Suggestions for an Upgrade

[TheRealGregHouse]

Hey ! 

I'm upgrading my phone from the Nexus 6P , which served me faithfully ,and continues to do so (aside from it's degrading battery life and occasional stutters while loading instagram ).My primary focus is on ageing (so software needs to be as close to stock android as possible ) as i will be looking for an investment ,which will last me for a minimum 2 years ,maximum being 2.5 years (Can't expect anything more from any new android device ).My uses will be constant use of tabs on chrome and note taking software , occasional gaming (very very negligible ), Using the phone as a constant source for music (needs to have a good set of speakers and a decent DAC while using headphones , i do not mind using a dongle if it gives a decent output ), and battery life: initially my nexus device lasted for almost a day and a half with my usage , which is what i expect from the device i purchase . Camera and Video should be usable as i have been spoiled by the decent camera in the nexus device , video stabilisation on the device isn't the best so any small upgrade compared to that is welcome . (camera will be used on auto mode , no interference from my end )

I need suggestions , preferably from people who actually own the phones I mention , regarding 

1)The performance as a daily driver 

2)battery life difference between the time you purchased the device and it's current duration

3)Software updates from the manufacturers 

 

Phones I am currently considering are

1)BlackBerry Key2 (KeyOne owners , if any can you please answer the questions i asked above ) :only reason i'm considering this is because of it's focus on productivity ,and great battery life 

2)Pixel device (any pixel 2 or 1device owners  please answer the questions asked above ) 

3)Samsung S9 (any owners of the S9 could you please answer the questions asked above )

4)HTC U12+ (Any owners of the device could you please answer the questions mentioned above )

 

 Suggestions are welcome ! 

 

Thanks in Advance .

 

[dizmo]

If you want a decent DAC, I'd just get an inline one and use that.

I wouldn't get the Key2 if you do any kind of gaming. It's a business device first and foremost and I don't think it really fits the bill for playing games.

Have you considered Asus devices? I have a Zenfone 3 Zoom and it gets absolutely excellent battery life, and it's also gotten a fair number of updates since I got it.

If you're not in a hurry, LG's V40 looks rather promising and if it keeps the audio set up of years past, will have a very nice DAC. The Pixel 3 should also be coming out.

 

[TheRealGregHouse]

5 hours ago, dizmo said:

If you want a decent DAC, I'd just get an inline one and use that.

I wouldn't get the Key2 if you do any kind of gaming. It's a business device first and foremost and I don't think it really fits the bill for playing games.

Have you considered Asus devices? I have a Zenfone 3 Zoom and it gets absolutely excellent battery life, and it's also gotten a fair number of updates since I got it.

If you're not in a hurry, LG's V40 looks rather promising and if it keeps the audio set up of years past, will have a very nice DAC. The Pixel 3 should also be coming out.

 

Personally don't like the UI in ASUS devices , same reason why i didn't mention any huaweii devices as well  .Samsung also has a cluttered UI , but atleast they do a kinda decent job giving updates ,(haven't used an asus device personally , used a friends device for a few hours to get a feel of it ,didn't like the UI ). I really like blackberry's security stuff and as i mentioned i rarely game , it's really not my cup of tea , but a killer battery and RAM management is absolutely necessary , as i will have multiple tabs and apps open ,along with the music app in the background for a major part of my daily use . Pixel 3 is on my list (provided it's price tag is affordable ),V series while promising , is still LG's product and their software support is criminally bad ,which along with their skin might affect the phones longevity ,hence my reluctance to switch to Lg otherwise i would have gone for the G7 .How is the RAM management on the Zenfone ? 

