Pick my next phone (Android; Contains Motorola Rant)

[Sir.gg]

If you haven't heard about Motorola killing the Pie update for all Z2 Force phones except Verizon models, basically they're doing just that. Instead of justifying why they're doing so, they've only justified why they're still bringing Pie to the Verizon model - the 5G Moto Mod that requires at least Pie. So in typical consumer fashion, I've given up on Motorola as a whole, which is frankly a damn shame, because I really loved Motorola devices. So while the Z2 Force is by no means an out of date device for any reason other than having a lame camera and Lenovorola forgetting how to keep promises, I'm going to start searching for my replacement.

Some other context - I've never owned any smartphone other than a Motorola device, having drank the Droid coolaid all those years ago. All of my complaints about their devices thus far have been about increasingly worse update support and maybe some gripes about their camera just not holding up. But that's mostly it. The Z2 Force is by far my favorite Motorola device as a whole. So here are my reasons for loving it which may give some clue as to what I'm looking for in my next device:

• Battery life - I've always loved the battery life in the Motorola devices I've owned (for example, the RAZR MAXX that was basically just that, a bigger battery phone). While the base Z2 Force doesn't have much in that area, the battery Moto Mods have offered unprecedented versatility. If I want to slim down my pocket, I can just go without a Mod attached. If I want to go my whole day (and then some), throw a Mod on, or throw it on later. Somehow manage to drain even further? Swap the Mod out for another battery Mod and carry on like nothing changed. All this while being able to use the speaker mod or camera mod whenever I want, simply by swapping it out. I haven't had to sacrifice battery for anything. In many ways, I've been able to gain independence from portable battery packs. Even though I throw one in my bag out of habit, especially when outdoors, I just simply carry the Mods I need and can swap out battery mods. No cables needed to stay charged. No charging speed issues. It's like it's just part of the device.
• Extremely clean interface - Motorola has always had a clean skin of Android that feels super vanilla to me. That may simply be because I've never owned a Pixel device or anything else, but for all intensive purposes, it's felt near perfect. Just the other day I gave Nova Launcher another shot and found myself missing things like Google Discovery (the feed) and a few other quirks. Sure, I know of the 3rd party integration for Google Discovery but in my mere hours of testing, it would simply stop working for no apparent reason, with only restarting the launcher entirely as a fix.
• Decent specs - Snapdragon 835 with 6Gigs RAM. The screen is fine. The camera needs help, but meh. The black & white camera is neat I guess. That's about it.
• Pretty reliable - Has rarely crashed the whole device. Restarts aren't often required.

My biggest gripes:

• Camera app has been buggy lately and seems to crash when saving. Super intermittent and is just a software thing it seems.
• Motorola has gone from the best updates to the absolute worst, going so far as to break their promises as mentioned above.
• My big hands prefer a bumper and Mod for it to feel like a tangible object that I'm not going to break. Hand meat likes to wrap around the edges when holding without bumper
• Shatterproof screen is super prone to scratches and required a tempered glass screenprotector. While I love how durable the screen is (my prior phone took a ratchet and socket to the screen), being so prone to scratches just seems kinda dumb. The addition of the glass screen protector AND the apparent factory screen protectors that's under it means the front fingerprint sensor/home button wasn't comfortable to use for one-button navigation (gestures across the button instead of on-screen buttons for home, back, and open apps). It was like running a finger over a sharp edge and had super tactile depth that made it kinda meh and unusable.
• When rocking it modless, the camera bump just feels like I'm gonna break it super easily so I feel like I have to baby it.

Extra thoughts: With no real flagship contender from Motorola in the Z3/Z4 era, it just feels like Lenovo just said "nah" to the phone business in addition to the other issues.

 

So with all that in mind, what's my next non-Motorola device?

[v0id]

5 hours ago, _Sir said:

If you haven't heard about Motorola killing the Pie update for all Z2 Force phones except Verizon models, basically they're doing just that. Instead of justifying why they're doing so, they've only justified why they're still bringing Pie to the Verizon model - the 5G Moto Mod that requires at least Pie. So in typical consumer fashion, I've given up on Motorola as a whole, which is frankly a damn shame, because I really loved Motorola devices. So while the Z2 Force is by no means an out of date device for any reason other than having a lame camera and Lenovorola forgetting how to keep promises, I'm going to start searching for my replacement.

Some other context - I've never owned any smartphone other than a Motorola device, having drank the Droid coolaid all those years ago. All of my complaints about their devices thus far have been about increasingly worse update support and maybe some gripes about their camera just not holding up. But that's mostly it. The Z2 Force is by far my favorite Motorola device as a whole. So here are my reasons for loving it which may give some clue as to what I'm looking for in my next device:

• Battery life - I've always loved the battery life in the Motorola devices I've owned (for example, the RAZR MAXX that was basically just that, a bigger battery phone). While the base Z2 Force doesn't have much in that area, the battery Moto Mods have offered unprecedented versatility. If I want to slim down my pocket, I can just go without a Mod attached. If I want to go my whole day (and then some), throw a Mod on, or throw it on later. Somehow manage to drain even further? Swap the Mod out for another battery Mod and carry on like nothing changed. All this while being able to use the speaker mod or camera mod whenever I want, simply by swapping it out. I haven't had to sacrifice battery for anything. In many ways, I've been able to gain independence from portable battery packs. Even though I throw one in my bag out of habit, especially when outdoors, I just simply carry the Mods I need and can swap out battery mods. No cables needed to stay charged. No charging speed issues. It's like it's just part of the device.
• Extremely clean interface - Motorola has always had a clean skin of Android that feels super vanilla to me. That may simply be because I've never owned a Pixel device or anything else, but for all intensive purposes, it's felt near perfect. Just the other day I gave Nova Launcher another shot and found myself missing things like Google Discovery (the feed) and a few other quirks. Sure, I know of the 3rd party integration for Google Discovery but in my mere hours of testing, it would simply stop working for no apparent reason, with only restarting the launcher entirely as a fix.
• Decent specs - Snapdragon 835 with 6Gigs RAM. The screen is fine. The camera needs help, but meh. The black & white camera is neat I guess. That's about it.
• Pretty reliable - Has rarely crashed the whole device. Restarts aren't often required.

