# New phone. What to choose?



## Devon68 (May 10, 2022)

Hi guys and gals. I'm here asking you for you 2 cent's on which phone to choose. In 2018 I bought a Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus (or Note 5 in some parts of the world). It has started to show it's age and to stutter and slow down. I'm thinking of buying a new phone but dont know which phones to look at. I have been looking at Xiaomi 12X and a handful of Samsung phones from S10 ->S20 and even the Note 10 or 20 series. Dont know what to choose. My budget is max 800 euros.


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## sam_86314 (May 10, 2022)

I'd recommend checking out Google's Pixel phones unless you need flagship performance.

I've been dailying a Pixel 5a since November and I really like it. It's not the fastest thing, but it does everything I need it to.


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 10, 2022)

I can second that. Samsung makes a great phone but I can't stand the software side of it. Pixel phones have a really clean interface. Also, the Pixel 6 phones are a great deal if bugs don't bother you, and are up there in the flagship range.


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## sneekypeet (May 10, 2022)

Pixel 4a as a daily here. No issues, and will get another when this shows its age. Plus Google's phone plan is cheap as hell, well here in the US anyways.


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## dark2099 (May 10, 2022)

Been on the Google phone train since the Nexus 6, haven't had every generation, but never been disappointed by them.


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## Vya Domus (May 10, 2022)

Devon68 said:


> My budget is max 800 euros.



If you're not bound to Android I'd suggest considering an iPhone, if there is one thing they really have going for them is that they have extremely fast chipsets that will last you much longer than most Android phones.


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## eidairaman1 (May 10, 2022)

Motorolla G Power series I suggest, built like tanks


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## freeagent (May 10, 2022)

I like iPhones 

It's all I buy 

But I own apps, games, movies, music.. books lol. So I am tied right in.

I didn't think Android was much different, other than it kind of sucked the last time I used it, and I could use torrent on it.. cant do that on an iPhone lol. But it works sort of the same way, you buy things from the play store, and you get tied in to that eco system. Same shit different pile right?

They are pretty tough too. I work in a machine shop and always lean into the machine, so I lean on my glass phone. Its been dropped, kicked, stepped on.. its good. But glass is glass and we all know what happens sooner or later 

If you do get one, which I doubt you will.. get one banded with Stainless Steel instead of Aluminum.. way stronger.. and can take some heat better just in case you are running a plasma cutter for extended periods.. I have pics of my old twisted 5S


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## bug (May 10, 2022)

Really hard question, especially without knowing your needs.
Pixels are the only ones with timely updates (along with Samsungs that are out mortals' reach). But Pixel don't do dual-SIM or card slots. If you need any of those, you'll need to look elsewhere. Personally, I avoid anything that's heavily customized, that means guaranteed slow updates. And I especially loathe Samsung and how they double each and every Google app while also taking away your ability to disable or uninstall the doppelgangers.
All things considered, it looks like a pretty bad time to buy a phone, with Android One dead and many of the cheaper phones having switched to lame Mediatek or Unisoc chipsets.


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 10, 2022)

freeagent said:


> I didn't think Android was much different, other than it kind of sucked the last time I used it, and I could use torrent on it.. cant do that on an iPhone lol. But it works sort of the same way, you buy things from the play store, and you get tied in to that eco system. Same shit different pile right?


Not if you go Samsung as @bug pointed out... You get 2 apps for the price of one! Even if you only want one... Also, if you are into that, some Android phones can be "De-Googled" especially Pixels (not sure about the 6). Also from watching some of the iPhone guys where I work struggle with the Android, I reckon switching would take some getting used to. My $.02 anyways.


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## docnorth (May 10, 2022)

I would agree with @eidairaman1 about Motorola’s. Of course choices are almost unlimited with this budget. If you choose Samsung, prefer the Snapdragon editions. Like you said, just my 2 cents.


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## GerKNG (May 11, 2022)

normally i am a samsung guy. (from the S3 until now the S20 + Tablets (5 of them in total) but man samsung turned into EA over the last years.
everything is proprietary and locked down like an iphone when it comes to charging standards, bloatware that you can not uninstall and massive slowdown that requires a full factory reset every year.

i have a galaxy tab a7 (2020 model) it supports fast charging.
guess what... neither of my chargers (S10, S20, Anker nano iii (40W USB-C)) can fast charge this tablet. you are forced to buy one specifically for these tablets to use it because they won't let you run away with a 200€ tablet that can fast charge without another 25 bucks + shipping.

avoid samsung at all cost.


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## Mats (May 11, 2022)

Devon68 said:


> It has started to show it's age and to stutter and slow down.


My Samsung S8 is five years now, and I don't see any signs of slowing down, but yeah, I don't play games on it. It's by far the best phone I've ever had, and a few uninstallable apps doesn't change that. Right now I have that feeling that I _should _buy a new one before it breaks, but I'm curious how long it will last. Admittedly, it's a much faster model than yours.

Buying a fast phone has certainly paid off I guess, and you can get one of the fastest for under €800. Battery, camera and last but not least display are things to consider. I've seen some premium Xiaomi phones with horrible displays that are almost unreadable outdoor in sunlight.

Dunno what I will buy next, but I'm pretty sure it won't be a BBK brand. I hate their way of spamming the market with a new model every 30 seconds.


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## Mussels (May 11, 2022)

I'm going to go against my advice from previous years and say avoid googles current phones and consider samsungs with snapdragon chipsets.

Unlike GerKNG, i've had no trouble with chargers and their standards - they support many kinds. The A series devices use 5V 2A/3A, while the S series support qualcomms quick charge and work with 5V/9V/12V - i've had no issues with compatibility with any of my chargers, but i also didnt have any weird expectations on them either.


