Im using a 'Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4'. Nothing comes even close to be as good as it is when it comes to productivity, consuming media, playing games and surfing the web.
Android
The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!
Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.
πUniversal Link: [email protected]
π‘Content Philosophy:
Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.
Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: [email protected]
For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: [email protected]
π¬Matrix Chat
π°Our communities below
Rules
-
Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.
-
No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to [email protected].
-
Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to [email protected].
-
No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.
-
No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.
-
No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.
-
No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.
-
No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.
-
No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!
-
No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.
Quick Links
Our Communities
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
Lemmy App List
Chat and More
Galaxy S23 Ultra
Best things: long battery life and versatile camera (zoom options open up some great creativity)
Worst thing: size and weight. Top tier phones have gotten just a bit too big now. My old Note 10+ was ideally the biggest comfortable size.
BTW my summary on the S23U would be: it's a great all-rounder. You might find a phone that does this one thing better or that other thing better, but the S23U seems to do a very good job of everything. It's definitely by far the most enjoyable user experience of any phone I've ever owned.
Motorola Moto Edge (2021)
Pros: Moto's classically lite skin with sensible additions that can be turned off if you don't want them, great battery, great performance, really just a well rounded device.
Cons: I think I legally have to mention the update cadence, and lack of long-term support, but honestly it doesn't bother me. Android versions haven't mattered much past, what, Jelly Bean? Though longer security support would be nice. Also, the camera can be a little soft, but I don't take a ton of photos so I'm rather ambivalent on it.
Honestly, I paid a good price for an unlocked device that still holds up amazingly well. I'm very satisfied.
Pixel 7 because its slim OS and good camera. Would love a stylus though. I've made peace with the lack of headphone jack.
Originally had Samsung since Galaxy S, then left at Note 4 because the bloat was bad. Then Sony Xperia X5 Premium, but the camera was bad. Now Pixel since Pixel 2XL.
For watches, had LG Watch R, then LG Style, Galaxy Watch 4, but ditched Android Wear for a Amazfit Bip S that lasts for days which allows me to track sleeping.
Still hanging onto my Pixel 2 XL. The recent Pixel 6 and 7 looked good before launch but I've read of nothing but issues.
Trying to hold out for as long as I can but not sure what to get next. Somewhat limited as I'm on Google Fi.
Pixel Fold. I had a lot of concerns about durability with the scare stories the media has reported but everything about it is fantastic. Big fan of the giant viewfinder and using the rear cam for selfies. The reading experience unfolded feels like reading a paperback. Side-by-side apps unlock a whole new productive side.
Poco X3 NFC
I got the 64/6 variant for ~$130. I mainly love the good custom ROM support. Has IR blaster, SD card, and headphone jack. Good camera especially with gcam. Great battery life.
Stock MIUI sucks so you really should have a custom ROM. US cell coverage isn't great.
Z Fold 3 - because it friggin folds open. I've been team Nexus/Pixel right up until this phone went on the used market for $900. It's the best I've ever had except for missing a headphone jack. Showing off photos, navigating, reading, and split screening are the main reasons to use the inner screens. Primary complaints are crappy apps like discord and Plex that don't work well on the front screen, and I make more typos on the skinny screen's keyboard.
Samsung Tab A 8.0 with S Pen (the Euro one) because it was cheap and I needed a device to watch movies and read books on the airplane, and a Home Assistant dashboard mounted next to my desktop. I don't use it enough to dislike anything about it.
What android device are you using?
Pixel 6
What do you love the most?
The software is great, with all of the little quality of life features. Great camera and decent battery, inexpensive compared to other phones.
What do you dislike?
Video kinda sucks, however the Pixel 7 series fixed that. I also dislike how material you is biased: greens are extremely bright while blues are quite dull. The bezels are also insanely chonky.
Picked up a Motorola Edge+ (2022) somewhat a month-ish ago after giving a Galaxy S23 a go for almost a month before. I just prefer Moto's experience more, even if updates are sparse and camera quality isn't as great.
Sure, it's notably bigger that what I've long-term used before (Xiaomi Mi 9 and the 2020 Motorola Edge), but the screen is pretty good and even though the Snapdragon 8 gen 1 is meh foe battery life, I'm not too intense on it and it charges pretty quick when I need a top-off.
The Galaxy S23 just wasn't my cup of tea. OneUI's launcher wasn't tunable the way I wanted, using a custom launcher to get my experience back broke gestures (as expected, but still), and it wasn't meaningfully smaller width-wise than the Mi 9, which I went back to for a while after I gave my fiancΓ© my Moto Edge (2020).
It's also pretty damn hard to pass up a brand-new last-gen flagship for $500 plus manufacturer accidental protection 24 months and an extra year extended warranty.
LG Wing.
Love the dual screen functionality of course but what's more impressive is the fact that the 2nd screen is concealed beautifully such that on first glance, you can't even tell that it's not a normal phone! The primary camera is also excellent.
