What phone are you daily driving currently?

[wilpang]

Google 6 Pro 256gb UK version.

[Jarhead]

Samsung Galaxy S9 for the past while, though looking to replace with one of the As soon enough.

[John Ratsey]

I ordered the Galaxy S22 (smallest model with 8GB / 128GB) on 28th March direct from Samsung UK who had a launch offer of £200 rebate by sending in any old Android phone plus a free pair of Galaxy Buds Pro. At the time of ordering the system said I would get the phone on 22nd April but it actually showed up on 2nd April.

 

As noted much earlier in this thread I had the S21 and was attracted by (i) the slightly smaller size of the S22 and (ii) the 3x optical zoom camera. Testing the cameras was the first task after unboxing and there was a visable, albeit modest, improvement in >3x zoom images compared with the S21. The S22 does feel to be less of a lump in my pocket. It's protected by a thin gel case (a standard purchase for my phones but particularly necessary for the square-edged S22).

 

Prior to ordering I was aware of comments from early owners that the battery drained faster than the S21 and, so far, this has proved to be true. One factor is that the S22 battery has 7% lower capacity but the difference in drain rate is at least double that. I'm hoping that Samsung are working on this problem as there have been two software updates in the past two weeks) but I'm a relatively light user and can easily get through a day. I've got the battery set to maximum 85% charge to minimise the battery wear.

[jaybee83]

Have been rocking a Huawei Mate 20X, chinese model with 8/256GB config. what i absolutely love about this phone is the combo of high capacity battery (5000 mAh), big screen (7.2 inch!), relatively current hardware and stereo speakers.

 

what i dont like: basically no option to unlock BL and mod software (unless downgrading to super old firmware)

 

although its been lotsa fun im currently looking for a replacement, but its difficult to find such screen sizes anymore without going foldable...in any case, im eyeing the asus rog phone 5s, but worried the screen might be too small for my taste...lets see, maybe i can last a few months longer for smth better to show up sometime this year. unfortunately, the battery is getting a bit long in the tooth 😅

[ryan]

still rocking my 21 ultra....great phone for pictures terrible battery life only getting 10 hours screen on time....after seeing what my ipad 9th gen could do (22hr sot) I'd say its atrocious

[Jarhead]

Ordered the Samsung A53 to replace the S9. So far haven't been able to do much with it outside of bedside browsing but so far I'm enjoying it. Gotta check through phone contacts to make sure everything made it over and get my media on it and all will be a go.

[Eban]

On 4/7/2022 at 6:11 PM, ryan said:

also I would like to add yes putting your phone in the freezer then running a benchmark improve scores lols

 

I scored like 780 000 stock with my s21 ultra...then in the freezer got 825375 pretty big jump and close to a stock 8 gen 1

 

tips, to gather, live in antartica and your scores should improve...but beware

 

There is a curve!

 

I work in an ice cream factory. Big freezer is minus 30 centigrade (-30).

My phone will work at -7

at -10 it usually reboots or runs soooooo slow 

[jaybee83]

8 hours ago, Eban said:

 

There is a curve!

 

I work in an ice cream factory. Big freezer is minus 30 centigrade (-30).

My phone will work at -7

at -10 it usually reboots or runs soooooo slow 

thats when the mobile "cold bug" starts working its magic it seems 😄

[ryan]

i was honestly suprised..you would think the performance in a freezer would only be a small diff

[Eban]

13 hours ago, ryan said:

i was honestly suprised..you would think the performance in a freezer would only be a small diff

I was surprised also. I remember when overclocking an intel cpu inside a "fridge case" was a dream of every mod head. This is back in the day with bus speeds and jumpers of course.

 

I should do a benchmark test and see whats a good temp for the freezer.

 

Any suggestions for android bench tests?

[GeekBear80]

My "daily driver" is an iPhone SE/2020, which I got when I gave up on Android out of pure frustration with Google and their constant degradation of the system. I use it for two things: Apple Pay/payment and banking mostly.

