For me it's Motorola because they are one of the few companies still iterating and throwing different weird designs at the wall to see what sticks.
Hopefully they'll throw one at the wall with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard lol. Whoever does that again (that's not a niche device full of other issues) will get my money immediately.
Same. The Motorola Droid 4 is my all time favorite phone, not viable as a modern daily driver, but damn do I miss being able to pop the keyboard out for longer messages, compose mostly coherent messages without looking, or just reclaim screen real estate.
Yes, to all of that. Also, I remember using my HTC TouchPro2 as a pocket SSH terminal to log in and check/fix random issues from anywhere. Sad that slide out keyboards on phones were a casualty of the thinness wars.
can they do it with butterfly keys to keep it silly thin? or would they just rattle in your pocket?
Agreed.
$300 for the g84, I'm quite happy.
Dual sim
Call recording
Stereo speakers
Headphone socket
Oled display
Sd card
Fast charge
5Ah battery
Thin and light.
5g
Only downside is mediocre camera. Ok if you don't need to zoom in.
can they do it with butterfly keys to keep it silly thin? or would they just rattle in your pocket?
I agree. They seem to never get enough attention in the press but they make really nice phones.
I will buy an edge 50 pro soon but having a hard time finding the white one for a good price.
I hate them all, but I hate some less like Motorola.
This feels like the correct answer.
Motorola and a couple others feel like at least they haven't jumped on the "let's charge them whatever the hell we can get away with" train. They're still relatively inexpensive and are essentially just as capable and nice as the Samsungs and the Apples of the world. Hell, I get far more comments on my Motorola Edge 2023 with it's textured faux leather back than others get with the latest Sammy or Apple identical square.
It feels like these smaller producers are able to take a few more risks in design.
Don’t you only get three years of security updates with that phone?
Sadly yes. That's the drawback. But its balanced by the fact that its pretty easy to find good custom ROMs after it ends its software lifespan
Oh, that changes things, yes. Good point. I would need those custom ROMs to be keeping up with security updates, though.
I have the same phone, but don't really have any clue what any of this means. If you're up for it I wouldn't mind an ELI5 on this so that I have at least an idea of what it means or what to look up. If you're not up for the ELI5 I still appreciate what you put out there
I ordered a Fairphone 4 and had it shipped over to the US before they officially supported US carriers and got their reseller state side to fix some minor issues.
And its also cute I get to play the "Organic" card for a piece a tech. The device itself is good enough and with the repairability focus I can take my battery out as a party trick. (I have seriously done this, it works best for Iphone people)
How is camera on that? I remember earlier Fairphones were pretty bad in this regard, which was a deal breaker for me.
If the camera is that important, then look for a phone where the camera is the primary feature. Samsung has some nice ones these days, Fairphones offerings are generally average across the industry, many claim they are over priced, but that is due to their picky component/vendor selection (See their attempts at ethicaly sourced parts).
It's not that it's that important, but what I saw from Fairphone 1 or 2 (I don't know which model exactly, maybe even 3) was really underwhelming. Not that my current phone makes epic photos, otoh it cost me about third of a Fairphone. Their mission is great and that's why I'd consider phone from them. I wouldn't mind slower CPU or less storage for my needs, but not improving camera from my current phone doesn't make sense for me to switch.
Whichever ones allow bootloader unlocking, make it not a PITA to unlock, and are generally developer friendly (or at least not antagonistic to developers).
For a while that was Motorola, but I've read recently less models are allowed to be unlocked. OnePlus is also pretty good about unlocking the bootloader.
Just checked their website, all 2024 models are unlockable.
Motorola without a doubt. One of the few companies that still believe that a high end phone doesn't need to cost 2000 dollars.
I'm in camp moto as well. The other lovely thing is gestures. Shake your phone to put on the torch, turn it around and back twice to activate the camera.
Love my G31 as a daily driver and Music player. Does all it needs to, and for a very reasonable price. Also, has a headphone jack and an SD card slot :)
The shake for the flashlight option my Motorola phone had was by far the best thing every. I can't believe other manufacturers haven't added that as an option.
Samsung. Before I get dunked on let me explain. The Galaxy XCover 6 Pro is an industrial phone so it lacks a bunch of the standard bloat that comes with consumer grade equipment. It comes with 128GB onboard memory, 6GB RAM, SIM card slot, SD card slot, headphone jack, and even a removable battery! It definitely meets my need to carry around almost a TB of music and videos without needing to resort to streaming services.
the xcover is a great phone. not the fastest or with the best camera, but the other features make it fantastic. it's also pseudo-ruggedized, I carry it without a case and it's held up great to a few typical drops and such
Hell yes brother! Same. It's always nice when I'm on the bus or an airplane and I can just break out wired headphones. No worries about charging them, they just work!
pro tip: you can host your own music streaming service! Navidrome is one of the bests ones, in cause you didnt know.
Thanks for the tip! Gonna have to try it out one day. My problem is I have to go work in places with very spotty service without WiFi so it helps to just have everything on board.