My pixel 4XL went through three batteries, and when the warranty ended on battery four i got utterly shafted. No support, no repair options, and i get constant popups telling me my battery is covered by warranty  just click here! load this webpage! click now! oh, you arent covered fuck off.

That same pixel 4 has been* unable to play HD video for the entire time i owned it. *Google released a security update that broke Widevine security, locking netflix (and others) to 720p SDR content.
This was only fixed recently, with android 12L (that not all phones got. Google refused to fix this as they offer no warranty for software issues. This issue affected multiple phones, from the Pixel 2 and up.

Theres a lot of existing software issues with the Pixel 6/pro as well, and i mean a LOT. Reddit is a good place to find current threads for existing problems

Google cut back on hardware warranty and software update length, at the same time samsung extended theirs. Longer warranty, updates for longer, and faster updates too. The S22U exynos had a garbage launch, but they've had three major updates to alleviate most of those issues already - my snapdragons been great other than onedrive bugging out draining my battery (it was full, but kept uploading and failing. I believe this was the cause for many users shite battery life at launch)



TL;DR: Google are releasing phones with software and hardware issues and not offering warranty support, samsung is actually doing well with software as long as you avoid the exynos variants


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## sneekypeet (May 11, 2022)

Must be a local thing @Mussels . I have no issues with HD play off any stream service, including netflix,a nd Im still on the battery it came with. Not to argue, but more to show both sides of a similar coin.

I got no skin in this game. Ive used all sorts, HTC, Samsung, pixel, whatever. I found most of my issues were carrier dependant, and less on the phones capabilities.


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## Rhein7 (May 11, 2022)

Lol I think you would be better by asking this on phone sites.   
Check Mr Mobile or MKBHD on Youtube for some reviews tbh.

So basically boils down to 3 options IMO:
Samsung S22. Basically the iPhone of Android. You'll get good camera and 4 years of software updates and yes, that's even longer than Pixel's support.

Pixel 6. Check some of the long term reviews like this. You'll get good camera and 3 years of software support though currently there are lots of buggy updates from Google.

iPhone 13. Good camera and +5 years of software support.

If you want the cheaper options there are lots of Xiaomis/Realmes around 400-500 euros with decent specs but of course expect some caveats and 2 years of updates.


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## cvaldes (May 11, 2022)

It really depends on your individual usage case.

My current phone is an iPhone 12 mini. Previous iPhones I've owned include the XS, SE, 5s, and 4s. I spend very little time each day on my phone. I value a decent camera especially when I'm on international holiday. I don't gravitate to phones with bigger screens. I have zero interest in "tweaking" or "customizing" my phone. I have never jailbroken any of my iPhones.

Will I buy an iPhone 14 model this fall? I haven't decided but there's a good chance I will not. With my light usage, my 12 mini is in near mint condition. Battery is healthy and it still does everything I need it to do. One thing I do know is that I should continue to receive iOS updates for a couple more years.


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 11, 2022)

cvaldes said:


> I have zero interest in "tweaking" or "customizing" my phone.


That was my main reason for getting the Pixel. No messing around with custom launcher or ROMs, just pretty much stock android. The most I have had to do with it is adjust gestures and background.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (May 11, 2022)

ive also had no issue on my Pixel 4a
and im in Australia as well
idk whats wrong there


sneekypeet said:


> Must be a local thing @Mussels . I h


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## sam_86314 (May 11, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> That was my main reason for getting the Pixel. No messing around with custom launcher or ROMs, just pretty much stock android. The most I have had to do with it is adjust gestures and background.


Plus, if you did want to go the custom ROM route, Pixel phones tend to have great community support.

I've been thinking about picking up an old Pixel so I can dabble with custom ROMs before putting one on my daily driver.


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## cvaldes (May 11, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> That was my main reason for getting the Pixel. No messing around with custom launcher or ROMs, just pretty much stock android. The most I have had to do with it is adjust gestures and background.


Heh, I was under the impression that standard Android phones were suitable for average consumers; after all Android smartphones own the lion's share of the smartphone market. I have plenty of non-techie friends and some of them are Android users.

In fact, a few of them have flip flopped between iPhone and Android over the years and don't seem to be particularly perturbed by any of it. They never bring it up but every now and then I might notice that they have a brand new phone in their hand.


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## Mussels (May 11, 2022)

sneekypeet said:


> Must be a local thing @Mussels . I have no issues with HD play off any stream service, including netflix,a nd Im still on the battery it came with. Not to argue, but more to show both sides of a similar coin.
> 
> I got no skin in this game. Ive used all sorts, HTC, Samsung, pixel, whatever. I found most of my issues were carrier dependant, and less on the phones capabilities.


No it's a firmware bug, when updating the phones would just break the widevine DRM

Considering i went through three of them and none except the very first had working widevine, it was a major issue. The key here is that they broke something and refused to fix it for anyone - 'no support for software' is a TERRIBLE way to deal with issues


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## sneekypeet (May 11, 2022)

Worst bug I had was my weather disappearing. Never saw anything you described.


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## ThaiTaffy (May 11, 2022)

If you want a phone that can survive serious abuse. I'll nominate Doogee they're reasonably priced seem to do what a phone does even with some frills and mine fell off the roof of the car doing 90kph hit another car head on and it still works perfectly no broken screen and only some scratches to the rubber protectors. It's a brick though but I guess thats unavoidable since it has a 10,000mah battery.