 

For bedside browsing I still use my Xiaomi Mi Max running Nougat since it is the last Android version I consider acceptable (no version or device released after 2018 gets a passing grade from me, the iPhone SE/2020 was selected for Apple Pay and it works really well as a wallet, which is what I consider it to be).

 

I have given up on smartphones as anything but a "wallet" so I only use communication services that can run on Windows nowadays and have no desire to get any device other than replacing the iPhone when it reaches EOL (i.e. when banking apps stop working because the iOS on it doesn't receive any more updates). 

 

The OneNetbook A1 attract me as a future "smartphone replacement" and I have concluded that the only way forward is those small PCs.

 

Scoped Storage is something I just don't accept, which is also why I left Android and moved all media needs to Windows.

[K4sum1]

Why specifically Nougat? I like Oero and Marshmallow.

 

[GeekBear80]

On 4/5/2022 at 7:31 AM, Ashtrix said:

Used to run an LG V30S, 12GB. SD835 SoC, 400GB microSD. Bootloader Unlocked thanks to some based dev in LG they left that WTF method open because they shuffled a lot of C level execs due to poor financials and US Bootloader policy got thrown under the bus. Mine runs Stock Oreo official firmware with build.prop modified to enable EQ presets as LG Korea did not update it properly, and ofc Rooted with magisk. Unfortunately the display broke, USB port broke, speaker is busted will try to get it repaired if possible since it has been the best Android set experience never slowed down since day 1 for me and the 3.5mm jack ESS9218P is exceptional world class DAC AMP, the other remarkable ones which I used were Motorola Milestone, Samsung Galaxy S, and OnePlus 3, all rooted and Bootloader unlocked. Milestone is dead got replacement and sold it off long time back, rest work.

 

Currently running OnePlus 3, Resurrection Remix OS 7.1.2 Android based on SultanXDA custom Kernel, Magisk installed, Vanced as well before takedown. Couldn't find a good Android set anymore. Lack of HW options, there's only a single phone today that has Micro SD slot and a 3.5mm jack - Sony Xperia 1 Mark III. And from my research that phone lacks good battery due to poor optimization and 4K OLED plus that modem is not great, eating away all the battery, then the Android 10 and up killed Storage entirely by making the Filesystem like Apple iOS and External storage completely nuked, which causes Xperia 1 to have slow I/O from SD card slot as they did not fix it. Then the whole 5G mmWave nonsense and band support. It doesn't have great 5G due to lack of mmWave, that tech also drains battery heavily. LG V60 is having a hole which I cannot stand, and it's locked to American Carrier Mafia.

 

The Android OS is dead from Software and UI as it is becoming more childish and dumb OS thanks to Apple fanatics at Google. Scoped Storage nukes filesystem capabilities to a basic level and introduces slower performance. Blacklisting of powerful APIs, Limited set of Background Applications (12L got this but what about old phones ? well they are SOL and ruined), Now forcing notification prompts, making the UI ugliest pile of junk for AOSP. And forcing App bundles to make it hard for Sideload APK distribution and signing permission away from Developers. Then Magisk dropping SUHide, and Safety Net upgrades, soon banking Apps most of them will  block unlocked and rooted phones.

 

Due to all this wanted to move to iPhone SE 2022, but I couldn't stand Apple's iTunes BS and lack of expandable storage plus Apple is not-trustable anymore than Google, infact worse. Esp after their Hash check scanning function news and how they were behind the KAT website shutdown and latest FBI snoop on Sci-Hub main person.