I see. I do too. Some apps (Tempo, Dsub, Ultrasonic, ecc) let you download songs/albums locally from your server. I have a 300gb music library; but my devices have only 256gb, so I just rotate the albums I have sometimes.
Gotte be Fairphone. I bought the FP5 when it was out pretty new from Murena. It came with a de-googled android rom called /e/ preinstalled. Couldn't be happier. I love the way you can just open the back and exchange any part with a simple phillips head screwdriver as well as exchangeable batteries. It's still splash resistant tho. I love knowing neither google nor apple are tracking me and supporting open source software monetarily. It works a bit different from stock android but its nice to use. I also like how they have long software support and care about where their parts are sourced. For their performance they might be a bit pricy but it aligns with my ideals so I support it.
Does /e/ play well with bank apps?
It works well enough with my banking app at least. /e/ supports a locked bootloader but I don't know if all banking apps play well with a non-stock android rom.
Google--not really a fan of the company, but the Pixels have been solid for me. The cameras have always been great, and weirdly, the bootloader has always been easy to unlock (I'm running LineageOS on my Pixel 7), so you can still get some modicum of privacy if you like.
I've always liked LG for phones. But they left the market. Now I'm in pixel which is... Well... It functions.
iPhone, though this site hates Apple. I had a HTC Dream, then the okay successor, then switched to and iPhone 5s when my partner got one and at the time it was the best phone to touch type on. Android got better but I quit all Google services and hardware.
I’ve had two iPhones that have lasted 5+ years. I’m current on a six year old XS max. I’m only upgrading this year because I want USB-C, a 120hz screen, and better low light pictures for cats.
The only thing I use iTunes for is one click encrypted incremental backups and I stand by it’s the best backup software for phones. When I get my new phone, I will plug it into my computer, click a button, and it will be exactly like my current phone. And that’s awesome.
I use windows for games and Linux for my servers, but I can’t say i don’t love my iPhonez.
I’m with you… people can hate all they want but my iphone really does “just work”.
Android people here often have a Spec Champion phone… and a Daily Driver one.
I only have a daily driver iPhone I bought 6 years ago and it can still daily drive me.
Like most people's phones
Okay so not specifically to do with smartphones but Nokia was the most innovative and creative designer of cell phones altogether, until they made the unfortunate mistake of going all-in with Windows Phone with the Lumia. They should have been smart enough to see that like almost everything MS does, it was doomed from the start. It was their downfall :-( So sad because they made some of the most gorgeous phones in the world.
I have a modest collection of Nokia phones and I’d like one day to have one of everything they made.
Smartphones nowadays are just catalysts to exploitation. There’s no more innovation they’re just cramming more things they can claim as “features” without really making any substantial innovation anymore. There are a handful of gems here and there but they’re really spread evenly across the gamut of brands. Also there are so many more smartphones with cool designs and functionality that are just not available in the U.S.A. I don’t really understand why, other than the big names wanting to keep the market stuck to the same handful of gigantic bricks that refuse the idea of any flavor or character. Maybe they lobby to keep affordable and innovative designs out of the U.S. market so they can keep peddling their mediocrity forever.
I used to be a Samsung fan, but they started coming 75% full of bloatware, so I tried the first Pixel when it came out. I've bought nothing but Pixels since then.
they must have changed a lot since i had one.. didn't have a gallery app, forced me to use the cloud storage, no secure folder, and it smashed to smithereens the first time i dropped it on a sidewalk. it was completely trashed. i am clumsy and drop phones often, and never had that experience before or since
Fairphone, as their hardware is comparable to other phones, while still supporting many custom ROMs. And they're very repairable.
If you had asked me a couple weeks ago, I would have said Unihertz. I loved my tiny little Jelly Star.
Unfortunately, the backlight for the screen died. It is still technically under warranty, but the options they gave me were 1) We'll ship you the part, and you can pay a local shop to put it in. 2) Pay to mail us the phone, and we'll fix it and get it back to you in the next month or two. or 3) Buy a replacement phone at a discount.
It irks me that the only option that won't cost me more money is having them ship me the part and trying to replace it myself.
I still like the little phone, but there is no way in hell I am giving that company any more of my money.
Sorry for the rant. To actually answer the question: I like my Google Phone. I don't love Google per se, but the phone itself works pretty well.
Edit:
Since writing this, I received the replacement screen, and I will say that it was surprisingly easy to take apart and repair. I don't think most people already have the tools to do so, and I still don't think I should be responsible for the repair myself, but I do once again have a functional phone after spending 0 additional dollars. Also, I like the phone just a little bit more because it was substantially easier to take apart than all of the other phone's I've worked on.
BlackBerry’s last phone, the Passport.
Still prefer the Bold.
Classic blackberry keyboard with a trackpad and touchscreen.
I miss my Z10, Q5, and Leap.
HTC 7: front facing speakers, microsd slot up to 2TB, 469 ppi , full brushed aluminum casing, smoooth OS, best phone i ever had,, especially at the time, blew everything else out of rhe water.
still can't believe big companies aren't making phones with front facing speakers.
