Whichever ones allow bootloader unlocking, make it not a PITA to unlock, and are generally developer friendly (or at least not antagonistic to developers).
For a while that was Motorola, but I’ve read recently less models are allowed to be unlocked. OnePlus is also pretty good about unlocking the bootloader.
Just checked their website, all 2024 models are unlockable.
Pixels are nice because of their hardware secure element and great Verified boot support, even with a custom OS. And those new Pixel 9’s are really fire 🔥
I’m in the Samsung boat currently and was considering Pixel but with Google being, you know, Google, I was more recently considering OnePlus, the Open in particular.
Any other considerations to sway me either way?
“Just whatever makes sense”
I’d guess OnePlus. Been a while since I bought my current Samsung, but I miss their better interface and battery saving often.
Though it truly is a shame that they started putting the fingerprint sensors under the screen, too. The meh sensor on the Samsung is possibly my biggest irritant. But reportedly at least the OnePlus one is better.
Samsung. I love the foldables but I buy the older refurbished ones. I’m not paying $2,000. for a fuckin phone!
I used to be a Samsung fan, but they started coming 75% full of bloatware, so I tried the first Pixel when it came out. I’ve bought nothing but Pixels since then.
they must have changed a lot since i had one… didn’t have a gallery app, forced me to use the cloud storage, no secure folder, and it smashed to smithereens the first time i dropped it on a sidewalk. it was completely trashed. i am clumsy and drop phones often, and never had that experience before or since
Fairphone, as their hardware is comparable to other phones, while still supporting many custom ROMs. And they’re very repairable.
Okay so not specifically to do with smartphones but Nokia was the most innovative and creative designer of cell phones altogether, until they made the unfortunate mistake of going all-in with Windows Phone with the Lumia. They should have been smart enough to see that like almost everything MS does, it was doomed from the start. It was their downfall :-( So sad because they made some of the most gorgeous phones in the world.
I have a modest collection of Nokia phones and I’d like one day to have one of everything they made.
Smartphones nowadays are just catalysts to exploitation. There’s no more innovation they’re just cramming more things they can claim as “features” without really making any substantial innovation anymore. There are a handful of gems here and there but they’re really spread evenly across the gamut of brands. Also there are so many more smartphones with cool designs and functionality that are just not available in the U.S.A. I don’t really understand why, other than the big names wanting to keep the market stuck to the same handful of gigantic bricks that refuse the idea of any flavor or character. Maybe they lobby to keep affordable and innovative designs out of the U.S. market so they can keep peddling their mediocrity forever.
I loved my Nexus 4. I also liked my Nexus 5X a lot, although it had debilitating hardware faults and eventually destroyed itself.
Nexus 5X still going strong!
(though it did need some hacking to keep it alive)
Huawei. Oppo is also very good
I hate them all, but I hate some less like Motorola.
This feels like the correct answer.
Motorola and a couple others feel like at least they haven’t jumped on the “let’s charge them whatever the hell we can get away with” train. They’re still relatively inexpensive and are essentially just as capable and nice as the Samsungs and the Apples of the world. Hell, I get far more comments on my Motorola Edge 2023 with it’s textured faux leather back than others get with the latest Sammy or Apple identical square.
It feels like these smaller producers are able to take a few more risks in design.
Don’t you only get three years of security updates with that phone?
Sadly yes. That’s the drawback. But its balanced by the fact that its pretty easy to find good custom ROMs after it ends its software lifespan
I have the same phone, but don’t really have any clue what any of this means. If you’re up for it I wouldn’t mind an ELI5 on this so that I have at least an idea of what it means or what to look up. If you’re not up for the ELI5 I still appreciate what you put out there
Oh, that changes things, yes. Good point. I would need those custom ROMs to be keeping up with security updates, though.
Google–not really a fan of the company, but the Pixels have been solid for me. The cameras have always been great, and weirdly, the bootloader has always been easy to unlock (I’m running LineageOS on my Pixel 7), so you can still get some modicum of privacy if you like.
Can you run banking apps and stuff on that os?
My banking app is fine on it. It won’t run Microsoft Authenticator, but if my company wants me available, they can buy me a separate phone.
Weird. GrapheneOS will run ms authenticator, but not some banking apps
Google Pixel because of GrapheneOS
i also really like Fairphone. In a perfect world the fairphones would have the same or equivalent security chip as the Pixels. I’d really prefer to buy a european smartphone due to privacy and install GrapheneOS.
GrapheneOS is a must for me.
BlackBerry, tho I jumped to that sinking ship pretty late with the Z10 and Z30, the BB OS10 was the best freaking OS I have ever witnessed and used on a smartphone.
