The 1st Ever Golden Lemmy Award for Best Android Device

Margot Robbie@lemmy.worldmod to Android@lemmy.world – 129 points –

To celebrate a particular movie's nominations for the Golden Globes next Sunday, Jan 7, we are hosting our very own Golden Lemmy award for Best Android Device on !android@lemmy.world.

Rules are simple, tell us about your favorite Android phone from 2023 in the top level comment, and the device with the most up votes wins the esteemed and coveted Golden Lemmy Award, along with 1 Lemmy Silver.

Our regular discussion will resume in 2 weeks.

54

I HATE my Samsung S22+ - it is literally the only phone I have ever regretted purchasing.

Probably most of that is b/c I refuse to make a Samsung account:-P.

I really hope anti-S22+ wins it all

Agreed. I don't think there were any top tier phones, hardware wise, that have all the things people want in a cellphone: IR blaster, SD slot, headphone jack, high-end chipset , great screen and a big battery just doesn't exist. Probably added on there would be ease of installing custom OS as well but most would settle for a phone that didn't if it had all the previous.

All that said I think the Golden Lemmy should go to the biggest disappointment instead.

With the exception of the chipset, my Redmi Note 11 has those. I'm even running a nice Rom that let me escape the original garbage OS on it. I've heard Xiaomi will stop unlocking the devices, so I think my only other option will be Motorola in the future.

That appears to be 4g only, but it is affordable, so I guess I should have considered it.

There's a 5G version as well

These aren't necessarily top end phones, but not bad once you get a new ROM for it.

I didn't know IR blasters in phones were ever common. There are a few phones (Unihertz at least) these days that have them. The Moto G Stylus 5G (I just got one) has everything else you mentioned. Missing are swappable batteries and wireless charging.

Pixel 8 Pro. Google's current flagship device, arguably the most secure device on the market, and is first to include Memory Tagging Extension (MTE). As such, it is supported by GrapheneOS, which I highly recommend due to the increased security and control over your own phone (starting with sandboxing the Play Store if you use it, and not giving Google full system privileges like stock/OEM OS does).

When fully integrated into the compiler and each heap allocator, MTE enforces a form of memory safety. It detects memory corruption as it happens. 4 bit tags limit it to probabilistic detection for the general case, but deterministic guarantees are possible via reserving tags.

In hardened_malloc, we deterministically prevent sequential overflows by excluding adjacent tags. We exclude a tag reserved for free tag and the previous tag used for the previous allocation in the slot to help with use-after-free detection alongside FIFO and random quarantines.

https://nitter.net/GrapheneOS/status/1716945639198880037

I fully agree. GrapheneOS also just received an update which allows to use Android Auto. The only thing I know of that's not working under GrapheneOS is therefore Google Pay which is okay for me. This software combined with the Hardware is awesome.

One day my Oneplus 6 will stop working. Until then. It does everything I need it to. Lightning fast. Rooted and lightly optimised.

Camera could be faster. My only big complaint.

I'm always shocked that my battery still lasts me all day.

Stopped using my OP6 because the OS was acting up. I'd still be using it if OOS 11 was stable through Google Play updates. Unfortunately, a Play system update caused many OOS 11 devices (like the OP6) to reboot every 30 mins or so.

I have the same problem with my p20 pro, it will not die. Even slightly.

I'm on the same boat for my OP7T

I'm still using my OP7T as well, as a game machine. Unfortunately it gets super hot, to the point of leaving red scorch marks on my hands.:-( It could be the battery deteriorating I suppose, but one day it literally never happened, then the infamous update occurred and now it never not happens - you surely know the one if you've had the device since it came out (the one just after which the cofounder left the company in protest). That update somehow (melting some internal shielding? it got so hot immediately after/during that update that I genuinely thought it might explode!!?!) turned my beautiful phone with the literal best balance of specs for price among all Android phones, into something that I cannot use for more than a few minutes at a time. Tbf the game that I play on it likely has gotten worse over time in how much processing it demands.