Sony Xperia still have front facing speakers.
I really like that Sony didn't abandoned good features just to follow the hype. Some of those features are a headphone jack, an SD card and a small screen (big screens also available in the 1 series).
The xperia is more expensive then what I would usually spend on a phone, but it is probably the only phone that still has all those things you mentioned, which are nearly all dealbreakers for me. (Asus zenfone why did you have to become big :( )
Have a look at the Xperia 10 Series (for example the Xperia 10 VI), they have all those features for what I find is a reasonable price.
thank you!
the new one does! xperia 1 vi, jesus that's great, thank you.
I wanted a fair phone, but front-facing speakers are absolutely huge for me.
Most new phones have at one front facing speaker. Does it really make a lot of difference with one more?
huge difference, yes.
especially with volume, accuracy, clarity and pitch. on most phones with speakers spacing away from you, it's like having one speaker plugged into your TV, it's pointed away from you at corner of your wall.
you can turn it up as loud as the speaker will go, but the sound quality isn't going to increase.
you can imagine the difference having a conversation with someone looking at you versus having a conversation with someone turned away from you.
and the difference in quality between the speaker at the top of most phones and the bottom facing speaker is very clear, whereas most front-facing phones focus on two good speakers.
Yes, it makes a huge difference if you enjoy music, movies, podcasts; anything with sound on an HTC One from 11 years ago will sound much better than what the newest iPhone or pixel can offer because the speakers are facing you instead of playing audio away from you(and the HTC one speakers kicked ass)
Sony! They kept removable storage and headphone jacks, they just don't really advertise their Xperia phones in the US hence why nobody knows about them here.
They're just as advanced and high-end as their Samsung and Apple counterparts and I think they rock.
Ooof, that's hard. There's no single favorite.
Xiaomi and similar (like Poco) I like because of their higher performance and usually including both headphone jack and IR blaster. Currently have X3 Pro.
What I do not like about them is the tracking. Ads I don't mind, honestly, but data collection kinda bothers me. You also need a Mi account to unlock the bootloader with a proprietary Xiaomi tool, plus there's a waiting period. Yuck. Also, the software feels like unfinished rushed project. I am pretty sure Alpha releases of most custom ROMs are more stable. Anyway, I kept the stock ROM on this one anyway.
Moving on...
Google. Yes, you read that right. They not only allow easy bootloader unlocking, but also relocking with a custom key, thus being the choice of Graphene OS.
What I outright hate is no headphone jack and Micro SD card slot. Otherwise, I'd just get one of the Pixels pretty damn quick.
Lastly...
Pine64. Easy to obtain spare parts, pogo pins for hardware expansion (like a keyboard or LoRa module), possibility to communicate directly with the modem over internal serial interface because that's possible too, built mainly for GNU+Linux distros.
But the whole idea is very much experimental.
Could have been Nokia up there if they kept it up with N900.
I love my Librem 5. Never going back to Android.
you daily drive it? nice
they've actually sold any of those?
Right now I really like my OnePlus 9, but if it has easy unlocking and LineageOS support my next phone will definitely be the HMD Skyline
I know the it's pretty repairable but I think the bootloader is locked.
Yeah but hopefully they'll make it easy to unlock like oneplus and motorola do. If they don't though then yeah that cancels out any other nice things about it
Google Pixel, not because the company is in my good standing or anything, just good hardware.
And if you buy unlocked you can just flash unless you want some of the first party pixel exclusives (which I use along with gpay)
Apple actually makes good hardware, believe it or not. The only real shortcomings of the iPhone are the software and the reparability. Say, hypothetically, you could load a custom ROM on an iPhone. It would be my favourite in that case.
We don't live in a good world, though, so it has to go to Google. It will continue to be Google until Apple fixes their business. I dislike the buttons being on one side, I dislike the gap between display and the border, and I dislike the cameras being covered when I try to get a grip on the back--but alternative OSes exist. The software is everything. I have far more utility here than on the more expensive iPhone.
Though, I have to say that I might genuinely consider an Xperia if they had alternative OSes. Good cameras, headphone jack, nice build.. it's a shame I can't put CalyxOS on one.
I'd guess OnePlus. Been a while since I bought my current Samsung, but I miss their better interface and battery saving often.
Though it truly is a shame that they started putting the fingerprint sensors under the screen, too. The meh sensor on the Samsung is possibly my biggest irritant. But reportedly at least the OnePlus one is better.
Huawei. Oppo is also very good
My go-to is to grab a used samsung galaxy from Ebay. Usually the best bang for the buck. The reasonably new ones have no headphone jack, but the solid dongles (not the flexible ones) work pretty well for that.
This comment will get down voted to absolute zero but:
Samsung has amazing hardware and one of the worst software you could possibly put on a mobile device. Probably worst experience I've ever had using a mobile device. My experience was with S10.
