At least for the next few years, I am pretty firm on needing a jack on my device.
I am currently using an LG v60, and while nice, it’s starting to show its age.
Any suggestions on where to go next?
I was looking at the ROG phone, and while it does seem very nice, I feel like it is a bit much as I don’t game on my device at all.
Are there any good phones I should be looking at?
Thanks!
Depends on your budget and location.
Unlimited budget: Sony Xperia 1 V ($1400). Has almost anything you’d want. SD8G2, MicroSD slot, etc.
High budget: Asus Zenfone 9 ($700). Great compact phone with a headphone jack. Alternatively wait for the Zenfone 10 to come out as it’s coming out this week.
Or even the Xperia 5 V ($1000), a slightly downgraded version of the 1 V.
Lower budget: Sony Xperia 10 V ($450). Expensive for the specs but you get outstanding battery life, 25-50% more than any other phone on this list. And it’s the only budget phone with a telephoto lens.
USA pick: Moto G Stylus 5G (2022). Can be picked up for $250 on Amazon and has excellent all-around specs for the price.
Europe/Asia picks: Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro+ ($350) if you want good cameras for the price. However the chipset might struggle with MIUI from time to time.
Xiaomi Poco X5 pro ($300). Good all-arounder at this price.
Xiaomi Poco F5 ($400). Best chipset out of all of these budget phones, at nearly flagship levels.
The Zenphone 10 is launching in 3 days, it is also rumored to have a headphone jack like the previous Zenphone 9!
All I want in this whole world is a Zenphone 10 on Verizon. If literally any other carrier worked at my house (rural dead zone) I’d jump ship in a heartbeat.
Moto G Stylus 5G (2022) has a terrible name but is actually a really great phone.
People complain about the camera a lot but I believe that’s really just a software issue as it works great with Gcam.
There is now a 2023 version as well but there’s been some really good deals on the 2022 (like from Metro by T-Mobile where you could get a free one with a new line and one month of service).
Interesting list, thanks
I’m waiting on my Xperia 1V and I’m really excited. I think the only thing its missing from prior versions in the notification LED.
Still rocking my S10 that I believe is the best phone made.
Wireless charging, wireless power sharing, good waterproof rating, headphone port etc.
Holding onto this thing as long as possible. Might price out a battery replacement… 💪
As a phone repair tech, Samsung phones are some of the easiest to repair. Especially for batteries or (if you can get Samsung OEM parts) screens.
I highly recommend you take a look at installing the new battery yourself if you’re able to be precise with a screwdriver. All it takes is the aforementioned screwdriver, a hair dryer/heat gun, and an old credit card.
The only parts you’ll have to buy are the battery and the water resistant seal for the back glass.
Bad thing is the waterproofing goes out the window after you crack it open, so you gotta be careful from then on.
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The S8 is very similar to the S10 in construction! Very repairable with proper know how. I recommend looking up ifixit videos for specific repairs, they are easy to digest and in depth instructions.
Battery repairs are easy but you will still need to heat up the back of the phone to separate the glue holding on the back. If there’s visible bloating to the battery inside the phone, I’d either be extremely careful at this stage or opt for a new phone entirely. Battery fires aren’t common, but they aren’t straightforward to extinguish either.
For screen repairs it depends on part availability. Often Samsung OEM screen will come with a new frame preattached to a screen and it’s a simple matter to remove the battery, motherboard, subboard with charge port, and cables from the original frame and I stall them all into the new frame with the new screen. No gluing of the screen necessary!
Eh…Galaxy S5 is a bitch to repair. Specifically for the display.
S5 is definitely harder to repair than an s8 or above. But that’s kind of comparing apples to oranges as far as phone model construction goes.
Samsung have some of the best handsets in the market hands down, but pixel isn’t too bad either
I’d agree to that. I’ve been a pixel user for a few years now, the only reason I chose them over Samsung is that I don’t like Samsung’s software preload.
Arent all the batteries old stock at this point?
