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

[the rat]

An iPhone from 10 years ago is just as serviceable (if not more) than most phones today, including iPhones..
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+6+Plus+Battery+Replacement/29424

You should see how the battery is replaced on an iPhone 4, you unscrew two screws at the bottom then slide the back glass up (no glue) then just remove the battery which is glued down. So fucking easy compared to any iPhone that came before and after. God knows what made Jony Ive design it that way.

Almost everything close to the size of an iPhone 4 these days are chinkshit phones, and avoiding chinkshit pretty much means you're wiping all of your modern options out.

Only one phone on AliExpress matches your requirements: SOYES XS16 PRO.
XS16 Pro, 116 x 49.3 x 13 mm / 4.56 x 1.94 x 0.51 inches
iPhone 4, 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm / 4.5 x 2.31 x 0.37 inches

If you're absolutely A-OK with issues like heat (104 F+), general sluggishness (the MT6762 is slow), Android 9.0 Pie with no updates promised (standard for SOYES), and utter shit cameras (2 fakes at the rear), I think you should be fine with it.

So I'm effectively fucked out of luck. Good to know.

Is the haptic home button on those recent iPhone SEs weird to use? I'm considering getting one at some point but not sure what the button would feel like, not that it's going to dissuade me mind you.

 

[Betonhaus]

I really wish Huawei wasn't banned as the Pura X is exactly what I was looking for in a folding phone.

https://www.huaweicentral.com/huawei-pura-x-launched-a-vertical-foldable-phone-with-1610-widescreen/

 

[redditors]

Is the haptic home button on those recent iPhone SEs weird to use? I'm considering getting one at some point but not sure what the button would feel like, not that it's going to dissuade me mind you.

It isn't for a lot of people I know who have used an iPhone since the 1st generation, but I don't like it that much because it's pretty easy to unintentionally 'press' it. It's probably the only reason why I still hang on to my iPhone 4S and Galaxy S4 Advance, since no one is interested in a small phone + a mechanical home button these days.

 

[Betonhaus]

Huawei came out with the Pura X which is like the perfect form factor for a folding phone. Basically like the Moto RAZR but wider so the inside screen is the perfect ratio for watching videos and is the size of a Kindle's screen making it good for eBooks.

 

[Battlefield42]

Oneplus 6 with LineageOS. Don't need a pleb folding phone that will brick itself if you look at it wrong.

 

[Cardinal Cardinal]

I've been using a Surface Duo 2 for a while but its pretty much dead as far as support.


It's great for most of what I do except take calls.
Holding it to your ear is clunky, awkward, I feel retarded being seen using it that way, and it's hard to hear using the speaker. Car Bluetooth or earpiece is the way to go.
Same for photo or video. The camera is on the right side so pulling up the photo screen on the left causes confusion trying to line a shot up. It also feels like using a tablet to take pictures which is just wrong.

What I DO enjoy is being able to pull up an image or video on the left screen while taking notes or typing on the right. You can do it either way depending on your writing hand. Most apps can be stretched across both screens and I ofter turn it sideways to play a game on the lower screen while watching a video on the top.
Took me a little bit to get used to the dual screen keyboard but it works well.

Despite it's flaws I really like it. Since I mainly text, I'm most dissapointed about taking photos easily.

 

[el_4aba7]

Don't be a faggot, get a Pixel 8 the boot loaders are all unlocked and new ones are dirt cheap. Dead simple to put GrapheneOS on it, if it's good enough for Snowden its good enough for you.

I've been looking for the most reliably rootable phones to buy so I guess it's the pixel line up? Also wish they had removable batteries but you can't have everything. Also a clicky home button.

 

[YautjaWeeb]

I've been looking for the most reliably rootable phones to buy so I guess it's the pixel line up? Also wish they had removable batteries but you can't have everything. Also a clicky home button.

I went through the same thing and wished I didn't waste the time. it's just the way it is now with the developers and modders. Pixel is hassle free, cheap, well supported available everywhere. Not many unlock bros are putting effort into unlocking any other phones anymore unless they are stellar.

Pixel 9 is a capability dud in my eyes but an AI/surveillance victory for the state. That leaves new-in-box Pixel 8 as optimal and can be had for very little money or were when I posted originally. Feature and durability wise they aren't the going to be the greatest but that is the trade off.

