Hey everyone,
So, for a bit of context I've used every smartphone I've owned until it was dead in the sense that the hardware wasn't repairable anymore. The realme6 pro I'm using at the moment is currently on life support so it's time to look for a replacement.
Here's some criteria for what it's important to me:
- I'm not a phone gamer, I don't care how well it runs Genshin Impact or PUBG, but I do use emulators like Citra.
- I don't really care about photography, any fancy camera is a bonus, it's not something I normally would consider when comparing phones.
- Wireless charging would be nice since from experience charging ports are a common point of failure. It's not necessarily a must however.
- A micro-sd and headphone jack would be nice to have, but I'm ready to sacrifice that if the phone has decent storage.
- Bloatware and weird proprietary forced, subscription/AI/ads bullshit baked into the default OS are a big no from me. I'm not as hardcore as some of the Lemmings I've met, but I do value privacy.
- Little extras such as an IR blaster, notification slider, or maybe some fun little gimmick like the glyph interface on Nothing phones is of medium importance to me. I like to tinker too, so any decent customization options is a plus.
I don't need a top of the line flagship, I'm looking for a midrange phone that's available in Canada. With that in mind, I had some ideas already:
- Nothing phone 2, this one seems fun and ticks most boxes for me. What's holding me back is the 3-4 years of updates (but that seems standard enough nowadays) and the relatively high price. If you can ease my mind and tell me I'll still be able to comfortably use this phone in 2028+ I might get this.
- One plus 12R, I like the specs and price on this one. What worries me is the bloat I've seen mentioned. Has anyone had experience with their android flavour? If so, is it feasible to remove/deactivate all useless apps?
- Pixel phones, I haven't researched these enough to decide on a model though. I might give GrapheneOS a try if I end up using a Pixel, I'm impressed by the 7 years of Android updates too. What's holding me back however, is the lack of "fun" compared to my other options, no IR blaster or distinguishing features makes it equal to my other options.
With all that said, any other recommendations are very welcome. Looking forward to reading your thoughts :)
Missing some of the stuff you want, but I'd also recommend the Pixel+GrapheneOS. The Graphene web installation is ridiculously easy and it's rock solid in my experience. You get 7+ years of support from Graphene too. Pixel build quality is great. Great camera, solid storage (ymmv), plenty of RAM. In my experience, Google's hardware support is really good. I've been using their phones since the Galaxy Nexus and any time I've had even a minor issue they're just like, "it's under warranty, do you want a new one?" basically no questions asked. My Pixel 6 is two years out of warranty. A few days ago the battery started to swell a bit. Reported it Sunday and I have a free replacement arriving today. All they asked for was a pic and my mailing address.
Last summer, my nephew managed to grab my phone, take it out of its case, and drop it in the street where it was run over by an SUV. The only damage it took was some serious scratches on the back glass. My old Pixel 3 survived two years in my pocket working on an organic farm and it's still kicking as my temporary replacement. I've found their phones shockingly durable.