So I’ve been using my trusty old OnePlus 5T until now, without any problems. I always followed the phone market for replacement but I simply didn’t see a phone that would fit me, so I just kept repairing and using the current one.
Recently, after 7 years, the glue inside the screen assembly started to loosen up, which caused a little gap between the OLED panel and touch panel. Moisture got in there, and the OLED panel started oxidizing, leaving a nice purple patch on the side of the screen, that is slowly growing as the panel is powered on. It was my fault ignoring the gap for so long, but here we are.
Regarding my new phone, I have a few “constraints” and preferences that I want to stick to, even they sound stupid or unreasonable. (This is why I simply didn’t bother buying another one yet)
MUST:
Be Android
Not be Samsung - had some before, don’t want to go back
Have headphone jack - yes, this will narrow the selection quite a bit
Have OLED screen - anything OLED, doesn’t matter which kind
Be similar size or smaller than OnePlus 5T - the ~160mm x ~70mm is sort of optimal for me.
Be under 200g, preferable under 180g
Dual SIM (2 physical cards)
Something released recently (2022-24), so it still has some support, accessories sold, has more chance to use it for another 7 years.
NFC
Be customizable: unlockable bootlooder, option for different ROMs, basically community support…
Preferable stuff:
Some reasonable camera. I don’t use it often, so definitely don’t need some Pixel level stuff.
High refresh rate screen - I don’t game on my phone, but general stuff looks nicer
No under screen fingerprint sensor - Not a big deal, but I know that it’s easy to fuck up the software side and calibration, so it can become a pain in the ass.
Wifi 6 or greater - “ac” Wifi is enough in the current 5T, so not a big deal just future proofing
IP rating - I take care of my phones but still, it would be nice to not worry about moisture or dropping it in wet stuff.
Expandable storage - Again, no big deal. I don’t use the camera often, so I don’t even fill up my current 128GB OnePlus. I usually backup and delete stuff from my phone yearly.
Extra programmable function button - Not a deal breaker again, but I got used to OnePlus alert slider and I would program a similar button to the same functionality (switching between normal, do not disturb and mute).
Of course it should have a reasonable price too, but I’m willing to pay for a phone that I will use for a long time.
So after all my unreasonable requirements and wishlist, GSM Arena’s phone finder comes up with 3 different phones that look interesting:
The Asus Zenfone series was my original choice as next device, I’ve been following the series for a few years, and I like the phones. Zenfones were unlockable by getting a device specific key from Asus’s servers and using that in fastboot mode. As far as I know, this was done by Asus’s unlocker app.
However, about a year ago, Asus decided to close this endpoint on the server, and removed the unlocker app from their website. This caused not only new Zenfones but older ones couldn’t get unlocked anymore either. You can google this drama if you’re interested, or just look at the threads on XDA Forums for Zenfone 10, Zenfone 9 or Zenfone 8. Right now, people are just waiting for someone to do something. Things are happening as I write this.
Besides all of this, Zenfone 10 is basically the perfect phone for me. People say that the software is also a plain Android with optimizations and you can turn off Asus features if you don’t like them. This is pretty much the same with OnePlus, and I liked using OxygenOS. But this unlocking bootloader drama is feels bad. Especially that Asus only provides 2 years of software support. I would be happier knowing that I can reflash my phone if I don’t like something.
2. The Xiaomi
Never had a Xiaomi before, but all my family and friends had one once in their life. I like the general quality and feature set of the phones and this looks nice just looking at the spec list.
The problem with this phone is it doesn’t even have a forum section on XDA, so I don’t know how active the community is behind it.
Second, slightly bigger problem: I don’t like Xiaomi’s OS. never liked the UI layout and custom functionality. I would 100% wipe the original OS from it and go with something else. But of course I don’t know if that option is available with this phone.
3. The OnePlus
Nothing particularly bad with this one. I understand that this series is now OnePlus’s budget series, so I won’t get the fancy Snapdragons and it’s the oldest from the all. I think it still looks OKish, community is active, OnePlus allows unlocking so no concerns there.