Google has fantastic software and absolute shit hardware. Terrible battery life. Phone constantly lags and overheats from normal use. Terrible reception and non stop Bluetooth problems. Currently suffering with p7pro.
Oneplus was a fantastic company that created a phone that combined top of the line hardware with decent software at a very reasonable cost. Unfortunately now enshittification took over. Phones are overpriced, support is nonexistent and resale/trade in value is near zero. My experience was with Op8pro. Probably second best phone I've ever owned.
Other manufacturers like Sony, Asus, Nothing and Motorola are really a niche market now. They seem happy targeting a very narrow range of market. I've tried several phones from each brand, but never kept one longer than a week.
I'm sticking with pixel at the moment because software is so good it's actually able to make this steaming pile of shit hardware semi functional.
Pixel for me because I can install GrapheneOS and relock the bootloader.
I really liked sony back when they made the compact series. ZX1 compact was my favorite smartphone but sadly it stopped working on my carrier. Now I'm using a galaxy zflip. The size when folded feels nice in my pocket. Closest thing I could find to a "small" full featured android.
Essential RIP. The PH-1 was the best phone I've ever owned
Samsung. I love the foldables but I buy the older refurbished ones. I'm not paying $2,000. for a fuckin phone!
Pixels are nice because of their hardware secure element and great Verified boot support, even with a custom OS. And those new Pixel 9's are really fire 🔥
BlackBerry, tho I jumped to that sinking ship pretty late with the Z10 and Z30, the BB OS10 was the best freaking OS I have ever witnessed and used on a smartphone.
Google, unfortunately. Graphene sandboxes the google play services and Calyx spoofs it through microg.
I'd try a fairphone or a librem but I can replace my Pixel6 for $400 and have it within days if needed.
Favorite manufacturer: Fairphone
Favorite smartphone: OnePlus 12R (Oxygen OS is what Android should be and they are the only manufacturer in the West who regulates pwm frequency) and also iPhone SE 3 (fuck you, we are putting our flagship processor in a 12 year old phone design satisfies my I wish they made a 1979 F-150 with an electric engine)
Faiphone / Fairphone 5
I'm on my second Oppo. Decent specs (I like the 512Gb, double SIM slot, superfast charging) and cheaper than anything comparable.
HTC. i still mourn its passing
They just released a new phone. It's pretty good.
A Pixel with GrapheneOS.
Google Pixel because of GrapheneOS
i also really like Fairphone. In a perfect world the fairphones would have the same or equivalent security chip as the Pixels. I'd really prefer to buy a european smartphone due to privacy and install GrapheneOS.
GrapheneOS is a must for me.
Now that I think about it, every phone I've owned has had significant issues: lousy camera (HTC), overheating (LG), poor battery life (Samsung, Google, HTC), steadily degrading performance (Samsung), boot looping (LG), weird colour handling on photos (HTC, Google), etc. So I guess they're all bad?
I wouldn't say "favourite". I've bought two Pixels because I like the photos they produce.
My current phone (P8P) has the fewest issues so far. It's only a year old, so I'm sure they'll appear.
I used to own a Samsung galaxy s6, and that thing was killer. I still miss mine since it's compass was pretty much perfect compared to the wildly inaccurate one on my s21 ultra.
"Just whatever makes sense"
It was OnePlus. The OnePlus 1 was the best phone on the market at the time, and lasted beautifully. The same was true for the OnePlus 6, which lasted up until I got the Pixel 8.
It was the last time that OnePlus and Oppo made great phones without compromise, because right after laughing at Google for ditching the headphone jack they did the same thing! They had some success, and sadly, started compromising.
Even today, I miss features from my OP6. The screen gestures are a feature I would pay extra for on my Pixel. Today, I genuinely cannot think of a good company releasing Android phones. For years, picking an Android phone has been an exercise in calculating how many features you can afford to live without for an extortionate price.
I'm in the Samsung boat currently and was considering Pixel but with Google being, you know, Google, I was more recently considering OnePlus, the Open in particular.
Any other considerations to sway me either way?
Miss my old HTC One M9. That little bastard was a tank
I had the HTC One M8 and I feel exactly the same way. 🙌
Galaxy A71 5G from Samsung. Budget phone that I got a couple years back.
I'd say the roughly $200 A15 5G I bought directly from them less than a few months ago and didn't get warranty, but I accidentally went swimming with it and fried the fucker. It was shaping up to be a pretty good upgrade from my A71 phone, but it can't be much of an upgrade when it's dead.
iPhone, it’s not the best phone but Apple has the best ecosystem. Seamless app integration across MacBook, iPad, AppleTv, etc… I have hobby computers I tinker with to scratch that itch of building and customizing OS. The new Mac silicon chips are crazy fast though. I write a lot of Rust and on my intel chip some of my programs can take 15-30 minutes, on Apple silicon they take maybe 2 minutes at most.
I loved my Nexus 4. I also liked my Nexus 5X a lot, although it had debilitating hardware faults and eventually destroyed itself.
Nexus 5X still going strong!
