General Smartphone Discussion Thread - What phones to recommend and which ones to avoid?

[Betonhaus]

For the past year and a half I've had a Motorola RAZR Plus (2022), which I had found to be an excellent phone. Relatively inexpensive while having decent specs, and the folding ability makes it nice and compact and easily pocketable. However with my work I've found that metal shavings get in my pocket, which collects on the magnets on the corners of the screen and is slowly scratching it. I don't think I'll be able to continue using folding phones, especially as I'm starting to see some hairline scratches and cracks at the folding point that may suddenly kill the screen any day.

I don't really know what phone I'll replace it with. I loved my old Huawei P20 but haven't found what the same level of quality and pricing, and the amazing Blackberry Z30 is long dead. Right now I'm looking at the Lenovo ThinkPhone which is similar specs to my phone but doesn't fold and would be inexpensive when on sale, but it's a little dated by now as there isn't a second version coming.

What phones do you recommend or use?

 

[I'm Retarded?]

I just use the regular Moto G whatever the fuck models. this year's basic model is like $150, the stylus version is $250, the slightly more swag version is $300. they're cheap and reliable, I've been using Motorola phones for going on two decades - not because of any specific brand loyalty, more due to a combination of carrier availability (when I was poor) and compelling price point - and I've never been disappointed. but I also fucking hate smartphones and use them for as little as possible, so YMMV. folding phones are shit, get one of those shockproof phone cases i.e. Unicorn Beetle and clean the dust out of it periodically. your phone will never die.

 

[PovertySprocket]

I just use the regular Moto G whatever the fuck models.

I replaced my first moto G after 5 years because update bloat hogged the meager 8GB of internal storage. The one after that, a Moto5G has been working flawless for the last 4 years.

 

[Brenda Holiday]

So is the technology here already for folding smartphones? I have a cheap basic samsung and will probably never upgrade but I find the folding phones fascinating. I assumed they had a lot of issues though.

 

[I'm Retarded?]

So is the technology here already for folding smartphones? I have a cheap basic samsung and will probably never upgrade but I find the folding phones fascinating. I assumed they had a lot of issues though.

folding phones are a technical nightmare. they're a cheap trick with a huge number of reliability drawbacks. most folding screens literally just damage themselves over time and costs hundreds of dollars to replace, so you're basically locking yourself into either doing that or replacing the phone at some point, like the OP. source: I have a bro who works for a phone repair shop that deals with this shit all the time.

 

[the rat]

Do they still sell 4 inch smartphones or are my only options those stupid fucking chinese rugged pieces of shit?

I fucking hate smartphones so much man I just want to be able to use it with my one hand man like if I wanted a fucking tablet I'd buy a fucking tablet not a fucking phone WHY ARE THEY SO FUCKING HUGE my hands are FUCKING TINY even my now dead Pixel 1 is too fucking huge what the fuck.

Then they make them look like the most ugliest pieces of shit like what????????? Why do we need notches???? They look fucking UGLY just copy the S9 design and use a tiny bezel I DON'T GIVE A SHIT that you can't really see them with an OLED screen it's fucking stupid and I hate it FUCK YOU and do not get me fucking started on the ZERO features they ship with now because batteries are like IEDs or something and SD CARDS GAY CLOUD STORAGE IS DAH FUETAH and headphone jacks are so 2005.

Fuck phones they're all gay now I fucking hate them.

 

[User names must be unique]

I've have a one+ nord 2, three years old now, it's the most expensive phone I've ever bought at £350 (bought unlocked fuck contracts) and in retrospect it wasn't worth it. It's pretty good but it's not £200 better than a more budget phone imo.

I now think mid-range phones are a retard trap/Goldilocks pricing

 

[Not A Cat Person]

I tried the Google Pixel and got burned on it. Apparently they sold multiple versions with known defects, to the point they were served with a class action lawsuit for one and put out an extended warranty for another, to avoid another lawsuit. Mine had the same problem but they wouldn't do anything about it and some Indian Pixel support person told me to kindly do the needful and go fuck myself when I complained.

I don't need a whole lot. I just want a phone that's not severely bloated, that'll last a long time. Ideally one that won't cost a thousand dollars and lock me into their walled Apple garden.

 

[⚞⛇⚟]

Do they still sell 4 inch smartphones or are my only options those stupid fucking chinese rugged pieces of shit?