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## Vya Domus (May 11, 2022)

Samsung became extremely overpriced in the last few years, not to mention the whole Exynos/Snapdragon issue. Same with Google phones in my opinion, Pixel 6 is the only one that seems somewhat of a good deal but as some have pointed out they've always been plagued by pretty nasty bugs which I always found strange since you know, they wrote the operating system themselves.


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## Chomiq (May 11, 2022)

All I learned over the years is that you need good call quality and good battery life. You don't need to spend €800 to get that nowadays. I'm happy with my OnePlus 7 software has no issues, no slowdown whatsoever and I heard good things about their Nord series which targets the €400 price point.


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## elghinnarisa (May 11, 2022)

I would also give a suggestion to the Pixel line of phones, as well as moto and oneplus. Depending on your needs there is a good choice in most price ranges. Though I still miss the days with my old Nexus 6P, before they become Pixels. Never been as happy with a phone as that one. Had samsung and xiaomi after that, both good phones with good hardware but the software is horrendous. You have to fight with it not to kill your apps every 5 seconds. I have a mi 10t pro now which has all the hardware I could want but the software... oh boy. MIUI is terrible, horrible and down right useless. You have to threaten it with a rusty chainsaw to make sure your apps correctly run in the background to keep receiving notifications and the like.

The fairphone can be worth a gander as well, i have not looked in too it all that much but I like the thought. And it's not that many other phones which have a easy storefront to buy spare parts for either, which is neat. I like the idea.


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## Mats (May 11, 2022)

Vya Domus said:


> Samsung became extremely overpriced in the last few years, not to mention the whole Exynos/Snapdragon issue.


Samsung S models are indeed expensive, but they usually have some decent upgrade deals that many other brands don't. Last time I checked, the S22 cost about half the price when trading in an S8 and getting an extra rebate at the same time. 

It makes no sense buying S models or Iphones at MSRP, but I guess it's not that well known, which in turn makes it look like an expensive choice..


Vya Domus said:


> Pixel 6 is the only one that seems somewhat of a good deal but as some have pointed out they've always been plagued by pretty nasty bugs which I always found strange since you know, they wrote the operating system themselves.


I haven't been following that model, are the bugs still there? Yeah, it's the weirdest thing, not even Google does it right.



elghinnarisa said:


> You have to fight with it not to kill your apps every 5 seconds.


That's some weird bug, never experienced that myself. How exactly are you fighting that if the settings doesn't work to begin with?


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## elghinnarisa (May 11, 2022)

Mats said:


> That's some weird bug, never experienced that myself. How exactly are you fighting that if the settings doesn't work to begin with?


This is not a bug, this is intended behavior caused by the MIUI optimization and it is like this on all devices running memeui. It resets battery preferences on updates and reboots because of it, which means you constantly have to go in, double check things and set them again. Some settings can be set as a prod via a terminal. Most things can be solved by disabling MIUI optimization but that breaks quite a lot of the interface instead.
If you never experienced this, you have never used neither Samsung or Xiaomi devices: https://dontkillmyapp.com/
Even with everything set the way one would expect things to be able to properly run in the background, they simply don't. I don't know how many times it ends up taking hours, days even, to get a notification in some applications because it was forced in to sleep.


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## Mats (May 11, 2022)

elghinnarisa said:


> If you never experienced this, you have never used neither Samsung or Xiaomi devices: https://dontkillmyapp.com/


Thanks, I did not know that, despite having a Samsung for five years. I guess it's s newer issue.

On a different topic, people here point out two brands as expensive, when in reality most brands have $xxxx models, like Honor Magic4 Ultimate, Xiaomi
Mi 11 Ultra, Huawei P50, and finally the Sony Xperia Pro-I that's more expensive than any other phone mentioned in this thread.


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## ne6togadno (May 11, 2022)

OnePlus 8T | Ultra Fast Charging. Ultra Smooth Scrolling.
					

Warp Charge 65, 120 Hz Fluid Display, QHD+, Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 865 and 5G, 48 MP Quad Camera.




					www.oneplus.com
				












						Never Settle - OnePlus.com
					

OnePlus creates beautifully designed products with premium build quality & brings the best technology to users around the world. No tradeoffs, we #NeverSettle.




					www.oneplus.com


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## DrCR (May 11, 2022)

Devon68 said:


> Hi guys and gals. I'm here asking you for you 2 cent's on which phone to choose. In 2018 I bought a Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus (or Note 5 in some parts of the world). It has started to show it's age and to stutter and slow down. I'm thinking of buying a new phone but dont know which phones to look at. I have been looking at Xiaomi 12X and a handful of Samsung phones from S10 ->S20 and even the Note 10 or 20 series. Dont know what to choose. My budget is max 800 euros.


Personally, I’d just get an iPhone SE and use it for the next 7 years.


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## bug (May 11, 2022)

ne6togadno said:


> OnePlus 8T | Ultra Fast Charging. Ultra Smooth Scrolling.
> 
> 
> Warp Charge 65, 120 Hz Fluid Display, QHD+, Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 865 and 5G, 48 MP Quad Camera.
> ...


They say "never settle", but you have to settle for no support/service the minute you buy one of their phones. Unless you're a fan of shipping to China.


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## ne6togadno (May 11, 2022)

bug said:


> They say "never settle", but you have to settle for no support/service the minute you buy one of their phones. Unless you're a fan of shipping to China.


had one+ 1 for six years. never needed to look for support/service.
my current 8 hasnt needed service so far either ( ~2 years )
even in case service is needed i dont think for 7-9 days they'll send it to china fix it and ship it back https://www.oneplus.com/pt/support/repair
iirc about the time they launched 2 they've opened support centers across EU. i think NA support centers were opened prior to that (not 100% sure thou).


