What to look for in phones these days?

[Perd Hapley]

My wife needs a new phone, and I might get one, while we're at it. I've decided to stay with Verizon, and let work pay for it.

What's recommended, and what's to be avoided right now? I've stayed away from iPhones up till now, but I guess the wife probably doesn't care what she gets, so long as she can play Toy Crush, or whatever.

[Hawkmoon]

My top priority is a user-replaceable battery, but I doubt any current phone offers that.

Which is why I still have my Galaxy SIII.

[Regolith]

My top priority is a user-replaceable battery, but I doubt any current phone offers that.

Which is why I still have my Galaxy SIII.

They still carry them. AFAIK they're all flip phones, though.

[KD5NRH]

https://www.ebay.com/i/282526464861?chn=ps&dispItem=1

As for user-replaceable battery, my Kyocera Hydro Icon has batteries available on Amazon and eBay under $10 regularly, and they work with the cheap universal cell phone battery chargers, so I can keep the extras topped up outside the phone.  I'd guess the best bet would be to google [phone name] battery and see what comes up for each model you're interested in.

[RoadKingLarry]

What to look cor.in an iPhone?
Android OS.

[K Frame]

What I look for in phones is simple...

SAMSUNG.

[mtnbkr]

small size, high pixel density on the screen, battery life, Storage/RAM (my personal minimum is 16gb/2gb).  I can slide on storage if the phone accepts MicroSD cards.  Secondary is camera resolution and user-replaceable batteries.

Chris

[lupinus]

Do you need current gen flagship or do you wanna save some cash and can either get last year's model or one of the middle tier phones?

Take a look at what's in the price range and hit up the review sites. If the side will actually say what they didn't like even better.

Personally I've been happy with my pixel XL and wifey was happy with her S8 but switched back to iphone.  iPhone is fine but I switched back to Android cause I flat prefer it. Wifey will bitch about whatever she can't figure out and declare the phone sucks regardless of what she has. I've never seen someone who can so magically screw up so many phones

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[makattak]

My top priority is a user-replaceable battery, but I doubt any current phone offers that.

Which is why I still have my Galaxy SIII.

My Galaxy S5 has a replaceable battery, though it's now several generations outdated.

However, I just bought my wife the last year's model LG G5. (Her camera broke or we'd have gone longer before replacing phones.)

$190 and also has a user-replaceable battery. Only one model year back, too.

(We're on ATT and the T-Mobile version was what was on sale. Not sure if the Verizon version is similarly priced.)

Additionally, it has an interesting dual camera set-up in the front. As my wife is most interested in the camera's usefulness, this was a nice bonus in addition to being less expensive than most other phones (even last year's models).

Edit: Just checked and the Verizon version is going for $160 right now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LG-VS987-G5-32GB-Verizon-Wireless-4G-LTE-Android-WiFi-16MP-Camera-Smartphone-/401239409642?_trkparms=5079%3A5000006423&rmvSB=true

[Brad Johnson]

I'm on Verizon and have a Galaxy S7. Both the phone and service have been excellent.

Brad

[K Frame]

I'm hoping to upgrade soon. I'll be going from the Galaxy S4 that I absolutely love to hopefully a Galaxy S7.

[Hawkmoon]

small size, high pixel density on the screen, battery life, Storage/RAM (my personal minimum is 16gb/2gb).  I can slide on storage if the phone accepts MicroSD cards.  Secondary is camera resolution and user-replaceable batteries.

Chris

That's another good point. The Samsung Galaxy SIII accepts microSD cards for storage. I've been reading that many new phones don't allow the use of microSD cards (or any type of user-provided storage). That's probably even more important to me than a user-replaceable battery.

[Ben]

A lot of this is really personal preference and how you'll be using the phone.

While working, I always got the latest, greatest phone every two years to get "the best" features, which were often used. Now that I'm a bum, I've been on the Samsung S5 since I bought it when it first released.

I'm not sure any new phones do too much more in areas like onboard cameras, at least to the point where it's really user noticeable. Latest phones will be faster, but will they be noticeably faster to the user? Depends on what you're doing with the phone.

The one area, where even with my reduced usage, that I would consider an older generation phone a negative, is onboard memory. I only have 16GB, which would have been plenty three years ago, but with apps getting bloated and with just collecting apps over time (many of which won't go to the SD card) I wish I had 32GB or more. At this point, I'm always, after app updates, having to move apps back to the SD card (because some apps reinstall themselves onboard after updates) and I also keep some apps in my cloud library that I would rather have installed on the phone.

So after all that writing, I would just suggest getting the most device (vs SD) storage that you can get.