I fucking hate smartphones so much man I just want to be able to use it with my one hand man like if I wanted a fucking tablet I'd buy a fucking tablet not a fucking phone WHY ARE THEY SO FUCKING HUGE my hands are FUCKING TINY even my now dead Pixel 1 is too fucking huge what the fuck.

Then they make them look like the most ugliest pieces of shit like what????????? Why do we need notches???? They look fucking UGLY just copy the S9 design and use a tiny bezel I DON'T GIVE A SHIT that you can't really see them with an OLED screen it's fucking stupid and I hate it FUCK YOU and do not get me fucking started on the ZERO features they ship with now because batteries are like IEDs or something and SD CARDS GAY CLOUD STORAGE IS DAH FUETAH and headphone jacks are so 2005.

Fuck phones they're all gay now I fucking hate them.

Off the top of my head, the most recent small phones that aren't weird rugged phones are:

• Rakuten Phone
• Balmuda Phone
• Oppo Find N2
• Sony XZ1 Compact
• iPhone 13 mini

There might be a few small phones that I missed (the website I use to find them is phonedb.net), but most small phones are old and from overseas. Personally, all of the small phones I got broke so I gave up and got some weird phone that was cheap and looked interesting. Right now I am hoping that because no one is buying Sony phones, they will make a phone with a sub 5 inch body and a 4.0-4.6 inch screen, but that probably won't happen because Sony is allergic to making money.
Also, something that makes me MATI is when someone refers to the ASUS zenphone or the Samsung Galaxy base edition as a small phone. Anything over 135mm is giant.

 

[Pee Cola]

I just use the regular Moto G whatever the fuck models. this year's basic model is like $150, the stylus version is $250, the slightly more swag version is $300. they're cheap and reliable,

I replaced my first moto G after 5 years because update bloat hogged the meager 8GB of internal storage. The one after that, a Moto5G has been working flawless for the last 4 years.

Every Moto G I've ever used has died just outside warranty, usually with a whole bunch of ghost touch problems on the way. I gave up after the G6. Motorola used to make great phones, but imo Lenovo enshittified Motorola so hard that there's no way they'll even win me back as a customer.

Either I'm very cursed or people ITT have been extremely blessed.

I tried the Google Pixel and got burned on it. Apparently they sold multiple versions with known defects, to the point they were served with a class action lawsuit for one and put out an extended warranty for another, to avoid another lawsuit.

Google appears to have cleaned up their act. I bought Pixel 7a to replace an ageing ASUS Zenfone 3 that still works but got killed off as a phone when my country's 3G network shut down last year, reflashed it with LineageOS taking all the Google crapware with it, and I've had a great experience with it.

Whether it'll last as long as my trusty old Zenfone 3 is another story, and I won't have the answer to that until 2030.

 

[Betonhaus]

So is the technology here already for folding smartphones? I have a cheap basic samsung and will probably never upgrade but I find the folding phones fascinating. I assumed they had a lot of issues though.

I can guarantee it will last fine for a couple years if you have an office job. But if you regularly work in a dusty or dirty environment the crap may eventually end up in the hinge. So far mine has been running fine after a year and a half, but I got these parallel hairline scratches at the folding part that are visible when the screen is off. It is a pain getting a case to fit on it as you basically need adhesive to keep them on, and if they start to work their way off you get pockets on the corners that can collect crap.

As it is it still runs fine and the scratches doesn't affect the screen in any visible way, but I am concerned to the point that I need to keep a replacement model in mind so that if it does suddenly die I know exactly what to get and can get it right away.

I did want the ThinkPhone as it looked really, really nice but it seems to be discontinued.

Maybe I'll get one of those phones with a massive battery off AliExpress, but I would still like wireless charging and a processor at least as powerful as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 in my RAZR.

 

[the rat]

Off the top of my head, the most recent small phones that aren't weird rugged phones are:

• Rakuten Phone
• Balmuda Phone
• Oppo Find N2
• Sony XZ1 Compact
• iPhone 13 mini

There might be a few small phones that I missed (the website I use to find them is phonedb.net), but most small phones are old and from overseas. Personally, all of the small phones I got broke so I gave up and got some weird phone that was cheap and looked interesting. Right now I am hoping that because no one is buying Sony phones, they will make a phone with a sub 5 inch body and a 4.0-4.6 inch screen, but that probably won't happen because Sony is allergic to making money.
Also, something that makes me MATI is when someone refers to the ASUS zenphone or the Samsung Galaxy base edition as a small phone. Anything over 135mm is giant.