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## bug (May 11, 2022)

ne6togadno said:


> had one+ 1 for six years. never needed to look for support/service.
> my current 8 hasnt needed service so far either ( ~2 years )


So we have a sample of 2, we don't need to worry about service.
Most people won't need service, of course. But for the few that do, it'd better be there. Fwiw, in the few instances I needed that, the repairs were so expensive, I just bought a new phone instead.


ne6togadno said:


> even in case service is needed i dont think for 7-9 days they'll send it to china fix it and ship it back https://www.oneplus.com/pt/support/repair
> iirc about the time they launched 2 they've opened support centers across EU. i think NA support centers were opened prior to that (not 100% sure thou).


Since they don't disclose where their service centers are, I'm going to assume those 7-9 days are just a copy/paste of their best case scenario.

NB I have nothing against OnePlus (other than them releasing phones in 2022 running Android 11), it's just that I've never seen a service center with a OnePlus logo at the door.


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## Chomiq (May 11, 2022)

bug said:


> So we have a sample of 2, we don't need to worry about service.
> Most people won't need service, of course. But for the few that do, it'd better be there. Fwiw, in the few instances I needed that, the repairs were so expensive, I just bought a new phone instead.
> 
> Since they don't disclose where their service centers are, I'm going to assume those 7-9 days are just a copy/paste of their best case scenario.
> ...


Sample of 3. No issues since purchase with my OP7. Plus at least you can order replacement parts for your phone directly from them even after the warranty has expired.

Since you loathe Samsung, don't want anything customized and it needs to have local service centers I wonder what's your pick then?


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 11, 2022)

Vya Domus said:


> Samsung became extremely overpriced in the last few years, not to mention the whole Exynos/Snapdragon issue. Same with Google phones in my opinion, Pixel 6 is the only one that seems somewhat of a good deal but as some have pointed out they've always been plagued by pretty nasty bugs which I always found strange since you know, they wrote the operating system themselves.



Apart from the truly horrendous camera strip on the PX6


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## bug (May 11, 2022)

Chomiq said:


> Since you loathe Samsung, don't want anything customized and it needs to have local service centers I wonder what's your pick then?


Like I said, slim pickings 
I used to buy Motorola, but they started sucking hard with updates. I'm now running a Nokia. I don't know what I'll get next, Nokia started using really crappy chipsets on their cheaper models.


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## _JP_ (May 11, 2022)

For roughly 2/3rds of that budget you could get a Fairphone. It has android vanilla, which I used in my Mi A2 for the longest and worked fine until it stopped being updated and I felt lazy to migrate to Linage.
And if all goes to plan, simple upgrades mean it will be even longer before I get a new phone.


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## ShiBDiB (May 11, 2022)

sneekypeet said:


> Pixel 4a as a daily here. No issues, and will get another when this shows its age. Plus Google's phone plan is cheap as hell, well here in the US anyways.



4a gang checking in.

I only really use my phone for texting, PLEX, and some light gaming (PUBG/Wild Rift) and it works fine for that.


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## bug (May 11, 2022)

_JP_ said:


> For roughly 2/3rds of that budget you could get a Fairphone. It has android vanilla, which I used in my Mi A2 for the longest and worked fine until it stopped being updated and I felt lazy to migrate to Linage.
> And if all goes to plan, simple upgrades mean it will be even longer before I get a new phone.


Still comes with Android 11 in 2022. But yeah, definitely an option.


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

Pixel 4XL is what I currently run, but I've had a Samsung S10+ too.

I would recommend either an S22 Ultra, a Pixel 5, or an Iphone Pro 13.

Otherwise checkout https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Best-Smartphones.101858.0.html

Don't get a pixel 6 as exynos sucks, don't get anything chinese like huawei/oppo etc as they're malware and some can't even access play store. 

Iphone is probably the best phone out there insane battery life, but android is very nice to use.


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## r9 (May 11, 2022)

bug said:


> Like I said, slim pickings
> I used to buy Motorola, but they started sucking hard with updates. I'm now running a Nokia. I don't know what I'll get next, Nokia started using really crappy chipsets on their cheaper models.


Nokia and Motorola ... are you a time traveler from year 2000 ?


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## Vya Domus (May 11, 2022)

dgianstefani said:


> Don't get a pixel 6 as exynos sucks



Pixel 6 doesn't have exynos, it has that new google tensor SoC which seems to be a massive power hog, Pixel 6 has a huge battery and yet sort of mediocre battery life. You'd think their phones would be the most optimized android phones on the market now that they make both the software and hardware like Apple but they're clearly not.


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

Vya Domus said:


> Pixel 6 doesn't have exynos, it has that new google tensor SoC which seems to be a massive power hog, Pixel 6 has a huge battery and yet sort of mediocre battery life. You'd think their phones would be the most optimized android phones on the market now that they make both the software and hardware like Apple but they're clearly not.


Do some research on what the google tensor soc is before correcting me.


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## ThaiTaffy (May 11, 2022)

dgianstefani said:


> Don't get a pixel 6 as exynos sucks, don't get anything chinese like huawei/oppo etc as they're malware and some can't even access play store.


Sorry but, get lost!! Everything is made in China and everything has the potential to have malware embedded my the manufacturer your spouting crap without a clue.


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

ThaiTaffy said:


> Sorry but, get lost!! Everything is made in China and everything has the potential to have malware embedded my the manufacturer your spouting crap without a clue.


Wrong


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## Blaeza (May 11, 2022)

Nokia 3310. Forget the frills and have a PHONE again.