But if yours still works... then kudos bc that phone was really something, for its' day and even now.:-)

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra - phenomenal high-res display, amazing cameras with actual optical telephoto magnification lenses, 200 MP sensor, very good SoC with a powerful CPU, variable refresh rate in the range of 1 Hz to 120 Hz, incredible battery life, high-quality aluminium frame, awesome max brightness

No user replacable battery, no SD card slot, no headphone jack, i'm guessing that since its a new samsung there's little to none avaliable custom ROMs for it. to be absolutely fair the note 20 ultra I'm using to write this comment is basically the same when it comes to a lack of these things except for the sd card slot.

Hear me out:

Samsung Galaxy S5

Pros:

  • User replaceable battery
  • water resistant and dust resistant
  • Custom OSes available, easily flashable*
  • Headphone jack
  • IR blaster
  • Heart rate monitor

*Flashing will vlow the eFuse and disable Knox. It will also make it a bit more difficult to use some apps.

Negatives:

  • Its old hardware is prob gonna struggle to run most things these days.

(I'm half kidding. My S23 Ultra is hot garbage for features. Fuckers even stripped the SD card support out so my storage just got cut significantly unless I pay for a subscription instead of a single payment on an SD card that I can access in a Faraday Cage if I wanted to. Idk why they care so much about camera quality - especially when they've just made it more difficult and expensive to store images in bulk. If you want pro pictures, get an SLR and take pro pictures. You don't expect that from a laptop, why do we expect it from a pocket computer?)

I took my old S5 out of a drawer earlier today because I needed the IR. Never expected to see it mentioned in a recent comment.

I went from a Motorola Pure to a Galaxy after Motorola's acquisition by Lenovo, and I really miss the Pure.

It's absolutely baffling how many useless programs Samsung loads on these things, as is their weird insistence on having their own custom settings that are just a downgrade from basic Android. I've gone looking for a setting or a feature dozens of times just to find that Samsung decided it wasn't needed.

Why?

Why the fuck would you take away features like a notification history?

The specs are fine in terms of running whatever you feel like even several years after purchase but it's hard to think it's worth it when you keep running into basic design incompetence.

Tl;Dr Galaxies had decent hardware and terrible software, so when they start going after hardware features it's time to bail.

I don't remember ever not having notification history - you'd just have to dig a bit to get there. I think Nova used to even let you make a custom shortcut right to it.

The problem with hardware is that they were one of the last (and possibly the last of the heavy hitters) to ditch the SD cards.

There was a way to root without blowing the fuse, iirc. And they even made a Qi charging back door. Loved that phone.

The best camera is the one you have on you. It's one of the basics of photography. I don't carry an slr with me all the time for good reason, but I do have my phone, and it being able to take good pictures is important to me.

I also often carry an APS-C mirrorless with me when carrying stuff is less of an issue, and it certainly takes way better photos, most of the time.

Sony Xperia 1 IV (or V) Headphone jack, great DAC, great camera, and 21:9 makes for a fantastic emulation station on the go

Samsung S23 - compact, little beast with good battery life and camera. Rocking it since presale and it's the best device I have ever had.

I have the + and I can't stand its display. Something is so wrong about it compared to my previous oled and amoled phones

I love my Zenfone 10. An amazing package.

I'm really happy about my ZenFone 9. It's small, fast, has headphone jack. A mini flagship.

I love everything about the zenfones except Asus not allowing bootloader unlocking. Deal breaker.

Whaat? I'm sending this comment from a Zenfone 9 with an unlocked bootloader. It's not too difficult

Look up the recent drama with Asus. They halted their bootloader unlockong server (which should exist) since mid-last year.

Oh shit I missed that news completely. I got mine in April and rooted it right away. Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to block updates and really avoid a full reset

1 more...

I hate mine. Got the glitch that ruins the camera and the only way to fix it is to send it off for a few weeks. Happened after only having the phone about 10 months. Can't go that long without my phone so I'm just dealing with it by only taking wide angle photos, but it's a real bummer. I usually keep a phone for at least 3 years but I'll be ditching this around July after less than 2. I love their computers but I'll never buy a phone from them again.

1 more...

Onyx Boox Palma. It's not a phone so maybe it doesn't exactly count, but other than the lack of a SIM its basically just a phone with a really good e-ink display. I've been really happy with it, it's my favorite Android device since the OnePlus 7 Pro.

