Intro:
When the CMF Phone 1 launched, like every Nothing Phone, the internet lost its mind. It was, of course, game-changing—there were removable backplates, the Density 7300, which is the most powerful processor in this price range. But after a few days, people were like, "Huh, removable plates for 500? No charger in the box?" But let all of that aside, the CMF Phone 1 has made the under-20,000 budget category hot.
We've been using all these phones for weeks now, and some of them for even a month, so that we could give you a proper review of these four phones. This is BK, you're already watching Tech Weiser, and if you're looking to buy a phone under 20,000, this is the only video you need to watch. First, let's start with the Redmi 13 5G. Now, the Redmi 13 5G was a bestselling phone last year on Amazon, and the Redmi 13 5G is an upgrade to it and just launched last month.
Now, if you start off with the pros, in terms of build and design, it's quite similar to last year's Redmi 12. The Redmi 13 also has a glass back and the same vertical camera island as the last version. Usually, in this price range, you don't get a glass back, and glass back is better in terms of scratches with dust or coins when you put your phone in your pocket.
Coming to the next pro would be the display. It now has a 120Hz full HD IPS LCD instead of 90Hz like last year. Now, although it's an LCD, if I tilt the phone sideways, there is no shift in colors and all of that. The third pro here would be the camera. The Redmi 13 comes with a 108MP main camera, and there is also a 2MP depth sensor, but let's just ignore it.
The pictures from it are quite balanced—sharp photos, good light control, and although the colors are a bit faded, it still looks good. Also, in videos, you can shoot in 1080p 30fps. On the front camera, you get a 13MP selfie camera that can again record only in 1080p 30fps. Now, just like the main camera, the selfies are also fine for the price.
Overall, the camera here is good for 12 to 13,000. The next pro here would be software. It comes with the latest Android 14 out of the box and is running Xiaomi's new HyperOS 1, so you do get some bloatware and pre-installed apps, which is fine. But compared to MAUI last year, the software experience here has been pretty good—app opening and closing animations, everything is fluid. Usually, in the budget price range, brands cut down on software animations, but as you can see, it is good here.
Even the phone easily goes throughout the day with a 5,000mAh battery and 33W charging. Now, there is one con with this phone: it comes with the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 Accelerated Edition. Now, you might be thinking, "What's this Accelerated Edition?" In simple terms, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 is the same processor as last year, so we ran the tutu Benchmark. If you see the scores, I'm kind of surprised how the normal version can score more than the Accelerated version.
Basic:
Having said that, in normal day-to-day usage like rolling through feeds, watching videos, and all of that stuff, it can handle without any issues. But when it comes to heavier tasks, like suppose running two apps in split screen or quickly switching between the apps, you can feel frame drop, jitters, or lag.
Now the question is, who is this phone for? So if you're thinking of gifting a phone to your parents or your sibling who's in school, then the Redmi 13 here is a good option. Like I gifted my mama last year the Redmi 12 5G, one year going strong—perfect for them. Now the Redmi 13 is selling for 13,999, but in sales, if you can get it for 12,000, then it's definitely worth that price. Don't get it at 14,000; at 14,000, it's expensive.
Now if you want an AMOLED display, and you can increase your budget, you get the Motorola G85 5G, and the first pro of the Motto G85 would be the build and design here because if you see the G85, it looks very premium. Plus, the phone feels very light in hand, as it weighs around 174-175g. In my usage, there were times when I checked my pocket multiple times just to make sure that the phone is in the pocket—it’s pretty lightweight.
And the vegan leather back adds to that premiums factor. Other than the premium build and design, you not only get a curved display here, but this is a 120Hz AMOLED. Like, see, with the previous phone, if I play some dark scenes in the movie side by side with an AMOLED display, or even in low light, the difference between LCD and AMOLED is huge.
Even outdoors, the display is bright—like, all the icons, text, and everything is visible. It has about 1200 nits of peak brightness, so for the price, I would say the display is one of the best. I liked it. And speaking of liking things, I really like Motorola's camera this year. It has a 50MP main camera and an 8MP ultrawide camera, so you don't get that 2MP BS over here, if you know, you know. And it's not just the camera hardware, even the photos from it.
The colors, light control, and all are always on point; even the digitally cropped 2x photos come out very good. Also, you get OIS, so the pictures in low light come out bright. Overall, it is one of the best cameras that you get for this price.
And other than having a good camera, it also has feature-rich software. Like, you get the latest Android 14, and this is Motorola's new Hello UI. Now, in case you don't know, previously, Motorola software didn't have quite a lot of features, but this one right here, you can do tons of things. Like, you can remotely lock your PC from the phone. It also has cross-control, so you can control your phone using your laptop's keyboard and trackpad.
