerprint scanner.
06:43Now, it's a pretty fast one.
06:45I had no issues with it, so, you know, it was pretty good for the most part.
06:50Now, the cameras on here was pretty interesting because I thought this was an area where,
06:55you know, they would cut the budget since, you know, it's such a high specced out phone.
06:59So this phone has a 50 megapixel standard, 8 megapixel ultra wide, 2 megapixel macro,
07:04but it does not have any type of telephoto lens on it or anything like that.
07:08It shoots in 4K 60 with a 16 megapixel selfie cam that only shoots in 1080 30.
07:16So the specs aren't super crazy on this phone as far as like video recording and having
07:21no telephoto, but it does still take really good stills.
07:26So I was really impressed with the still photography on here, even though the specs are, you know,
07:31kind of underwhelming, but this is obviously where they had to cut the budget.
07:34But yeah, it still takes phenomenal photos, great color, good dynamic range, great detail.
07:40So I was really impressed with the overall stills themselves.
07:43And you do have on here excellent battery life.
07:45This is a really big battery at 5,500 milliamps.
07:49And then also there is no wireless charging on here.
07:53So you know, that's something to take into consideration.
07:56But it does have really, really fast charging at 100 watts for the wired charging.
08:01And you have to give it points for actually putting the charger in the box.
08:05So this is a phone that I just really like, guys.
08:08Definitely check this phone out.
08:09All right, next is going to be the iPhone 13 Pro or you can get the Pro Max for a little
08:13bit more.
08:14The 13 Pro is going to cost you $480-ish in the user refurbished marketplace.
08:20And this is a phenomenal phone as well, too.
08:23So it's still got a very modern design as well.
08:26It's got the stainless steel frame on here, IP68, dust and water resistant, and actually
08:30pretty comfortable to hold for the most part.
08:34And then also you do have on here the Super Retina XDR OLED display.
08:39It gets 1,200 nits brightness as well as at 6.1 inches.
08:43It's 1170 by 2532 at 460 for the PPI.
08:48The only thing about this phone's display is that it does have the kind of older notch
08:52so you don't have the dynamic island that you can interact with.
08:56But in my opinion, the dynamic island is not really that much, you know, it's not really
09:00that interactive anyway.
09:02So it's not something that I would look at as a negative.
09:04But yeah, it still has a really nice, beautiful display on here.
09:08Really no issues at all with the quality of the screen.
09:12This phone did launch with iOS 15, but typically iPhones get around six years of software support
09:18as we're seeing with the iPhone XS actually getting iOS 18.
09:23So this phone will have plenty of more updates.
09:26And this phone is still blazing fast.
09:28It's got the Apple A15 chip.
09:29There's really nothing that this phone can't do that the newer iPhones can do.
09:35It's just a really, really fast phone.
09:38So yeah, so when it comes to gaming, performance wise, I'm not sure if they're bringing the
09:43Apple Intelligence AI stuff to the 13 series pro models.
09:48But other than that, you're not really missing out on much as far as software wise.
09:53And overall, like I said, the speed, gaming performance is still going to be really great.
09:57You have 128 gigs of internal storage and 6 gigs of RAM on the base model as well too.
10:02And then you also do have phenomenal speakers on here as well too.
10:06Really good amount of bass on here, a lot of depth to the sound.
10:10And yeah, so I had no issues with that.
10:12And of course, you're going to have Face ID and all that good stuff.
10:15So the thing about this phone is that I still think the iPhone 13 pro's cameras are still
10:19really good.
10:20It's got a 12 megapixel standard with a 12 megapixel telephoto.
10:24It's got three times optical with a 12 megapixel ultra wide.
10:28You also do have the 4K 60 video and the 12 megapixel selfie cam that also shoots in 4K
10:3560.
10:36So it's going to get you phenomenal photos and videos.
10:39So definitely if you were to compare it to the 14 pro or the 15 pro, this is still pretty
10:47much on par as far as quality wise.
10:50So it's still going to get you some really, really good shots.
10:53And yeah, so no issues with the cameras.
10:55I was really impressed with the battery life when this phone first came out because I guess
11:00the chip optimization was just really good, you know, with this particular phone that
11:05year.
11:06But it has a 3095 milliamp hour battery.
