Android Phone Recs

[tehpope]

So I ended up getting a Galaxy A71. Seems like it would be the best investment.

I did have a Realme 5 Pro on hand to try out with. Bought it for a portable Emulation device. Is great for that. Not that great of a phone in the US. At least my carrier. It doesn't support any of the 2 & 4g bands my carrier uses. Looked into the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9s and seems to have similar issues. Was going to bite the bullet and get that last night. But the a71 seems to have very similar specs, but is 1) made by a non-chinese company 2) compatible with all 4g bands my carrier uses. Actually, the a71 uses a Snapdragon 730 instead of a 720 on the Note 9s. Same GPU though. Did get the 6gb ram varient.

So I'll update you guys on my thoughts after I use it a bit.

 

[Dorsia.Reservation]

So I ended up getting a Galaxy A71. Seems like it would be the best investment.

I did have a Realme 5 Pro on hand to try out with. Bought it for a portable Emulation device. Is great for that. Not that great of a phone in the US. At least my carrier. It doesn't support any of the 2 & 4g bands my carrier uses. Looked into the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9s and seems to have similar issues. Was going to bite the bullet and get that last night. But the a71 seems to have very similar specs, but is 1) made by a non-chinese company 2) compatible with all 4g bands my carrier uses. Actually, the a71 uses a Snapdragon 730 instead of a 720 on the Note 9s. Same GPU though. Did get the 6gb ram varient.

So I'll update you guys on my thoughts after I use it a bit.

I would appreciate the update!
I have been looking at both those phones.

My iPhone bit the dust and I grabbed a cheap Samsung Galaxy A01 (under $100) at Dollar General, ended up liking the features more than what I had with iOS and I imagine one of these midrange phones would be even better.

 

[Bond Burger]

So I ended up getting a Galaxy A71. Seems like it would be the best investment.

Great choice,I noticed the thread and was gonna recommend the A71 anyway because I've had it for the past few months and it is a fantastic device especially for a midranger.
If you have any device specific questions,I'd be happy to answer

 

[tehpope]

Got my a71 yesterday. Its really good. I only have 2 nitpick about it. But other than that, great. The size isn't really that notiable. I feel like my Stylo 4, my previous phone, felt bigger. I'm in love with the macro lense of the camera. It looks really good. The regular lens is great too. The camera is so good it made me go out and take photos. I'll probably do a lot more urban exploring and photo taking once the weather cools down. Its not the best camera around, but probably in the top 5 in the price range. I've heard the Pixel line have the best cameras period on Android. Sucks they don't have external storage.

My two nitpicks are the camera zoom is digital and the under the screen fingerprint reader. The latter i'll probably get use to sooner or later. Works well enough. The zoom I really don't have an issue with. The camera lens are big enough you can zoom into things later.

 

[Pissmaster]

My two nitpicks are the camera zoom is digital and the under the screen fingerprint reader. The latter i'll probably get use to sooner or later. Works well enough. The zoom I really don't have an issue with. The camera lens are big enough you can zoom into things later.

Phones that have optical zooming on their cameras have an entire separate lens next to the main camera that's permanently zoomed in. Which leads to some silly designs like that one Nokia phone that looks like a Big Daddy from Bioshock.

 

[Slav Power]

I see you've already decided, but I'd recommend a Samsung Galaxy M21 if you would be able to buy it. I'm really happy with it, it runs pretty acceptable, and has decent enough specs to do what I want. Although it is a budget model mainly aimed for the Indian market and some European countries such as Poland, so I'm not sure if you could buy it in the US.

 

[Maggots on a Train v2]

Phones that have optical zooming on their cameras have an entire separate lens next to the main camera that's permanently zoomed in. Which leads to some silly designs like that one Nokia phone that looks like a Big Daddy from Bioshock.

View attachment 1578717

This array of eyeballs is unsettling. One eyeball? Fine. Two? Fine. Three? Get it fucking away from me now.

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

Redmi 9. All day every day.

I handed down my Samsung Galaxy A10e to family in need and picked this up, I'm quite amazed at this things performance, and even though it's one of their Mediatek devices, I managed to uninstall most of the Xiaomi and Google bloat and replaced most stock apps with Simple Mobile Tools... Probably the closest thing to proper stock without Google dependencies you can get from the Play Store. Loaded up some emulators and other productivity tools and honestly having a manageably huge display can help with that.

 

[tehpope]

Its been 4 months and still using my a71. Really good phone. I've had to reboot it a few times but no major issues. Would totally recommend, unless you want a truly free, private, and/or customizable phone with rooting capabilities. Get a pixel instead.

I'm pretty sure it comes (or mine came) with a screen protector already installed. I'm not too rough with my phone but I already have a few nicks and whatnot. So maybe get some when you buy the phone.

 

[naaaaiiiiillllll!!!]

Sorry to sorta-necro this thread, but I have an ancient iPhone 6S Plus that has served me well, but it's reaching the end of it's life. In the past I had a budget smart phone with Virgin Mobile (when they were still a thing), but back in 2012, switched to (cr)apple iPhone (despite my dislike of the company). I WAS going to upgrade to the iPhone 12 or 13, but I saw and got to use an Android that actually wow'd me, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3:

I used a Samsung Galaxy as a work phone years ago; wasn't impressed (I was used to using iOS). However, I'm ALMOST willing to re-learn my phone GUI for something this intriguing (and having it turn into a tablet to read/shitpost on the farms instead of just a phone would be great). I haven't heard much about foldable screens and if they're worth it or not (none of my tech friends had anything to say about it).