It doesn’t have an alert slider like other OnePlus phones do. Meh, no big deal, but still wanted to mention it.
My biggest “first world problem” with this phone is it having a MediaTek CPU. I used phones with MediaTek CPUs before, they are OK in performance but so hard to work with… Every chip is different, with different drivers, random links for random shitty software, the partition map in a text file that you need specifically for you device to flash it… If you’ve tinkered with a MediaTek phone before, you know what I’m talking about.
4. Bonus: Nothing Phone
Yes, I know Nothing Phone doesn’t have a headphone jack. But it’s also kind of like the Zenfone, and I like the LED array on the back. My 5T still has the RGB notification LED and I would prefer something similar. Plus the phone has a community behind it. I also know about the Nothing drama with their messaging app. I don’t really care. I would not have used it anyway. And as I said, if I don’t like their software, I’ll just flash another one.
So, what do you think? Should I give up my headphone jack rule and cry whenever I need to use the adapter with my headphones? What if that little worthless shit breaks? What if I want to charge? I know very well why the headphone jack isn’t there on phones nowadays, and I try not to support that direction or products that do this, trying to “vote with my wallet”…
Or should I give up my freedom of choice and let Asus decide when my phone stops to work? Or wait to see what happens at the end of April with the “Asus’s statement regarding this issue”? Maybe wait for someone who may or may not find a method for unlocking Zenfones which may or may not get patched by Asus? Is the Zenfone series popular enough that the community can solve this issue? Maybe, maybe not…
Or stay with OnePlus, dive back into the MediaTek world with an already old phone?
Or go Xiaomi and pray for it to not be crap in the long term?
Or fuck it and go Pixel and flash one of the many ROMs out there and cry about the headphone jack?
The Sony Xperia 1 iii, 1iv, and 1 v should meet all of OP’s requirements except size, and should have most of the bonus features too. Last year I was able to find a used xperia 1 iii for under $500USD. Sony allows bootloader unlocking so I put LineageOS with microg on it, rooted with magisk, and my phone does any thing I want (as long as that thing doesn’t require Google Play Services).
I’ve had very little experience with OnePlus, but my sister has had a OnePlus 8 for about two years, and has had consistent, weird problems with it. She hates it.
OnePlus really fell off after 6 IMO. I used my OP 6 for 5 years and only replaced it because the power button broke and I didn’t want to bother fixing it. But I bet I could get another 2-3 years out of it if I tried
I’ve been on OnePlus since the 6, i loved that phone too. I did switch to the 8T for a cheap price recently and I have to say it’s not the 6 but it has surprised me for a 4 year old phone it’ feels more capable than my wife’s newest Samsunch
They are a bit quirky but I am daily driving my fourth? (at least maybe forgetting one) Unihertz phone and tempted by a fith. Love those headphone jacks.
That’s good to hear. I swap between a Graphene Pixel 7 and a de-bloated ZFold4 but the unihertz have me interested on size alone. The SD + headphone is a great plus.
The good thing is that this phone don’t really have bad querks like ZF8&9, and the 2 years update only means not getting new android features, Zenfone still works perfectly fine a long time after the 2 year mark.
And yes, Asus has been quite an A** hole in the whole bootloader situation, but putting that aside there are still plenty of ways to tinker a phone without root(Fdroid, adb, launcher, netguard, etc…).
I would say If custom ROMs are too important for you, get a Pixel, they are just that good with it.
But if you are willing to look past that, Zenfones are great.
Thank you everyone and thank you for the links! Based on all info, I decided to wait for Asus’s statement until the end of April. I hope my current phone will survive until then.
In case of no good news, I will try to find a OnePlus Nord CE2 somewhere, or may go with a good used one. If that doesn’t work out either, then maybe an Xperia. Or Nothing 2. Or Pixel… We’ll see.