(though it did need some hacking to keep it alive)
For me it's Motorola because they are one of the few companies still iterating and throwing different weird designs at the wall to see what sticks.
Hopefully they'll throw one at the wall with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard lol. Whoever does that again (that's not a niche device full of other issues) will get my money immediately.
Same. The Motorola Droid 4 is my all time favorite phone, not viable as a modern daily driver, but damn do I miss being able to pop the keyboard out for longer messages, compose mostly coherent messages without looking, or just reclaim screen real estate.
Yes, to all of that. Also, I remember using my HTC TouchPro2 as a pocket SSH terminal to log in and check/fix random issues from anywhere. Sad that slide out keyboards on phones were a casualty of the thinness wars.
can they do it with butterfly keys to keep it silly thin? or would they just rattle in your pocket?
Agreed.
$300 for the g84, I'm quite happy. Dual sim Call recording Stereo speakers Headphone socket Oled display Sd card Fast charge 5Ah battery Thin and light. 5g
Only downside is mediocre camera. Ok if you don't need to zoom in.
can they do it with butterfly keys to keep it silly thin? or would they just rattle in your pocket?
I agree. They seem to never get enough attention in the press but they make really nice phones.
I will buy an edge 50 pro soon but having a hard time finding the white one for a good price.
I hate them all, but I hate some less like Motorola.
This feels like the correct answer.
Motorola and a couple others feel like at least they haven't jumped on the "let's charge them whatever the hell we can get away with" train. They're still relatively inexpensive and are essentially just as capable and nice as the Samsungs and the Apples of the world. Hell, I get far more comments on my Motorola Edge 2023 with it's textured faux leather back than others get with the latest Sammy or Apple identical square.
It feels like these smaller producers are able to take a few more risks in design.
Don’t you only get three years of security updates with that phone?
Sadly yes. That's the drawback. But its balanced by the fact that its pretty easy to find good custom ROMs after it ends its software lifespan
Oh, that changes things, yes. Good point. I would need those custom ROMs to be keeping up with security updates, though.
I have the same phone, but don't really have any clue what any of this means. If you're up for it I wouldn't mind an ELI5 on this so that I have at least an idea of what it means or what to look up. If you're not up for the ELI5 I still appreciate what you put out there
I ordered a Fairphone 4 and had it shipped over to the US before they officially supported US carriers and got their reseller state side to fix some minor issues.
And its also cute I get to play the "Organic" card for a piece a tech. The device itself is good enough and with the repairability focus I can take my battery out as a party trick. (I have seriously done this, it works best for Iphone people)
How is camera on that? I remember earlier Fairphones were pretty bad in this regard, which was a deal breaker for me.
If the camera is that important, then look for a phone where the camera is the primary feature. Samsung has some nice ones these days, Fairphones offerings are generally average across the industry, many claim they are over priced, but that is due to their picky component/vendor selection (See their attempts at ethicaly sourced parts).
It's not that it's that important, but what I saw from Fairphone 1 or 2 (I don't know which model exactly, maybe even 3) was really underwhelming. Not that my current phone makes epic photos, otoh it cost me about third of a Fairphone. Their mission is great and that's why I'd consider phone from them. I wouldn't mind slower CPU or less storage for my needs, but not improving camera from my current phone doesn't make sense for me to switch.
Whichever ones allow bootloader unlocking, make it not a PITA to unlock, and are generally developer friendly (or at least not antagonistic to developers).
For a while that was Motorola, but I've read recently less models are allowed to be unlocked. OnePlus is also pretty good about unlocking the bootloader.
Just checked their website, all 2024 models are unlockable.
Motorola without a doubt. One of the few companies that still believe that a high end phone doesn't need to cost 2000 dollars.
I'm in camp moto as well. The other lovely thing is gestures. Shake your phone to put on the torch, turn it around and back twice to activate the camera.
Love my G31 as a daily driver and Music player. Does all it needs to, and for a very reasonable price. Also, has a headphone jack and an SD card slot :)
The shake for the flashlight option my Motorola phone had was by far the best thing every. I can't believe other manufacturers haven't added that as an option.
Samsung. Before I get dunked on let me explain. The Galaxy XCover 6 Pro is an industrial phone so it lacks a bunch of the standard bloat that comes with consumer grade equipment. It comes with 128GB onboard memory, 6GB RAM, SIM card slot, SD card slot, headphone jack, and even a removable battery! It definitely meets my need to carry around almost a TB of music and videos without needing to resort to streaming services.
the xcover is a great phone. not the fastest or with the best camera, but the other features make it fantastic. it's also pseudo-ruggedized, I carry it without a case and it's held up great to a few typical drops and such
Hell yes brother! Same. It's always nice when I'm on the bus or an airplane and I can just break out wired headphones. No worries about charging them, they just work!
pro tip: you can host your own music streaming service! Navidrome is one of the bests ones, in cause you didnt know.
Thanks for the tip! Gonna have to try it out one day. My problem is I have to go work in places with very spotty service without WiFi so it helps to just have everything on board.
