Gsmarena is a better site to use for comparison of technical specs, if you care about those.
I was wondering when someone would say this. It’s the only site I use to research phones.
They are quite exceptionally good and I really wish other consumers products had a website like that one with as much trust as that one.
I feel like this should probably be top comment here
I also use phonearena as a secondary. No idea if the two are related.
how is “ultra-portable” a positive, when all these phone are the same size, and not even small phones at all?
Yeah, these pro/con lists are just random bullshit with 0 accountability and consistency.
The only useful comparisons are ones that show the actual specs side by side, and even then it doesn’t tell the whole story.
I looked it up and the ROG phone 8 pro isn’t even smaller or lighter than the other two - if anything it’s slightly bigger and heavier. Truly useless as a positive point.
Just finished setting up my Xperia Z2 Compact with Lineage OS. It is such a relief to have a truly compact phone again
Same way "Confusing Charging Situation " is a thing when they all charge the same way, plus minus wireless but the pixel can do both, unless that is what is confusing.
The pixel, so you can put graphene on it
Is graphene less glitchy than stock on a pixel 8? Or at least no worse? I’m tired of unfixed glitches since the pixel 6. YouTube PIP and split screen specifically
It doesn’t aim to make enhancements beyond privacy/security specific ones. In that sense it’s more likely to give you issues with certain apps because of things like sandboxed Play services and apps not having access to the device identifier.
That said, I use it and if you’re OK with giving up certain things like Google Pay, then I recommend it.
To add to that, most of the time there are easy work arounds like just using the apps browser version instead of an app. The only thing I’ve had a couple times was my keyboards just wouldn’t pop up. No matter what I did the keyboards were dead for about 3 minutes each time it happened, they started to work again but it’s just a quirk of a privacy focused OS
why would you choose any of the asuses?
“nicely built”, and “sleek design” are not positives, but made up qualities. That’s basically a goal for all phone manufacturers
“good AI features”. sorry what? do they mean the power button opens the assist lant instead of the shutdown menu? or that the device sends home an order of magnitude more information about you than usual?
“ultra portable”? what the fuck does that mean for a fucking smartphone?
and “univeral fast charging” means it’s glued in battery will wear out ultra fast.
buy a pixel if you don’t care about keeping it for a long time, and about having a removable battery. otherwise get a fairphone
fairphone
their site doesn’t seem to have US as an option…?? what am I missing?
The newest fairphone doesn’t have a US distributor yet. The last gen one does
thank you!
Sites so stupid you know some weren’t even build by AI, just there to sell ads into your brainhole - and those ads will rot your brain less than the actual site “content”.
Fairphone 5
positives:
- nicely built
- user servicable with replaceable components
- no AI shit
- eco friendly
- 8 years of service updates
negatives:
- its a bit more expensive for its specs
- cameras are a bit on the downlow but still good enough
Big +1 for Fairphone
The SECOND Fairphone starts shipping to Canada, I’ll buy one…
You could probably still get one via a shipping forwarder
Yea, I’ve looked at that. The issue is when I break it - and I always break my phones. I wouldn’t be able to quickly fix my phone because I’d need to order the parts via a shipping forwarder. I use my phone for work and going a couple of weeks without a device isn’t viable.
downlow
I do not think this word means what you think it means.
Inconceivable!
I so badly wish the 5 was available in the US. The 4 is too much of a downgrade for me :/
Question.
I’m seriously considering fairphone or anything similar (if it exists), for my next replacement.
They advertise two versions. One degoogled but £100 more.
How easy is it to just do it yourself? Is it just software?
as I didn’t it myself yet I can’t tell you how easy it is. But it seems that in the case of /e/os you can use an installation programm (available for linux/windows/macos): https://doc.e.foundation/easy-installer (its also available for fp5: https://e.foundation/leaving-apple-easy-installer-is-now-available-for-fairphone-5/)
i will wait for fairphone 6
Those comparison charts like the one you posted are unresearched/uncritical garbage made to sell affiliate links. They’ll never actually give a harsh review to anything listed because they want you to buy something
Your best bet is to ask owners’ groups for each phone you’re considering for reviews and buying advice and weighing that yourself.