 

Still might do it since I cannot stand the stupid Android OS anymore as it doesn't even run properly and pointless in spending $1400 for new Sony Xperia 1 if it's bound to be crippled hard and die in 3 years due to sealed battery while iPhones get easy servicing by the dumb Genius Apple staff at Apple stores because they do not do anything the Apple Robot does the servicing lol and the A15 SoC will run for at-least 6 years from now, they should have made the damn iPhone 8 Plus chassis and stuffed in a bigger battery and bigger display and a secondary Telephoto camera it would have been a solid phone. Now it's a pathetic attempt despite it's faster CPU, look how much Apple is making on that. It's selling for higher cost for such a poor display resolution from 2016 in 2022. Imagine, iPhone SE2022 has lower display resolution and size than the OP3 that I'm running which is already a very old device plus that is LCD while my Samsung Galaxy S from 2010 is OLED. Oh the battery is also disgustingly low capacity on the SE2022 as well. Will see how Sony is going to make their new Xperia 1 Mark IV if they fix the Modem, Battery, Throttling might as well give it a shot before throwing in towel. Forgot... the SD888 is a piece of JUNK. It's hot and pathetic. Since SD875 things are bad. Latest SD 8 Gen 1 based on now X1 ARM cores is also poor due to high heat again.

 

Back to Sony, they make DRM on Bootloader unlock, if we run the BL unlock the Camera, Display Processing technologies get their features axed, that is the only phone worth any money since it has no BS notch. no Hole, has proper Dual Stereo Speakers, SD card slot, Pro features in Camera like LG camera and looks fantastic as well. I cannot imagine what would happen to my data if my V30 did not have SD card slot. All my photos, videos, everything inaccessible. Samsung is not an option anymore as they axed Note with SD card slot and OS looks worse than Samsung Experience (Oreo era pre DJ Koh firing). And American models do not get BL unlock, Exynos won't work in US due to lack of Carrier band Aggregation and Samsung won't even touch the phone for repair.

 

Anyways I digress. That's the whole rant. There are simply no options anymore as a Pocket Computer. But a dumb social media toy there's like gazillion options.

 

You get everything right with this post. It is the exact reasons I dumped Android and went with an iPhone SE/2020.

 

By using the iPhone as a wallet since neither Android or iOS is even remotely close to be a viable system for anything else, the limitations can be mitigated. They are there but it is possible to live with them by realizing that we are talking about a dumbed down toy and simply treat it as such. Banking apps and Apple Pay work really well on iOS and it is OK as a basic phone in general when it is judged as a "Sony Ericsson K750i that can do payments" rather than a "smartphone" as in a rooted and flashed Lollipop device with Xposed.

 

Camera wise I would say that the iPhone SE is OK and that I rather use a dedicated camera for anything else since I just don't see any reason to pay top dollars for a crippled device using such a basic feature as an argument. It just doesn't matter "how good pictures it takes" when there are a lot of excellent cameras in the market that doesn't have all this restricted BS that smartphones offer, while they also outlast them by a wide margin.

 

Since there are micro PCs such as OneNetbook A1 and GPD Pocket in the market, going Windows is a viable option, which also means that the small battery in an iPhone SE isn't that much of an issue since the battery life is OK for a basic phone scenario (Internet browsing et al are done on the PC so the screen time is limited).

 

I was very much against the iPhone during the period of 2007-2018 but reached the conclusion that the SE is the "least evil" out of the options in 2022 when it is supplanted by a Windows device. Google Voice is a blessing here since it work really well on Windows and is an excellent service overall. I dumped carrier talk/text for it in 2014 and haven't looked back since. Since the iPhone SE offer eSIM, I use a plan that give me approx. 3 GB of data per month and I pay approx. $2.50 for it, thus making it the most "cost effective" phone I have ever used when I look at the yearly cost of service. 

[GeekBear80]

13 minutes ago, K4sum1 said:

Why specifically Nougat? I like Oero and Marshmallow.

 

 

Nougat is the last version where my Tasker profiles work for airplane mode. I gave Oreo a shot but Google had implemented "nice" restrictions that messed up said profiles, thus making me revert back to Nougat 7.1.2.

 

That Android version is the last one I accept (9, 10, 11 and 12 et al are atrocious and I have a device with 10, which is absolute hot garbage and slooooow in comparison with 7.1.2 that still runs beautifully). I recently reflashed one device with Lollipop and despite being from 2013 (Xperia Z Ultra), it blow 10 out of the water in every single aspect including performance. 

 

My Nougat device was flashed back in 2018 and it is still going strong with the same installation. It just works.

