I’m upgrading because my phone is losing (lost?) support. I use a OnePlus 7 Pro and love it and wouldn’t bother upgrading otherwise. I’d appreciate some recommendations of android phones you like, please.
Thank you in advance! (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)
Anyone got a phone recommendation that’s android based and easy to root? It doesn’t have to be modern it just has to work on modern networks.
Its a bit pointless to ask for android suggestions without any specifications. There are way too many good ones to count but can be very few depending on your needs and budget.
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What about the newest fairphone which is being released this fall, not thc best for your bucks, but built a bit more ethically than the others, and a modular design enabling eeasy repair*
I don’t have one, but heard good stuff about the 4 and consider getting the 5 as my 5 year old Huawei is aging
I have the 4 and I relly like it. It can’t compete performance wise with other phones at the same price point, but the mission is great and you get a long life out of it and good software support.
I am running iodeOS right now and it is just great, couldn’t be happier. I am however not running games on it or anything, so not the biggest power user here…I have it, like it. Works well but no headphone jack is kinda weird. My screen does have a ghost input issue though which is very common for these phones. Recent update kinda fixed it but yeah its a hardware issue mainly so that sucks.
People get stuck on the repairability bit, but the two times I had to make candybar repairs I was able to do so regardless. The Fairphone is hyped up, but I’m in the market for flagship spec and I absolutely must have a headphone jack, so it doesn’t suit me.
Same boat here, headphone jack is nonnegotiable.
Fairphone 5 for all the reasons
I’ve never been an Apple guy and I stopped finding Samsung acceptable after the S10. My answer has been to go to Sony’s Xperia 1 line. I have a 1 IV and, honestly, I’m pretty happy with it. Point and shoot photos aren’t great on it, it really is meant for manual photography, but it’s not bad, either. The reasons I went for it were the form factor, the lack of a notch or punch-hole, the external SD card support, the physical 3.5mm jack and the front firing stereo speakers. It’s nuts what you can get when you don’t obsess with not having zero bezels.
The downside is… well, I don’t trust Sony for long term support, either. It helps that their phones are very similar outside of updating to the latest processors, but they clearly aren’t super focused on software updates, if that’s your priority.
But yeah, hey, screw Samsung, Google, Apple and their dumb ecosystems and actively removed basic features. This thing is easy to use one-handed, has very solid hardware and is not a clone of those three despite having flagship internals. It’s expensive, but I’m also gonna use it for multiple years, so I have no regrets about it at the moment.
I get you don’t like Samsung, Apple, or Google, but man… Sony? They are the original electronics company bad actors. That’s like saying “I don’t like Dahmer, but this guy Manson is cool” what the hell?
There are no good corporate actors.
I don’t dislike the big three’s phones because I have a moral stance about them. I dislike them because they’ve removed features I want and added features I don’t want.
Sony makes a flagship with a headphone jack, front firing speakers, a hole-less screen, hotswappable removable storage and dual sim support? Cool, got my money the old-school capitalist way.
They start messing around with that stuff or enforcing crap I don’t want, they’ll lose my money the old-school capitalist way.
For the big bad stuff all of those companies do I don’t vote with my wallet, I vote with my vote. Regulation and policy are the answers to those.
All overpriced. Keep using your 2019 phone, install a custom ROM if you want a refresh.
I also love my Oneplus 7 Pro, currently running crDroid (on Android 13, based on Lineage). It is updated semi-weekly and maintained by one person. It gets the latest security updates, but I am unable to relock the bootloader, if that is relevant to you threat model.
I’m probably going to do a battery swap soon and really want to use this phone until it breaks!
Can you use banking apps? Use Google pay, Netflix?
I do not use Google Pay or Netflix on my phone, and my german banking apps work perfectly fine. YMMV though
No security updates though.
Lineageos keeps merging the updates.
After four years there are no more security updates coming from OnePlus, unless someone started doing the work themselves. This is the only reason I updated my last phone.
You could install LineageOS on your existing phone instead of upgrading. The OnePlus 7 Pro is supported. The install process can be daunting depending on your technical skills, but it’s a one-time process since the phone gets updates over-the-air after the OS is installed.
I did this with my OnePlus 6 a few months ago and the experience has been good. Switching to LineageOS bumped Android to version 13, whereas it was stuck on Android 11 on stock OnePlus firmware. I’m getting regular updates again, including open-source Android security patches. Not everything gets patched though, some of the core firmware is proprietary to OnePlus and that cannot be patched by anyone but them. It’s letting me extend the life of a phone still works well and has a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Wouldn’t recommend Oneplus anymore.
At the high end, Samsung has been pretty solid with their S lineup. The FE models are a good compromise as well. Pixels are a hit or miss, I’d recommend waiting for issues to surface before deciding on the 8/8 pro.
On the more budget - midrange side of things, Motorola has been doing a fairly solid job. They do have a lot of models, so some youtube videos should give you a fair idea on what’s right for you.
Why wouldn’t you recommend OnePlus though? I have a 9 pro which I enjoy. I really don’t miss the Samsung’s bloatware.