Haha, yeah… I ended up finding a cheap used OnePlus 5T in good shape and swapped the screens. There is Android 14 with LineageOS and other custom roms available, so I can keep the phone “up-to-date” and running for a while.
I still keep an eye on the phone market and more or less following the Asus drama with GamersNexus and the threads on XDA.
I haven’t upgraded to Android 14 yet. It’s painful to do backups and restores with 128GB storage and USB 2.0 but I will get there soon.
I got a Xiaomi POCO F5 recently that might fit all your Must criteria (idk about size), but another Xiaomi may work. Just if you’re located somewhere that doesn’t use the Type C Socket, you may need an adapter or a different 67W charger
Xiaomi has a bootloader unlock process, though it is a bit involved. You’ve gotta put your SIM in the new phone, create a Xiaomi then you’ve gotta run their bootloader unlock software, which needs a Windows Computer, idk if it runs in a VM, if thats an issue for you. Then you’ve gotta keep your SIM in the phone and have it on for a full 7 days and then run the bootloader unlock software again, which will wipe your phone, but now the bootloader is unlocked
You do have to use MIUI for a week before you can wipe it and try something else, but once you go through it its fine. I’ve been using Paranoid Android on mine with no issues.
This should apply to any recent Xiaomi phone. Just something for your consideration
Are you in the US? If so what carrier are you using. I was looking at the POCO F5 before getting a great deal on a OP11. I would have still staved money going with the POCO but ultimately chose the OnePlus because no carrier would tell me if the POCO would work or not on their towers. Bands wise it said it would but the carriers said unsupported.
Anyway, I second this phone OP. It has great specs for the price. Having gone op5t > op7pro > OP11. The POCO was really tempting me besides the clarity on whether or not carriers would support it.
Yeah im in the US. I use Tmobile and it works fine for me, 5G and all. Looking at the bands that the POCO F5 supported, it seemed like only Tmoblie uses one of the radio frequencies that the F5 uses for 5G. That probably means that I wont have 5G everywhere in the country, but I lucked out and its good for where I live.
With MIUI, i did not have the option of Wifi calling with Tmobile, for some reason, but on Paranoid Android it works just fine.
IIRC the F5 had more bands that worked with Tmobile and AT&T for LTE
Edit: This was when I bought it. Carrier band support may have changed since Nov 2023
That’s good to know. I had at&t when I was looking but recently switched to Google Fi which I think primarily uses Tmo towers. But that sounds about right iirc based on when I was looking at them.
I’ve been keeping tabs on it’s xda forum and seems to have taken off much faster than the OnePlus 11’s. There is only 4 roms that are solid enough to use daily. While it seemed like there is much more activity on the f5’s forum.
Especially with how small and cheap those adapters are just stock up on them and scatter them all over the place. I have adapters that I’ve never used but are near me at basically all times.
That is a quite a project you have there :-) Let me just share this https://www.sustaphones.com so maybe you can find another phone which still has a headphone jack, or that other readers can benefit from that website.
Using this method allows you to compare attributes for just two phones and pick a winner, for whatever reason, between just those two
The next two don’t need to use the same attributes, again, you’re just comparing those two phones and the attributes that matter to you in that particular selection.
By doing this parired choice, each attribute is included in the filter and it’s considered within the entire range of attributes and phones.
Thirded one on the xperia line. Previous to this 1ii that it’s being with me for 3 years and a half, I had a Z1 that lasted 7 years with me until fell off my hands and the screen cracked.
That being said, their software support is shit and I ended rooting them and using LineageOS (I even had a MIUI ROM with the Z1 at one point) so that’s something you have to have in mind. LineageOS on the 1ii is good, better battery life than stock but I lost screen mirroring.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
5. Engage respectfully: Harassment, flamebaiting, bad faith engagement, or agenda posting will result in your posts being removed. Excessive violations will result in temporary or permanent ban, depending on severity.