Samsung certainly isn’t making any more but you can still find some reputable 3rd party replacements for batteries. iFixit comes in highly recommend here again. Screens are the only thing I’d recommend getting an OEM part for, and luckily Samsung still makes those.
Am I the only one who dislikes the wireless charging gimmick? Id rather phones dont bother with it to keep the size and cost of the phone down a bit.
I love it because I have a great dock for it. I just set my phone down on it and it charges.
I have usb-c chargers scattered around the house so that I can charge whatever I have (phone, iPad, Switch) wherever I am. Prefer a single standard, whatever it is.
USB-C will do. Better than having wireless chargers laying around instead.
Wireless power sharing makes it worth it to me. It’s not helpful often but being able to charge someones phone in a pinch has saved my ass a few times.
I think the idea of reverse wireless charging is cool as hell, but only if you have wireless buds or a smartwatch to take advantage of it.
The heat, energy loss, and extra time to use wireless charging is not worth it to use full time imo. You also cannot use your device nearly as much on a wireless charger vs a long cable.
But when it’s integrated into bar tops, tables, etc., to charge your phone while at a restaurant or something, that’s extremely convenient.
It feels very situational to me.
Yeah it’s niche use doesn’t really make it a selling point for me, others things I’d rather have before it.
The reverse charging is a cool feature though, but I feel like phone batteries just aren’t big enough for it to be useful outside of a quick partial charge of something like a smartwatch like you mentioned.
Maybe once the tech advances a bit more I can be convinced, but right now a cable does the job well.
Price isn’t going to go down even if they take out the wireless charging feature. It’s definitely a must for me.
I keep my S10 in a waterproof case with port covers, so it’s actually pretty handy to just throw it on the charger.
Less opening and closing the waterproof port covers makes me feel like they stay sealed better as well
My s10s battery is the only real limiting factor now, I might be moving from it soon, just means itll be a dedicated gaming phone for its afterlife
Same. I would be another s10 as a replacement in a heartbeat if the current one broke too badly to repair.
The Zenphone 9 is a great phone. If you don’t mind going for a slightly older phone, then I would recommend the Galaxy A52s.
I was considering this one, but I have heard wildly different stories from people using them.
Some say it’s an incredible phone, some say it’s a laggy nightmare with bad battery life.
Unsure who to believe.
The battery life is incredible for me (~72h max) and don’t think I ever experienced any lag.
I think it is probably only a small number of people that have the battery issues and posted online since the ones with working phones won’t post about that. Could be a software issue (Network reconnecting? Battery not properly calibrated?). Anyway this should be fixable by RMA on the off chance that it does happen to you.
Got an A52, been going strong for two years.
Best, as far as specs? Gonna be the Asus Zenfone 10 (officially announcing 6/29 but most of the specs have been leaked) and the Sony Xperia 1 V (already available outside the US).
Both will have Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and plenty of memory and storage. The lower models of Xperia (5 and 10) will also have headphone jacks but somewhat lesser specs.
https://www.androidpolice.com/leak-asus-zenfone-10-every-angle/
FWIW the Xperia I V is very very similar to the I IV, it’s predecessor. Sony’s software support kinda sucks (only 2 years of Android updates, IIRC) but you can likely get a decent deal on last year’s phone at this point.
If you’re interested in custom ROMs or want something less Google-centric like GrapheneOS, you could also consider the Pixel 4a, 4a 5G, or 5a, depending on your size preferences. They’re losing official support now or soon but they’re still very good phones, very cheap refurbished, and GrapheneOS should be supporting them for a few more years just fine.
The 1 IV is known to have overheating issues with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. I’d recommend an Xperia 5 V instead.
Thanks for pointing this out, definitely a problem if you take a lot of video.
I considered posting about the previous gen Zenfone and Xperia, but the 8G1 gets hot and throttles frequently from what I’ve read.
Good point about the pixels. I put Graphene on my 5 and it runs nicely.
I was under the impression that GrapheneOS support lasts only as long as the official support, for security reasons.
