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.
  • Mitch404@lemm.ee
    2·
    1 year ago

    Hey OP ! I’m digging this back up, I found a smartphone that might interest you (with a few caveats) : The Nokia G42.

    It’s an interesting one ! Built to be durable and reparable. It’s a smartphone, but Nokia worked with iFixIt to design this model; you can remove the back cover to “easily” change the battery, the USB-C port and the screen. It has a headphone jack (even if you don’t care), a decent screen (90Hz, 720p though), has expendable storage to 1To, approximately 2 days of battery life (Nokia claims 3 days), it’s “cheap” (can be found where I leave to around 230 euros) and has take decent photos (for its price). Not sure about rooting this one though !

    The main issues from my point of view are updates (3 years of security update is OK, but 2 years of guaranteed Android updates is short), and the processor, which is quite weak. Not sure how it will perform in newer version of Android.

    • inconspicuouscolon@lemy.lolOP
      2·
      1 year ago

      Wow. Nokia is fulfilling prayers now apparently.

      In seriousness, this is a very promising device. I’ll likely wait a bit after release before pulling the trigger on this phone, but honestly it’s probably what I’m going to go with. As far as rooting goes, I suppose that’s up to the XDA community to decide. The 2 year android updates is pretty short, I agree. But for the price, I think that it would be a good option regardless.

      Thanks for following up on this as well!

  • Goopadrew@beehaw.org
    0·
    1 year ago

    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