cross-posted from: https://lemy.lol/post/1519899
EDITED: As I am not in a rush, I’ve decided that my budget is now $500.
I am picky about the features I look for in a smartphone. Hopefully this post can be a good resource for myself and others who have similar preferences. For reference, I am using a Oneplus 7 Pro with a non-functional camera and flashlight.
Very important features
Battery life
It should handle a day’s worth of general usage before charging. Heat kills batteries, so decent heat dissipation is important too.
Durability or repairability
I recently bought a Google Pixel 5a, a phone I greatly enjoyed before I dropped it 5 feet and the display decided its work was done. My top priority is to have a useable device for ~5 years before needing an upgrade.
Storage
I like storing my music collection (30 GB and growing) and expandable storage would save me from having to carry a DAP (mp3 player). Without expandable storage it should have 256 GB storage.
Price
Electronics aren’t meant to last a long time; I’d prefer devices costing ~300 USD, but I would gladly pay a little more for reliability.
Microphone
Please let me be intelligible on phone calls. Please? Pretty please?
Software updates or custom ROM support
OS updates for 3+ years or resources on XDA for flashing a custom ROM. Ideally LineageOS.
Would be nice
Root capability
It’s a bit dated nowadays, but I really do appreciate having that extra bit of control. This also ties into custom ROM support.
Fingerprint Sensor
I loved the dedicated fingerprint sensor on my Pixel 5a. Power button fingerprints are worse, but better than nothing. Typing in my passcode every time is a bit of a pain.
Speakers
Preferably dual front facing stereo speakers. Having some decent output for videos when I don’t have anything else with me would be nice.
OLED/AMOLED display
Makes stuff WAY easier to see when the sun’s all sunny.
Processing power
I don’t play phone games. I watch a lot of media and I message people. Must be capable of simultaneously running muliple apps and background services.
IPA ratings
It’d be pretty sick if I could bring it with me in the shower without worrying about water damage.
Fast charging
Won’t always use it, but it’d be great to have.
Cutting corners
Screen resolution
I don’t need a 4K display. Hell, I don’t need a 1080p display. If it cuts costs, 720p is just fine so long as it looks okay.
Size
It can be big or small, thick or thin. Not picky.
Other features I don’t need
Headphone jack, NFC, 5G, wireless charging
The phones I am looking at right now are as follows
- Sony Xperia 10 V - No custom ROM support, long term durability is unclear.
- Fairphone 4 - Slightly out of price range.
- Samsung Galaxy XCover6 Pro - Way out of price range. I would appreciate any input or questions.
I think a Google Pixel 6A would pretty much tick all of the boxes, especially when it comes to alternative ROMs, but only has 128GB of storage without SD Card. It’s rated IP67 so should be ok for getting a bit wet.
The storage limitation is a shame, but if it fits all my other criteria I could look past it. However, I question the durability and battery life of pixels. I have heard a lot online that pixels have bad battery life. And my pixel 5a had what I thought was adequate protection, but it failed to withstand a short drop. Despite these biases a used Pixel 6 / Pixel 6a is still on my radar.
I appreciate your input.
You can check out the OnePlus phones, Ive been pretty satisfied with them.
I originally had the OnePlus 5 and currently have the OnePlus 9 Pro, the first one lasted 4 years just fine and just felt like upgrading. Easily could have gotten another year or two.
Battery life is pretty good, I use my.phone a lot with wifi, Bluetooth and gps so it’s usually near dead at the end of the day, but rarely do I have any trouble especially if I charge it overnight. They have fast charging so if I’m in a pickle it’s like 30mins to 3/4 charge or more.
Screen is great, AMOLED so very dark blacks. Watch Netflix on it all the time and it looks great. Not sure about the 10 or 11 but my 9 Pro doesn’t have dual front facing speakers, but the speakerphone at the bottom doubles as a speaker which sounds pretty good and I don’t notice a difference from a front facing speaker.
Price point isn’t too bad, definitely higher up there but not as much as an iphone or a Samsung for top tier.
No bloat ware as it’s a modified operating system.
Good camera
Not sure about repairability, but they are very durable. I’ve dropped them hundreds of times and have never had a need to repair them.
They are a Chinese phone though, so depends how paranoid youa re about the CCP getting your data.
Fortunately, I have scaled back my paranoia over the past few years. However I would like to check exactly how much data collection is going on and how much I can remove in the settings and how much I can remove from the baked in stuff.
Thank you for the input!
You could probably also cross post to [email protected] or [email protected]
It’s against the rules to post recommendation requests on [email protected] That is a good idea, however I have received far, far more responses than I expected to (I am new to lemmy and I have not really posted on social media) so for now I will abstain. Thank you for the comment!
Sony Xperia for the win! Amazing phone
I almost dismissed it but your enthusiasm is keeping it on my radar. Thanks!
If you’re not that concerned with performance, a Nokia would be a good choice I think, with battery life of up to 3 days in some models.