So, overall, the UI smoothness or opening multiple apps isn’t a problem over here, and this is majorly because the G85 base variant starts with 8GB of RAM. Now, there are a lot of features in Motorola's Hello UI, which we have already covered in a separate video over here—you can check that out after watching this video. Now, there's one area the G85 is mid: the performance. It comes with the latest Snapdragon 6s Gen 3.
It doesn't support 4K video recording, which is again fine. I mean, in budget phones, there’s low chance that you will record videos in 4K, but even if someone sends you a 4K video, the G85 cannot play 4K video, which kind of sucks a little bit. So, if you're someone who wants a good camera phone or a phone with software features, then the G85 is the one to go for.
In terms of pricing, the G85 is selling for 17,999, but during sales, with bank offers and discounts, all of that, you can get it around 15,000 to 16,000 rupees, and at that price, it's a very good deal. Now, before we get to the CMF Phone 1, there's also a phone from Realm that's currently on discount: the Realm Narrow 70 Pro.
Now, this phone launched for 20,000 to 22,000, and currently, on Amazon, you get a 2,000 coupon, so it costs 19,998. And at that price, the Realm Narrow 70 Pro comes with Density 750, 8GB of RAM. Now, Density 7050 scores about 6 lakh plus on Antutu, and if you compare it with any phone that we have talked about yet, it's way higher. Another pro of the Realm Narrow 70 Pro is that it supports 4K video recording and 4K video playback.
Feature:
Also, the camera on Realm comes out very good, like the colors, light control, and all are always on point. Even the digitally cropped 2x photos come out very good. Also, you get OIS, so the pictures in low light come out bright. Overall, it is one of the best cameras that you get for this price.
This is quite a good main camera. They take sharp photos; Realm makes the photos slightly vibrant and more social media ready, but overall, the photos look good. The only con with the Realm Narrow 70 Pro is ads and bloatware. Like, Realm UI has a lot of bloatware.
In fact, the App Store keeps sending notifications randomly, and when you open the app market, see again, there's a full-screen ad. Also, Realm's own file manager has its own set of ads. So, if you're giving a phone to a kid or your parents, just for the ad reasons, I wouldn't recommend the Realm Narrow 70 Pro.
But if you're someone who's fine with the bloatware and ads, the specs are good for the price. Now, if clean software and performance are your biggest criteria, then we have the most hyped phone: the CMF Phone 1. Now, the first pro of the CMF Phone 1 would be, of course, the design. Now, the phone is made up of plastic, but the design here, I would say, is a fresh approach in this price range.
Plus, the textured finish to this plastic back makes it feel grippe and premium in the hand. I also found the buttons here to be very click. Plus, it comes with these interchangeable back covers, and you can also attach some other accessories like this lanyard or phone stand, which again, you have to buy them separately. They cost about 1,000 to 1,500 rupees, but we'll get to that.
The next pro here is the performance. It comes with the MediaTek Dimension 7300, and on the N22 benchmark, it scores around 6.43-3 lakhs, which is one of the best that you get in this price range. We also played GMI here for almost 40 minutes, and the gameplay, again, is good.
Other than gaming, to test the phone more, we also edited reels and SHS on this. We took a full HD video on both the phones, and if you see, the CMF Phone 1 exports the video two times faster than the G85. We ran this test multiple times, and the result was the same. So, other than having a powerful.
Conclusion:
The price of 15 to 16,000 range is quite fantastic. Now, there are a couple of cons with this phone. Coming to the first one is the cameras. The photos from it are below average. It messes up the skin tone most of the time, and if you see the photos we clicked side by side with the Moto G85, right from the light control to HDR, the colors are very, very below average on the CMF Phone 1.
Now, if you want to know more about the CMF Phone 1, you can check out the video over here; we did it a few weeks back. But overall, if I have to summarize, the CMF Phone 1 has good software, solid performance, and average cameras. So, if you're someone who wants a performance-centric phone, the CMF Phone 1 in this price range is the one you should consider.
A small tip would be to get the 8GB RAM for better longevity. Now, the 8GB RAM sells for 18,000, but with offers and discounts, if you can get it for 16,000-17,000 or below that, that's a pretty sweet deal.
Now, there are some other options in this price range like the IU Z9, Vivo T3, or Infinix, but what we felt is these four phones are the best option for what you pay in this price range. Also, if there’s some budget phone that you are using and you think it could be a good option for the Team Tech Weiser community, comment below and we'll heart it. On that note, this is [Name] signing off.
