Smartphone suggestions?

[Damahr]

So,

I've been thinking about getting a new phone recently.

I've been using the Samsung S21 for almost 2.5 years now, and although it is still treating me well, it has definitely seen better days.

Before I owned this device, I had previous version of the Galaxy, the S6 and S8+, both of which served me well.

 

I am considering branching away from Samsung and trying something new, but I have no idea what I should even be considering.

 

I definitely want to stick with Android.

Battery life, and camera quality are the most important factors for me.

 

If anyone has any suggestions that would be great.

 

Thank you.

 

[RoseTech]

If you wanna stay with android but want to deviate from samsung than maybe look into a Pixel phone

[dizmo]

Pixel 7, but probably not the Pro if you value battery life.

Honestly I'd probably just stay with Samsung. Is there a reason you want to try something else? If you want a different take on the OS just download a different launcher.

[-rascal-]

Pixel 7 or Pixel 7a.

I've been using a Pixel 7 for almost a year now, so far, really happy with it.

[Dukesilver27-]

The only somewhat comparable android to Galaxy S series is Pixel series. Good OS, somewhat good hardware (overall) and some do look good. Chinese brands are terrible tho, speaking from experience, I've had flagships from Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Oneplus, finally decided to go back to Samsung.

 

I can honestly say that Samsung has stepped up their OS experience, not to mention the guaranteed 5 years of security update for the latest series. I got my S23+ in May, have been absolutely happy with it.

[E-waste]

Sony!  You can unlock the bootloader (with clear instructions directly on sony's developer website) and run LineageOS for a cleaner software experience.  With an unlocked bootloader, you can run just about anything you want, even Linux.  LineageOS usually has great support for many devices, but if everyone keeps switching devices every three or four years, or less, that software support won't mean much.

 

I believe we should be keeping our smartphones for at LEAST ten years.  I see why people upgrade, it is usually camera quality, or software experience.  Fairphone allows swapping out just the camera module, and keeping the rest of the device.  If the software running on the device didn't do so much data collection, it would perform much faster, which is why projects like

 

LineageOS

 

/e/ OS

 

GrapheneOS

 

all exist, to cut out all the data collection to google and the brand on the device.

[Issac Zachary]

On 9/15/2023 at 3:59 PM, E-waste said:

Sony!  You can unlock the bootloader (with clear instructions directly on sony's developer website) and run LineageOS for a cleaner software experience.  With an unlocked bootloader, you can run just about anything you want, even Linux.  LineageOS usually has great support for many devices, but if everyone keeps switching devices every three or four years, or less, that software support won't mean much.

 

I believe we should be keeping our smartphones for at LEAST ten years.  I see why people upgrade, it is usually camera quality, or software experience.  Fairphone allows swapping out just the camera module, and keeping the rest of the device.  If the software running on the device didn't do so much data collection, it would perform much faster, which is why projects like

 

LineageOS

 

/e/ OS

 

GrapheneOS

 

all exist, to cut out all the data collection to google and the brand on the device.

In view that the original poster didn't mention what they felt was wrong with their current phone, this makes total sense.

 

If what you have works, why change it?

 

If it no longer gives you what you need and there's something else out there that does, ok, fine, time for a new one.

 

The Galaxy S21 has one of the best cameras and battery life isn't bad. You could get a Galaxy S23 or S23 Ultra or a Pixel 7, 7 Pro or 7a for a little bit better camera, but that's about it.

 

In what way has your Galaxy S21 seen better days? Is it broken? Is the battery not holding a charge like it used to?

 

I've had my phone for the past 3 years and never have really liked it, but am determined to keep it as long as possible. (My main pet peeve is I didn't realize my phone didn't have an FM radio.) The phone I had before was 7 or 8 years old, and the reason I upgraded was the motherboard had died and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.