I accidentally posted this to [email protected] before I noticed the sidebar said to ask buying suggestion questions here:
I’m looking to replace my failing phone. I don’t need fancy hardware in terms of camera, high storage, any crazy screen technology or the like. I don’t need a large sized phone, in fact I’d prefer something on the smaller side. I need it to be either bloatware/spyware-free on arrival, or easily de-bloated (permanently). I am thinking that instead of running stock Android I’d probably try either LineageOS or /e/OS anyway, so that might solve the bloatware issue.
My most important factors to consider are:
- Price
- Battery life
- Headphone jack
- De-bloated or de-bloat-able
I haven’t been in the phone market for years and have not payed much attention to phone developments, so I’m kind of at a loss of where to start. What I’ve done so far is looked at the LineageOS supported devices, and it seems some of the lower-end Motorola phones might be the best fit for me. I looked at some of the higher-end phones that aren’t the newest generation as well, but there it seems like I may run the risk of not getting (security) updates for much longer, versus buying a newer lower-end phone.
Also: can carriers force push install apps if you’re running something other than stock Android? For example, if I use LineageOS can I prevent a carrier from pushing an app installation (even by SIM)?
Asus Zen phone 10 could be the phone that suits you.
It’s nice size-wise and probably spec-wise, but it’s priced on the high-end, seemingly barely cheaper than flagship Samsung galaxy phones.
Thats because it is a flagship. Only Asus and Sony offer a headphone Jack right now. Check out the zenfone 9, which should see a price drop soon. The 10 has a cool feature where you can choose stock or Asus features. Not sure if the 9 will get that.
If you are outside the US you could considered the Xperia 10 V.
Right. I thought I was clear that price was a key factor and that I don’t need flagship-features.
Is it really the case that only Asus and Sony have headphone jacks? If so, that limits my options severely.
Pretty much for mainstream brands yes. A few niche manufacturers like unihertz still do as well.
Motorola G72 is what I recommend to everyone these days.
Interesting device, checks a lot of the boxes indeed
Samsung galaxy s10e. Business phones often have the lower tear reasonablr hardware specs and better form factors.
I live in Europe so I don’t know availability in your region, but based on your requirements the perfect match is Sony Xperia 10 series. The latest is the Xperia 10v, although Sony also sells the 10iv and 10iii (my phone) at reduced prices.
If your budget is bigger look at the Xperia 5iv or the upcoming 5v.
These phones are compact, beautifully designed, very comfortable to hold, fast, light UI, have great cameras, headphone jack, SD card slots and full waterproofing. Plus at just 6" the 10v is one of the most compact phones on the market.
They have a 21:9 screen which means its narrower than other phones and a bit taller, but not much, making it super easy to hold and pocket.
Really, really nice phones.
Also I’ve emailed their support with bug reports and feature suggestions and they always reply and forward them to the Devs, so they are very customer focused.
Plus they typically allow easy bootloader unlock so you can often try other ROMs as well.
if you can tolerate a USB c to 3.5 for headphone, example: https://a.aliexpress.com/_mtrC0vw
Or with charge passthrough: https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLY3QHa
(Also available for like 4x price on Amazon)
Then one of the pixel 7 devices, if not then a pixel 6. The a models are generally not significantly worse if at all, but have only the lower storage capacity options. No micro SD if you need that. (I really want this in every phone) I have the 7a.
The main detail though is installing grapheneos. This is your debloat and privacy method. You use a computer or even another phone with a relatively up to date chromium based browser to use their web installer which walks you through unlocking, flashing, and re locking.
By default it is de-googled but you can install Google services sandboxed via the “apps” app which also keeps the stock browser, pdf viewer, and camera up to date. Banking apps may need “exploit protection compatibility mode” which is in per app settings.
I also use rootless jamesdsp with shizuku and Spotify remove capture restriction patch from revanced manager for per device eq settings. Which is great for tweaking sound quality to your liking.
Battery life is good enough for me. I charge generally only when I go to sleep. I can get through Spotify for my whole shift on Bluetooth with the jamesdsp setup running. I got a case with the copycat magsafe ring and use wireless charging mostly and plug the USB c with a port protector. I also have a magnet gooseneck to hold the phone for emulators with bt controllers. This sometimes requires an additional charging session but only if I game for longer than I should.
Security updates are minimum 5 years from release date according to their site. Older pixels as far as 4 are still installable but 4 series is considered end of life.
Thanks for the detailed response!
I hadn’t even considered an adapter for the wired headphones, but that is certainly satisfactory because when I’m using my wired headphones I’m stationary anyway. The Pixel 7a looks really good actually. 128GB is probably enough without an SD card for me but I admit the flexibility of an SD card would be a big plus.
By default it is de-googled but you can install Google services sandboxed via the “apps” app which also keeps the stock browser, pdf viewer, and camera up to date. Banking apps may need “exploit protection compatibility mode” which is in per app settings.
Is it possible to completely avoid any google service and app? I don’t use any of their services willingly, and do not want any of their apps installed. And I couldn’t tell from how you said it, will banking apps work without google services installed?
Google services are totally optional and it downloads them only if you choose to install them. I actually have a separate user profile from the main one with it installed just for the odd app that actually has it as a hard requirement. Secondary profiles are also easy to just wipe when you don’t need them any more and you can checkbox install any app already on your main profile to them.
I haven’t heard of banking apps entirely not working when I was researching this phone choice. Basically if it doesn’t work right after installing it, you long press the icon, hit app info, scroll down and enable exploit protection compatibility. Mine needed this but has had no issues other than that.
You also don’t get root but that’s a security hole anyways. The one thing I wish you could do is copy libjni_latinimegoogle.so from the Google keyboard to the system lib/lib64 folders to get swipe typing on the stock keyboard which has worked for me on my previous phones. I’m currently using Gboard with all the permissions disabled in app settings and hopefully that’s good enough.
Graphene also has the built in OS updating you would expect of any stock rom which is nice since I had been manually updating custom roms for years now.
Pixel phones are a great choice if u have further options of modifying it with custom roms like graphene or calyx os. Pixel 7a is good enough for a midrange spec phone.
