Tell me what phone to buy

Curtis said:

miatafan said:

Something from the Google Pixel Family. 

There is nothing like having Android the way that Google intended and the ability to get the monthly security/performance updates without the carrier's involvement is nice.

 

Came here to say this.  I have a Pixel 2 which I bought when they came out (so $500), but they might be down to your range now.

I've had mine for a year and I love it to death.  Waterproof, brilliant USB-C, wicked fast processor, beautiful display, battery lasts about 36-48 hours, and (since I'm on google project Fi) works in 180 countries.  I do wish it had a headphone jack, but it hasn't really been an issue.

I would give a slight nod to an iphone for pictures, but (as a photographer) I don't like the digital manipulation iphones use to make the photos look good.  If I want to manipulate it, I will.  Don't make the choice for me.

One of the things I love about Android is that EVERYTHING is linked to your gmail account.  Since I made the switch to android back with my first Moto Droid X, I have never lost an email address, phone number, or an app.  When you buy a new phone and sign in, you have the option to just download the whole kit and kaboodle; apps, phone book, passwords, preferences, etc.  I did a hard reset on my PIxel a few weeks ago and the actual reset took longer than it did for the phone to import everything and put me back exactly where I was when I started.

Came to say this a third time, Pixel 3a is the new Nexus line, it's double your asking budget, but no bloatware and it's going to have more Ram than the X4, which modern apps will want and need. 

I bought a Blackberry Key2 LE back in january with 4gb of ram, but the blackberry core system robs a bunch of it which i hate.. after years of nexus use. 


Anything in the Android One Program gets my vote, these phones do more with less because they have no bloatware. 

In reply to tuna55 :

I just bought a Pixel 3a.  It's double your price range, but it is a current gen phone for less than a thousand dollars. 

I just switched back from the Apple machine, and there is an adjustment but a week or so but now I'm finding that I actually prefer a lot of the things that Android does over iOS. 

Sounds like a Pixel 2 might fit the bill based on this feedback. I was very interested in the Nokia machines also, the 6.1 is pretty cheap. I'll hit up swappa as soon as the new paychecks start hitting and look there.

So I've had a Moto E4, awesome. A nokia 6.1, aweseome.  The wife has a G5 awesome.  

I love expandable storage. I love the connection to all google.  

A buddy in the business told me this: you buy the apple- the phone is the product. You buy any android phone, YOU are the product.  That worried me. Take it for what it's worth from a third hand source, but I cant argue with his statement. 

I went back to the overpriced underperforming apple for the short term.

Teh E36 M3 said:

A buddy in the business told me this: you buy the apple- the phone is the product. You buy any android phone, YOU are the product.  That worried me. Take it for what it's worth from a third hand source, but I cant argue with his statement.

It's very true, since Google exists by selling advertising. However, with a few minutes spent altering the default privacy settings, and utilizing apps like Firefox Focus and Signal, you can mitigate the issue to some extent. It's a compromise I made because I'm unwilling to pay the Apple tax.

Teh E36 M3 said:

I love expandable storage. I love the connection to all google.  

I actually went with less storage on the Pixel 2 because "to all google."  I get unlimited free drive and photo storage.  I have zero photos on my phone.  They go straight to the Gloud.

02Pilot said:

Teh E36 M3 said:

A buddy in the business told me this: you buy the apple- the phone is the product. You buy any android phone, YOU are the product.  That worried me. Take it for what it's worth from a third hand source, but I cant argue with his statement.

It's very true, since Google exists by selling advertising. However, with a few minutes spent altering the default privacy settings, and utilizing apps like Firefox Focus and Signal, you can mitigate the issue to some extent. It's a compromise I made because I'm unwilling to pay the Apple tax.

True there are a few creepy things, like shopping for brake rotors in Chrome and then it shows up on my work computer as an ad in Edge, but make no mistake.... Android/Google is just unapologetic about their data mining and they put it in your face.  Apple mines as much (if not more) data from you.  They just make you think they aren't because they don't turn around and give you an ad for it.

The new Apple "privacy" ad campaign makes me want to vomit.  The only real difference is that Google mines, sells, and puts ads back at you to show you that they're selling your data.  Apple mines and sells, then hides behind a perceived privacy.

Not sure if its apple,  instgram or google hangouts, or most likely, ALL of them, but i get very obvious targeted ads on my iphone/ipad. 

What i really hate is the fact that things i have only SPOKE of, i will get targeted ads for within maybe 2-3 days. Few co-workers noticed the same. 

Makes me annoyed the more i see how obvious we are bought and sold. Put a show on for my Son, bunch of terrible commercials to exploit kids and beg parents to buy them some new trendy junk toy. Lots of mental programming going on. Makes me REAL happy that my Son likes music as much as he does. The tv is off probably 90+% of the time were home. Its mostly just listening to music here. 

Bought the pixel 2. $135 on eBay with a coupon. It's pretty great so far. Really bad phone call quality without a headset. Otherwise perfect or nearly so. 

Thanks!!

I have a OnePlus 6. It more than suits my needs. 

I have a pixel 3 and if it didn't happen to go on sale I would have happily bought a pixel 2. I sometimes have terrible call quality, but I've been chalking that up to the Sprint network. Pixel 2 is a great phone for $135!

My Moto E5 works well and the battery lasts a long time , 

Plus Motorola puts a basic android without all  the extras you do not want , 

if  you are Tmobile , make sure you get the Tmobile version so you get WiFi calling , VOLTE , and band 71

otherwise get an unlocked one so you can use it on Att , Tmobile and all the other services that use their cell sites.