[jaybee83]

1 minute ago, GeekBear80 said:

 

Nougat is the last version where my Tasker profiles work for airplane mode. I gave Oreo a shot but Google had implemented "nice" restrictions that messed up said profiles, thus making me revert back to Nougat 7.1.2.

 

That Android version is the last one I accept (9, 10, 11 and 12 et al are atrocious and I have a device with 10, which is absolute hot garbage and slooooow in comparison with 7.1.2 that still runs beautifully). I recently reflashed one device with Lollipop and despite being from 2013 (Xperia Z Ultra), it blow 10 out of the water in every single aspect including performance. 

 

My Nougat device was flashed back in 2018 and it is still going strong with the same installation. It just works.

kinda sounds like the way newer windows versions are going.... 😅

[GeekBear80]

3 minutes ago, jaybee83 said:

kinda sounds like the way newer windows versions are going.... 😅

 

Windows offer one important benefit (as things stands now): Hyper-V and VMs in general, thus making it possible to run something like Windows 7 Ultimate and/or Linux under 11 when the downgrades become too much. 

 

So even in a "worst case scenario" where the PC can run 11 only and installation of 10 LTSC isn't an option due to driver issues and whatnot, VM is a way to create an acceptable user experience.

 

The situation is better than on Android where you are stuck without any proper possibility to do anything about it since you can't flash Nougat on a new device.

[6730b]

Samsung Note 10 Lite, a trusted companion for 2 years. Nothing about it is amazing super, but everything is good+++.

3 good cams, headphone jack, good display (& flat!), good battery, monthly updates (will get A13), microSD, and the pen sees lot of use. Still love it as much as in the first days.

https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note10_lite-review-2063.php
 

[ryan]

lol I broke 800k in antutu with the help of ole frosty..unreal typically I get 600k but im wondering why they are so focused on better clocks ect.....cool the dang thing first then bump speeds

[jaybee83]

so both the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra and the ROG Phone 6 were bummers, either due to looks, abysmal camera performance or too much bling bling / gamer looks. also, both companies are not really known for their great android update policies, ugh....

 

so for now ill be patiently waiting for the Pixel 7 series to launch in October, i think thatll finally be the right moment to retire my Mate 20 X.

 

its quite frustrating to be honest, u either get great hardware (i.e. giant screen, current SoC and huge battery) OR u get awesome android update policies, but NOT BOTH! like.....why? *sigh*

[K4sum1]

I might upgrade to the upcoming Zenfone 9 or Xperia 5 IV when they get a bit old and go on sale. (Or used)

[TreeTopsRanch]

Samsung A51 here. Good phone and still getting updates. Good battery life.

[jaybee83]

3 hours ago, TreeTopsRanch said:

Samsung A51 here. Good phone and still getting updates. Good battery life.

thats one thing u gotta respect Samsung for: their update policy is even better than Google's! 😄 

[ryan]

@jaybee83dont lie bro...we all know your using a nokia matrix display phone....when your doin g stuff and bangin...you throw your phone on the ground..you want it to survive and i get that.....but bro its 2022 at least get a flip fone

[jaybee83]

1 hour ago, ryan said:

@jaybee83dont lie bro...we all know your using a nokia matrix display phone....when your doin g stuff and bangin...you throw your phone on the ground..you want it to survive and i get that.....but bro its 2022 at least get a flip fone

not kidding, my dad actually had one of those nokia matrix banana phones, it was hilarious 😄 

[ryan]

On 8/6/2022 at 3:13 PM, jaybee83 said:

On 8/6/2022 at 1:59 PM, ryan said:

@jaybee83dont lie bro...we all know your using a nokia matrix display phone....when your doin g stuff and bangin...you throw your phone on the ground..you want it to survive and i get that.....but bro its 2022 at least get a flip fone

not kidding, my dad actually had one of those nokia matrix banana phones, it was hilarious 😄 

lmao thats awesome....i was reminded that my uncle had one also....looked so funny back in the early 90s