this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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I know personally that I would never buy a Samsung phone again. The budget models are filled with ad/crapware. The premium models are expensive, gimmick laden and bad value.
Genuine question: what do you recommend instead? Not really excited to support Google via pixel either and didn't love my last iPhone. Is there a good choice anywhere?
Oneplus has gone to shit as far as software is concerned, but the hardware is still good, so if you're OK running a custom ROM, they're good.
I last used the Xperia lineup ages ago, but it was a pretty decent experience, close enough to stock Android and the additions they did add were actually improvements. No idea if that's still the case, but you could look up some reviews.
Ditto for Motorola, which was nearly stock Android back in 2014.
Murena sells refurb and new phones with /e/os preinstalled if you want to go google-free.
I do miss the early days of Android, when you had players like HTC creating completely unique Android experiences (I mean so did Samsung, but their uniqueness was how slow Touchwiz was).
Edit: Also completely forgot the fact that Nokia makes some good phones, including pretty affordable ones and some higher end ones. But personally the one person I knew with one had issues with the USB-C port and had to have theirs repaired by the warranty and then refunded on the second or third round. But that was a much older model, maybe 5 years now, they likely have fixed the issues on their newer ones.
I've had a Nokia 3.1 and 5.1 and I would advise everyone to steer clear! I won't be buying a Nokia phone again
Welp, another brand to avoid, that makes... pretty much all of them.
Out of curiosity, what was wrong with your Nokias? I'd never heard of any other issues besides the USB-C port on the 5.1.
The 3.1 started to become incredibly slow once I installed at the latest updates. If it's factory reset then it runs fine. The worst offender on that phone was turning the Wifi on and off. Turning it on (after all updates are installed) causes the phone to freeze for 10-20 seconds.
On the 5.1 the keyboard stops responding to every other key press at times. That's been my only gripe so far to be honest but it's incredibly frustrating.
I've been happy with my pixel. As much as it might be not ideal if you don't want to support Google, ironically it's like the only phone you can de-google and still have a locked bootloader and full features
Doesn't that invalidate safety net?
Sorry I'm not 100% sure what your asking. If you're asking about custom roms, I'd trust many custom roms (Graphene is my favorite) better than a lot of manufacturers's roms. And a bootloader that can be re-locked is a big boost to security, since it requires that the OS be signed by the devs instead of making it easier for malicious code to be shimmed in and run at the OS level even if I install a custom operating system.
SafetyNet is the name of Google's tamper protection thingy. Basically, if it's not a trusted chain, safety net won't pass.
This doesn't impact phone functionality, but some apps check for this and refuse to work if it's not passing. Google Pay is one of the more well-known examples. Some other banking apps will also check for it. Oddly enough, Pokemon Go also used to (not sure if it still does).
Ah, sorry, yeah potentially. I've heard that banking apps won't work most of the time (but usually just use the web any way so can't confirm). Though oddly if you wanted to use Google Play on Grapheme it works perfectly fine, so maybe not.
Sony Xperia
Have a look at Gigaset aka the Siemens branch that built all those DECT phones aka not Siemens mobile (which was a complete joke and failure). Not part of Siemens any more, anyway. Never really top of the line but also comparatively inexpensive (not as much as China phones but still), and most importantly: Replaceable battery. Always had them, even before the new EU regulation (which isn't even in force yet). Not really that popular in the mainstream market but definitely among builders etc. who want a rugged phone, they're quite successful in that niche.
Not the OP, but I went with Moto instead. They're slim, with minimal junk (2-3 Moto utility apps that aren't terrible, no Facebook or similar), they work as well as my Samsung phones (if not better), and my first one outlasted the network it was running on (AT&T older G-series network).
I think OnePlus, Motorola or Pixel but really you'd have to check reviews since any phone of including this shit if they wanted. Networks do it too so it is important to buy a SIM free phone if possible as the first precaution.
A refurbished Pixel or older refurbished OnePlus, they have great third party software support so you can just throw Lineage or /e/OS on there and never worry about crappy software and/or bloatware again!
I installed e/OS/ on my Samsung s8+, best decision of my smartphone user life. Fast os, no ads, no crapware, no tracking, no preinstalled bullshit
Does "visual voicemail" still work when using e/OS/? I bought an unlocked Samsung a few years ago, but it's apparently an issue to get visual voicemail working. Not sure if it's only an ATT problem, (like they're just being dicks about me not buying my phone through them), but I gave up cause it wasn't worth my time. I just don't really check my voicemail anymore cause I'm too lazy to call it, but I wouldn't mind having it back if it's a quick fix
Whatever is most popular under $200. Unless you game or use your phone to take photos a lot, it will do just fine, there's not much to be added to justify any additional costs. Ironically, most phones in that category would be Samsungs.
But a more expensive phone will last you longer until it gets completely outdated because of its' performance, therefore you replace it less often and generate less e-waste.
I know that person said Apple (6-7 years of software updates!) is out of the question, but nearly all higher-end Androids get good custom ROM support and can be kept running for years after the OEM stops supporting it.
For just under $200 (in my country anyway - we have 20% sales tax, you might get something better in the US for the same money) I can get a Galaxy A14 with a Mediatek MT6769, a SoC built on an ancient 12nm node, which might be cheap, but will have much less performance per watt than a 7 or 8 series Snapdragon on a 4nm node.
I've had several phones under $200 over the years. One thing's been common. The stuff that sucks is the stuff that's not clear from the specs. It's the fact that something or the other just doesn't work that well. I've had bad proximity sensors, bad gps, rather poor ram management (still there on my more expensive Samsung). It's not the chip or the cameras that bother me, it's the stuff like the quality of the sensors, wifi, bluetooth etc. After my last $200 phone, I bought a Samsung galaxy s20 FE 1.5 years after it launched. Soooooo much better than anything I've had in terms of consistency and not letting me down on the daily. So my motto is going to be old flagship, rather than new mid-ranger. And if I can afford it, new flagship I guess.
The expensive models also have ad/crapware, don't forget about that fun feature
You shouldn't have to do this if course, but if you want to remove all the shit they put on phones it's very easy and safe to use ADB. XDA usually has a list of the things that are safe to remove and there are tutorials online.
I didn't know about the adware but I know they bundle a lot of duplicate shit in the deluded belief that people want to use Samsung's payment system, or appstore or any of the other parallel universe junk that just stinks up the phone.