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## ThaiTaffy (May 11, 2022)

dgianstefani said:


> Pixel 4XL is what I currently run, but I've had a Samsung S10+ too.
> 
> I would recommend either an S22 Ultra, a Pixel 5, or an Iphone Pro 13.
> 
> ...


Please read the forum guidelines and TPU's rules before posting crap again.


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## Vya Domus (May 11, 2022)

dgianstefani said:


> Do some research on what the google tensor soc is before correcting me.



If you're suggesting it is literally an exynos chip then I am absolutely correcting you.


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

Vya Domus said:


> If you're suggesting it is literally an exynos chip then I am absolutely correcting you.


It's literally an exynos chip with an added security enclave.


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## Vya Domus (May 11, 2022)

dgianstefani said:


> It's literally an exynos chip with an added security enclave.
> 
> View attachment 247027



Then read the actual article by Anandtech.





"Literally an exynos chip"


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

Vya Domus said:


> Then read the actual article by Anandtech.
> 
> View attachment 247031
> 
> "Literally an exynos chip"


Follow your own advice. It's an exynos chip alright. Licensed and all.

Not sure what your're trying to prove, I said the tensor chip is shit, which it is, it's a more power hungry exynos which is already power hungry, without even being faster than competition.


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## Vya Domus (May 11, 2022)

I post a table with differences between the chips from the dude's article that he mentioned where he clearly says "Similar but different" and this guy is still convinced they're literally the same thing.

Astonishingly ignorant.


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

Vya Domus said:


> I post a table with differences between the chips from the dude's article that he mentioned where he clearly says "Similar but different" and this guy is still convinced they're literally the same thing.
> 
> Astonishingly ignorant.


Astonishingly bad at reading comprehension you are, I said that it's an exynos chip with an added security chip, between the 2100 and the 2200. 

Learn to read.

The only meaningful difference is that it's worse than an already bad chip.


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## bug (May 11, 2022)

Vya Domus said:


> I post a table with differences between the chips from the dude's article that he mentioned where he clearly says "Similar but different" and this guy is still convinced they're literally the same thing.
> 
> Astonishingly ignorant.


It matters little if the configuration is different if the uarch is the same.
Still, the most embarrassing thing about the new Pixel is that, even if everything is now Google in-house, it still comes with one year less of upgrades compared to Samsung's high-end. It's pretty lame overall, but hopefully a stepping stone to better things.


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

bug said:


> It matters little if the configuration is different if the uarch is the same.
> Still, the most embarrassing thing about the new Pixel is that, even if everything is now Google in-house, it still comes with one year less of upgrades compared to Samsung's high-end. It's pretty lame overall, but hopefully a stepping stone to better things.


Some sense. Finally.


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 11, 2022)

bug said:


> It matters little if the configuration is different if the uarch is the same.
> Still, the most embarrassing thing about the new Pixel is that, even if everything is now Google in-house, it still comes with one year less of upgrades compared to Samsung's high-end. It's pretty lame overall, but hopefully a stepping stone to better things.


But the uArch is the same as the Snapdragon - Arm. The similarity is the node and the interconnect.

The node doesn't matter that much, and the interconnect is only partially shared... But the Samsung personnel involved in exynos were involved in Tensor.


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## bug (May 11, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> But the uArch is the same as the Snapdragon - Arm. The similarity is the node and the interconnect.
> 
> The node doesn't matter that much, and the interconnect is only partially shared... But the Samsung personnel involved in exynos were involved in Tensor.


The instruction set is the same, the implementation is not. The same way Zen3 and Alder Lake are both x86_64 microarchitectures. iPhone's SoCs are also ARM derived, but the implementation makes all the difference.


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## Mats (May 11, 2022)

That bug list for P6 was a pain to read..

I liked this one tho, pure genius, like almost a non-bug.  [s/]


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

Yeah it's a shit phone apart from the camera system.


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## ThrashZone (May 11, 2022)

Hi,
Only decent phone I've ever had or have are all iphones and all still work to date
Now on a SE version been working just fine.


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## ThaiTaffy (May 11, 2022)

None of the Chinese brands that have been mentioned have ever been proven to have malware, fact.
Only one cheap ass manufacturer has actually been found to have embedded malware which funnily enough was supplied by an American service provider so they obviously didn't care about their customers and considering OP's budget, it has no relevance here in this thread Please keep your options about a nation to yourself they have no place on TPU.

@Devon68 sorry but I take offence to ignorance, I've given my input on a phone good luck hope you find what your looking for.


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 11, 2022)

bug said:


> The instruction set is the same, the implementation is not. The same way Zen3 and Alder Lake are both x86_64 microarchitectures. iPhone's SoCs are also ARM derived, but the implementation makes all the difference.


Not too familiar with RISC in general, but wouldn't a Cortex X1 be the same uArch regardless of implementation? I suppose the A76 and A78 could be different, but over half of the chip is identical cores. 

Anyways, for the on-topic part, I know someone with a OnePlus 8 5G and it is great from a hardware perspective. He did manage to ruin the software somehow so I am not sure about that part.


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## Devon68 (May 11, 2022)

Mussels said:


> samsung is actually doing well with software as long as you avoid the exynos variants


Just my luck. Those are the models available in Europe.


elghinnarisa said:


> I have a mi 10t pro now which has all the hardware I could want but the software... oh boy. MIUI is terrible, horrible and down right useless


Oh boy. Why do you think I trying to find anything but Xiaomi  I dont like their software either.


DrCR said:


> Personally, I’d just get an iPhone SE and use it for the next 7 years.


Thought about going the iphone way but never used one so it would be a gamble. Although if I dont like it I can sell it I guess.