11:10It's got wireless charging with the MagSafe, of course, and then, you know, your standard
11:13wireless charging.
11:15This phone has pretty good battery life.
11:16So if you really want the best battery life, you would get the pro max, but even just a
11:22smaller pro version, it does do a really good job with screen on time.
11:27I never had this phone die on me in a day.
11:30So this is an awesome phone to pick.
11:32And like I said, you're getting essentially the same phone for much cheaper.
11:36All right, next is going to be the Pixel 8 Pro.
11:39So this is a current flagship, and I think this phone is really awesome to buy in the
11:44used refurbished marketplace, especially if you don't want to spend, you know, like $1,000
11:49because this phone launched at, I believe, $900, and it has come down in price a little
11:54bit here.
11:55So you can pick these up for around $600 certified refurbished.
12:02It just really depends, but eBay's got them certified refurbished very good for like $569.
12:07So yeah, so I would definitely look into that because this is a really good deal for a current
12:12year flagship, and this is one of the best Pixels they've made of all time, in my opinion.
12:18So I really love the design on here.
12:20It's an aluminum frame.
12:21It's IP68.
12:22It's very comfortable to hold.
12:24It has that classic Pixel design on here as well, too.
12:26It's got that soft texture on the back, matte finish, and overall, I just love the look
12:32and finish of the Pixel 8 Pro.
12:34It does have the LTPO OLED display at 6.7 inches.
12:38It's HDR10+, and it gets 2,400 nits peak brightness at 1,344 by 2,992 resolution at 489 for the
12:47PPI.
12:48So overall, just a beautiful display, great max brightness outdoors, so easily visible,
12:53and it's a completely flat panel as well, too.
12:56So overall, beautiful panel on the Pixel 8 Pro.
13:00Now one of the main selling points with these Pixel phones is that you get to experience
13:03Android 14, the stock version, and also you get to experience the beta software.
13:09So like Android 15 beta just came out.
13:12You can experience it first on the Pixels, and yeah, so that's something that I really
13:16like.
13:17If you want a clean Google experience, then definitely you're going to buy a Pixel.
13:22So the Google Tensor G3 processor on here is pretty good.
13:26Now I don't have any issues personally with performance and gaming on here.
13:30I don't have really any overheating problems.
13:33Now I wouldn't necessarily buy this phone for gaming if you really wanted like a, you
13:39know, a gaming phone.
13:40You would get the S23 Ultra.
13:41It's a little bit better optimized for gaming.
13:43It'll give you better settings in PUBG and other games and stuff like that.
13:47But this phone, as a casual gamer, it still does fine.
13:50You can play HDR, extreme, no issues at all.
13:54So performance on the Pixel is really good, and it does all the AI stuff and everything
13:59really quickly.
14:00So this phone has really no, you know, performance issues for me personally.
14:04So you do have 128 gigs of internal storage and 12 gigs of RAM.
14:09On that base model, the speakers are really nice on here, great bass quality, good mids
14:13and highs, overall clean sound.
14:16You do have the under-the-display fingerprint sensor, which works fine.
14:19And what's interesting is that they threw in a thermometer on here, which I completely
14:25always forget about, but it is on here.
14:28It does work decently.
14:30It's not as accurate as like a, you know, traditional one, but it does work, right?
14:35It's close.
14:36So that was pretty cool.
14:38It's kind of random that they did that though.
14:41But yeah, so this phone is known for having excellent cameras.
14:45I still think it takes the best stills on this list, and I love the Google image processing
14:51on here.
14:52It's got a 50-megapixel standard, 48-megapixel telephoto, 5x optical with a 48-megapixel
14:57ultra-wide.
14:58You can shoot in 4K60 on the front and back with a 10.5-megapixel selfie cam.
15:05Google just does a great job with skin tones.
15:08It's something that I've always appreciated as well too.
15:12And yeah, I just love the Google image editor as well.
15:15It's really crisp and clean.
15:17Yeah, I just love everything about the cameras and how it takes photos.
15:20I still think it takes some of, again, the best stills that you can find, whether you're
15:24getting an iPhone, Galaxy, whatever.
15:27I really like how the photos come out.
15:29So definitely, if you're looking for an excellent camera phone, honestly, you could go with
15:33any Pixel.