The software is pretty shit. LG sacked their mobile division 2 years ago and while they have kept their promise of giving this phone Android 13, they've done the bare minimum effort to support it. You couldn't even tell it's android 13, has the same UI and features that they shipped with Android 11. The settings app is also inconsistent, some screens have that stock android feel others have the traditional LG UI. And bugs are plenty. The processor is another weak point, it's not able to keep up in 2023.
Redmi K20 Pro (or Mi 9T Pro) been 3+ years. Basically using it for the Evo X and the pixel spoof. Will buy a new but compact phone soon. Not Apple!
I'm using a OnePlus 6
It's really fast and has a headphone jack, and you can get a second-hand one for really cheap (I got mine for ~170$). The preinstalled software sucks, but I've installed LineageOS on it and I'm really enjoying it
The only thing I don't like is that the battery is non-removable
Which Android devices are you currently using?
I have a Google Home Mini, a Google Chromecast, and I'm on my 4th phone powered by Android ... two from HTC and two are Pixels.
What do you love most about them?
The Home Mini and the Chromecast actually don't do too much that is useful for me. They mainly are just there doing not much.
The phones that I have chosen have been delightful. All Android phones are delightful, the cheap free phone that I got when I signed up for Visible (cell service) for my spouse was a piece of garbage. But that's the way that Android works: the developer/manufacturer can roll it to be whatever they want it to be.
What do you dislike?
I don't have anything to put here, but I'm looking forward to some of the responses.
OnePlus Nord N200 with LineageOS 20 (Android 13) with no google apps package installed.
- Which Android devices are you currently using?
- What do you love most about them?
- What do you dislike?
Device #1: Google Pixel 6a
Likes: Affordable. Decent screen size (not overly large). Clear and readable. Checks most of the boxes for features I want. Great camera quality.
Dislikes: cellular modem isn't the greatest, especially poor in fringe areas. Screen not quite bright enough to read in direct sunlight. Battery life could be better. Can get warm at times when doing intensive activity (streaming videos, recording video). Wish it had a true zoom lens like the flagship phones.
Device #2: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet
Likes: big screen, great for reading magazine style content, videos, web surfing. Awesome battery life. Expandable storage.
Didlikes: Samsung's implementation of gesture navigation is slow and awkward compared to Google's. Wide-screen aspect ratio isn't the best for portrait orientation (I'd rather have 4:3). Also hard to find a case that fit. Not enough internal storage.
Currently have a Note 20 Ultra. I like the size and refresh rate of the screen, and its microSD card slot. Not a fan of its processor and battery size.
I'd normally upgrade to the S24 Ultra, its natural successor, but instead I'm waiting for either the:
- Fold 6 (if it has a decent camera, the Fold 5 leaks are disappointing)
- Surface Duo 3 (same, decent camera)
I can't get a Pixel Fold as I need Miracast tech inside my phone, and I'm not a fan of the Fold 1-4 aspect ratio of the upcoming OnePlus Fold. If they switch to the Pixel Fold style of opening landscape, I'd take another look at their Fold 2
I'm currently using a pixel 6 pro. I took a long break from Androids. The last one that I owned was a S9 Plus.
I love the screen with the high refresh rate and it's really responsive. I also love the live translate feature and all of the neat AI tricks that it has as well. I also was very hesitant because I've heard a lot about the battery life being bad, but the battery on mine is really good, as well as the fingerprint reader.
The only thing that I dislike would be the grip of the phone. I played around with both the pixel 6 and the pro and I would have to say the regular pixel 6 has a better grip, but I love the higher refresh rate and display on the 6 pro.
Edit: Oh and of course, the camera is amazing!
S9
I'm still using my S9. Size is about as big as I want to deal with. Indicator LED is great. 3.5mm jack is great. SD socket for local storage. Camera is still fine. Qi charging is one of the few gimmicks that hasn't turned out to be useless. Screen is drastic overkill. Design is a stupid friction-less glass egg, but that's easily fixable with a minimalist case. Performance is still perfectly adequate.
It's long out of support, but I'm finding the market wildly un-compelling, and will probably just roll with it until something renders it unusable.
Samsung Galaxy S10E, better Form factor for my pants pockets and medium (not over the top) media equipment I wont use anyways.
Same here. Doesn't feel ridiculously oversized, runs smoothly, and most importantly still has a headphone jack and mini-sd card. The last two points were complete deal breakers for me.
I'm using a OnePlus 9 and a Galaxy Tab S7. My tablet is mainly for reading manga and watching series, I'm quite happy with it.
I like some things in my phone, like the camera and the screen, but the battery is kinda awful and since I moved to the US, I may need a new one. It's kinda weird since I had 5G when I arrived but since a maybe a month ago, I just have 4G on ATT. I'm thinking on maybe getting a Zenphone 10 or a S23, any thoughts on that? I'd like to keep using both sims I already use.
