Android

I use a Pixel 5 with MicroG Lineage OS. I like it quite a bit: it's fast, has good battery life, and thanks to Lineage OS, it doesn't spy on me (as much). I do miss having an SD card slot and headphone jack, but those are hard to find anywhere these days, unfortunately.

I don't have a specific upgrade schedule: I upgrade phones when the need arises. My last phone (Nexus 6) was showing its age: it was slow, the battery struggled to hold a charge, and the USB port was worn out. Switching to Lineage OS and a wireless charger helped with these problems somewhat, but it was still time for an upgrade. My phone before that (Droid Razr M) was stuck in a boot loop, so had to upgrade that, as well.

I have an iPad 3 sitting around somewhere, but otherwise, not much of an Apple person. I try to use Linux whenever possible (I know Android isn't a traditional GNU/Linux system, but with Lineage OS and Termux, it's close enough for me).

Pixel 6 Pro I'm happy with it, but looking forward to the next upgrade too. The size is slightly larger than I'd like, and I think they oversold the telephoto lens. Regular pictures are great, performance is good, battery life works for me. I usually upgrade every 3 years or so. My first phone was one of the Nokia candy bar free phones that came with a contract. I had Blackberries through work for years and thought they were cool at the time, switched to iPhones when those were new, then the Nexus and Pixel lines from Google. I usually use Android and Windows, but I've been thinking about getting some sort of Apple laptop.

Love my pixel 7 pro.

Got a Pixel 7 Pro back in February. Came from a Samsun-g s10e when the google store said they'd give me a whopping $280 for it (compared 25-50 on average). Between that and the $150 off sale, it was a no-brainer.

For the most part yes, the camera is fantastic and the 'now playing' thing is really neat. While I know a lot of power users apparently complain about the battery, Ive had little to no issues with it. Only time Ive come close is when Ive been outside a good chunk of the day and've had it on full bright.

There are two minor downsides. one is the screen brightness. It's so dim compared to my samsung. on the s10e, everything was great at around half brightness, and i rarely had to have it maxed out, even outside. On the Pixel, 3/4 barely cuts it and if im outside anything under max is impossible to see.
I also really miss samsung themes. I generally prefer dark, but not 'completely black with white text' dark. That contrast bothers me, but thats what many things are nowadays, including the default android themes. With my samsung, I could make the system stuff whatever i wanted and it was great. I think i had a dark teal/light grey thing going. I miss that.

My first smart phone was a Galaxy S4, Then an LGG4 (there might have been an s5 or 6 in there but i honestly don't remember). After the second bootloop I got an S8. Then my mother got that one (still uses it) and I got an S10e.

Ive usually kept them for several years until they just become unusable/slow/bad battery. I might look at the P8P when it comes out, though, especially if its actually flat.

I also have a samsung galaxy a tablet that my dad hijacked for his ereader after his ipad died. he now has a new ipad, but still uses the tablet to read on. I have no idea why, libby works the same on both.
Have a Gear S3 watch, will probably upgrade when the Galaxy 6 classic comes out.

have an ipad, but don't use it that much.

What phone are you using?

Galaxy S10e

Are you happy with it? What are its best and worst qualities?

It's great. Large memory and external SD card support. Worst qualities? No 5G support. And I expect it to eventually be obsolete in other ways, and none of the newer phones have large memory or SD card support. I suppose they want you to use the cloud.

Which phones have you had previously? Which were the best and worst of the lot?

I had an S4 for a long time, it was okay. Eventually I started flashing custom ROMs to it, mostly CyanogenMOD. I was unhappy when they stopped development.

I also tried a BLU phone, but it was pretty garbage, and failed quickly.

How often do you upgrade to a new phone?

I will burn this one into the ground. I'm not hard on phones, I get a nice case and screen protector to replace the crap they come with. No broken glass, so I'll have this for a while.

What other Android ecosystem devices do you have? Watches, headphones/earbuds, etc.

I have a Samsung Galaxy 4 watch. It's nice being able to pay with NFC, but it doesn't support all credit cards. I don't use the Health Monitor features that much. Do they make headphones/earbuds specifically for Android? I just have a handful of bluetooth headphones (earbuds don't fit me), and keep a pair at home, at work, etc. I also have a set of shoulder speakers that I use a lot and really like. I can do work around the house and not be cut off from people around me.

Forgot to mention, I have an NVIDIA Shield Android TV box. I love it, enough power to run games/emulation, and access to all the streaming services without drama like the Roku/Youtube crap from a few years ago. Plus, it's easy to sideload apps not available on the TV-only Play Store. And I have a big USB stick attached to it that I can remote access and put movies/TV shows on. I'm also running Kodi and remote access to my Home Server (Windows) with a lot of movies/TV shows there too. The memory stick is generally just for crap I'm not planning on keeping.

