Upgrading from Samsung Galaxy J7

[Rybo]

Hi all,

 

So I left the flagship market a few years ago to see how I enjoyed using a phone I could line drive into a wall the moment something went wrong with it.  The product of that switch (the Samsung Galaxy J7) got the job done, but I'm now less interested in compromise: I want my next phone to be able to handle my daily activities without being massively over- or under-powered for them.  

 

I don't have many strict requirements, but here are the items I'm focusing on:

1. Fingerprint sensor (should work with LastPass, though I can't imagine there are fingerprint sensors that don't work with LastPass)
2. Quick app loading.  Consider that I'm upgrading from a phone with 2gb RAM and a processor that they don't even bother mentioning in their literature -- I don't think this'll be a high bar to clear
   1. Android Auto is a big one.  It takes upwards of a minute to sync up with my car on the J7, if it works at all
   2. Audible is another one that 1) takes longer than I'd like to load, and 2) tends to unload from memory if I so much as pause playback for more than a minute or two
   3. General phone browsing.  You know what I'm talking about -- the when the phone just pauses when you click a link to the "wrong" site or load up an app.  Even if the app performs fine after it loads
3. Quick loading camera.  The samsungs I've had in the past have had cameras that loaded lightning quick (If I recall, you could load the camera from your lock screen and snap a photo within 2 seconds or so.  Don't know if this was a feature of the phone or just a byproduct of being powerful enough to load the camera software quickly)
4. Gotta be Android.  

And that's about it.  I suppose it's worth mentioning that I'd like it if the phone could stay charged throughout a day after a few hours of bluetooth headhpone activity and maybe an hour of internet browsing, but I feel like that's probably a given -- I'm not doing any intensive things on my phone, so I don't think battery life is a concern.  I do like a quality camera, but that's so subjective that I don't really want to focus on it.  I'm mostly going to hope that the camera I get is going to be acceptable (but if you ARE aware of the image quality on the J7 camera, I want it to be better than that!).  Storage will inevitably be sufficient for my needs.  I'm currently making do on 16gb of storage, so I'm pretty sure I'll be fine on that front.  

 

I've been looking at the Samsung Galaxy S10e, but I'd like some informed input as to whether the 6gb of RAM version will be a big enough upgrade or if I should shell out the extra money for the 8gb model.  More importantly, I'm wondering if there are cheaper options out there with the suite of options I'm looking for that I'm just not finding.  

 

Thanks ahead for the input!

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, Rybo said:

Hi all,

 

So I left the flagship market a few years ago to see how I enjoyed using a phone I could line drive into a wall the moment something went wrong with it.  The product of that switch (the Samsung Galaxy J7) got the job done, but I'm now less interested in compromise: I want my next phone to be able to handle my daily activities without being massively over- or under-powered for them.  

 

I don't have many strict requirements, but here are the items I'm focusing on:

1. Fingerprint sensor (should work with LastPass, though I can't imagine there are fingerprint sensors that don't work with LastPass)
2. Quick app loading.  Consider that I'm upgrading from a phone with 2gb RAM and a processor that they don't even bother mentioning in their literature -- I don't think this'll be a high bar to clear
   1. Android Auto is a big one.  It takes upwards of a minute to sync up with my car on the J7, if it works at all
   2. Audible is another one that 1) takes longer than I'd like to load, and 2) tends to unload from memory if I so much as pause playback for more than a minute or two
   3. General phone browsing.  You know what I'm talking about -- the when the phone just pauses when you click a link to the "wrong" site or load up an app.  Even if the app performs fine after it loads
3. Quick loading camera.  The samsungs I've had in the past have had cameras that loaded lightning quick (If I recall, you could load the camera from your lock screen and snap a photo within 2 seconds or so.  Don't know if this was a feature of the phone or just a byproduct of being powerful enough to load the camera software quickly)
4. Gotta be Android.  

And that's about it.  I suppose it's worth mentioning that I'd like it if the phone could stay charged throughout a day after a few hours of bluetooth headhpone activity and maybe an hour of internet browsing, but I feel like that's probably a given -- I'm not doing any intensive things on my phone, so I don't think battery life is a concern.  I do like a quality camera, but that's so subjective that I don't really want to focus on it.  I'm mostly going to hope that the camera I get is going to be acceptable (but if you ARE aware of the image quality on the J7 camera, I want it to be better than that!).  Storage will inevitably be sufficient for my needs.  I'm currently making do on 16gb of storage, so I'm pretty sure I'll be fine on that front.  

 

I've been looking at the Samsung Galaxy S10e, but I'd like some informed input as to whether the 6gb of RAM version will be a big enough upgrade or if I should shell out the extra money for the 8gb model.  More importantly, I'm wondering if there are cheaper options out there with the suite of options I'm looking for that I'm just not finding.  

 

Thanks ahead for the input!

The S10e seems like a solid choice, although I would spring for the 8GB model if this is going to last you a while.

 

What about OnePlus?  Thinking the 7T or the upcoming 8 might cover all the bases.  My one concern is that I don't know how well Android Auto plays with it -- I've heard of some car systems being fussy over what Android phones they see.  If OnePlus does the job, though, it's a good candidate.

[Rybo]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

The S10e seems like a solid choice, although I would spring for the 8GB model if this is going to last you a while.

 

What about OnePlus?  Thinking the 7T or the upcoming 8 might cover all the bases.  My one concern is that I don't know how well Android Auto plays with it -- I've heard of some car systems being fussy over what Android phones they see.  If OnePlus does the job, though, it's a good candidate.

It looks like a great option, but I'm on Verizon and have had imperfect connectivity in my area with T-Mobile.  It looks like it supports Verizon's network, but it's not on Verizon's approved device list so I'm not sure what I'll be missing (if it works at all).  I'll definitely ask a VZW store, though, unless a more economical phone is mentioned in this thread.  

[kokakolia]

Here's a budget recommendation that might peak your interest: 

 

- LG G8

 

It's not as good as the S10. But you can find one on Ebay between $200 and $300. 

[Rybo]

FYI, I wound up going with the s10e 6gb edition. The main factor turned out to be that my local Verizon store had it in stock and could activate it for me. As someone on a prepaid plan, that was apparently a nontrivial task for phones not purchased from Verizon.

 

For those curious how it measures up against my requirements, it handily exceeds them on all fronts. Camera is snappy and the picture quality is good enough for me, Android auto fires up before Bluetooth even connects to the car, apps fire up instantly, etc. Interestingly, current RAM utilization is at 4 gb, so I may have been able to go a step lower, though I don't know if snappy processors are in use on 4gb phones.