Turns out replacing rounded silicon shells with hard-edge thin plastic on a handheld device, then expecting you to buy a second silicon shell anyway was a very lucrative decision.
In other news, I’m looking into getting a new phone. I don’t really use phones for much other than messaging apps, firefox and the occasional lemmy browse, so lowest possible price is cool. No 1080/4K stuff.
I’d also want to avoid the 2.5 phone lifespan problem, since Moore and his law are dead so durability trumps performance every time.
It’d also be nice if it was supported by alternative OSes like Lineage. Any particular model or model series y’all recommend?
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Poco F5
Xiaomi phones are great because they allow you to unlock bootloader.
Go with a Spigen case
Aren’t Chinese phones blocked by US carriers?
Huawei yes I think. For Xiaomi I think band support could be a problem but should work.
I guess another option is older OnePlus phones from ebay which have more US bands.
I have no idea if it’s any good, but the CAT S42 is ruggedized, modern-ish and super cheap
yeah, there is that. unfortunately not a lot of companies making rugged phones. on the bright side I don’t think they’re seeing much profit from a phone that’s $64 on clearance at Amazon
They can make $0 in profits if you return the product with a brick inside and say you got scammed
Buy an old flagship. Rocking a OnePlus 6t that came out in 2018, it outperforms many modern low cost phones, and has been extraordinarily durable for me. Can probably get one for under $100. Also, typically have REALLY good carrier support.
I have this silicone case from a random company called Tech22 and didn’t get a single scratch or crack on the screen for 5 years. It only cracked when I spontaneously started sleepwalking, took it out of the case and stumbled extremely drunk and sleepwalking through a construction site. Still works, no major cracks, just some small ones in the corner and some scratches. I’ve dropped it in an industrial dishwasher before, no signs of water damage.
Also a very large modding platform, one of the few non-pixel phones that supports major modifications like Linux for phones because of how much modding goes on with it. This is because OnePlus has recovery features that no other phone manufacturer has, so there is pretty much always a way to unbrick it if something goes wrong. It can always be saved from software shit. I literally wiped everything on the phone, including the USB drivers by accident once. If it was any other phone, I would have been fucked, but Qualcomm has features that let you use USB to control the CPU without using USB. Yeah, fuckin weird, but lifesaving.
If you have any doubts about your ability to flash firmware, the OnePlus 6t is the best answer by a longshot. The only issue I’ve had with it in all my years is that after all this time, abusing the USB port since before I was legally an adult, it’s finally starting to give me some trouble charging. However, I’ve looked into it and replacing the USB port would be pretty damn cheap so I’m not too worried.
Pixel phones have the best support for custom roms like lineage. I’m using a Pixel 4a on LineageOS with microG right now and it’s fine 99% of the time (1% is the screen randomly locking up, sometimes needing a restart)
Been using a dbrand grip case pretty much since I got it and it’s worked very well, no damage to the phone despite quite a few tumbles and fumbles over the years
I always go for something from the Moto g range. Usually you can get them for around 120-150 quid and they last me ages. Very drop proof, acceptable performance, uncluttered vanilla android UI, cool gesture controls such as shaking to turn on the torch or wiggling to activate the camera. Cannot answer your question regarding custom roms, but given their increasing popularity, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do support them.
This was always my answer to these questions, but the G 2023 (4g) is a real stinker. My husband and I have been very disappointed in the performance compared to previous generations, and there are some strange bugs (like playback freezing randomly, in literally every situation - podcasts, YouTube, mp3s, over earbuds, aux, or phone speaker).
I bought the G stylus and I absolutely hate this piece of garbage. It was filled with bloatware (tried to get me to install a bunch of programs), it installed fucking 2 Versions of Solitaire during setup and has a bunch of bullshit-to-mid Motorola branded apps. Can’t find a case for it and it’s like a wet bar of soap on most surfaces, so it’s fallen a bunch of times, screen’s already cracked. Amazingly bad, even if the stylus support is okay.
An older fairphone? They’re focused on repairability and durability.
If you’re in the states and happen to be on T-Mobile, you can get a cheap Xiaomi Redmi off Amazon for like $150. They’re really solid and allow you to unlock the bootloader as well if you want to run something like Lineage.