Do you also use any Apple products, or are you Android all the way? (And/or Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, etc.)

I use Windows computers exclusively. The new Phone-link app is pretty good, I remember the Samsung connect software never worked for me.

Just upgraded from my Pixel 3a to a 7a. The only reason I upgraded is because my old phone's charger port was breaking and I depend on a phone for work.

Honestly, I'm not really happy with the 7a for three main reasons:

1. The battery life is poor. I don't last 24hrs of moderate use. I'm going to try to figure out underclocking and reducing the screen to 60Hz to see if it'll help, but it feels similar to my almost 4-year-old Pixel 3a battery brand new.
2. It's too big to use one-handed. And I have big hands. I want a smaller phone.
3. The front finger print sensor sucks. I miss the back sensor. It's way less reliable, it's super bright in the middle of the night, I can't find it by feel, and it's not in a natural spot while holding the phone. And I don't even have a screen protector yet.

Also, no 3.5mm sucks. I used to play music on speakers at work or in my old car and now I can't without a shitty Bluetooth dongle.

That said, I don't know what other phone I'd buy since I only want a phone I can root and customize, so I'm pretty much stuck with Pixel phones. And the 7 is basically the same phone but with less time remaining for software support.

Maybe I should have bought a cheap Chinese phone from AliExpress? idk if any of them are easily customizable or have any dev support. Seems unlikely.

So, yeah. Sorry for the injection of negativity. I just miss my 3a, even if it was aging poorly.

The 7a is good. It's snappy, it takes great photos, the screen is good, the speakers are good, the cell connection is great, the software is vanilla (fantastic, imho). But I don't love it.

I use an LG V60 and I love it. It's super powerful, it's got great battery life, and really good headphone audio quality. That also means it still has a headphone jack, and it also has a micro SD card slot, despite the 95GB worth of storage space after system files.

My last phone was the LG V30 and I had it for like 5 years. I was dreading the upgrade cause I loved it so much, but it was having signal issues and didn't have 5g. Turns out it was very worth it. Especially because you can get the V60 super cheap refurbished. Warranty will probably be an issue, but I do my own repairs anyway so I'm not worried about it personally.

I will keep this phone as long as it continues working. Hoping to get at least 5 years out of it, and if anything breaks that I can't repair, I'd sooner buy another V60 than upgrade. RIP LG, they made the best phones.

I used an iPhone back when they were jailbreak-able. When that started getting more difficult/infrequent to jailbreak I got an LG V20 as my first android phone. iPhones seem mostly fine now days. Biggest downside for me is no adblock plugins on other browsers for iOS, as far as I know.

The only other android phone I've used consistently is the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G, and it is a pretty terrible phone in my experience. That is my work phone, and it is very slow. Sometimes to the point that it just locks up entirely. I guess between the Samsung bloat, and the VoIP app that's always running for work, it's just too much for it. I'm sure there are some good Samsung phones, but that is not one of them.

Currently, I'm using a Motorola moto g100 and I'm happy with it. Good battery life, nice big screen, much improved performance compared to my last phone. Best phone I've ever owned. The main inconvenience is the location of the fingerprint sensor: I'd have preferred if it was on the front of the device somehow (definitely not on the back -- I often have it lying flat on the table).

I also dislike the fact it can only remember five fingerprints while I have 10 fingers. Who thought that was a good idea? :þ

Previously I had a Moto G5+ and a Moto G. I guess you could say I enjoyed the quality and relative lack of bloatware of these Motorola phones, while being more affordable than some of the alternatives I was considering at the time I bought them.

Going further back, I had a HTC Desire Z (with a slide-out physical keyboard). I picked it as my first smartphone because I was hesitant to get rid of physical keys, but as it turned out I hardly ever used them. Looking back, this one was clearly the worst value for the money.

Since I switched to smart phones I've been upgrading every 3 or 4 years.

Before the smart phone era, I had an Alcatel device (can't remember the exact model). I used that tiny near-indestructable thing for over a decade, only charging it about once a week. It was mostly an "in case of emergency" though, not nearly as heavily used as later phones, because it wasn't really usable as a miniature pocket-computer (like smart phones are). Still, I was pretty happy with it at the time: the only reason I got rid of it was because the '0' button broke, and in my country all phone numbers start with 0.