Device
I'm on Pixel 6 running GrapheneOS,
Love
I control a lot of what the device is doing. I am a nerd, hence I want to use it, and because I use it, I am a nerd.
Hate
I spend a lot of time which I could've spent otherwise. Little feature that people show off let me feel like I've got an inferior device. I am talking about auto cropping a thing in an image on ios. At the same time ios can't play an oga file which is more important than apple's playground. It only happens once a year but seeing a friend airdropping something to a stranger feels like I'm missing out. I hate apple for being like shit. Compared to other androids ... no, I don't miss android auto. Pay could be there but not that neccessary. Being able to toggle wifi on or off is actually more important and seeing that even xiaomi etc. Still have the tiles but GrapheneOS doesn't feels like shit. Browsing the web with mull and vpn is slow compared to other devices with chromium browsers. Selfie camera is a banana. It takes long to start a video and long to stop one. It's difficult to post process on android due to the lack of apps and options.
Recommend it?
Tough call. It depends. Ideologically I'd say yes. For nerds, yes. For kids and young adults, yes if you are strong enough to resist the FOMO that people will give you.
- Both me and my wife have a Google Pixel 6 as our daily driver
- My youngest son has a Galaxy Tab S6 tablet for games and YouTube.
- My eldest used to have a Google Pixel 5a, but after he switched to an iPhone it's just sitting in a shelf as a backup phone just in case.
- I have an Nvidia Shield TV (2019) in my living room as the streaming box.
I love the customization and flexibility Android gives me. Also I can always unlock the phones and flash whatever 3rd-party OS I want. We're pretty content with the Pixels, but the tablet barely receives any updates anymore. Also fucking Apple's moronic green bubble vs blue bubble bullshit makes sharing photos and videos with family a needlessly complicated chore. I don't want to get off on a rant, but how has nobody taken them to court yet over this purposeful degradation of quality coming from competitors' hardware?!
Samsung Galaxy A51 5G. Had it for a few years and it works great, just wish it had more internal storage.
- Pixel 7 Pro
- The responsiveness vs. my previous phone (Pixel 3a).
- I miss having a headphone jack.
Pixel Fold!
It's everything I need in a foldable with the sweet sweet software from Pixel.
Only thing that sucks is the cost. Definitely for the enthusiast
I have the z fold. How do you think it compares?
So to be honest a lot of it might stem from the fact that I was on Samsung software for so long I was getting kind of annoyed at all the little glitches and hiccups. In a very cohesive environment and especially having this kind of fold software it always felt like a beta thing.
Or with the pixel feels like there's much more of a enhanced almost iPhone like experience with the full. I can grant that there is less maybe functionality in terms of multitasking and stuff but I really use those features so rarely that I don't miss them
Dad and coupled with the front form factor that's so much better for me and that I can actually take really nice photos and have all the nice little pixel features, its a no brainer for me
Do apps play better on the unfolded screen? I've noticed that some apps hate the aspect ratio of the fold and refuse to display nicely even with samsung labs tweaks (looking at you spotify).
I use two Samsungs: a Galaxy A52s 5G and a Galaxy A23. The features that I use the most is not baked in the OS itself but, KDE Connect. The thing I dislike about both of them is that they have insanely high idle battery drain
Galaxy s21 (the smallest model)
I love that its not gigantic
I dislike the fingerprint reader. I prefer the one on the rear of the phone, like my previous phone had
Rocking a Pixel 7 and a Galaxy Watch5.
Loving my Pixel in general and have loved them, mostly, since the 2XL. The Pixel features, like call screening, are useful. Plus it has a great camera. The Watch5 is just a generally nice smart watch, with smooth operation.
I dislike how slippery the Pixel is. I'm otherwise neutral on everything else. The Watch5 has too much Samsung bloat.
This got me wondering what I'm using ... apparently it's a Moto G5s with Android 7?
I like it because it didn't come loaded with extra software, it was cheap (80β¬ in 2019) and it's got a nice camera. In a few years I might think about replacing it, in which case I'd like something a bit smaller.
I've got a tablet too, which is a Lenovo that fell off the back of a lorry in Hungary and my MIL bought it for me for the equivalent of 30β¬. It works well too, I think it's got Android 8 on it.
You're running pretty old versions of Android, don't you have issues with apps not being supported?
Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro (Redmi K30 Pro). I honestly only really got it because it had a wild discount on AliExpress back in 2020 and wanted to give MIUI a try. However since then I've put TWRP and a custom ROM on it (MIUI isn't terrible but it seems to kill apps far too much and I'm not big on the ads within the actual OS).
I continue to use it because it still performs great and the battery life is pretty good (usually get about 2 days charge on it), and the custom ROM community around it is pretty reliable too. Plus it has a pop up camera so I definitely know when my phone is trying to look at me.
Not really found much to dislike to be honest, though I guess the camera could be a bit better. It's definitely helped along with good software though (especially either GCam or the MIUI camera).