Interesting. With it being powered by Android, can you install anything from the Play store or are you limited? I imagine you can chat with friends via non-SMS means?

Yep, it has full play store support so you can install whatever you want.

Can you root? Does it have rom support?

I haven't seen anything about it being rooted or rom support yet, but that's not really my scene anymore. I believe Hisense makes a similar e-ink device that is rootable if that's a hard requirement for you, although I think I've read it's only released in China so it may be hard to find.

EDIT: From another comment in this thread it looks like the Hisense A9 is what you want if you're after a rootable e-ink device (and with a SIM so you can use it as an actual phone too)

OnePlus 6

I know it's from 2018 but it's still the most modern smartphone with an almost perfect linux mainline support, hence the very good support by alternative mobile operating systems (not only LineageOS, but also PostMarketOS or even mobile NixOS!).

It still is powerful enough for all usages, it has a good enough camera, great battery and the design still looks quite modern.

I went from 6 to the 7 Pro which I'm still rocking, even as it starts to crave the abyss. I just...really like not having a forward facing camera unless I summon it.

Hisense A9 with full root + microG

A minimalist eink anti addictive machine that brings smartphones back to an actually useful tool removing literally all the bullshits.

Hisense A9

Cool, this looks just like my Boox Palma except it's got a SIM.

1 more...

Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact.

The very last true compact phone with a 3.5mm jack, FM radio, in-device noise cancelling (only with proprietry 5-pole earphones) and hardware camera shutter button.

Oh, not to forget tool-less sim tray removal. This phone had it all.

I'm gonna say Moto 5G Stylus 2023. Disclosure: biased because I got one recently.

Pros:

  • Relatively cheap for a 5g phone at $250 new
  • Seems pretty fast, Qualcomm chipset, 6GB ram, 512GB flash, NFC, pretty good camera and screen (not top end), 5000 mah battery holds up pretty well. Connoisseurs will have to make their own judgment about the cpu and chipset since idk what else is out there. Android 13.
  • SD slot supports up to 2TB card (I don't think those exist yet), 3.5mm headphone jack, has better sound than my Moto G4 did, though maybe still not great (idk).
  • The stylus is actually useful for poking tiny UI elements even though the graphics apps aren't there afaict.
  • Not from Google or Apple or Samsung
  • Claims to support 20 watt USB-C charging (haven't tested, but I do get 15W with a 5V 3A charger)
  • Battery replacement not too difficult according to ifixit. Replacement batteries readily available.
  • Moto Gestures (make a chopping motion with the phone to turn on the flashlight) comes in handy
  • Cameras are decent. Regular, and wide angle with macro. Not high end but I didn't want to pay for that so it's fine.

Cons:

  • Much bloatware (mostly removed now). Moto used to be better about this
  • Not many software updates promised. No LineageOS support (yet), though some older Moto devices have it, so it might arrive someday
  • I don't know the rootability situation, haven't really looked into it, but I hate the idea of downloading binary rootkits from rando authors on file sharing sites
  • Claims to support 20 watt USB-C charging but comes with a 10 watt USB-A charger and an A-to-C cable. This works ok though, and slower charging is probably better for the battery.
  • No swappable battery though almost nothing has that now.
  • Doesn't support Boost Mobile even though the lowest model of the series (Moto G play) supports it
  • It would be nice to have an external (e.g. on the edge of the phone) temperature sensor, though I don't know of any phone with that. There is an internal sensor to monitor the batteries and electronics, but those are usually warmer than the ambient air.
  • No USB-C HDMI video out

I really don't know the difference between this phone and a flagship, other than wireless charging and fancier cameras.

Since the death of my YotaPhone 2 I'd been so unhappy with every phone purchase until I got a Blackview BV6600 pro.

The battery is enormous, both in capacity and physical size but I still only charge it every 2 or 3 days.

It has an FLIR thermal heat camera built-in. It's so much more useful than I imagined. I used it at work today to find where a mouse was hiding, I used it at home to find a hidden power cable behind a wall.

It's waterproof and shock proof and I can forgive it for not having an e-ink screen on the back.

I'll throw my own nomination in for the Moto Razr Plus.

Because it's pink and it flips.