I also have an LG G Watch (Wear OS). A relative worked at Google when these were handed out to employees but didn't actually want it, so I got it as a gift. It's pretty old now: I've replaced the bands a few times and it won't charge past 70%, but it still mostly works and the battery still lasts all day. I'm not sure if I'll get another smart watch if and when this one finally breaks, though.

No Apple products, and my laptop runs Linux Mint. These days, I only use Windows at work or when helping relatives with tech problems (sigh).

What phone are you using?

Lg v40 thinq

Are you happy with it? What are its best and worst qualities?

Mostly happy with it. Rooting and modding scene is pretty active so I can keep it up to date with modern android versions. It's getting old so the battery isn't the best but it has served me well.

Which phones have you had previously? Which were the best and worst of the lot?

I don't upgrade often. I think my last phone was a pixel 1. I liked that one for the mod scene. Seems it's getting harder and harder to root phones or install custom roms.

What other Android ecosystem devices do you have? Watches, headphones/earbuds, etc.

Nope. Nothing like that. Girlfriend has an Android tv. She told me I couldn't "fix" it though so no tinkering.

Do you also use any Apple products, or are you Android all the way? (And/or Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, etc.)

Nah. Never used apple. Their reputation for being too locked down has kept me away. That and their pricetag. The status symbol culture around apple is also kinda gross to me.

• S23 Ultra
• Best is everything, worst is size.
• Xiaomi and Samsung. I can't compare since they were at completely different price brackets.
• Usually every 3 years.
• Watch, buds.
• Windows but i miss linux

I'm on Galaxy Fold 3 and I preordered Pixel Fold. Tbh, I'm not happy with Fold 3 durability, but I belive in fold's future. Especially for work, or documentation reading. It can substitute my laptop in short trips.

Oppo FindX 5 Pro. Really good phone, I highly recommend it. Main positives are a clean OS, quality camera and bloody great charging speeds (like 1-100 in 20-30 minutes). I've been using it since launch and it's still perfectly good, and the screen is fairly resistant to scratches and breaks as I'm not the best with phones and don't use a screen protector.

Battery life is definitely the biggest issue, I struggle for long use days on it without charging it, but with the charging being so quick it's not too bad unless you're outside and don't have access to a plug socket.

I got a few things with it (headphone, wireless charger and a smart watch) but don't use any of it. Headphones were fine but I lost one of the buds, the Smart Watch and wireless charger didn't feel particularly useful for me, I prefer a normal watch and the wireless charging is so slow.

What phone are you using? Google Pixel 6

Are you happy with it? What are its best and worst qualities? Stock-ish experience is always my preference when it comes to Android, so really happy with Pixel OS. The camera can be overly 'HDR' 'overprocessed' at times

Which phones have you had previously? Which were the best and worst of the lot? HTC Legend, Nexus One, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, iPhone, Zenfone 2, Xiaomi Mi A1, Huawei P30, Pixel 6 now

How often do you upgrade to a new phone? As frequent as yearly, but 2 years+ normally

What other Android ecosystem devices do you have? Watches, headphones/earbuds, etc. Not really, most 'smart' devices I have are compatible with Apple and Android.

Do you also use any Apple products, or are you Android all the way? (And/or Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, etc.) Had an iPhone 6 before, not a fan with the wall garden set by Apple.

Pocophone f1 and I have a xiaomi note 8 as a backup ; because I tend to drop my phone due to carelessness (¯ ¯٥) i have had my screens change twice this year.

Base S23, before that Pixel 6 Pro. Somehow I'm not satisfied and still remember my dear Huawei Mate 20 Pro which still does not seem to be bested.

I bought a refurbished pixel 2 earlier this year. My pixel 4a got damaged and I decided I was gonna try a refurbished phone. Reasons were: I wanted to spend less money on phones, I wanted a 'small' android phone, and I was already familiar with the pixel 2 since my friend used to have one.

I knew what the phone looked like but I still had to get used to this phone's massive chin and forehead! It's also my first phone without a headphone jack, so I had to figure out how to connect it to my car's sound system with a Bluetooth receiver. O was already using wireless earbuds so that was no hassle. All in all the transition was pretty painless, so I'm not gonna look for a 3.5mm jack in my next phone.

I bought it for about 120€, which is 50% of the price for a new pixel 2 64GB at this moment. I'm pretty clumsy and always keep my phone on me, even during my job which is pretty physical at times, so my phones don't tend to last past 2 years. That feels pretty wasteful when I say (type) it out loud so I think I'm gonna stick to refurbished phones. Maybe I'll follow the release of pixel phones, only with a 4-5 year delay 😁.

