Iām cross posting my own here, I hope itās allowed. Maybe it will reach someone who has a similar problem.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14292422
Hello!
So Iāve been using my trusty old OnePlus 5T until now, without any problems. I always followed the phone market for replacement but I simply didnāt see a phone that would fit me, so I just kept repairing and using the current one.
Recently, after 7 years, the glue inside the screen assembly started to loosen up, which caused a little gap between the OLED panel and touch panel. Moisture got in there, and the OLED panel started oxidizing, leaving a nice purple patch on the side of the screen, that is slowly growing as the panel is powered on. It was my fault ignoring the gap for so long, but here we are.
Regarding my new phone, I have a few āconstraintsā and preferences that I want to stick to, even they sound stupid or unreasonable. (This is why I simply didnāt bother buying another one yet)
MUST:
- Be Android
- Not be Samsung - had some before, donāt want to go back
- Have headphone jack - yes, this will narrow the selection quite a bit
- Have OLED screen - anything OLED, doesnāt matter which kind
- Be similar size or smaller than OnePlus 5T - the ~160mm x ~70mm is sort of optimal for me.
- Be under 200g, preferable under 180g
- Dual SIM (2 physical cards)
- Something released recently (2022-24), so it still has some support, accessories sold, has more chance to use it for another 7 years.
- NFC
- Be customizable: unlockable bootlooder, option for different ROMs, basically community supportā¦
Preferable stuff:
- Some reasonable camera. I donāt use it often, so definitely donāt need some Pixel level stuff.
- High refresh rate screen - I donāt game on my phone, but general stuff looks nicer
- No under screen fingerprint sensor - Not a big deal, but I know that itās easy to fuck up the software side and calibration, so it can become a pain in the ass.
- Wifi 6 or greater - āacā Wifi is enough in the current 5T, so not a big deal just future proofing
- IP rating - I take care of my phones but still, it would be nice to not worry about moisture or dropping it in wet stuff.
- Expandable storage - Again, no big deal. I donāt use the camera often, so I donāt even fill up my current 128GB OnePlus. I usually backup and delete stuff from my phone yearly.
- Extra programmable function button - Not a deal breaker again, but I got used to OnePlus alert slider and I would program a similar button to the same functionality (switching between normal, do not disturb and mute).
Of course it should have a reasonable price too, but Iām willing to pay for a phone that I will use for a long time.
So after all my unreasonable requirements and wishlist, GSM Arenaās phone finder comes up with 3 different phones that look interesting:
- Asus Zenfone 10 https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_10-12380.php
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_redmi_note_13_pro-12581.php
- OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_nord_ce_2_5g-11269.php
1. The Zenfone
The Asus Zenfone series was my original choice as next device, Iāve been following the series for a few years, and I like the phones. Zenfones were unlockable by getting a device specific key from Asusās servers and using that in fastboot mode. As far as I know, this was done by Asusās unlocker app.
However, about a year ago, Asus decided to close this endpoint on the server, and removed the unlocker app from their website. This caused not only new Zenfones but older ones couldnāt get unlocked anymore either. You can google this drama if youāre interested, or just look at the threads on XDA Forums for Zenfone 10, Zenfone 9 or Zenfone 8. Right now, people are just waiting for someone to do something. Things are happening as I write this.
Besides all of this, Zenfone 10 is basically the perfect phone for me. People say that the software is also a plain Android with optimizations and you can turn off Asus features if you donāt like them. This is pretty much the same with OnePlus, and I liked using OxygenOS. But this unlocking bootloader drama is feels bad. Especially that Asus only provides 2 years of software support. I would be happier knowing that I can reflash my phone if I donāt like something.
2. The Xiaomi
Never had a Xiaomi before, but all my family and friends had one once in their life. I like the general quality and feature set of the phones and this looks nice just looking at the spec list.
The problem with this phone is it doesnāt even have a forum section on XDA, so I donāt know how active the community is behind it.
Second, slightly bigger problem: I donāt like Xiaomiās OS. never liked the UI layout and custom functionality. I would 100% wipe the original OS from it and go with something else. But of course I donāt know if that option is available with this phone.
3. The OnePlus
Nothing particularly bad with this one. I understand that this series is now OnePlusās budget series, so I wonāt get the fancy Snapdragons and itās the oldest from the all. I think it still looks OKish, community is active, OnePlus allows unlocking so no concerns there.
It doesnāt have an alert slider like other OnePlus phones do. Meh, no big deal, but still wanted to mention it.
My biggest āfirst world problemā with this phone is it having a MediaTek CPU. I used phones with MediaTek CPUs before, they are OK in performance but so hard to work withā¦ Every chip is different, with different drivers, random links for random shitty software, the partition map in a text file that you need specifically for you device to flash itā¦ If youāve tinkered with a MediaTek phone before, you know what Iām talking about.
4. Bonus: Nothing Phone
Yes, I know Nothing Phone doesnāt have a headphone jack. But itās also kind of like the Zenfone, and I like the LED array on the back. My 5T still has the RGB notification LED and I would prefer something similar. Plus the phone has a community behind it. I also know about the Nothing drama with their messaging app. I donāt really care. I would not have used it anyway. And as I said, if I donāt like their software, Iāll just flash another one.
So, what do you think? Should I give up my headphone jack rule and cry whenever I need to use the adapter with my headphones? What if that little worthless shit breaks? What if I want to charge? I know very well why the headphone jack isnāt there on phones nowadays, and I try not to support that direction or products that do this, trying to āvote with my walletāā¦
Or should I give up my freedom of choice and let Asus decide when my phone stops to work? Or wait to see what happens at the end of April with the āAsusās statement regarding this issueā? Maybe wait for someone who may or may not find a method for unlocking Zenfones which may or may not get patched by Asus? Is the Zenfone series popular enough that the community can solve this issue? Maybe, maybe notā¦
Or stay with OnePlus, dive back into the MediaTek world with an already old phone?
Or go Xiaomi and pray for it to not be crap in the long term?
Or fuck it and go Pixel and flash one of the many ROMs out there and cry about the headphone jack?
Thank you for reading this far.
The Sony Xperia 1 iii, 1iv, and 1 v should meet all of OPās requirements except size, and should have most of the bonus features too. Last year I was able to find a used xperia 1 iii for under $500USD. Sony allows bootloader unlocking so I put LineageOS with microg on it, rooted with magisk, and my phone does any thing I want (as long as that thing doesnāt require Google Play Services).
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