I'd probably get the Sony but Jesus, 4.6 inches is still massive to me. I wish they still made something the size of the iPhone 4 (3.5 inches) as that thing fit my hand perfectly unlike the iPhone 5 that came after and my S3 mini.

to the point they were served with a class action lawsuit for one and put out an extended warranty for another, to avoid another lawsuit.

Was that not the Nexus 5x and 6p? I recall them having issues with boot-looping and getting taken to court over it (or was that LG? It was their chips that were at fault and their own phones had the same issue during the same time period). My Pixel 1 did die from boot-looping but I don't remember it being as common as it was with the 5x but who knows.

 

[Lord Xenu]

I wish they still made something the size of the iPhone 4 (3.5 inches)

The first Unihertz Jelly was well received by people looking for a small phone. IIRC the main complaint was about memory. They have a newer model, with 8gb/256 though.

 

[#lurker]

Perfect timing for the thread, I'm needing a new phone. All I want is a non bloated phone that does the basics at a competent level - call, text, browser, camera - with a good battery life, is sturdy enough that it can take light beatings, and doesn't break the budget.

Does such a thing exist?

I was possibly thinking of buying anything that will support LineageOS, which I've used and enjoyed. But I really don't want to fuck around, I just want to buy a phone and be done with it.

 

[Betonhaus]

Honestly I need to sit down and do like an hour of research because there are a lot of shitty phones mixed in with the good ones. Motorola seems good at making phones that are boring but solid, avoiding expensive and fancy but useless features for higher quality additions like a bigger battery or a slightly stronger frame.

 

[Michael McDoesntexist]

I just want a few things when my current secondhand Samsung Galaxy S20 FE dies:

Expandable storage via a microSD card slot (requirement)

User serviceable battery

3.5mm audio port

Unlockable bootloader and support for an OS that isn't riddled with Google slop or at least let's me segregate it like GrapheneOS used to (Pixels are fragile and lack expandable storage, Plus GrapheneOS got infested with troons IIRC)

Used to be common 15 years ago. Even my old Samsung Galaxy Avant had most of that. I had 2 Pixels, but both were lost due to shitty hardware (1 was actually killed by a shitty "authorized" repair, fuck 1st party phone repairs). I'd like to have an idea of what to get before my Galaxy dies. I thought about the Fairphone 4 or 5 with their modular designs for ease of repair and I believe the bootloaders are unlockable by default. Don't know of any other good new ones, the alternative is a cheap used phone with LineageOS.

 

[Womble of Wimbledon]

I had a cheap Moto for a couple of years but it started having some annoying quirks like disconnecting from Wi-Fi and not taking photos properly which would require a reboot. It still worked but it was irritating having to reboot it and on top of that the camera was awful.

I got a Pixel 8 on the second hand market and put GrapheneOS on it, happy as can be so far. It's a shame that smartphones are such boring things at the end of the day because they are a big investment.

 

[EllenDrawsRapeOfHerHaters]

It depends on what you use it for. Don't get a folding phone. Don't get a phone off AliExpress. An iphone is boring but serviceable. Android has more customization.

 

[a hapless toad]

I loved my Moto X4 (which was a trade in for an early Pixel that was too big) and happily used it for nearly 7 years until the USB port stopped working one day. Perfect size, rugged as fuck. I hate cases and I'm also clumsy and that phone didn't have a scratch.

Replaced it with a shit REVL as a stopgap and then got a Pixel 7a, which I stupidly used without a case and that hubris fucked me in November when I dropped it and it landed on a tile floor in the exact right way to shatter the screen.

Replaced that with a refurbed Pixel 8 Pro (and yes I am using a case and screen protector despite the 8 Pro having higher quality Gorilla Glass) because I found a great deal and I wanted the upgraded cameras.

That said: both Pixels are slightly too large to comfortably use one handed. The 7a has abysmal battery life AND it charges slower to boot. I prefer the 8 Pro despite the slightly larger dimensions (made even bigger due to the case) because the battery life is good (but not great, but I didn't expect greatness), it charges quickly, the screen is excellent, and it's decently fast. Haven't put the cameras through their paces yet but they're a definite improvement over the 7a.

And I haven't used an iPhone since the 5s and I've never used a Samsung phone bc I am cheap (although I'm posting this on a Galaxy tablet, which is mid). I do miss the size of those iPhones though.

 

[Not A Cat Person]

Google appears to have cleaned up their act.

I don't care. They fucked me once, I'm not buying another Pixel.