15:34Like, you can legit get like a Pixel 6a and still get top-notch stills.
15:39It's really, really impressive how Google's able to do that.
15:42All right, so the battery life on here is pretty decent.
15:46It's a 5,050 milliamp hour battery, 30-watt charging with 23-watt wireless and reverse
15:51wireless charging.
15:53This phone definitely lasts me a day.
15:55Now, it's not better than the S23 Ultra, but it does get the job done.
16:01So I wouldn't worry about the battery life for the most part.
16:04So it's a very good phone to consider, especially at, you know, this price point.
16:08It's pretty decent.
16:09It's only going to come down in price.
16:10All of these phones are going to keep coming down in price as the year goes on.
16:13All right, so last is the ASUS Zenfone 9.
16:16This phone has come down in price a little bit.
16:18I think this is a really interesting phone for anyone who wants something modern that's
16:23compact.
16:24So, yeah, so this is like $400 in the used refurbished marketplace.
16:29It's a really, really good phone.
16:31I really like this phone when it first came out.
16:33Now, it does have a plastic back, but they do the plastic really well.
16:37It's got a textured back, and it just feels nice.
16:40It doesn't feel cheap or anything like that.
16:42It's got the aluminum frame.
16:43It's IP68 dust and water resistant, and like I said, it's a smaller phone, so it's a little
16:48bit easier to hold.
16:50It has a 5.9-inch Super AMOLED display, 120Hz HDR10+, 1100 nits for the brightness, and
16:57then it's 1080p 445 for the PPI.
17:01So like I said, this is a phone that you can easily one-hand because it is much smaller
17:05than the other phones on this list, and yeah, it's a phone that's very comfortable.
17:09So if you have smaller hands, this is a phone that you really will enjoy, and the display
17:15looks phenomenal on here as well, too.
17:17Now, this phone, it got the Android 13 update, I believe, so hopefully it gets this Android
17:2214 update, and then you also do have the Snapdragon 8Gen1 on here as well, too, so it's a pretty
17:29fast phone.
17:30I really had no issues performance-wise with this phone.
17:32I was able to play PUBG and do whatever on this phone without any performance or overheating
17:39problems.
17:40It's got 128GB of internal storage and 6GB of RAM.
17:43You also have really good speakers on this phone.
17:46I was really impressed with the speakers.
17:47They're super loud, bass on here, especially considering the size of this phone.
17:52And then what's really cool about this phone is that you do have a headphone jack on here
17:56as well, too.
17:57So anybody who wants to use their traditional headphones, you can use these, and yeah, it's
18:03just really awesome.
18:04It's kind of like a rare feature these days as well, too.
18:06And what I really like is that they fingerprint side-mounted on here.
18:10It's a physical one, so it's absolutely awesome.
18:13I really like it.
18:14It just feels more natural to me as well, too.
18:17And then the camera's on here.
18:20So it does have a 50-megapixel standard and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide.
18:23You can shoot in 8K 24 and a 12-megapixel selfie cam that shoots in 4K 30.
18:29This phone took really, really good selfies and really good stills as well, too.
18:34That was something that I noticed on here.
18:36So I was not disappointed with the cameras at all.
18:38Yes, you are missing a telephoto lens and stuff like that, but overall, the image quality,
18:43I thought was really good.
18:44Great detail, great colors, and I was overall really happy with how crisp the photos came
18:49out.
18:50Now, you would think that a phone that is small like this would have bad battery life,
18:54but this phone's battery life was actually really good.
18:57I think that was actually the main highlight of this phone, and it was very surprising
19:02when I first got it.
19:03It's got a 4,300-mAh battery, 30-watt charging with a 5-watt reverse wire charging.
19:09So no wireless charging, unfortunately, but it just has really good battery life considering
19:14the size of this phone.
19:16So absolutely, you know, ASUS did a fantastic job with that.
19:21So this is overall kind of a unique phone in 2024.
19:24It's got a headphone jack.
19:25It's kind of small, you know, being under six inches, and yeah, it's a phone that I
19:30just really enjoyed the ASUS software.
19:33It's not really too much caked on.
19:35It's kind of like stock Android with a little bit, you know, things added on top, but yeah,
19:42I really like this phone.
19:43So be sure to let me know what you guys think, and I'll catch you guys in the next one.