What phone should I buy?

I proposed a new sub-forum for this purpose and offered up a FAQ (see http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/what-phone-tablet-should-i-buy.821939/). So, since I'm actually looking for a phone...

General

1. What kind of device are you looking for (phone/tablet/both)? Phone
   
2. What country are you in? USA
   
3. What carrier(s) are you interested in (or will you pick the carrier based on your choice of phone)? Probably Sprint, but may switch
   
4. What mobile OS is acceptable (Android, iOS, other)? Android
   For Android phones, what release do you consider acceptable as a minimum? 7
   
5. How long do you intend to keep your device? 3-5 years
   
6. Are there any brands you particularly like?
   Dislike?
7. Will you consider a refurb/used device? Refurb yes; used not likely.
   
8. Do you intend to play games and if so, what? No
   
9. Do you expect to watch video extensively? No
10. Price range? <$500 (including on eBay -- new or refurb)

Basic Device Characteristics

1. What size screen are you looking for? You can be specific or general. >5.5", would prefer wider aspect ratio (9:16 or 10:16 vs. 1:2 or narrower)
   
2. What are you looking for in battery life/capacity? Full day or better
   
3. Do you want a replaceable battery? Yes
   
4. Do you want the ability to use a microSD card to expand storage? Yes
   
5. Do you have a preference between a USB-C and traditional USB micro-B connector? Prefer micro-B but not essential
   
6. Do you want a 3.5" headphone jack? Preferred
   
7. Do you want wireless charging? No
   
8. Do you want fast charging? Helpful but not essential

Aesthetics

1. Do you have color preference: No
   Prefer?
   Avoid?
2. Phones: prefer wraparound screen or bezel? Bezel
   
3. Buttons: prefer soft or mechanical? Mechanical preferred
   
4. Other aesthetic preferences? Prefer substantial and solid over thin and sleek

Camera and Screen

1. Do you care about the device's camera? Limited extent (use SLR for "real" photography)
   
2. Minimum megapixel requirement (front/rear), if applicable? 8
   
3. Do you require 4K video? No
   
4. Other desired camera features? None
   
5. Minimum screen resolution? FHD/WUXGA
   
6. Do you require AMOLED or similar screen technology? No

Other

1. Are there any other features you particularly want in a device? Sturdy armored case (Otterbox Defender or similar) available -- yes, I know that I'm talking about a big, bulky phone, but that's fine)
   
2. Are there any particular features you do not want?
3. Do you anticipate rooting your device (if you don't know what that means, the answer is "no")? Possible but not likely
   If so, any particular ROM you're interested in?

 

Give Essential phone or Pixel 2 a try. Other than that, 3-5 years lifecycle can only be expected from iOS device( Only If you are okay with using headphone jack via adapter).
S8/S8+ sounds like a perfect choice. S8/S9 are on Oreo 8.x officially.

 

Look into Xiaomi Mi Max 3. I'd definitely grab one if I didn't pull the trigger on another device earlier. There are smaller cousins if you don't want a smartphone that big. Wrong LTE bands, sadly.

Not a single modern smartphone will be feasible in near future thanks to 5G and 802.11ax just around the corner; there's no point spending a lot on flagship device which will become technically obsolete in a year unless you really want/need it, which seems unlikely reading the form.

 

You'll need to remortgage your house in order to afford a 5G plan that comes with a decent amount of data. 4G is fast enough for all tasks that people usually do on their phones (Spotify, 1080p youtube videos, Instagram and Snapchat). 802.11ac again is more than sufficient for all of the tasks that people do on their phone. The only use case that I can think for fast wifi is transferring large video files from a phone to a computer.

 

If 5G service isn't reasonably priced, nobody will switch - so I'm betting it won't be overly expensive compared to 4G LTE.

 

The overwhelming majority of Chinese import smartphones, the above very much included, will not work at 4G LTE speeds in the USA.

 

Still using 3G or H+ on my phone w/o any issues. I have cell reception issues on 3G or LTE. So, 5G will be mainstream in 2-3 years time. At present LTE devices works.