I guess I will have look for a phone with a snapdragon 850 or above since everyone seems to praise them over the exynos chips.
I watched a few videos about the new Google pixel 6 but dont like the camera bump on the back. Will take a look at the 5A model.


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## bug (May 11, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> Not too familiar with RISC in general, but wouldn't a Cortex X1 be the same uArch regardless of implementation? I suppose the A76 and A78 could be different, but over half of the chip is identical cores.


Nope. ARMv7, ARMv8 (and friends) are called _architectures_. _Microarchitecture_ is the technical solution (the silicon) that implements an architecture.

Cortex X1 would be the same, but Cortex X1 is one of the microarchitectures implementing ARMv8 architecture. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-X1

This is pretty muddy, because while ARM designs architectures, they also design reference implementations, such as the X1.

That said, I now have to correct my previous post. Up until recently, Exynos meant Samsung's own implementation of A7x or A5x cores. They've supposedly stopped doing that, I'm not sure whether their current cores are customized anymore or they are plain ARM reference designs. In the latter case, Google's Tensor would not be an Exynos. I need to do some Anandtech digging, but I don't have a lot of time on my hands.


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## P4-630 (May 11, 2022)

Samsung Galaxy S21+
(getting updates for 4 years)


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 11, 2022)

bug said:


> Nope. ARMv7, ARMv8 (and friends) are called _architectures_. _Microarchitecture_ is the technical solution (the silicon) that implements an architecture.
> 
> Cortex X1 would be the same, but Cortex X1 is one of the microarchitectures implementing ARMv8 architecture. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-X1


Guess I should have clarified I meant Microarchitecture by uArch...

Also, Caterpillar (heavy equipment manufacturers) make a more or less indestructible phone if you need one @freeagent


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

Cat phones aren't actually that tough, neither are most "rugged" phones. What you want to do is get a plastic/aluminium phone with ip68/9 (glass breaks) and put it in a good case like rhinoshield/otterbox with a screen protector.


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## freeagent (May 11, 2022)

I used a Mous case on mine, but my phone outlasted the case, now I’m riding bareback


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

Screen protector is the most important, more than case tbh.


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 11, 2022)

dgianstefani said:


> Screen protector is the most important, more than case tbh.


Yes, depending on the case. Dropping your phone on the corner can break your screen from bending the phone. This may be less of an issue with a metal phone though. I absolutely recommend a case, every time.

I use a Spigen case and it has high sides - almost as good as a screen protector. I don't really like screen protectors but I am strange like that.


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

It's more of an issue with metal, and glass, plastic deforms, metal and glass conduct the shockwave and make the glass break.


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 11, 2022)

Well my s20 plus 5g is exynos and the battery is pretty good, even with pretty heavy use. Have absolutely no complaints.

As for glass phones breaking, just don't drop it. If you do, tough shit it will break. No screen protector here either, never used one and never smashed a screen on any phone i have owned.


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 11, 2022)

Tigger said:


> As for glass phones breaking, just don't drop it. If you do, tough shit it will break. No screen protector here either, never used one and never smashed a screen on any phone i have owned.


True, but the only time my phone broke (corner of the glass back cracked) was when I dropped it without a case, and I have dropped it much harder with the case on. I am clumsy enough that it has saved my bacon plenty.


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## Frick (May 11, 2022)

Tigger said:


> Well my s20 plus 5g is exynos and the battery is pretty good, even with pretty heavy use. Have absolutely no complaints.
> 
> As for glass phones breaking, just don't drop it. If you do, tough shit it will break. No screen protector here either, never used one and never smashed a screen on any phone i have owned.



And people just shouldn't crash cars, so no seatbelts required. Simple.


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## Mats (May 11, 2022)

Devon68 said:


> Just my luck. Those are the models available in Europe.


The FE variants are usually the exception to that rule. The S21 FE is about 6 months old. In english, not german:




__





						s21 fe in Mobiltelefone Handys ohne Vertrag mit Betriebssystem: Android, SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Preisvergleich Geizhals EU
					

s21 fe -- Preisvergleich und Bewertungen für Mobiltelefone Handys ohne Vertrag mit Betriebssystem: Android, SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888




					geizhals.eu
				




I wonder if the claim that todays Exynos are inferior really holds true. Some battery life comparisons have been made between the S22 Exynos and the S21 Exynos, but those have different battery size to begin with.

Also, I'm hoping that TSMC's 8G1+ is better than 8G1 in terms of heat.


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 11, 2022)

Frick said:


> And people just shouldn't crash cars, so no seatbelts required. Simple.



Bit of a apples and potatos comparison though in a phone discussion


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## dgianstefani (May 11, 2022)

Putting a £2 screen protector on a £1k phone so you don't have to pay £500 when it slips out of your hand is obvious.


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## 95Viper (May 11, 2022)

Stay on topic.
Stop your bickering/insults.
Follow the Guidelines/Rules before posting.  Read them if you have doubts about your post.


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## Frick (May 12, 2022)

Tigger said:


> Bit of a apples and potatos comparison though in a phone discussion



No, actually. People don't drop their phones by choice. I drop my phones all the time. Dunno why. I often drop stuff, always have done. Probably something wrong with the ol' brain or coordination or whatever. "just don't drop it" is really unhelpful advice in a discussion about how to protect phones from breaking when one drops them.


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 12, 2022)

Frick said:


> No, actually. People don't drop their phones by choice. I drop my phones all the time. Dunno why. I often drop stuff, always have done. Probably something wrong with the ol' brain or coordination or whatever. "just don't drop it" is really unhelpful advice in a discussion about how to protect phones from breaking when one drops them.



Maybe i am either really careful or not clumsy then, shrug. 

