Has replaceable battery, ARM64 architecture, sim card slot, USB OTG support, sd card slot, uab type c and no front camera. Ships to europe. Also, I don’t want most of the budget to go for the camera.
minimum: • decent charging and internet send/recieve speed • multi-touch • android 8 or 9 • no annoying bloatware and restrictions (unless can be disabled with ADB) • 2gb ram (1gb free average or less) • 16gb storage (max 8gb system usage) • 60hz refresh rate • 16:9 aspect ratio • screen that can be dimmed to very very dark • can emulate nds games at 50-60fps • very long battery life (8 hours wih airplane mode off) • Runs well 8 years
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I’ve read your replies in here. Some of your requests are misguided. You want Android 8 or 9 because anything newer will come with “more garbage”? That simply isn’t true, and there are a plethora of useful features that only arrived in Android 12 onwards.
Any bloatware can be dealt with, any animations you deem superfluous can be disabled, you can change out the launcher for something with zero bloat like Lynx.
You simply won’t find anything half reasonable to use that doesn’t have a front camera. Stick some tape over it if you are worried.
Ignoring the rest, the best deal you will find somewhere within that price range is a Galaxy S20 FE 5G.
I just bought two brand new units for my parents on ebay for $370AUD which = $250 USD.
This was the last flagship (or flagship adjacent) Samsung with a MicroSD slot. Samsung is well catered for by most of the debloating scripts around github via ADB or you can apply root method and get it clean as a whistle.
SOC is a Snapdragon 865, it supports 5G global bands really well, the cameras kick arse but aren’t crazy (12MP), it has a really great wide-angle sensor too. It’s got a higher refresh rate but low resolution, so the sizeable battery leads to an extremely generous use time. Multiple days for someone like you.
Honestly I’m not sure why’d you’d like to spend $200 on an absolute piece of junk as per your specs when you could spend $250 on a new in-box device that will blow your socks off.
Excuse me sir, are you living in the past?
I don’t store that much data on my phone. I rathee play games on a pc. Less risk for me
2 GB RAM will seriously hamper usability with modern (admittedly often bloated) apps, many of which may not even run on Android 8 or 9. No system will leave 1 GB free on average. Why should it? What good is RAM if it isn’t used?
Your best bet is to get a pixel 6a and flash CalyxOS on it, there is no way you’re getting a modern brand new phone (which is what I gathered from other comments), with these requirements. Calyx gets rid of everything you’d call “more garbage”, comes with all the tools you’d need for a secure phone and allows you to disable access to hardware such as the microphone and camera. I also read you didn’t want custom ROMs.
Here’s the deal, any phone made by a company with more employees than two is going to have some sort of data collection in it, if you want a phone that doesn’t have any, either get a Linux phone (which won’t do anything you want it to) or a pixel with a security and privacy oriented rom on it. Some other options are lineageOS, comes with opt-in data collection, not opt-out, has years of security updates and supports a great deal of modern phones, doesn’t come with Google apps by default and if you want, you can disable internet access to apps individually, grapheneOS also exists, similar to CalyxOS. If none of this is good enough for you, then idk what to tell you, but you’re not going to find what you’re looking for exactly.
The modern android world can’t give you a high end 16:9 60hz phone with 2gb of ram, no front camera and 8 hours of screen on time and official security and feature updates for 8 years, that’s simply not how it works anymore, you can say you want something like that, but unless you make it yourself it’s not going to appear out of thin air.
I hope this post wasn’t too rude, but with requirements like these you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, I made this post to make you realise how impossible this actually is.
Oh and for DS games, crazy idea, buy a DSi and install unlaunch on it, it’ll launch any DS game you want and it’ll cost you 40 USD at most
Have you considered buying a used phone?
Chances of getting scammed are bigger. No, thanks
I’m not sure what experience you’ve had but eBay does quite well on buyer protection. Same goes for Swappa. Can’t speak for either website in non-US countries though
Are you speaking from experience?
No, I didn’t purchase any used phones online. I’ve seen some posts about used phones being locked. Even if I get a refund, I still lose money.
How are you losing money if you get a refund?
For the shipping fee. It’s usually paid, I think.