My biggest gripes:

• Camera app has been buggy lately and seems to crash when saving. Super intermittent and is just a software thing it seems.
• Motorola has gone from the best updates to the absolute worst, going so far as to break their promises as mentioned above.
• My big hands prefer a bumper and Mod for it to feel like a tangible object that I'm not going to break. Hand meat likes to wrap around the edges when holding without bumper
• Shatterproof screen is super prone to scratches and required a tempered glass screenprotector. While I love how durable the screen is (my prior phone took a ratchet and socket to the screen), being so prone to scratches just seems kinda dumb. The addition of the glass screen protector AND the apparent factory screen protectors that's under it means the front fingerprint sensor/home button wasn't comfortable to use for one-button navigation (gestures across the button instead of on-screen buttons for home, back, and open apps). It was like running a finger over a sharp edge and had super tactile depth that made it kinda meh and unusable.
• When rocking it modless, the camera bump just feels like I'm gonna break it super easily so I feel like I have to baby it.

Extra thoughts: With no real flagship contender from Motorola in the Z3/Z4 era, it just feels like Lenovo just said "nah" to the phone business in addition to the other issues.

 

So with all that in mind, what's my next non-Motorola device?

Pixel 3a

 

-Clean interface

-Stellar battery life (though I'm a casual user)

-Software support for at least 3 yrs

-$400

-Plastic body (more durable than glass)

-Headphone jack

-Stereo speakers (ish)

-Camera is pretty awesome

 

The sub-par specs aren't noticeable as the software is pretty finely tuned. You lose out on an IP rating and wireless charging, so I'm not sure how important those are to you. But for the price it's pretty awesome. I don't think I'll ever go third party for Android ever again.

[Sir.gg]

1 hour ago, v0id said:

Pixel 3a

 

-Clean interface

-Stellar battery life (though I'm a casual user)

 -Software support for at least 3 yrs

 -$400

-Plastic body (more durable than glass)

 -Headphone jack

-Stereo speakers (ish)

-Camera is pretty awesome

 

The sub-par specs aren't noticeable as the software is pretty finely tuned. You lose out on an IP rating and wireless charging, so I'm not sure how important those are to you. But for the price it's pretty awesome. I don't think I'll ever go third party for Android ever again.

Definitely an interesting option. The Z2 Force didn't have built-in wireless support, but some of the battery mods added it, so I was still using it. That being said, I rarely used it so I could probably live without. The headphone jack is definitely noteworthy even though the Z2 Force didn't have one. Remembering the C to 3.5mm adapter is a pain. When I bought the phone, I had also asked if they sold extra adapters at the Verizon store so I could leave one in the car, one in my bag, one in my desk and so on, and they just straight up didn't. In fact, it was a crapshoot to find. Not so much these days but still.

 

I'll keep that one in mind.

Edit: I gotta wonder - why the 3a compared to the 3 or the 3XL? 3a of course has the price advantage, but is there any other benefit? Z2 Force was flagship priced so I don't mind the pricepoint of up to the 3XL if it's justifiable.

Edited June 30, 2019 by _Sir
afterthought - why not 3 or 3XL

[v0id]

3 hours ago, _Sir said:

Definitely an interesting option. The Z2 Force didn't have built-in wireless support, but some of the battery mods added it, so I was still using it. That being said, I rarely used it so I could probably live without. The headphone jack is definitely noteworthy even though the Z2 Force didn't have one. Remembering the C to 3.5mm adapter is a pain. When I bought the phone, I had also asked if they sold extra adapters at the Verizon store so I could leave one in the car, one in my bag, one in my desk and so on, and they just straight up didn't. In fact, it was a crapshoot to find. Not so much these days but still.

 

I'll keep that one in mind.

Edit: I gotta wonder - why the 3a compared to the 3 or the 3XL? 3a of course has the price advantage, but is there any other benefit? Z2 Force was flagship priced so I don't mind the pricepoint of up to the 3XL if it's justifiable.

I wasn't sure what your wallet looked like and never like shelling out hundreds of dollars for a phone, but if you got the cash there's nothing wrong with the 3, just seems like the cost benefit ratio wasn't very good. And you do lose the headphone jack so not sure where that's at on your list of priorities. But based on what you liked about Motorola I figured it was a good option, the 3a that is. I was a fan of Motorola too, their Droid Turbo was an amazing device. I still got it around my place somewhere and it still works.

[Sir.gg]

9 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Get the...

Moto Z2 Force with Android Pie

Eh, I thought about it but I dig an easy experience when it comes to my phone.

[NinJake]

I just ordered the Oneplus 7 Pro. I've had a Oneplus 3T for the last 3-4 years and the experience has been delightful.