I see. I do too. Some apps (Tempo, Dsub, Ultrasonic, ecc) let you download songs/albums locally from your server. I have a 300gb music library; but my devices have only 256gb, so I just rotate the albums I have sometimes.
Gotte be Fairphone. I bought the FP5 when it was out pretty new from Murena. It came with a de-googled android rom called /e/ preinstalled. Couldn't be happier. I love the way you can just open the back and exchange any part with a simple phillips head screwdriver as well as exchangeable batteries. It's still splash resistant tho. I love knowing neither google nor apple are tracking me and supporting open source software monetarily. It works a bit different from stock android but its nice to use. I also like how they have long software support and care about where their parts are sourced. For their performance they might be a bit pricy but it aligns with my ideals so I support it.
Does /e/ play well with bank apps?
It works well enough with my banking app at least. /e/ supports a locked bootloader but I don't know if all banking apps play well with a non-stock android rom.
Google--not really a fan of the company, but the Pixels have been solid for me. The cameras have always been great, and weirdly, the bootloader has always been easy to unlock (I'm running LineageOS on my Pixel 7), so you can still get some modicum of privacy if you like.
I've always liked LG for phones. But they left the market. Now I'm in pixel which is... Well... It functions.
iPhone, though this site hates Apple. I had a HTC Dream, then the okay successor, then switched to and iPhone 5s when my partner got one and at the time it was the best phone to touch type on. Android got better but I quit all Google services and hardware.
I’ve had two iPhones that have lasted 5+ years. I’m current on a six year old XS max. I’m only upgrading this year because I want USB-C, a 120hz screen, and better low light pictures for cats.
The only thing I use iTunes for is one click encrypted incremental backups and I stand by it’s the best backup software for phones. When I get my new phone, I will plug it into my computer, click a button, and it will be exactly like my current phone. And that’s awesome.
I use windows for games and Linux for my servers, but I can’t say i don’t love my iPhonez.
I’m with you… people can hate all they want but my iphone really does “just work”.
Android people here often have a Spec Champion phone… and a Daily Driver one.
I only have a daily driver iPhone I bought 6 years ago and it can still daily drive me.
Like most people's phones
Okay so not specifically to do with smartphones but Nokia was the most innovative and creative designer of cell phones altogether, until they made the unfortunate mistake of going all-in with Windows Phone with the Lumia. They should have been smart enough to see that like almost everything MS does, it was doomed from the start. It was their downfall :-( So sad because they made some of the most gorgeous phones in the world.
I have a modest collection of Nokia phones and I’d like one day to have one of everything they made.
Smartphones nowadays are just catalysts to exploitation. There’s no more innovation they’re just cramming more things they can claim as “features” without really making any substantial innovation anymore. There are a handful of gems here and there but they’re really spread evenly across the gamut of brands. Also there are so many more smartphones with cool designs and functionality that are just not available in the U.S.A. I don’t really understand why, other than the big names wanting to keep the market stuck to the same handful of gigantic bricks that refuse the idea of any flavor or character. Maybe they lobby to keep affordable and innovative designs out of the U.S. market so they can keep peddling their mediocrity forever.
I used to be a Samsung fan, but they started coming 75% full of bloatware, so I tried the first Pixel when it came out. I've bought nothing but Pixels since then.
they must have changed a lot since i had one.. didn't have a gallery app, forced me to use the cloud storage, no secure folder, and it smashed to smithereens the first time i dropped it on a sidewalk. it was completely trashed. i am clumsy and drop phones often, and never had that experience before or since
Fairphone, as their hardware is comparable to other phones, while still supporting many custom ROMs. And they're very repairable.
If you had asked me a couple weeks ago, I would have said Unihertz. I loved my tiny little Jelly Star.
Unfortunately, the backlight for the screen died. It is still technically under warranty, but the options they gave me were 1) We'll ship you the part, and you can pay a local shop to put it in. 2) Pay to mail us the phone, and we'll fix it and get it back to you in the next month or two. or 3) Buy a replacement phone at a discount.
It irks me that the only option that won't cost me more money is having them ship me the part and trying to replace it myself.
I still like the little phone, but there is no way in hell I am giving that company any more of my money.
Sorry for the rant. To actually answer the question: I like my Google Phone. I don't love Google per se, but the phone itself works pretty well.
Edit: Since writing this, I received the replacement screen, and I will say that it was surprisingly easy to take apart and repair. I don't think most people already have the tools to do so, and I still don't think I should be responsible for the repair myself, but I do once again have a functional phone after spending 0 additional dollars. Also, I like the phone just a little bit more because it was substantially easier to take apart than all of the other phone's I've worked on.
BlackBerry’s last phone, the Passport.
Still prefer the Bold.
Classic blackberry keyboard with a trackpad and touchscreen.
I miss my Z10, Q5, and Leap.
HTC 7: front facing speakers, microsd slot up to 2TB, 469 ppi , full brushed aluminum casing, smoooth OS, best phone i ever had,, especially at the time, blew everything else out of rhe water.
still can't believe big companies aren't making phones with front facing speakers.
