Samsung is about to retire the Galaxy S23 series, but that doesn’t include the new Galaxy S23 FE – this will remain the “budget flagship” option until its replacement arrives probably in the middle of next year.
That same £600 can buy a foldable phone these days too, the Motorola Razr 40. It uses a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset, so it’s down on performance compared to the S23 FE (which has an Exynos 2200), but it does flex a 6.9” 144Hz FHD+ internal display (the cover display is tiny, though).
If you want more performance, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is available too and it packs the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. The inner display is boosted to 165Hz and you get an actually usable 3.6” cover display. The cameras on both Razr 40 models are not great, though.
If you’re not into the whole foldable thing, the Motorola Edge 40 is a solid pick for a mid-ranger. It has a Dimensity 8020 chipset and a 6.55” 144Hz OLED display (FHD+), plus a 50+13MP dual camera on the back. The 4,400mAh battery supports both 68W wired and 15W wireless charging.
The Amazon Fire Max 11 is one of the cheapest 11” tablets that money can buy – and right now Amazon is selling it without its customary ads. The IPS LCD has a resolution of 2,000 x 1,200px and the MediaTek chipset in this one is decently powerful (it’s a mid-range chips, but Fire tablets usually get worse).
Cheaper still is the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023 release), this one also without ads (it normally costs extra to remove them). It has a 10.1” 1,920 x 1,200px and an octa-core processor. Note that both Fire tablets have microSD slots, so you don’t need to spend extra on additional storage if you don’t want to.
For something more powerful, there is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Tab S9 FE+ pair – a 10.9” and a 12.4” tablet, respectively. Both have IPS LCDs (90Hz) and are powered by the Exynos 1380 chipset. Both have IP68 rating too, so you can use them by the pool.
You can dip your toes into gaming with the Xbox Series S Starter Bundle. It’s the less powerful of the two Microsoft consoles, but this one is paired with 3 free months of Game Pass Ultimate. This allows the console to stream games, but you can download them too – the Ultimate pass includes new releases on day 1.
There is also the Xbox Series X, which is notably more powerful, but it also costs almost double. And you will have to provide your own Game Pass or your own games (at least this one still has an optical drive).
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