im going to shock people with yet again another unpopular take as im fucking full of them.
removable backs > trays
dont care. i fucking hate needing a pin mostly because i end up fucking losing it because its incredibly small. me when i have to look for another small object on the admittedly rare occurrence i have to actually access the tray. yes, useful for the average joe bla bla bla but very inconvenient when you need to force the thing off or deciding one day you need to change a card and the pin isn't in the box because they're incredibly small. or what if the fucking battery need replacement. all rare but i just prefer the ease to repair and access over a flimsy fucking tray you need a tool to eject and my phone not breaking like lego when it gets dropped. which i'd say to the latter just get a case if you frequently drop it.
i've been thinking a bit of my next phone too once my A20 is completely out of life (broke, i will genuinely use it till the day it dies like my J3. ill fucking custom rom it if i need to) and honestly part of me thinking to go the iOS route, one which back in the day i frowned upon but it feels more viable for me nowadays since siding with one operating system is a bit of a childish concept to me now. both seem to have their gains and drawbacks. iOS seems simple, faster and actually seems to have some sort of respect for privacy at a huge cost of a kidney but Android is highly customizable and affordable at half the speed and tied to google shit more which can be a good or bad thing depending on your take and software on it is subject to the manufacturer which is a bit annoying. but im not completely sure yet. i think it will be a while even after EOL will i even actually replace it.
for the love of god though. just anything but huawei/honor. i had a Honor 9 lite and lets just say it's left an awfully shit taste in my mouth and it didn't last that long and leave it at that.
but honestly, i recommend taking ↩ Shdwo's take on the Samsung A Series as i can legitimately vouch for them. like i said i still have the A20 and i dont see myself buying a new phone in the near future because it serves its function (i.e lets me use discord, youtube, browse shit and watch a fuck ton of porn) at a respectable speed albeit being about 3 or so years old now. although probably not my exact phone as it looks like its received its final OneUI version update (Android 11) so thats is a sign end of support is coming for it which means time to use custom roms 🤓
the A22 (Which seems to be a thing now) would be better off on the supported side of things if you want the more modern equivalent to my phone but honestly with your budget you could probably go balls to the wall A72 or maybe even a samsung flagship. a lot of people do vouch for pixels and oneplus's in this thread. also seemingly good options although never had personal experience with any of those lines