Sony Xperia still have front facing speakers.
I really like that Sony didn't abandoned good features just to follow the hype. Some of those features are a headphone jack, an SD card and a small screen (big screens also available in the 1 series).
The xperia is more expensive then what I would usually spend on a phone, but it is probably the only phone that still has all those things you mentioned, which are nearly all dealbreakers for me. (Asus zenfone why did you have to become big :( )
Have a look at the Xperia 10 Series (for example the Xperia 10 VI), they have all those features for what I find is a reasonable price.
thank you!
the new one does! xperia 1 vi, jesus that's great, thank you.
I wanted a fair phone, but front-facing speakers are absolutely huge for me.
Most new phones have at one front facing speaker. Does it really make a lot of difference with one more?
huge difference, yes.
especially with volume, accuracy, clarity and pitch. on most phones with speakers spacing away from you, it's like having one speaker plugged into your TV, it's pointed away from you at corner of your wall.
you can turn it up as loud as the speaker will go, but the sound quality isn't going to increase.
you can imagine the difference having a conversation with someone looking at you versus having a conversation with someone turned away from you.
and the difference in quality between the speaker at the top of most phones and the bottom facing speaker is very clear, whereas most front-facing phones focus on two good speakers.
Yes, it makes a huge difference if you enjoy music, movies, podcasts; anything with sound on an HTC One from 11 years ago will sound much better than what the newest iPhone or pixel can offer because the speakers are facing you instead of playing audio away from you(and the HTC one speakers kicked ass)
Sony! They kept removable storage and headphone jacks, they just don't really advertise their Xperia phones in the US hence why nobody knows about them here.
They're just as advanced and high-end as their Samsung and Apple counterparts and I think they rock.
Ooof, that's hard. There's no single favorite.
Xiaomi and similar (like Poco) I like because of their higher performance and usually including both headphone jack and IR blaster. Currently have X3 Pro.
What I do not like about them is the tracking. Ads I don't mind, honestly, but data collection kinda bothers me. You also need a Mi account to unlock the bootloader with a proprietary Xiaomi tool, plus there's a waiting period. Yuck. Also, the software feels like unfinished rushed project. I am pretty sure Alpha releases of most custom ROMs are more stable. Anyway, I kept the stock ROM on this one anyway.
Moving on...
Google. Yes, you read that right. They not only allow easy bootloader unlocking, but also relocking with a custom key, thus being the choice of Graphene OS.
What I outright hate is no headphone jack and Micro SD card slot. Otherwise, I'd just get one of the Pixels pretty damn quick.
Lastly...
Pine64. Easy to obtain spare parts, pogo pins for hardware expansion (like a keyboard or LoRa module), possibility to communicate directly with the modem over internal serial interface because that's possible too, built mainly for GNU+Linux distros.
But the whole idea is very much experimental.
Could have been Nokia up there if they kept it up with N900.
I love my Librem 5. Never going back to Android.
you daily drive it? nice
they've actually sold any of those?
Right now I really like my OnePlus 9, but if it has easy unlocking and LineageOS support my next phone will definitely be the HMD Skyline
I know the it's pretty repairable but I think the bootloader is locked.
Yeah but hopefully they'll make it easy to unlock like oneplus and motorola do. If they don't though then yeah that cancels out any other nice things about it
Google Pixel, not because the company is in my good standing or anything, just good hardware.
And if you buy unlocked you can just flash unless you want some of the first party pixel exclusives (which I use along with gpay)
Apple actually makes good hardware, believe it or not. The only real shortcomings of the iPhone are the software and the reparability. Say, hypothetically, you could load a custom ROM on an iPhone. It would be my favourite in that case.
We don't live in a good world, though, so it has to go to Google. It will continue to be Google until Apple fixes their business. I dislike the buttons being on one side, I dislike the gap between display and the border, and I dislike the cameras being covered when I try to get a grip on the back--but alternative OSes exist. The software is everything. I have far more utility here than on the more expensive iPhone.
Though, I have to say that I might genuinely consider an Xperia if they had alternative OSes. Good cameras, headphone jack, nice build.. it's a shame I can't put CalyxOS on one.
I'd guess OnePlus. Been a while since I bought my current Samsung, but I miss their better interface and battery saving often.
Though it truly is a shame that they started putting the fingerprint sensors under the screen, too. The meh sensor on the Samsung is possibly my biggest irritant. But reportedly at least the OnePlus one is better.
Huawei. Oppo is also very good
My go-to is to grab a used samsung galaxy from Ebay. Usually the best bang for the buck. The reasonably new ones have no headphone jack, but the solid dongles (not the flexible ones) work pretty well for that.
This comment will get down voted to absolute zero but: Samsung has amazing hardware and one of the worst software you could possibly put on a mobile device. Probably worst experience I've ever had using a mobile device. My experience was with S10.