 

[Betonhaus]

I find that the Motorola's are probably the closest thing to vanilla AOSP as Samsung puts a bunch of shit in and even Google puts experimental and half-baked changes to their Pixels. Every other brand does weird shit or is really bad at updating

 

[elastic eye]

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

Heard that. I had just about every Nexus and Pixel. Skipped P4/5 because the Pixel 3 XL I had was awesome. Well that POS died at 1 year 3 days old, Google has been pissing me off for years, done with their shit.

Settled on a OnePlus 12 $100 off retail price. Been very happy since.

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

It's great for most of what I do except take calls.

Can't you use something like Google Voice/Textnow?

 

[Cardinal Cardinal]

Can't you use something like Google Voice/Textnow?

Probably, but I'm not sure what you're getting at. You mean rather than pay a phone bill just use it as a wifi device? I'm in the sticks and I depend on my phone as a Hotspot for all my devices. I'm also outside a good amount so although I'm getting gouged my provider has the best coverage in the area.

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

You mean rather than pay a phone bill just use it as a wifi device? I'm in the sticks and I depend on my phone as a Hotspot for all my devices

Yeah, basically. 5G modems are very portable, and you can use your phone internet as a wifi phone. A lot of people who live off the grid in RVs do that. Or if you have the money, Starlink.

 

[Modern Audience]

Exactly how good can a smartphone get? I have an s23 and it works fine and I don't have complaints.

 

[Gatdam Animal Person]

Heard the news of Google soft-killing Android Open Source Project by keeping their contributions on their private branch. AOSP will only serve as a community version with Google sometimes dumping code when it feels like it.

I fear that it might kill or hamper future ROM development, especially for Pixel devices. They're still unlockable, but for how long...

I mostly use my phone for videos and browsing the web, but also for power-user purposes (having multiple VPNs for my home network is great). Dealing with Android's tendency to kill Orbot is also getting old.

I would be very interested in getting a Linux phone, however they're usually under-powered and lack the bells and whistles of a flagship. If they do, they usually cost a kidney or two.

 

[el_4aba7]

That leaves new-in-box Pixel 8 as optimal and can be had for very little money or were when I posted originally. Feature and durability wise they aren't the going to be the greatest but that is the trade off.

Looked at the prices in my country and sadly pixel 4 is the best I can do... That any good? Thinking of trying to root my galaxy J4 by instructions of a russian forum I found cause it's the only one that has kept up to date with it and if I brick it it's gonna be gg. Also can't help but wonder if an alternative to pixels could be better, cause in the end all I really want is SU to use termux and a bunch of other apps more liberally.

 

[GNU Abyss]

Heard the news of Google soft-killing Android Open Source Project by keeping their contributions on their private branch. AOSP will only serve as a community version with Google sometimes dumping code when it feels like it.

I fear that it might kill or hamper future ROM development, especially for Pixel devices. They're still unlockable, but for how long...

I mostly use my phone for videos and browsing the web, but also for power-user purposes (having multiple VPNs for my home network is great). Dealing with Android's tendency to kill Orbot is also getting old.

I would be very interested in getting a Linux phone, however they're usually under-powered and lack the bells and whistles of a flagship. If they do, they usually cost a kidney or two.

I read about this as well. The near future seems to be safe at least, they said that major AOSP releases are still going to be open sourced. Drivers and bootloaders are the real roadblock to custom ROMs. Pixel phones are one of the very few models that have drivers easily available in the Linux kernel and also have a bootloader that allows you to re-lock your phone with a non-stock ROM.

This is why, schizophrenia and security autism aside, GrapheneOS targets Pixels only. Anything else you can get with, say, LineageOS, even if well-supported, has little room for kernel upgrades with the drivers still working. Re-locking is in an even worse shape. The defunct DivestOS website used to have a feature table that tracked this. Basically, it was: super expensive FOSS phones, really old models, a couple of OnePlus phones and Pixels.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

Android pushed a new update today, and I fucking hate it.

Not only are they now pushing Gemini, Galaxy AI, and Pintrest on everyone, but OneUI also changed to where things are now dark when they werent (volume slider, for example), and the panel settings when you swipe down has defaulted to separate rather than together. You have to go into the panel settings to switch it back to together to get back the little icons you used to have when you swipe down.

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

Whoever decided to make the new update for One UI be a flaming pile of shit deserves to be flogged. It's ridiculous.

 

[Betonhaus]

I'm still happy with my moto razr. the 2025 edition comes out on the 15th and i kinda want it but I'll see what the offers look like first as i can wait.