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  • Okay so not specifically to do with smartphones but Nokia was the most innovative and creative designer of cell phones altogether, until they made the unfortunate mistake of going all-in with Windows Phone with the Lumia. They should have been smart enough to see that like almost everything MS does, it was doomed from the start. It was their downfall :-( So sad because they made some of the most gorgeous phones in the world.

    I have a modest collection of Nokia phones and I’d like one day to have one of everything they made.

    Smartphones nowadays are just catalysts to exploitation. There’s no more innovation they’re just cramming more things they can claim as “features” without really making any substantial innovation anymore. There are a handful of gems here and there but they’re really spread evenly across the gamut of brands. Also there are so many more smartphones with cool designs and functionality that are just not available in the U.S.A. I don’t really understand why, other than the big names wanting to keep the market stuck to the same handful of gigantic bricks that refuse the idea of any flavor or character. Maybe they lobby to keep affordable and innovative designs out of the U.S. market so they can keep peddling their mediocrity forever.

  • If you had asked me a couple weeks ago, I would have said Unihertz. I loved my tiny little Jelly Star.

    Unfortunately, the backlight for the screen died. It is still technically under warranty, but the options they gave me were 1) We'll ship you the part, and you can pay a local shop to put it in. 2) Pay to mail us the phone, and we'll fix it and get it back to you in the next month or two. or 3) Buy a replacement phone at a discount.

    It irks me that the only option that won't cost me more money is having them ship me the part and trying to replace it myself.

    I still like the little phone, but there is no way in hell I am giving that company any more of my money.

    Sorry for the rant. To actually answer the question: I like my Google Phone. I don't love Google per se, but the phone itself works pretty well.

    Edit: Since writing this, I received the replacement screen, and I will say that it was surprisingly easy to take apart and repair. I don't think most people already have the tools to do so, and I still don't think I should be responsible for the repair myself, but I do once again have a functional phone after spending 0 additional dollars. Also, I like the phone just a little bit more because it was substantially easier to take apart than all of the other phone's I've worked on.

  • Sony! They kept removable storage and headphone jacks, they just don't really advertise their Xperia phones in the US hence why nobody knows about them here.

    They're just as advanced and high-end as their Samsung and Apple counterparts and I think they rock.

  • Fairphone, as their hardware is comparable to other phones, while still supporting many custom ROMs. And they're very repairable.

  • Ooof, that's hard. There's no single favorite.

    Xiaomi and similar (like Poco) I like because of their higher performance and usually including both headphone jack and IR blaster. Currently have X3 Pro.
    What I do not like about them is the tracking. Ads I don't mind, honestly, but data collection kinda bothers me. You also need a Mi account to unlock the bootloader with a proprietary Xiaomi tool, plus there's a waiting period. Yuck. Also, the software feels like unfinished rushed project. I am pretty sure Alpha releases of most custom ROMs are more stable. Anyway, I kept the stock ROM on this one anyway.

    Moving on...

    Google. Yes, you read that right. They not only allow easy bootloader unlocking, but also relocking with a custom key, thus being the choice of Graphene OS.
    What I outright hate is no headphone jack and Micro SD card slot. Otherwise, I'd just get one of the Pixels pretty damn quick.

    Lastly...

    Pine64. Easy to obtain spare parts, pogo pins for hardware expansion (like a keyboard or LoRa module), possibility to communicate directly with the modem over internal serial interface because that's possible too, built mainly for GNU+Linux distros.
    But the whole idea is very much experimental.

    Could have been Nokia up there if they kept it up with N900.

  • Google Pixel, not because the company is in my good standing or anything, just good hardware.

    And if you buy unlocked you can just flash unless you want some of the first party pixel exclusives (which I use along with gpay)

  • Apple actually makes good hardware, believe it or not. The only real shortcomings of the iPhone are the software and the reparability. Say, hypothetically, you could load a custom ROM on an iPhone. It would be my favourite in that case.

    We don't live in a good world, though, so it has to go to Google. It will continue to be Google until Apple fixes their business. I dislike the buttons being on one side, I dislike the gap between display and the border, and I dislike the cameras being covered when I try to get a grip on the back--but alternative OSes exist. The software is everything. I have far more utility here than on the more expensive iPhone.

    Though, I have to say that I might genuinely consider an Xperia if they had alternative OSes. Good cameras, headphone jack, nice build.. it's a shame I can't put CalyxOS on one.

  • Favorite manufacturer: Fairphone

    Favorite smartphone: OnePlus 12R (Oxygen OS is what Android should be and they are the only manufacturer in the West who regulates pwm frequency) and also iPhone SE 3 (fuck you, we are putting our flagship processor in a 12 year old phone design satisfies my I wish they made a 1979 F-150 with an electric engine)

  • BlackBerry, tho I jumped to that sinking ship pretty late with the Z10 and Z30, the BB OS10 was the best freaking OS I have ever witnessed and used on a smartphone.

  • Samsung. I love the foldables but I buy the older refurbished ones. I'm not paying $2,000. for a fuckin phone!

  • This comment will get down voted to absolute zero but: Samsung has amazing hardware and one of the worst software you could possibly put on a mobile device. Probably worst experience I've ever had using a mobile device. My experience was with S10.

    Google has fantastic software and absolute shit hardware. Terrible battery life. Phone constantly lags and overheats from normal use. Terrible reception and non stop Bluetooth problems. Currently suffering with p7pro.

    Oneplus was a fantastic company that created a phone that combined top of the line hardware with decent software at a very reasonable cost. Unfortunately now enshittification took over. Phones are overpriced, support is nonexistent and resale/trade in value is near zero. My experience was with Op8pro. Probably second best phone I've ever owned.

    Other manufacturers like Sony, Asus, Nothing and Motorola are really a niche market now. They seem happy targeting a very narrow range of market. I've tried several phones from each brand, but never kept one longer than a week.

    I'm sticking with pixel at the moment because software is so good it's actually able to make this steaming pile of shit hardware semi functional.

  • I'm on my second Oppo. Decent specs (I like the 512Gb, double SIM slot, superfast charging) and cheaper than anything comparable.

  • I used to own a Samsung galaxy s6, and that thing was killer. I still miss mine since it's compass was pretty much perfect compared to the wildly inaccurate one on my s21 ultra.

  • Galaxy A71 5G from Samsung. Budget phone that I got a couple years back.

    I'd say the roughly $200 A15 5G I bought directly from them less than a few months ago and didn't get warranty, but I accidentally went swimming with it and fried the fucker. It was shaping up to be a pretty good upgrade from my A71 phone, but it can't be much of an upgrade when it's dead.

  • I loved my Nexus 4. I also liked my Nexus 5X a lot, although it had debilitating hardware faults and eventually destroyed itself.

    • Nexus 5X still going strong!

      (though it did need some hacking to keep it alive)

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