nkedel

Sounds like good reasons to stick with new, although a sub-$200 travel phone is semi-disposable (although I've done pretty well; I got about two years out of my 1.5G Moto G, and while I haven't gotten two years out of my Honor 5X, it's because my daughter has taken it over and it's holding up pretty well to her abuse (albeit with various ROMs, presently LineageOS -- the older EMUI was intolerable, although the current version on my Mate 9 is merely annoying.)

As for Samsung, they're pretty much the poster child for Android fragmentation and cr*pware. Touchwiz, and Knox, anyone? I think the S7/S7 edge predates their Bixby idiocy, at least. Also, my Note 3 was the least reliable phone I've owned although they were decent about replacing the failed camera module.

murtaza12

Then it seems like the Moto G5 Plus seems like the way to go, except for the fact that you're losing a bit of screen size, but it's a good phone. Almost a year old now, but a great solid chipset and plenty of custom ROMs.

nkedel

If I need to get something now, the options pretty much seem to be the G5S Plus, or waiting. I suspect the current $249 price (on the 32gb model, which is plenty for a secondary phone) is already pricing in the upcoming G6, but I may wait to see if there are further drops or just skip getting a new phone for the upcoming round of trips and wait to see if anything comes out over the summer.

joshwex90

Can anyone recommend between OnePlus 6T and Huawei P20 Pro?

pinniped

Just got some new Pixel 3 and 3 XLs for the family. The process of getting them shipped from Google was terrible (long story), but the devices themselves are quite nice. I absolutely love the cleanness and lack of carrier and manufacturer bloat. The Google products that came preloaded are pretty much the tools I use regularly anyway.

Total cost will ultimately net out at about $150 per phone. The Google Fi promotion was that I front the max retail costs of the phone, pay sales tax on that full amount, and then get a Southwest Airlines travel credit in four months in the amount of the cost of the phones (but not the tax). Based on the rate at which I expect to fly Southwest in the 2nd half of 2019, I expect to fully consume the credit by November or so. So a bit of a long walk to very good phones at a good price, but I'd been waiting around for Galaxy S9 deals to emerge and it just wasn't happening. If I get used to phones that have no Samsung bloat, I'm not sure if I'll ever want to go back.

If you're willing to give Google a credit pull, you might be able to bring costs down slightly. It looks like they'll essentially do a 0% financing option on the phone if you want it. Of course, if you bail on Fi after a few months, you'll have to pay off the phones anyway. But this is a way you could at least backload the cashflow until you are consuming the travel credit.

Ordinarily I am *not* a fan of the pay-now-get-rebate-later game, but since I fly a lot of WN for work, I figure this one is okay for me.

Google Fi seems to change their promotions every day. No idea what their history is with travel credit promos or whether this exact one will cycle back through again.

deniah

P20 Pro has an A grade camera, and an A++ grade battery.

Camera operation is fast; has pro/manual mode; has RAW mode; and best of all - has stabilized 3x optical zoom, which is way more useful than ive ever thought.
Battery is insane, unlike i've experienced in any other phone. I don't tether myself to a charger during the day anymore. Just use it as I need. Don't need to "top up" before a flight, before going out. Don't carry a battery pack, etc.

Some useful software features built-in. And the other non-stock software is pretty much invisible if you don't touch it.

Why I would buy 6T: (1) if Huawei is more difficult to get [not distributed in US market] (2) if I cared about the few hundred $$$ difference

joshwex90

What's the lifespan of both of them? I've heard Huawei doesn't always last too long.

deniah

havent had any degradation of battery life, or overall performance. no reason to believe it has different lifespan than any other comparable goods.

i also have their flagship laptop and that one im much less of a fan....

had a gen 3 oneplus and while i liked it on idea, the software was a bit buggy and user satisfaction wasnt there.

TWA884

Not about longevity, but worth reading:

deniah

as uncle sam himself is a major participant in the spying games, unless i am affiliated with a particular government where my data risks my livelihood............ill assume all phones are bugged and my device selection holds no national allegiances

wco81

NSA spies so who cares if you're being spied on by the Chinese govt?

der_saeufer

Ok, pre-emptively posting here to avoid actually needing the recommendations...

My original Pixel (5", not the XL) battery is shot. 15 minutes of web browsing on the train to work, sitting on my desk all day, 15 minutes on the web going home, and I can kill half the battery. It's been reset, so it's not a software issue, and the battery life is a joke on the weekends too. I got a new battery for it, but it appears that even experienced dismantlers often break the display when opening the Pixel, which is most definitely not intended to be opened.

So, if my Pixel dies an untimely death on my kitchen table, what should I get?

-Nothing significantly larger than the Pixel
-Camera at least as good
-USB-C very strongly preferred
-Ability to unlock bootloader strongly preferred
-Headphone jack would be nice but isn't a big deal
-US/EU LTE bands, but don't really care about CDMA support for the US so anything mid-range or higher should be fine.

My wife has the Android One Moto X4, which probably would be sufficient for me but I don't think it's a particularly good value at $249. (Shoulda bought one from Fi for $149 last month!) edit: looks like Motorola is selling these for $189.. guess Google couldn't move enough of the Android One version.
The Essential phone looks like it could be a decent option at $500 though that seems steep for 4gb of RAM these days. I like OnePlus, but the OnePlus 6 is Pixel XL-sized

I can buy it in Europe or the US and won't be in a hurry (I have a Nokia 3.1 Beaterphone™ I can use in the interim), so I'm open to any suggestions. I'm probably too cheap to buy a Pixel 3--I only got the original because Best Buy had it on "mistake sale" for $250 a couple years ago.

deniah

The Essential phone remains my favorite physical form factor. In-hand feel is superb and love that the camera is flush with body... and it gives you 5.7" of screen which is more than anything you can get for your current phone's size. It's also pretty much sold at giveaway prices. It's also got leaner software than stock android, so memory consumption should be fine for the capacity.

Otherwise I think it's a matter of looking at Pixel 2 via promos, sales, etc

Need

The OnePlus 6T is actually not much bigger than the original Pixel. I think 6T is actually thinner, about the same width and just 1cm longer. If the thunder purple didn't ran out of stock, I would have got the 6T. But I ended up getting the Pixel 3 XL because after the Google Fi service credit, the phone is free. It is very hard to beat free $900 phone.

Need

If going for the P20 Pro, might as well go with the Mate 20 Pro? I was actually choosing between the 6T and Mate 20 X. The Mate 20 X got the better camera and the crazy 7.2 inch OLED screen, but I have to buy it from Asia and it is like $900. The 6T has good value with flagship capabilities. They both got teardrop full screen which I think is much better looking than the notch. But I ended up getting the Pixel 3 XL thru Fi's post BF promo. It is just very hard to beat a free phone with a really good camera for night pictures.