Pixel 4a (5g version) amazing phone, I pur calyx OS onto it ( you must buy an unlocked version if you wish to run calyx ) I cannot recommend it enough… got to have a headphone jack
Pixel 5a also still has a headphone jack
Would you mind telling me your experience with Calyx? I looked into both it and Graphene in the past, but never committed.
My only worries are having my Microsoft work apps and my banking apps function correctly.
Do new versions of Calyx release despite official firmware support being dropped?
Asus Zenfone 9 and Xiaomi Poco F5 are also viable options
Poco sadly doesn’t have all the connection bands I need.
I’m still clinging on to my samsung s10e and hope to get another year or so out of it…after that I think I’m just gonna bite the bullet and get a dongle dac.
I like to fall asleep listening to podcasts, so sadly I need something that can play and charge at the same time.
I did have a Pixel 2 XL back in the day, and perhaps the situation has improved, but bakc then the dongles were incredibly unreliable…
I do the same. After switching to a headphone-jack-free phone, I got a Bluetooth headband with speakers in it that’s specially made for sleeping. The sound quality is pretty poor, but I’m only using it for podcasts and it’s fairly comfortable (more comfortable than earphones for me).
Fascinating, you mind linking me to what you use?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X6S7PTT?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
This is what I have. They’re not currently in stock, but there are lots of similar ones out there. It’s not the greatest gadget I’ve ever used, but it’s the best I’ve found so far for bedtime podcasts.
The dongle situation is easy if your phone has a built-in DAC in the USB-C port. The Galaxy S phones do, and I have had zero issues with the 4 or so DACs/adapters that I have tried. I can even use the USB-C to 0.78mm cable off Drop for my IEMs.
But if you grab a phone that does not have that built-in DAC, you will need to be sure you check compatibility before buying any.
Would something like a FiiO BTR5 fill your need? It’s a bluetooth wireless/wired DAC
That does look very nice, but I’m thinking I need something much less high quality than that.
Perhaps I’ll start looking into this general solution again though.
The Apple dongle is cheap and gets decent reviews but there’s no shortage of dongle dacs to choose from.
I spent ~$10 on 3 wireless charging pucks and a wireless charging stand from fasttech about 4yrs ago. Best $10 I’ve spend in a while. They all still work, usb is a bit wobbly on one now.
For sleeping I just use rain or similar background noise on the stereo, stereo is at the window and acts as a sorta duvet of sound for the outside world.
My S10e battery started to bloat so ive swapped to the zenphone 9 in the last week and a half, as long as you dont need wireless charging and get over the initial bumps moving away from samsung’s android tweaks its a great phone.
I recently upgraded from an S10e finally too, and had to make the decision between keeping the hardware features I wanted or the software features I wanted. Unfortunately I caved and went for the S23 to keep all the Samsung OneUI extra software stuff that I kinda can’t live without in my day to day usage. I hate not having a jack or microSD but realistically, I almost never plug in headphones anymore so a dongle is…fine, and no microSD definitely hurts but ultimately I was eventually going to run out of space for my endless pictures and videos (mostly of my cat lol) even on microSD cards so this is just forcing me to start managing that (as in, offloading to a desktop PC and backup drive) sooner rather than later.
GSM Arena has a “phone finder” tool that allows you to lookup phones with specific features. There are over 500 phones released in 2022 to present with a headphone jack. You can narrow that down a lot if you only look at phones with IPX8 water resistance.
Some options:
- Sony Xperia 1 V (expensive)
- Sony Xperia 10 V
- Asus Zenfone 9
- Samsung Galaxy Xcover6 Pro
- Nokia XR21
I have tried that in the past, but I always found that I either got 150 results that were mostly Chinese junk phones or 3 results that were incredibly underpowered low range devices.
I will check it out again.
You can choose specific brands in the phone finder, so that should help get rid of the junk brands.
Wait out - When the Asus Zenfone drop this Thursday. Top tier specs with a great camera.