Of these 3, the Pixel 9. It can run both GrapheneOS and CalyxOS.
The Pixel 8a can also run both, but it only costs $400. CalyxOS will support both phones until 2031.
I’m about to switch from iPhone to a Pixel 9 so I can put CalyxOS on it. Used iPhones since a 3GS in 2009, but the time has come.
There’s not a lot of reason to even jump from the 8 Pro to the 9 Series unless you slurp up the marketing hype, especially if you don’t care about intensive tasks like games.
For me personally, the new phone feeling comes from wiping my device every now and then and selecting exactly the right slate of apps to make my life easier/better/more organized.
When it comes to hardware it feels like there is less differentiation than ever before. Oneplus could make a case for their slider button, phones with a headphone jack or removable battery can claim bonus points for that, and I hear Sony has some nice form factors (tall & thin). When it comes down to it, the most important question for me is can I unlock it and get rid of any pre-installed junk.
Depends on your priorities but I’d also say Pixel even if keeping stock, best update policy
7 years of updates is nice
I’d love more info on the “confusing charging situation”.
Nope, if you got more info on it it wouldn’t be confusing anymore.
Lol at the last phones “pro” being “ultra portable”.
Unless this means that programs and such can be ported to it, aren’t all cell phones ultra portable? Isn’t that the point?
To me that’s like saying a pro of a specific model of car is that it is “ultra drivable”
You cant say its wrong
You might want to specify what your requirements are in a phone - this might help us :)
Also, have you tried the following communities?
No OnePlus?
I have had OP8 for few years now and its still working perfectly fine. Battery could be better but other than that its still fast and reliable.
ColorOS is hot garbage unfortunately, full of Chinese bloat.
Up until the OP11 they would ship a different release for Western markets (OxygenOS), but from the 12 that’s apparently a thing of the past.
I’m still rocking the 10pro and love it, but absolutely dread the moment when it inevitably fails someday.
They haven’t stopped using OxygenOS, the 13 ships with OxygenOS 15.0
The OS has merged with Color OS. It’s still called OxygenOS, but they have basically unified the two. It’s also what got me out of 1+, my last phone with them was an 8 Pro.
Ah, good to know.
I wish, unfortunately it’s just a name change. Under the hood it’s all ColorOS, there’s no more separate development.
I’m still rocking a OP6 running the latest Lineage. Cost me $60 used. $1000 for a phone is insane!
I would be as well just that I sadly bought a new phone before realising I can do that. Also my bank apps don’t work on lineage sadly. The OP6 i however sitting in my drawer with lineage installed.
Use the bank website with Hermit or Native Alpha.
Won’t help because the only reason I have the bank app is for paying bills (just scan the code) and sending people money using FLIK. None of those 2 options are supported on the website.
I’ve never paid more than $150 for a phone.
Having 2 or 3 phones for the same price means I can run a hot spare and have a test device for less than one of these new phones.
Stop using whatever website that is my man, lmao.
How about the OnePlus 13? Best bang for your buck right now, great camera, great battery and ip69 rating.
Bang: best
Camera: great
Battery: great
Rating: nice
Wow I was still thinking my 8 was somewhat recent but now I learn they’re on 13?!?
God can these people keep AI out of phones?
Even those stupid “AI” camera features can fuck off, they always make the photo worse, unless all the do is pick a filter and adjust the saturation/brightness/contrast/etc. as soon as the do something unreversable like add blurring, they can fuck off because it always looks janky AF in real world use
Is there a particular reason you need a brand new model? I tend to look at flagships that are a year or two old.
None. Pixel if you had to pick, but the SoC sucks. And the Asus phones have like no software support, so they are definitely not worth buying.
