cross-posted from: https://lemy.lol/post/1519899
EDITED: As I am not in a rush, I’ve decided that my budget is now $500.
I am picky about the features I look for in a smartphone. Hopefully this post can be a good resource for myself and others who have similar preferences. For reference, I am using a Oneplus 7 Pro with a non-functional camera and flashlight.
Very important features
Battery life
It should handle a day’s worth of general usage before charging. Heat kills batteries, so decent heat dissipation is important too.
Durability or repairability
I recently bought a Google Pixel 5a, a phone I greatly enjoyed before I dropped it 5 feet and the display decided its work was done. My top priority is to have a useable device for ~5 years before needing an upgrade.
Storage
I like storing my music collection (30 GB and growing) and expandable storage would save me from having to carry a DAP (mp3 player). Without expandable storage it should have 256 GB storage.
Price
Electronics aren’t meant to last a long time; I’d prefer devices costing ~300 USD, but I would gladly pay a little more for reliability.
Microphone
Please let me be intelligible on phone calls. Please? Pretty please?
Software updates or custom ROM support
OS updates for 3+ years or resources on XDA for flashing a custom ROM. Ideally LineageOS.
Would be nice
Root capability
It’s a bit dated nowadays, but I really do appreciate having that extra bit of control. This also ties into custom ROM support.
Fingerprint Sensor
I loved the dedicated fingerprint sensor on my Pixel 5a. Power button fingerprints are worse, but better than nothing. Typing in my passcode every time is a bit of a pain.
Speakers
Preferably dual front facing stereo speakers. Having some decent output for videos when I don’t have anything else with me would be nice.
OLED/AMOLED display
Makes stuff WAY easier to see when the sun’s all sunny.
Processing power
I don’t play phone games. I watch a lot of media and I message people. Must be capable of simultaneously running muliple apps and background services.
IPA ratings
It’d be pretty sick if I could bring it with me in the shower without worrying about water damage.
Fast charging
Won’t always use it, but it’d be great to have.
Cutting corners
Screen resolution
I don’t need a 4K display. Hell, I don’t need a 1080p display. If it cuts costs, 720p is just fine so long as it looks okay.
Size
It can be big or small, thick or thin. Not picky.
Other features I don’t need
Headphone jack, NFC, 5G, wireless charging
The phones I am looking at right now are as follows
- Sony Xperia 10 V - No custom ROM support, long term durability is unclear.
- Fairphone 4 - Slightly out of price range.
- Samsung Galaxy XCover6 Pro - Way out of price range. I would appreciate any input or questions.
I think your best bet might still be a pixel (probably a-line), since that would be the path of least resistance for software support and custom rom development/rootability. Another fun option is ASUS with great price/performance and a huge battery (I think it’s fairly repairable too?), but it doesn’t seem there’s a community for custom roms. Here’s the main possibilities and downsides as I see them:
Pixel: a little pricey, not great price/performance, not sure on repairability, weird issues with extra sw features apparently getting worse over time
Samsung: forget about custom roms, again not great price/performance at your price range, repairability okay but not good
Fairphone: bad performance, I don’t believe there’s any water resistance and build quality would be a concern for me, unsure about software support but I’d expect good custom rom community
Sony: not a large user base, so I’d assume there won’t be custom roms. I think Sony hasn’t committed to the same software support as other big names. I’d be worried about availability of replacement parts for repairs
ASUS zenfone: out of your price range. Bad track record for sw support
You grasped what I was trying to convey well and I appreciate that. I will definitely look into the Zenfone as far as repairability goes, since I think that a repairable phone with a few years of android updates might be what I need. Thank you for your input.
Software support, basically ASUS doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to updating phones to the newest versions of Android (although they might be getting better at this). I would only expect 1 or 2 Android version updates if I were buying a zenfone (and probably to get those significantly later than Google and Samsung phones), and it would be a good idea to double check on how long they’re committing to security updates for the phone you’re eying