I’ve bought Samsung for the past 5 years now and have never had an issue with bloat if you buy from Samsung. If you’re buying it from a carrier then yeah there’s probably a ton of crap preloaded. Imo Samsung just offers too much of a complete package to pass up. Pixel is good but hardware leaves some to be desired. The cute software quirks just don’t make it up for me.
Imo Samsung just offers too much of a complete package to pass up.
That’s basically the exact reason I refuse to buy a Samsung, haha. They’re positioning themselves to be the Apple of Androids, offering exclusives to bring people into their ecosystem and making it hard to leave. Down to petty things like swapping the back/menu keys so just using a different brand of phone feels uncomfortable.
Severe inconsistent quality issues in both software and hardware, treating their customers as beta testers, random motherboards dying, etc.
They are still riding the ‘flagship killer’ wave, but they are just as overpriced as Samsung, while offering unfinished products.
Honest question. Where is all this bloat stuff coming from for Samsung?
Like, I genuinely haven’t noticed any software that I didn’t want installed. Sure, there are a few pieces that I’ve kept but don’t use, but nearly all of it can be uninstalled unless it’s stuff that’s actually needed.
Experience, to be fair though I last owned one 3+ years ago and that one was 3 ish years old.
I didn’t manage it in an argumentative way. Sorry. I’ve seen quite a few comments about that. But I haven’t noticed it, so I’m trying to see if it’s like a provider issue or a country thing. Or just whatever.
Ahh, I only meant to say that I might be living in the past. I thought the bloatware came from Samsung since what I heard on the street matched my experience. Maybe it’s time to borrow that hatchet though.
To be fair it wasn’t a big issue. It was just like five apps that I were stuck with. But back in the days with less memory overall it really grinded my gears. These days I’m not sure I’d even notice.
Ohhh. I understand. Thinking about it, i can see how some apps could be considered blaotware. Like Facebook, which I think is auto installed? Could be wrong there. And a few others, but they’re like actual things for it. I just don’t use them.
I’m gonna be honest, I fully thought you meant like a lot of absolutely useless apps. So, I’m sorry about that.
Yeah, maybe a bit of hyperbole on my part as well. Have a good Saturday evening!
Motorola’s Moto G 5G Plus (worst name ever) is a surprisingly nice phone to use in my experience.
Non- phone carrier variants of Google Pixels because of Grapheme OS. The crap that Verizon pumps out blocks the boot loader to be unlocked, but the ones google and amazon sells can do OEM boot loader unlocks.
Edit: also want to point out, pixels usually get the most updates out of all androids. So long as its in the support window, google will update drivers and kernels for it.
I’ll second this. Graphene has it’s quirks but I’ve not felt the need to switch back to stock since I loaded it all those months ago.
The people behind GrapheneOS even extend the support. Currently rocking Android 14 with GrapheneOS on my Pixel 4a.
How? I have an 4a and it’s on Android 13 and won’t update.
Hm, I did nothing special. It came with the regular updates, some weeks ago.
Are we talking about the 4a or 4a (5g)?
4a (5g), of course maybe thats the reason.
Kk, thx. That it. So unfortinately no update for me. (You’re next ;-) I’m going to keep my 4a though. I still like it.
Maybe you’ll be lucky: https://grapheneos.org/releases#2023103100
I just picked up a Sony Xperia 1 V, and so far I’m happy with it. It’s snappy as can be, and the camera is absolutely fantastic.
Whenever someone asks for smartphone recommendations and doesn’t list specific features they’re looking for I’ll just tell them to get an iPhone. Any iPhone really. While I’m Android user myself, I’ve come to the conclusion that if you don’t have a specific reason for why you don’t want an iPhone then you should get an iPhone. It’s the best choice for 99% of users. If it’s too expensive then buy used/older model. They’re just as good. I don’t have iPhone myself because I wanted a removable battery and headphone jack.
Used pixel, install grapheneos
used because it’s better environmentally than buying new
grapheneos because it’s more secure and private than stock android
Why not Lineage os or /e/ os?
They have different goals. I use /e/, where the focus is removing all communication with Google while providing an OS that’s as user friendly and ready to use as the competition.
You can just not install google play services on grapheneos and communication with google is removed, while still being more secure
I was just pointing out the differences in goals.
Does Graphene OS come with microg, the open source reimplementation of Google Play Services, installed by default like it is on /e/ OS?
no, grapheneos doesn’t come with anything google installed by default. It does have some shimmed play services that you can install if you want though
Those are’t as secure. If you look around there are comparisons of them that go into the details
I do something the same, I buy last gen or gen before phones used on Swappa and then install Lineage OS so I can have a stable, updated, and efficient phone.
I would say about 9h of screen on time for a Pixel 5 on its original OEM battery is not to bad.
Im using an LG Velvet 5G. Great specs including 5G, wifi 6, sd card, and headphone jack. I know LG has discontinued making phones but it is still getting updates. Hopefully custom ROMs fill in once that expires.
Nice thing is, you can find these phones for sub $300 if you hunt around.
Get a Pixel.
It just works
For real tho…
Just make sure to install Graphene.
Graphene is cool but such a process. Stock pixel is great on its own.
If you’re okay with Google continuously tracking you and monitoring your activities, that’s absolutely fine.