What are your thoughts on foldable phones and are they worth learning a new phone OS?

 

[Gar For Archer]

Sorry to sorta-necro this thread, but I have an ancient iPhone 6S Plus that has served me well, but it's reaching the end of it's life. In the past I had a budget smart phone with Virgin Mobile (when they were still a thing), but back in 2012, switched to (cr)apple iPhone (despite my dislike of the company). I WAS going to upgrade to the iPhone 12 or 13, but I saw and got to use an Android that actually wow'd me, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3:

View attachment 2544558

I used a Samsung Galaxy as a work phone years ago; wasn't impressed (I was used to using iOS). However, I'm ALMOST willing to re-learn my phone GUI for something this intriguing (and having it turn into a tablet to read/shitpost on the farms instead of just a phone would be great). I haven't heard much about foldable screens and if they're worth it or not (none of my tech friends had anything to say about it).

What are your thoughts on foldable phones and are they worth learning a new phone OS?

Right now? Folding phones are a gimmick. You're not really going to get much extra usability out of it, since at the end of the day it's still too small (and incorrectly shaped) to properly replace a tablet for watching videos. The only benefits I can imagine are better web browsing and being able to use two apps side-by-side.

If you have the money to burn and want to try something new, then go ahead. I've definitely been tempted by the folding phones I've seen purely for the novelty, but the prospect of switching back to Android which I haven't used since high school is too much of a hurdle for me to seriously consider.

 

[Kosher Dill]

What are your thoughts on foldable phones

I've never tried one, but everything I've read is along the lines of "THIS time they're not a half-baked, fragile gimmick!" You should still consider yourself a beta tester if you buy one. Whether the risk/reward ratio of that suits your taste is up to you.

 

[Fomo Hoire]

What are your thoughts on foldable phones and are they worth learning a new phone OS?

I don't know how different the foldable phones that fold vertically are, but I heard the ones that fold horizontally are pretty fragile. Appearently they come with a pre-installed "screen protector" that is actually just part of the screen (so if you remove / replace it, you've broken the screen). If you manage to resist the urge to peel the thing off, Whatever material they use to make it fold is too soft and tends to become fugly dead pixels.

As for learning a new phone OS, I don't know what iOS is like, but I imagine you'll be fine if you are willing to dig through personalization section of the Google Play store. Maybe even sideload an app or two, if you're willing to look at alternative app stores and delisted apps. I'm not even sure I'd be able to stand using stock android anymore because I always install an app over the factory default.

E: Fixed Autocorrections

 

[Dell Conagher]

Heres how you find the best phone possible:
Go to this site
select the features you want, if a foldable phone shows up then pick it
???
Profit

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

I'm still using my Redmi 9 without any major stipulation, it's still the largest screen I'm willing to roll with right now. Problem with folding phones is everything but the screen is built to last, the hinge mechanism has improved, but the core of the experience still requires a lot of refinement, making it a blue moon investment.

 

[Kosher Dill]

Lithuania urges people to throw away Chinese phones: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58652249

Xiaomi phones are the ones specifically alleged to glow red. They've issued some strongly worded not-quite-denials of the censorship accusations, which amount to "Right now we're not doing censorship to you, but even if we were, we're just following the law in the countries we sell in."

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

If Android wasn't such a bitch to root now, especially on mediatek chipsets, I'd have more a care to just flash my device. I'm not sure there is a single android phone that is easily accessible that hadn't been compromised from the onset.

 

[Toolbox]

Sorry to sorta-necro this thread, but I have an ancient iPhone 6S Plus that has served me well, but it's reaching the end of it's life. In the past I had a budget smart phone with Virgin Mobile (when they were still a thing), but back in 2012, switched to (cr)apple iPhone (despite my dislike of the company). I WAS going to upgrade to the iPhone 12 or 13, but I saw and got to use an Android that actually wow'd me, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3:

View attachment 2544558

I used a Samsung Galaxy as a work phone years ago; wasn't impressed (I was used to using iOS). However, I'm ALMOST willing to re-learn my phone GUI for something this intriguing (and having it turn into a tablet to read/shitpost on the farms instead of just a phone would be great). I haven't heard much about foldable screens and if they're worth it or not (none of my tech friends had anything to say about it).

What are your thoughts on foldable phones and are they worth learning a new phone OS?

Folding phones are a joke as they currently are and won't be repairable by the user for a long long time. It's just another ploy to further lock you into needing to buy phone replacements sooner while paying more for the device. As far as I've seen there are 0 folding devices that hold up to the build quality of even a passable regular 'flagship' phone. Or their ability to be repaired.

Any use you would get out of the larger screen is negated by these qualities.

 

[No. 7 cat]

Lithuania urges people to throw away Chinese phones: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58652249

Xiaomi phones are the ones specifically alleged to glow red. They've issued some strongly worded not-quite-denials of the censorship accusations, which amount to "Right now we're not doing censorship to you, but even if we were, we're just following the law in the countries we sell in."

If the Chicoms do a cheap phone, Comrade Xi Jinping can spy on me all day. Faraway handoff authoritarians are preferable to nannying alleged democratic politicians.

 

[seri0us]

Lithuania urges people to throw away Chinese phones: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58652249

They should be held responsible for encouraging eWaste. This is an outrage!!