Greetings, Android aficionados! 📱👋
Today, let’s take a moment to get to know each other better. We’d love to know:
- Which Android devices are you currently using?
- What do you love most about them?
- What do you dislike?
Whether you’re rocking the latest flagship or cherishing a reliable budget device, we want to hear about your experiences. Share the brand, model, and any standout features that make your phone shine. Who knows, you might inspire someone to discover their next Android companion! 🌟💬
Remember, let’s keep the conversation friendly and inclusive. Everyone’s perspective is valuable, no matter the device they use. We’re here to celebrate the diversity within the Android ecosystem and learn from each other.
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Pixel 4a. The perfect size phone and though the battery is losing its life a little bit, I’m going to keep it as long as possible.
I loved the size of my Pixel 3a! It’s a shame they’re hard to fix in my country; I’d rather have a phone that size than the huge ones that seem to be default now.
The smaller ones are just so much more comfortable to use. I think the Pixel 8 looks like it’s going to be a similar size, which is good.
Obviously the drawback is a slightly smaller battery, but Pixel software is pretty good at optimising.
I still have a 3a, and the battery is definitely losing it. Have you thought about replacing the battery in yours? I’d love to hear your considerations.
I’ve thought about it, but to be honest, I’m more likely to trade the phone in and get money off a new one.
But hopefully that shouldn’t be until next year.
Fairphone 3
Likes: The community, closest modern analog to the Galaxy S5 (my previous device), ability to open, configuring fast charge/PD speed, good custom ROM support, can be flashed with full Linux (PostmarketOS)
Dislikes: Android OS in general. The newer versions have removed so much capabilities that used to be present. I’ve got some features and feeling of ownership back by rooting, but it’s honestly a sad sign of things to come IMO. Stuff is being watered down, removed or restricted to appeal to the masses.
What things are you missing from old Android versions?
I had a realisation recently that I haven’t had the requirement to root and customise my FP4. I don’t have a terminal app and I’ve probably forgotten the majority of the ADB commands I used to use!
Maybe I’m just being assimilated into the Google/android eco-system.
Most users don’t need to root their device TBH, the stock experience is perfectly fine for the overwhelming majority of people. The ecosystem generally works too, but I personally don’t really want to depend on it, given Google’s track record of shelving good products, and some of their behaviors I find intrusive.
My few main complaints would be…
- Apps can no longer be moved to an SD card easily
- The changes made to the file storage API has made accessing SD card data much slower, so things like map apps and games take much longer to load if they have stored their data there (FP3 is 64GB, installed a 512GB sd card, so most apps tend to use the SD card if I haven’t manually)
- Developers disabling ADB backups for their apps, making it difficult to migrate apps and data to a new device using something like Helium Backup (Google’s cloud-based solution works, but only transfers data for apps that save them to Google’s cloud. For all other apps just the application itself is transferred)
- Call recording is no longer a thing, only system-level apps can do that now (root required)
- Google moving my photos to the new device without asking first - I find it kind of creepy TBH, especially when the previous device doesn’t have Google Photos or save photos to Google’s cloud. On older Android versions this wasn’t a thing
- Some changes were made in Android 12/13 to fingerprint scanner requirements, and sadly it is no longer possible to authenticate into most banking apps on the FP3 after updating the OS. This change will likely affect all FP owners in the future, as Google’s certification prevents the scanner from being used in secure contexts after its manufacturer drops support
By rooting, I have…
- Scheduled backups to the SD card, allowing me to rollback an app+data if an update breaks something (this has saved me a few times already 😅)
- Slowed down my fast charge speed from 13W to around 2.5W, I still boost it back up if I’m in a hurry
- Charging stops at 91% (Most phones have this in the settings, however the FP3 doesn’t)
- Syncthing uses root access to get around some limitations (I forgot what these are exactly, I think it’s the ability to watch the SD card for file changes)
- Disabled/removed google apps that I don’t want (root not needed, this can also be done over ADB)
- Disabled location access for the remaining Google apps… until they force-pushed a Play Services update to hard reboot the device when you do this
- A few more things that I can’t recall at the mo. Generally I don’t interact with root functionality on a daily basis, it’s handled in the background by the apps that use it
Pixel 7 running GrapheneOS.
Good camera, 5 years updates and it is affordable for an flagship smartphone.
- Fairphone 4
- The physical keyboard (https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry)
- The buggy software
Pixel 5. I love it. I really don’t want to update because this is the last phone with the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone
Using a Pixel 5 as well. Before that I had the OnePlus 6 for 6+ years before I decided I wanted a smaller phone again. While it at times still seems a little slow, it still works great. I replaced the battery about 3 months ago and it has a great battery life again. Running Lineage.
Same. Google’s design has taken a step backwards since the pixel 5. Worse battery life, less ergonomic due to fingerprint sensor being in the screen vs the back, and their custom socs have very poor efficiency.
Unfortunately most phones are doing the in screen fingerprint thing now since it’s the cool thing to do.
Guess I’m the only one with a Sony Xperia phone.