One big downside of refurbished phones is that apparently they don't always replace the battery! They test them and decide per phone if it's necessary or not. Apparently I got pretty unlucky because my battery wasn't amazing to start with and degraded pretty fast. I might have to learn how to do the replacement myself, that's always been something on my list.

If you're considering buying a refurbished phone to save money or to be less wasteful, I can recommend it, but keep your eye on the battery and check if the warranty covers it.

I have a Fold 3 and will probably upgrade to the Fold 5 for improved cameras and battery life. I love this form factor and couldn't go back. My only complaint is battery life. I also have an iPhone 13 for work but hate that ecosystem.

Besides my phone, I also have a galaxy watch 5, Nvidia Shield Pro (best tv box ever), an Nvidia Shield Mini, a Google TV, and 45 smart devices in my Google home setup.

I'm currently using HTC U11. I'm okay with it though except for one drawback, which is the camera wouldn't open when I want it to (I rooted it via magisk and somehow I broke it). BTW now I'm currently planning to buy Pixel 7. Is it good?

Galaxy Fold 4. Loving the screen. Makes doing things so much easier when everything isnt squished together.

I'm using Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos version). I bought it in december 2021 after one year suffering with Xiaomi device, which had sooo many inconviniences , and I could not be any happier! Main reason I bought it is the size (6.2" vs previous 6.7") and camera. Battery life could be better though, but it's not a dealbreaker to me.

Next phone will probably be one of the foldables, but I'm in no rush to buy a new device any time soon.

Currently using an LG Wing

I'm really happy with it and the only thing I don't like is that there will probably never be another phone like it. It's a nice change of pace from the same boring smartphone designs we've seen the last 5 years or so.

I started with an iPhone 3G, then Galaxy S2 and then the first phone I bought myself was the Galaxy S4 which I flashed LineageOS on. After that I had two more iPhones again before getting sick of Apple's shenanigans and switching to Android.

I usually upgrade my phone every 3 years or so. The Galaxy S4 I had the longest at over 4 years.

I also have an Android E-Reader from Onyx and a Redmi Note 10 Pro with an AOSP ROM mostly used for development purposes.

I used to also own an iPad but I sold it and now don't own any Apple products and never plan on doing so again.

Still rocking my Samsung Note 9, it's coming to the end soon though.

One plus Nord. Didn't have to much money to spend then, so bought this one, has pretty good support, so running on Pixel experience since more than a year. Pretty satisfied, planning to shift to a Pixel phone next year

Currently on an iPhone 13 Pro and M1 MacBook. I previously had a Pixel 2 for many years, and many Nexus phones before that. My love for Android hasn’t faded, but iMessage (or really just seamless text message forwarding to my computer in general) was too alluring; I find myself using fb messenger more and more though, so that’s kind of a moot point now. Whenever I next upgrade I’ll probably go back to Android unless I find some new killer app or integration on iPhone.

I’ve been on macOS for over a decade though and I don’t see myself switching from my MacBook though unless competitors can double their battery life and improve their trackpads.

My current phone:

• Xiaomi POCO X4 Pro
• Android 12
• MIUI 13.0.4

I'm quite satified with it(UI is improved with custom launcher), minor hitch is accelerated battery drainage (came with 2+ years of use).

Previous phones: POCO F1, ULEFONE S1, Nokia Lumia 520, Sony Xperia Go, ... Loved my Go, ulefone was definately worst of bunch.

My upgrades are attached to battery health and/or OS upgrades support from manifacturer. My upgrade track to current phone is about 3 years.

I'm Android and Windows all the way.

BV8800.

Literally a brick lol. All for durability and long battery life.

Pixel 7. For the most part, it works great. Just a few minor issues, which may just be Nova Launcher, and not the phone. I've used Android, iPhone and even Windows phone over the past 14 years - but always come back to Android. I have a Macbook Air, Apple Watch, and iPad mini but haven't used any of them for months. Currently running Debian on a ThinkPad, and sporting a Pixel watch.

I am using a Samsung s21. Have had mostly Motorola and Sony phones. Always regretted my Samsung phones everytime I bought it. I regret this one too... But I will use it till it die and then see what's in the market. Why I dislike Samsung is because they have always forced me to use one or more apps like bixby... I can't uninstall that thing had to map the usual shortcut for screen shot to turn off (it was Bixby) and use a toolbar to take screenshots... I have had it for over 2 years now so I am used to it. But still dislikes it, because it is a workaround/compromise. But I am curious person so that is why I will most likely in the far future buy one again. Motorola has always been great but big and/or heavy.

I have never owned any apple products. Phone, tablet and watch is Android only