[dizmo]

57 minutes ago, TheRealGregHouse said:

Personally don't like the UI in ASUS devices , same reason why i didn't mention any huaweii devices as well  .Samsung also has a cluttered UI , but atleast they do a kinda decent job giving updates ,(haven't used an asus device personally , used a friends device for a few hours to get a feel of it ,didn't like the UI ). I really like blackberry's security stuff and as i mentioned i rarely game , it's really not my cup of tea , but a killer battery and RAM management is absolutely necessary , as i will have multiple tabs and apps open ,along with the music app in the background for a major part of my daily use . Pixel 3 is on my list (provided it's price tag is affordable ),V series while promising , is still LG's product and their software support is criminally bad ,which along with their skin might affect the phones longevity ,hence my reluctance to switch to Lg otherwise i would have gone for the G7 .How is the RAM management on the Zenfone ? 

I've gotten more updates for the Asus phone I have in the past little less than a year, than I got for my Samsung in a little over a year and a half.

You use it that often? Or do you mean the skin? If you mean the skin, you should just install Nova Launcher. I never use the native skin on any phone I get.

It's not bad, but the phone I have only has 3GB (I think), I got it more for the 2 day battery life as I won't be doing any business while I live here.

Their newer phones have quite a bit more.

 

[TheRealGregHouse]

7 hours ago, dizmo said:

I've gotten more updates for the Asus phone I have in the past little less than a year, than I got for my Samsung in a little over a year and a half.

You use it that often? Or do you mean the skin? If you mean the skin, you should just install Nova Launcher. I never use the native skin on any phone I get.

It's not bad, but the phone I have only has 3GB (I think), I got it more for the 2 day battery life as I won't be doing any business while I live here.

Their newer phones have quite a bit more.

 

okay , yeah Nova is a viable option , will probably need more than 3 gigs of RAM , but yeah will check out ASUS's newer line up as well ,if their quality of battery life is good across their entire line up of devices (just need the phone to last an entire day with enough to go if i do have to go somewhere urgently in the night , i do not charge in the night , rather in the morning post waking up ) , i might go with an Asus . 

[James Stokes]

On 6/27/2018 at 11:40 PM, TheRealGregHouse said:

okay , yeah Nova is a viable option , will probably need more than 3 gigs of RAM , but yeah will check out ASUS's newer line up as well ,if their quality of battery life is good across their entire line up of devices (just need the phone to last an entire day with enough to go if i do have to go somewhere urgently in the night , i do not charge in the night , rather in the morning post waking up ) , i might go with an Asus . 

Just keep in mind that the Zenfone 3 zoom takes about 2-3 hours to fully charge due to its massive 5,000 mAh battery. While reading a review I found that the phone uses a 2A/5V charging adapter. The reviewer speculated that it was using technology very similar to Quick Charge 1.0 but tweaked slightly to be better optimized for their phone.

 

One suggestion I read while researching how long it takes to charge a Zenfone 3 Zoom was to turn the phone off while charging. That way the phone is not using power while it juices up.

 

If I took the 2-3 hour charge time and interpreted that to mean 2.5 hours of charging. Then, that would be 150 minutes from 0% to 100%. And, with a 5,000 mAh battery, this would be an average charging rate of about 33.33 mA's/ minute. As you will see after looking below that charging rate is actually pretty good when comparing it to other commonly used phones. I think that users of this phone need to remember that it has a battery that is about 60% larger than the average phone. Thus it stands to reason that it will take longer to fully charge the phone.  

 

To put this in perspective I have listed the average charge rate for some popular phones.

• The iPhone 7 (2,900 mAh) takes about 138 minutes to fully charge. This would be about 21 mA/minute.
• The iPhone 8 Plus (2,675mAh) takes about 116 minutes to fully charge. This would be about 23 mA/minute.
• The Pixel 2 (2,700mAh) about 2 hours to fully charge. This would be about 22.5 mA/minute.
• A OnePlus 5 (3,300 mAh) would be fully charged in 90 minutes. This would be 36.67 mA/minute.
• A OnePlus 3 (3,000 mAh) would be fully charged in 72 minutes. This would be 41.67 mA/minute.

I hope you guys find this useful. Or at least interesting.