Got a 1 iii, love the display and candy bar shape, tiny bezels and headphone jack with expandable storage.
Dislike the limited brightness range outdoors on sunny days, and how the battery dies after four hours of heavy use, lol. (Though I do multitask it hard, so it’s understandable)
I’m just waiting for the shipment email for my Xperia 1 V.
For me it’s the rectangular front display, no notches, no hole punches, no nonsense. Just some small bezels which also house front facing speakers. Everyone has gotten so acclimatized to “bezel-less” displays for the sake of not just being last years model that you lost stereo speakers, and added a literal black mark to accompany lost display area.
Then you throw in a 3.5mm audio jack AND expandable storage <insert fry take my money gif here>
I’m in the camp that you don’t need to refresh a design over and over again, especially “just for the sake of it.”
PS: I’m not particularly happy to pay the price I did for the phone which has, in my mind, basic features. However, the other option is to pay for a phone with less capabilities than my current phone.
I would actually love a Sony, since Hardware and feature wise they seem great. Good form factor, SD card and headphone jack.
But the high price and especially the short software support just turn me off.
Pixel 5 because it hasn’t died yet. Will probably continue to use it until 2025 or until it dies. Which ever comes first.
I pretty much can only use pixel devices these days because of the software. Flagship Samsung devices may be better hardware wise but their software is so bad and bloated it erases most of the benefits.
Honestly the biggest negative I can think of is the lack of a headphone jack. Yes I still want one. I still remember the time Google launched an ad campaign mocking iphones lack of a headphone jack only to remove it themselves one hardware update later.
I own like 3 dongles but it’s just not the same.
Z fold 4 here.
Likes: the folding obviously lol but I also like samsungs software.
Dislikes: fragile and the camera is shit.
Which Android devices are you currently using?
Pixel 5A
What do you love most about them?
Great performance, battery life, and camera for the price. No complaints about my current device.
What do you dislike?
The first one black-screened on me, so this is my second one.
Would also like SD card support, though Jellyfin + Symfonium is a great alternative.
OnePlus 9pro
Like: it is fast, clean, it has a Silent/Vibrate/Ring switch, good screen.
Dislike: no headphone jack, the Snapdragon 888 isn’t efficient, it heats quickly and it isn’t good for the battery life.
Which Android devices are you currently using?
Oneplus 7 Pro
What do you love most about them?
Having a pop-up camera probably, clean uninterrupted screen.
Having an unlockable bootloader and non-oem roms is pretty nice too.
What do you dislike?
Probably the rounded glass screen edges.
Stock roms are utter trash.
Have 256gb storage, but microsd expansion would be nice.
Would love to run CalyxOS or GrapheneOS, but understandably there’s no build for this phone.
Edit: Detail. Also probably won’t consider changing phone until Google foldables get good and can de-google with a aftermarket rom.
I also have the OP7P! Easily the best phone I’ve ever owned, but the pop-up camera broke for me last year. I’m thinking my next phone might be the Nothing Phone 2, but it does hurt getting a phone that’s 4+ years newer and STILL has some downgrades (Screen PPI, hole punch, and no telephoto camera).
Samsung M51
Bought it mainly for the 7000 mah battery and this thing can go on for days and charge other devices as well. Overall decent specs for the pric and the long aspect ratio is nice for scrolling lemmy and fits well in hand.
But the biggest problem is its a Samsung bloatware infested mess with minimal user control. I did remove a few really annoying ones with adb commands but I really want to root it or run a custom rom soon. They made the rooting as difficult as possible and formatting everything with backups to root is a tedious task. Samsung isn’t what it used to be, I miss the good old days of early galaxy ones I had.
Pixel 7
Great value for money, excellent camera, no bloatware and great battery life for my use case.
Best Android phone I’ve owned to date.
What Android devices are you currently using? Pixel 6 w/ GrapheneOS
What do you love most about them? That I got it used on a dirt-cheap price, supports GrapheneOS, has really great cameras and I like the unique of it
What do you dislike? It’s made by Google and compared to other phones, the Pixel 6 has a sorta meh battery life. Also GrapheneOS isn’t really featureful (it’s understandable tho), for example it doesn’t provide ultra energy saving mode and the feature which shows in a nice graph how many hours you wasted on certain apps.
Isn’t there an open source apl you can download that accesses the activity API and shows how much you use different apps?
Great question tbf, I haven’t looked into it, since it’s not that huge big of a deal because I replaced it with the battery usage page.
- Which Android devices are you currently using? Pixel 7a and Galaxy Watch4
- What do you love most about them?
Pixel: Lag-free experience, ability to root/change rom, momthly security updates, Fingerprint sensor
Watch4: Sleek, durable, decent skin - What do you dislike?
Pixel: Heat management, No headphone jack/μSD card slot, (I switched from the S10e here are the feature I miss from OneUI: Ability to run multiple apps in resizable windows over top another app, Per app volume control, Device Control [Device battery widget in Notification panel], Swipe Sidebar, Samsung notes ability to lock notes)
Watch4: No ability to silence some apps only, limited 3rd-party keyboard options