[Brad Johnson]

I'm hoping to upgrade soon. I'll be going from the Galaxy S4 that I absolutely love to hopefully a Galaxy S7.

Brad

[dogmush]

I love my GS7.  I would have gotten the GS8, but my deployment interrupted my update cycle.  The GS7 is a good solid phone though, and it'd probably last you a while.  Extra plus is the waterproofing.

I'm not sure any new phones do too much more in areas like onboard cameras, at least to the point where it's really user noticeable. Latest phones will be faster, but will they be noticeably faster to the user? Depends on what you're doing with the phone.

Yes and Yes.

Image processing software is one of the places that phone companies dump a lot of money into their flagship phones.  I'm amazed when I look at pictures from a camera 4 or 5 years ago vs what my phone takes now.  And youwill notice phone speed in everyday use opening apps, using them (especially any mapping with sat view) and running multiple apps.

[makattak]

I'm hoping to upgrade soon. I'll be going from the Galaxy S4 that I absolutely love to hopefully a Galaxy S7.

One thing I've been reading, which makes me want to stick with my S5 until it absolutely dies, is that Samsung did away with the IR blaster.

Which would mean no more controlling my TV, AV, and BluRay from my phone.

(Yes, they try to make up for it with controlling over wifi, but I don't want a smart TV and my AV receiver isn't going to recognize anything from that.)

Which is disappointing because I really like the looks of the S7 edge.

[RevDisk]

1. User replaceable battery - absolute must, and check OEM pricing before buying phone. Be leery of aftermarket ones or off Amazon/Ebay
2. MicroSD card - for me, absolute must. May not be applicable
3. USB-C. - Not critical, just very very nice
4. Headphone jack - This shouldn't even have to be mentioned, but apparently designers are morons.

[mtnbkr]

4. Headphone jack - This shouldn't even have to be mentioned, but apparently designers are morons.

Does anyone besides Apple NOT include one?

Chris

[RevDisk]

Does anyone besides Apple NOT include one?

Chris

Lenovo's Moto Z and Moto Z Force and China's LeEco

Opinion is split between "they're trying to make thinner phones" and "they hope you buy overpriced USB-C dongles, lose them and buy more from them in order to turn overhead into revenue"

[Brad Johnson]

I used to be on the battery bandwagon but I've let it go. In general batteries are just plain better these days, a couple of notable recent exceptions notwithstanding. I pay the extra couple bucks a month in insurance to cover any other contingencies and go on about my day.

Brad

[makattak]

I used to be on the battery bandwagon but I've let it go. In general batteries are just plain better these days, a couple of notable recent exceptions notwithstanding. I pay the extra couple bucks a month in insurance to cover any other contingencies and go on about my day.

Brad

They are better, but from what I've seen, IF you plan on keeping the phone for a while (>2 years) the most common failure point will be the battery, as its life become shorter and shorter.

It's nice to know you can replace a ~$10-$15 part and keep a useful tool longer.

[Ben]

It's nice to know you can replace a ~$10-$15 part and keep a useful tool longer.

Also black (dark green) helicopters. Popping the battery is easier than making a Faraday cage. :)

[Ben]

Yes and Yes.

Image processing software is one of the places that phone companies dump a lot of money into their flagship phones.  I'm amazed when I look at pictures from a camera 4 or 5 years ago vs what my phone takes now.  And youwill notice phone speed in everyday use opening apps, using them (especially any mapping with sat view) and running multiple apps.

Oh, I get that, and while I was working I was right there with you. Mostly for what you mentioned on mapping apps. I always kept Nobletech charts and my own sat imagery on the phone and ran them with realtime tracking for cockpit awareness and stuff, so speed was critical.

I've just slowly been coming to a different mindset since I retired, and speed hasn't been that critical for me anymore. All depends on what you want to do with the phone. For some people, their phone is their only camera, so that's a good reason to get the newest and best phonecam, for example.

I'm going to likely end up upgrading in the next year just because of the aforementioned memory issues. I'm actually curious as to why say 64-128GB isn't a standard for onboard. Is it really that much more expensive than 32GB? I normally wouldn't mind since there's the SD slot, but as I said, many apps won't go to SD. In fact the biggest space hogs, the Google apps, won't do so.

[Doggy Daddy]

The wife and I replaced ours recently.  I read Rev's write up on his LG V10, and looked into the current V20.  We each got one, and I'm totally satisfied.  Replaceable battery, though it holds up well so far, MicroSD card, IR blaster, USB C charging, great sound if you use a good source and some decent headphones...  I have zero complaints.  Worth looking at further, if it sounds good to you so far.

On Verizon, BTW.