The no front camera is going to eliminate a lot of good target options for you. I’ve personally had a ton of success using Motorola for budget android phones. In fact, I was exclusively on Motorola for the past 10 or so years until I recently moved to a Pixel.
Such low specs should be easily available on the used market well under $100. As to “no bloatware”, see if you can find one supported by lineageOS or another alternative system.
I don’t think anyone will make any predictions about the next 8 years. Replaceable battery was fairly common at the time they made phones with the specs you are looking for.
A bigger problem will be “no front camera” (almost unheard of), and USB C on a phone with Android 8 or 9, only 2 GB RAM and 16 GB storage. Most of these will be so old that they come with Micro-USB.
Many companies would try to appeal to poorer users. Even if the device has to be filled with adware and data miners.
With those specs I’d say go with a used samsung high end from 201x, I’m thinking S4 but there might be better options, around that time period in general. You won’t find usb C ports on them though.
I think finding a phone that check all you boxes will be near impossibile
It probably won’t last as long or will be very slow. I don’t want to pay additional money for a charger. I don’t want custom or modified systems because of possible spyware.
I don’t fully agree with you but I understand, sadly I think you’ll have to compromise something since you’re looking for something that is low-tech and high quality, with very specific specs. Let me know what you’ll end up with, I’m actually curious about it
no front camera
That sounds impossible, I don’t think that even exists now.
Android 8 or 9
Really, next thing you’ll want are Windows 7 PCs? All these OSes are no longer supported, no one is going to sell that new.
I unfortunely agree with your first point. I prefer older OSes because newer ones are usually filled with more garbage.
Of course you’re allowed your opinion, but what exactly are you referring to with by “more garbage”? Are you sure you’re not taking about bloatware installed by phone/carrier companies that’s completely separate from the actual operating system? Also, just like PC operating systems/there are OSes designed to be extremely lightweight, with low system requirements.
Security-wise, using any older OS is a terrible idea, IMO. As long as any personal information will ever pass through that phone, that is. Even if someone discovered a way to remotely hack your phone, eavesdrop on all your interactions, and steal your information, it wouldn’t be patched, even if the vulnerabilities were published. These old OSes literally aren’t supported anymore.
With that said, I wish you good luck in what you’re searching for…
I mean TTS, “Phone Boosters”, animations and other things I don’t need.
Not everyone wants to void their warranty or risk making their phones unuseable.
Someome being able to remotely hijack a device that is running an os built by Google doesn’t make sense. I don’t know exploits that work like this.
Just because it’s made by Google doesn’t mean literally anything. Google hacks happen literally all the time.
Just heed the warning and slap new Android on it or an up-to-date alternative OS. Otherwise you’re pretty likely to get gotten
Google isn’t perfect, no company is, just because a big company has made the OS on your phone that doesn’t mean it’s impenetrable, especially if it’s (over) 5 years old like android 8 and 9 are, security issues that exists in these versions of Android are not going away
I don’t understand it so nobody does
Just because you don’t understand what security patches are doesn’t mean your phone can’t be exploited, especially when it’s running an os that’s half a decade old.
Explain how my phone can get hacked then
There are literally hundreds of security vulnerabilities in Android 8 and 9.
Several of which allow remote code execution (meaning if exploited, attacker would have full control of your device, likely without you knowing). These vulnerabilities can be exploited a number of different ways, for example, this one would just require that your Bluetooth radio is turned on- https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2021-0316/
This one just requires that you open a text message an attacker sends you- https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2020-8899/
This one just requires NFC on your device to be on (which most phones have and is usually on by default) https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2020-0073/
Don’t run old OSes. 90% of the reason new versions come out is to fix these issues.
Thanks for the effort but i still prefer non-bloated OSes with less data collection. I don’t see anyone complaining about their device being remotely hijacked outside the internet.
the garbage widely known as “security updates”
Got curious with your specs and I plugged it in to gsmarena advance search filter.
I got 10 results, though most of it was released in 2020. The latest one released (Jan 2022) was Nokia C100 priced at USD59.99. I think it has most of your wishlist, though I’m not familiar with ARM64 architecture and OTG wasn’t a filter option.
Good luck with your search!
Thanks. :)