Google has fantastic software and absolute shit hardware. Terrible battery life. Phone constantly lags and overheats from normal use. Terrible reception and non stop Bluetooth problems. Currently suffering with p7pro.
Oneplus was a fantastic company that created a phone that combined top of the line hardware with decent software at a very reasonable cost. Unfortunately now enshittification took over. Phones are overpriced, support is nonexistent and resale/trade in value is near zero. My experience was with Op8pro. Probably second best phone I've ever owned.
Other manufacturers like Sony, Asus, Nothing and Motorola are really a niche market now. They seem happy targeting a very narrow range of market. I've tried several phones from each brand, but never kept one longer than a week.
I'm sticking with pixel at the moment because software is so good it's actually able to make this steaming pile of shit hardware semi functional.
Pixel for me because I can install GrapheneOS and relock the bootloader.
I really liked sony back when they made the compact series. ZX1 compact was my favorite smartphone but sadly it stopped working on my carrier. Now I'm using a galaxy zflip. The size when folded feels nice in my pocket. Closest thing I could find to a "small" full featured android.
Essential RIP. The PH-1 was the best phone I've ever owned
Samsung. I love the foldables but I buy the older refurbished ones. I'm not paying $2,000. for a fuckin phone!
Pixels are nice because of their hardware secure element and great Verified boot support, even with a custom OS. And those new Pixel 9's are really fire 🔥
BlackBerry, tho I jumped to that sinking ship pretty late with the Z10 and Z30, the BB OS10 was the best freaking OS I have ever witnessed and used on a smartphone.
Google, unfortunately. Graphene sandboxes the google play services and Calyx spoofs it through microg.
I'd try a fairphone or a librem but I can replace my Pixel6 for $400 and have it within days if needed.
Favorite manufacturer: Fairphone
Favorite smartphone: OnePlus 12R (Oxygen OS is what Android should be and they are the only manufacturer in the West who regulates pwm frequency) and also iPhone SE 3 (fuck you, we are putting our flagship processor in a 12 year old phone design satisfies my I wish they made a 1979 F-150 with an electric engine)
Faiphone / Fairphone 5
I'm on my second Oppo. Decent specs (I like the 512Gb, double SIM slot, superfast charging) and cheaper than anything comparable.
HTC. i still mourn its passing
They just released a new phone. It's pretty good.
A Pixel with GrapheneOS.
Google Pixel because of GrapheneOS
i also really like Fairphone. In a perfect world the fairphones would have the same or equivalent security chip as the Pixels. I'd really prefer to buy a european smartphone due to privacy and install GrapheneOS.
GrapheneOS is a must for me.
Now that I think about it, every phone I've owned has had significant issues: lousy camera (HTC), overheating (LG), poor battery life (Samsung, Google, HTC), steadily degrading performance (Samsung), boot looping (LG), weird colour handling on photos (HTC, Google), etc. So I guess they're all bad?
I wouldn't say "favourite". I've bought two Pixels because I like the photos they produce.
My current phone (P8P) has the fewest issues so far. It's only a year old, so I'm sure they'll appear.
I used to own a Samsung galaxy s6, and that thing was killer. I still miss mine since it's compass was pretty much perfect compared to the wildly inaccurate one on my s21 ultra.
"Just whatever makes sense"
It was OnePlus. The OnePlus 1 was the best phone on the market at the time, and lasted beautifully. The same was true for the OnePlus 6, which lasted up until I got the Pixel 8.
It was the last time that OnePlus and Oppo made great phones without compromise, because right after laughing at Google for ditching the headphone jack they did the same thing! They had some success, and sadly, started compromising.
Even today, I miss features from my OP6. The screen gestures are a feature I would pay extra for on my Pixel. Today, I genuinely cannot think of a good company releasing Android phones. For years, picking an Android phone has been an exercise in calculating how many features you can afford to live without for an extortionate price.
I'm in the Samsung boat currently and was considering Pixel but with Google being, you know, Google, I was more recently considering OnePlus, the Open in particular.
Any other considerations to sway me either way?
Miss my old HTC One M9. That little bastard was a tank
I had the HTC One M8 and I feel exactly the same way. 🙌
Galaxy A71 5G from Samsung. Budget phone that I got a couple years back.
I'd say the roughly $200 A15 5G I bought directly from them less than a few months ago and didn't get warranty, but I accidentally went swimming with it and fried the fucker. It was shaping up to be a pretty good upgrade from my A71 phone, but it can't be much of an upgrade when it's dead.
iPhone, it’s not the best phone but Apple has the best ecosystem. Seamless app integration across MacBook, iPad, AppleTv, etc… I have hobby computers I tinker with to scratch that itch of building and customizing OS. The new Mac silicon chips are crazy fast though. I write a lot of Rust and on my intel chip some of my programs can take 15-30 minutes, on Apple silicon they take maybe 2 minutes at most.
I loved my Nexus 4. I also liked my Nexus 5X a lot, although it had debilitating hardware faults and eventually destroyed itself.
Nexus 5X still going strong!
(though it did need some hacking to keep it alive)