I hate big stupid fat cases, granted they protect your phone, but i prefer the look of it caseless which is my choice. 

If anyone buys a expensive phone, don't forget to put a big fat ugly but protective case on it.


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## ThaiTaffy (May 12, 2022)

Frick said:


> No, actually. People don't drop their phones by choice. I drop my phones all the time. Dunno why. I often drop stuff, always have done. Probably something wrong with the ol' brain or coordination or whatever. "just don't drop it" is really unhelpful advice in a discussion about how to protect phones from breaking when one drops them.


My phone gets dropped atleast twice a day, thrown about by the neices and nephews, takes trips down the highway falling off the roof at 90kph. No case and only has 4/5 dead pixels after getting hit by a cars bumper, seems some rugged phones are rugged. 
Before this phone I had a Samsung something or other that lasted less than 24hours because one of the dogs thought it was better on the floor than on the table. Any purchase you make needs to be done with reviews sure, but you also want to take into account your own needs. As @Frick said coordination might be one of my issues that's why I bought an unknown brand because they claimed to drop it 1000 times from a 2m height in QC.



Tigger said:


> I hate big stupid fat cases, granted they protect your phone, but i prefer the look of it caseless which is my choice.


Mines both of those rolled into one


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 12, 2022)

ThaiTaffy said:


> My phone gets dropped atleast twice a day, thrown about by the neices and nephews, takes trips down the highway falling off the roof at 90kph. No case and only has 4/5 dead pixels after getting hit by a cars bumper, seems some rugged phones are rugged.
> Before this phone I had a Samsung something or other that lasted less than 24hours because one of the dogs thought it was better on the floor than on the table. Any purchase you make needs to be done with reviews sure, but you also want to take into account your own needs. As @Frick said coordination might be one of my issues that's why I bought an unknown brand because they claimed to drop it 1000 times from a 2m height in QC.
> 
> 
> Mines both of those rolled into oneView attachment 247119


That is a *chonk*!


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## P4-630 (May 12, 2022)

Tigger said:


> Maybe i am either really careful or not clumsy then, shrug.
> 
> I hate big stupid fat cases, granted they protect your phone, but i prefer the look of it caseless which is my choice.
> 
> If anyone buys a expensive phone, don't forget to put a big fat ugly but protective case on it.



I have a galaxy S7 since 2016, using it without any case or protectors, have dropped it only few times on laminate floor, it's still as new.


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## ThaiTaffy (May 12, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> That is a *chonk*!


Almost half a kilo!!!

I think one reviewer said it can also be used as a blunt weapon.


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## TheLostSwede (May 12, 2022)

I just decided to "splurge out" on a Pixel 6, as they were on sale and I even got an extra little discount.
Been having some weird issues with my phone lately and it seems like there's less and less choice out there, since I'm trying to avoid PRC brands when possible.
Was considering the just announce Sony Xperia 10 IV, but the price seems to have been jacked up quite a bit and it's got worse spec than my current phone, except the display.


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## ThaiTaffy (May 12, 2022)

TheLostSwede said:


> I just decided to "splurge out" on a Pixel 6, as they were on sale and I even got an extra little discount.
> Been having some weird issues with my phone lately and it seems like there's less and less choice out there, since I'm trying to avoid PRC brands when possible.
> Was considering the just announce Sony Xperia 10 IV, but the price seems to have been jacked up quite a bit and it's got worse spec than my current phone, except the display.


You didn't want a phone made in China so you bought a rebranded HTC made in China?


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## TheLostSwede (May 12, 2022)

ThaiTaffy said:


> You didn't want a phone made in China so you bought a rebranded HTC made in China?


Please read my post again.
It's impossible to avoid buying made in PRC phones, unless you live in India, but that doesn't mean I have to support PRC companies directly by buying their own brand products.
Also, Google bought all the engineers and what not from HTC, so there's no longer a direct link there, even though the Google people are now working out of HTC's office, which is just down the road from where I live. Although HTC bought half of Gigabyte's office before they built their new office and doesn't want to sell it back to Gigabyte, who wanted to buy it back, as they needed more space...


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 12, 2022)

If the camera hump on the Pixel 6 was not such an eyesore i would have been interested, but i couldn't live with it.


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 12, 2022)

Tigger said:


> If the camera hump on the Pixel 6 was not such an eyesore i would have been interested, but i couldn't live with it.


I can see that being a problem as you do not have a case. I was looking at the same case as I have on my 3 XL, and it actually hides it quite well:


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## Mussels (May 13, 2022)

sneekypeet said:


> Worst bug I had was my weather disappearing. Never saw anything you described.


Oh i had that too, where it vanished off the lockscreen/at a glance feature and never came back. Even with factory resets, my lockscreen never showed anything but the clock after one of the updates.



dgianstefani said:


> Do some research on what the google tensor soc is before correcting me.


^ Yup

Tensor is tweaked Exynos


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## sneekypeet (May 13, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Oh i had that too, where it vanished off the lockscreen/at a glance feature and never came back. Even with factory resets, my lockscreen never showed anything but the clock after one of the updates.
> 
> 
> ^ Yup
> ...


Did it again, always like 3 days after an update. Also, was your phone on Fi or a different carrier? I do wonder if somehow bloat is to blame for the SD/HD issue.


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## eidairaman1 (May 13, 2022)

Chomiq said:


> All I learned over the years is that you need good call quality and good battery life. You don't need to spend €800 to get that nowadays. I'm happy with my OnePlus 7 software has no issues, no slowdown whatsoever and I heard good things about their Nord series which targets the €400 price point.