I am really happy with my Asus Zenphone 9. The best feature is the long battery life. If i wanted i could use the phone for ~72h, though I usually charge it to 80% and charge the phone every 2 days instead.
The Battery Life was my main buying point, the aux and smaller size were important though too.
It also has an actual gimble for camera stabilisation in the lense instead of the typical stabilization through a sensor, though i guess it is more of a gimmick. I myself don’t take that many action shots where this could be useful, so I can’t really give any info if it is better than the usual way of stabilization.
Since it is an Asus phone I think it also is pretty powerful and power efficient for mobile gaming if that interests you (I don’t care about that).End of this Month they will also reveal the Zenphone 10, so maybe this might also be a possible phone to check out. I bought mine also directly release last year since I was looking for a new phone around that time. It was bundled with a chromebook that I was able to resell so it was a nice deal in comparison to other comparable phones.
I would’ve gotten a Zenfone 9 if not for the fact that it only gets 2 years of updates. This planned obsolesence is unacceptable, especially for an 800 dollar phone.
Asus is basically a non starter because of this.
Dude, why are you triple-posting?
Kbin.social is having issues today
Do you happen to know if the zenphone 10 will have full band support for American T-Mobile service? I considered zenphones before but the lack of full T-Mobile spectrum compatibility and apparent motherboard issues turned me away.
I was using an LG V30 for the past few years. Needed to replace it as the battery wasn’t lasting anymore.
Like you a headphone jack is a must. So I got a Sony Xperia 10iii because that’s all I could afford. I would ideally like the Xperia 5 but it’s way out of my budget.
Still, the 10iii is a great phone and does everything I need it to. It’s fast, takes good photos, has a good display and size and great battery life.
If you don’t want Sony the only other phone I’m aware of in the premium segment is Asus ZenFone 9 (the 10 is launching next month) which had rave reviews and was even phone of the year I think. It reminds me alot of my V30 in many ways.
If your budget is low like mine, look at the Sony Xperia 10v which just launched. It has better speakers, cameras, OIS, and battery compared to mine.
Or look at Samsung as they tend to have a headphone jack in the budget segment. A54 I think has good reviews.
The Zenphone looks nice, but I really want the SD card slot :/
Hackable? Able to install Lineage/custom android?
No idea about hackable. I do know that Sony let’s you unlock the phone and even put other ROMs on it like Lineage or even Sailfish.
You’d have to check with Lineage and Sailfish which device they support
Pretty much every one of my phones so far have been on unofficial Lineage branches lol. But I do like the specs of the next Zenphone (I’ll miss SD card storage but…I guess I’ll get over it.) I’ll look forward to it though, thanks.
I can’t justify over a grand on Sony’s phones lol.
Oh nice, I had no idea Sony made affordable phones lol.
I will look into this.
Yes. The 10 series is the affordable line. I do wish they had something in the €500 range as well, say a 10 but with more powerful CPU just for those who don’t want a SD695.
I rock an A42 and have zero complaints, I assume the 54 is similar.
I own both of these:
- Pixel 5a 5G (although updates end in 1 year)
- Asus Zenfone 9
They’re both good!
Update end of life dates: https://endoflife.date/pixel
Don’t you still get security updates? I have a pixel 4a and still get updates
Bullshit it’s even legal for them to end support so fast, just more things to throw in the garbage and kill the earth. My pixel 4a is working completely fine still and I am an avid user
I’ve got calyx os on the pixel 4a, calyx will indefinitely release os updates, no need to worry about it
Asus Zenfone
Zenphone Sony or ROG phone are the last flagships to have . Midrange still has a few other options but that won’t be a upgrade from the v60. Tbh almost all phone are a downgrade from the v60 in terms of total package.
The pixel 5a. Not only does it have a headphone jack, it also has a giant battery and decent specs. Excellent lineageOS support to boot. you can get them brand new OEM unlocked for about 200 bucks. (I might be biased I’m sending this message from one right now!)