 

Part of why I want a lot of on-phone storage is so that I don't have to rely on remote access for everything. Even if we wind up getting 5G service, it's only going to work in certain areas (and even 4G won't be everywhere). The use case for this is having my photos and videos (and we're not talking Snapchat and such here; I don't use Snapchat and will not use Facebook except on my computer, with a number of addons in my browser to reduce information leak) on the fly. The higher resolution my screen, the higher the resolution SmugMug will download them at, and thus the more space they will consume.

I like a micro SD so that I can pop it out to transfer everything to another device (including a computer). If I have USB flakiness to my computer I sometimes have trouble transferring stuff; being able to do it via the micro SD is helpful (and it also allows me to put things on the phone quickly if need be).

I'm currently using a Galaxy Note 2 that I bought in 2014 (when the Galaxy Note 3 was already out) -- it was a lot cheaper that way and the difference between the two did not strike me as compelling.

Also, I'm tall, with large hands, a left eye with excellent vision that peaks in the range of 15", and like to jam as much on my screen as I possibly can. A tall, narrow screen is less useful than a slightly shorter but somewhat wider one. Having to carry extra weight doesn't bother me. I'm a bit of an old crusty and don't mind a strictly utilitarian look.

Maybe the phone I want doesn't exist. There's nothing really urgent driving this (other than that an increasing number of websites seem to get SSL problems, I suspect because either my phone isn't up on the latest ciphers or the root certificates aren't up to date). I can afford to look around for a while.

 

up until a few weeks ago, I would have told you to get some sort of flagship phone. Since then, I have changed my way of thinking. Flagship phones are not that much better than the mid range stuff now. My next phone is going to be the LG Q stylo +. A cheap note type phone. It has headphone jack, ip68, long battery life since it's only running 1080 p screen and a mid range chip, has dual sim and SD expansion, stylus support and is a nice alternative to paying a crap load of money for something not that much better. For a smaller device, sure the essential is a great phone. I would also include the nokia 6x, LG Q7, and a couple of others in that category. Save hundreds by buying a mid ranger out right and putting on BYOD plan.

 

I'm leaning in that kind of direction myself.

It's unfortunate that everyone's going to the 2:1 aspect ratio rather than 16:10 or 16:9. The narrower screen is much harder to type on and the actual surface area is less than it would be with the same size diagonal on a screen closer to square aspect ratio.

I'm not sure when my wife's part of the contract expires; getting off Sprint would give a lot more options.

 

I am done with the flagship waste of money nonsense. it's like computers now compared to 25 years ago. Back then, the Jump from say a 286 to a 386 was HUGE. but jump for a core i3 to a core i5 is not dramatic unless you are gaming. Look at regular HD tv's vs 4k tv. Yeah you can see a difference in 4k, but it's not going to make me want to throw out my perfectly fine HD sets. NOT worth the price. Same goes for mobile phones now. The difference between the mid range and flagship has dimished to only being able to notice a difference when you put both side by side. Even then, some of the mid rangers are faster doing certain things. Battery life is better on the mid range devices too because they are not pushing huge resolution and top tier chipsets.

You would be wise to move from sprint and grab an LG device.

 

I think you said/posted it somewhere or is it deja vu?

 

I was just stating the reasons why choosing a mid ranger makes sense.


Glitch in the matrix!

 

Unless you are a content creator or very well off with money to spend on a very high speed connection + online media subscription (which is already limited),or get a 4k blu ray player + 30-40$ per disc, 4K has zero appeal simply due to the lack of content. verizon/comcast/OTA still deliver content at either 720p or 1080i, leaving your 4k set to interpolate and fill the pixels. I'll wait until there is actual native 4k content widely available

 

Well said. Here at my place we're still using 480p/720p for TVs and even High speed Internet is getting little cheaper to enjoy 1080p videos. Usually, I use 360p or 480p just to get rid off buffering.

 

Thats what I was saying in a round about way!