I had a Galaxy A11 from 2020, an OTA update bricked it. I've had it with Samsung, bought the Motorolla G Power 2022 and it's feature set rivals the Galaxy S Line, while costing 5-6x Less ($216).

Samsungs arrogance is catching up with them.

Their SSDs are known to be troublesome just like their washers and dryers.


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## sneekypeet (May 13, 2022)

eidairaman1 said:


> I had a Galaxy A11 from 2020, an OTA update bricked it. I've had it with Samsung, bought the Motorolla G Power 2022 and it's feature set rivals the Galaxy S Line, while costing 5-6x Less ($216).
> 
> Samsungs arrogance is catching up with them.
> 
> Their SSDs are known to be troublesome just like their washers and dryers.


Don't forget their fridges


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## r9 (May 13, 2022)

Tigger said:


> Maybe i am either really careful or not clumsy then, shrug.
> 
> I hate big stupid fat cases, granted they protect your phone, but i prefer the look of it caseless which is my choice.
> 
> If anyone buys a expensive phone, don't forget to put a big fat ugly but protective case on it.


Yeah ain't that silly. All that effort to make the phone slim and light and then 99% of people just put in big ugly case.
I think the middle ground would be for the manufacturers make the phones little more drop proof where the weight and thickness would be somewhere between what we have now with and without a case.


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## Mussels (May 15, 2022)

sneekypeet said:


> Did it again, always like 3 days after an update. Also, was your phone on Fi or a different carrier? I do wonder if somehow bloat is to blame for the SD/HD issue.


Fi isn't in australia, my phone was straight from google and carrier free 
(Thats why i originally wanted it, as in previous years samsung phones were telco branded here. the modern ones are forced to be unbranded, with one app allowed to auto download after setup based on your SIM card, only.)

A security update broke it, and they applied that update to different models at different times. The problem is that once it downgraded you could never roll back to fix it, and honestly most people would never notice - they'd have blamed it on netflix, their wifi etc.
It worked on android 10, was broken on 11 and 12, and only came back with 12L earlier this year (when my battery began to die again) The two times i RMA'd the phone it came back with android 10, worked, and then failed when the OS updated again 


Oh and this is an issue with android but specifically the google phones and their backup method i need to vent about:
1. New phones come with stock, older OS (Android 10, with my three pixel 4XL phones)
2. You had to log in with your google account to update the phone
*3. You are asked to restore from a backup or start fresh*
3a. You chose to restore the backup: it fails, because your backup is from a newer version of android. Factory reset to try again.
3b. You either chose not to use the backup or left the phone running after the failed backup, and it makes a new backup - erasing your old one.

Literally, unless you had a second throwaway google account and knew this in advance YOU CANNOT RESTORE YOUR BACKUP.

When i got the S22U i tried to copy my settings/files/apps across to the samsung... and it kept failing. Because the pixel was on a newer version of android. How uh, how often is that going to actually be useful again? Any RMA'd phone or change of phone isn't likely to have the exact same version of android...


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## lexluthermiester (May 15, 2022)

Devon68 said:


> Hi guys and gals. I'm here asking you for you 2 cent's on which phone to choose. In 2018 I bought a Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus (or Note 5 in some parts of the world). It has started to show it's age and to stutter and slow down. I'm thinking of buying a new phone but dont know which phones to look at. I have been looking at Xiaomi 12X and a handful of Samsung phones from S10 ->S20 and even the Note 10 or 20 series. Dont know what to choose. My budget is max 800 euros.


I know I'm late to the party, but have you given any thought to the Unihertz Titan? It's an excellent phone with a physical keyboard!

The specs are excellent and are more than enough for most tasks a person would need of a phone. While the camera will not win any awards, it's still very good. The screen is beautiful and the aspect ratio doesn't get in the way as much as you'd think. The battery is a very excellent 6000mah and a charge lasts me, on average, several days. I'm not heavy user, though. However on a vacation I took last year, where I was using it constantly, a charge would last a full day with 20% to 30% left when I charged it up at the end of the night. The star of the show(and the reason I bought it) is the keyboard, which is a joy to use!









						Titan - The Ultimate Rugged QWERTY Phone
					

Unihertz Titan is a rugged 4G smartphone with a physical QWERTY keyboard. Rated IP67, it's a durable and tough android phone for any environment. With a 6000mAh battery, it can last for several days. Fingerprint and face unlock functions are available to guarantee security. Your ideal choice for...




					www.unihertz.com
				



Buy Direct for $340

Or Amazon


			Amazon.com
		

$350

Here's a review from TechOdyssey;








I disagree with him on some of the points he makes, but he does keep things objective and show off the phone very well.

Here's Lon's review(LonTV) and he's a bit more positive.








Lon is a very objective review and tells it like it is.

Included both reviews to keep things objective.

I love this phone! Highly recommend it if you want a phone with a physical keyboard and modern specs!


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## ramjithunder24 (May 20, 2022)

TheLostSwede said:


> Please read my post again.
> It's impossible to avoid buying made in PRC phones, unless you live in India, but that doesn't mean I have to support PRC companies directly by buying their own brand products.
> Also, Google bought all the engineers and what not from HTC, so there's no longer a direct link there, even though the Google people are now working out of HTC's office, which is just down the road from where I live. Although HTC bought half of Gigabyte's office before they built their new office and doesn't want to sell it back to Gigabyte, who wanted to buy it back, as they needed more space...


Not true, starting a couple years ago Samsung stopped making phones in PRC, and switched all of its factories to India, Vietnam and one other country that I'm forgetting. 
Here's an article for you~


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## eidairaman1 (May 20, 2022)

sneekypeet said:


> Don't forget their fridges


Their appliances regardless.


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