Just one day of using the Samsung UI for more than just work and I'm reminded how much I hate it. And the fucking bloat. Can't delete the Facebook app off the phone, only disable it, what a joke. Can't be stuffed dicking around with custom ROMs for this one, I think I'll be using this phone for work only as much as possible rather than making it my primary.
Gonna be hopefully clocking some overtime this pay cycle, maybe I'll get a Nothing Phone 2a or something else with stock Android. Although once again, hisssss at modern smartphones not having headphone jacks
Red Magic 9 Pro user here, it has a headphone jack and is a beast of a phone and comparatively cheap.
I could not possibly recommend it more highly. I no longer have to charge my phone every day and when I do charge it it's done in less than 30 mins, performance is insane for a phone.
It's a gaming phone, and so is also like having a Nintendo switch in your pocket for nearly half the price of the latest Samsung / Pixel / iPhone, whilst it blitz's day to day stuff.
You don't have to ever use the gaming mode btw, there's a literal physical slider on the side to enable it. It feels like a 2000s gamer designed their dream modern portable device that's primarily a phone.
Oh wow, that's really high praise and sounds like an amazing phone. It's beyond my budget though, I think I gotta go for something more mid range with all the moving expenses coming up.
It is genuinely is fantastic, it even has an IR beam (TV remote) and when abroad we just hook up my phone and use it like a fire stick. And I love using my wired IEMs. And 120hz on a phone is so overkill.
Completely understandable if your budget is constrained due to the move, but with renting these days you're going to get what 2-3 years out of the place vs. possibly 5-7 years out of the phone?
Zero bloatware on the OS, but there is a super weird completely optional waifu when in gaming mode. I didn't know what it was when doing set up and now keep it installed just to show people how ridiculous it is haha! If you take selfies a lot then it's not so great as the selfie camera is behind the screen. It's also not technically waterproof as it has fans for cooling, but mine has been dropped in the toilet and is fine. I feel like I'm living in the old Nokia days where a phone is unbreakable :D
For ref my partner's phone just got the 3g ban despite her doing the firmware upgrades and has a OnePlus 12 on the way so I'll be able to do a comparison in a few days if that's an option for your budget?
Financially, it's more that I need enough of a buffer if I need to hire movers/bond clean/storage and it costs more than I like, I don't want to touch my savings just yet as honestly this 3G bs locking out the device completely caught me unawares.
My existing phone was an older OnePlus (before the whole shebang about going away from Oppo or whatever), had a custom ROM right from the start. Not sure I'd bother with that now but I'd like the option. I'm definitely open to considering newer OP offerings though I've heard the quality isn't quite what it used to be. Have been considering Nothing Phone 2 from the ex CEO of OnePlus though frankly it's a bit more than I'd like (trying to stay under 1k, preferably around 600-800 mark, but need to weigh pros and cons)
Moving is insanely expensive, I really feel your pain and understand the weightings going through your head. 6 moves in 9.5 years for me, I feel like a broke vagrant.
The 3g stuff was/is utter bollocks.
"Hey, some people might not be able to make emergency calls anymore so let's disable everyone's phones that may be impacted altogether so that they definitely can't".
I do wonder who that bandwidth is going to be sold to and what it'll be used for.
My partner was getting messages every day about it though for roughly 3 months but she thought she'd worked around it, only to have them just blanket ban the device. Frustrating.
On the quality of OP, yeah they lost me (a former OP5 owner) when they switched and ditched the headphone jack which is a hill I will die on. But my partner primarily uses bluetooth IEMs over her wired IE80s. We'll see the quality of the latest build soon and I'm happy to update you.
Again though, the Red Magic 9 Pro is like a Swiss army knife that's built like a brick shit house door. After owning it it would pay double the RRP to get another.
Edit: I know nothing about the Nothing phones so can't comment on that.
I went from a Samsung to a Pixel, because of the Samsung bloat. I mean I get a bit of Google bloat, but nothing like Samsung.
Also I miss phones have a charge port AND a headphone port. My Pixel uses ONE usbc port for both and I fucking hate that shit. I feel like they're forcing me to buy wireless head/earphones and I don't want to fucking dammit! I preferwired ones tyvm
Same!!! I will never use wireless headphones - sorry but I already have trouble remembering to charge my phone as it is, I do NOT want to have to remember to charge headphones as well and I would be fuming if I'd headed out and the headphones had no charge. No thank you.
I can get away with a 3.5mm to USB c converter if I have to, but it sucks on flights, PT etc when you want to charge your phone and listen to music at the same time.
Sigh. I remember the days when you could swap out phone batteries π
I had a navy blue Motorola flip phone, and a friend had a pink one, so we swapped the backs. Mine navy with a hot pink back and her vice versa. It was super cool!