6. Memes are not allowed to be posts, but are allowed in the comments.
7. Posts from clickbait sources are heavily discouraged. Please de-clickbait titles if it needs to be submitted.
8. Submission statements of any length composed of your own thoughts inside the post text field are mandatory for any microblog posts, and are optional but recommended for article/image/video posts.
I’ll be seeing any phone for your requirements
Have you considered the Sony flagships? They fit all your criteria except maybe the bootloader bit
The Sony Xperia 1 iii, 1iv, and 1 v should meet all of OP’s requirements except size, and should have most of the bonus features too. Last year I was able to find a used xperia 1 iii for under $500USD. Sony allows bootloader unlocking so I put LineageOS with microg on it, rooted with magisk, and my phone does any thing I want (as long as that thing doesn’t require Google Play Services).
deleted by creator
I’ve had very little experience with OnePlus, but my sister has had a OnePlus 8 for about two years, and has had consistent, weird problems with it. She hates it.
OnePlus really fell off after 6 IMO. I used my OP 6 for 5 years and only replaced it because the power button broke and I didn’t want to bother fixing it. But I bet I could get another 2-3 years out of it if I tried
I’ve been on OnePlus since the 6, i loved that phone too. I did switch to the 8T for a cheap price recently and I have to say it’s not the 6 but it has surprised me for a 4 year old phone it’ feels more capable than my wife’s newest Samsunch
Might be worth poking around here.
https://www.unihertz.com/
They offer phones with dual sim, headphone jacks, back of phone fingerprint readers, customizable button.
Good luck!
They are a bit quirky but I am daily driving my fourth? (at least maybe forgetting one) Unihertz phone and tempted by a fith. Love those headphone jacks.
That’s good to hear. I swap between a Graphene Pixel 7 and a de-bloated ZFold4 but the unihertz have me interested on size alone. The SD + headphone is a great plus.
Typing this on a Zenfone 10.
The good thing is that this phone don’t really have bad querks like ZF8&9, and the 2 years update only means not getting new android features, Zenfone still works perfectly fine a long time after the 2 year mark.
And yes, Asus has been quite an A** hole in the whole bootloader situation, but putting that aside there are still plenty of ways to tinker a phone without root(Fdroid, adb, launcher, netguard, etc…).
I would say If custom ROMs are too important for you, get a Pixel, they are just that good with it.
But if you are willing to look past that, Zenfones are great.
Thank you everyone and thank you for the links! Based on all info, I decided to wait for Asus’s statement until the end of April. I hope my current phone will survive until then. In case of no good news, I will try to find a OnePlus Nord CE2 somewhere, or may go with a good used one. If that doesn’t work out either, then maybe an Xperia. Or Nothing 2. Or Pixel… We’ll see.
Uh oh… :)
But seriously… I’d go with the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G.
For you, it’s stuff like the headphone jack.
For ME, it’s having a card slot for more memory. This one has it, the other two do not.
I don’t see a reason to pay a premium price for fewer features.
Like Pavlov’s dog, I hovered over that image waiting for the alt text to appear.
“I am never going out to buy an air conditioner with my sysadmin again.”
deleted by creator
Heya OP, I’m more or less at the same point you were. So how did you decide in the end?
Haha, yeah… I ended up finding a cheap used OnePlus 5T in good shape and swapped the screens. There is Android 14 with LineageOS and other custom roms available, so I can keep the phone “up-to-date” and running for a while.
I still keep an eye on the phone market and more or less following the Asus drama with GamersNexus and the threads on XDA.
I haven’t upgraded to Android 14 yet. It’s painful to do backups and restores with 128GB storage and USB 2.0 but I will get there soon.
I got a Xiaomi POCO F5 recently that might fit all your Must criteria (idk about size), but another Xiaomi may work. Just if you’re located somewhere that doesn’t use the Type C Socket, you may need an adapter or a different 67W charger
Xiaomi has a bootloader unlock process, though it is a bit involved. You’ve gotta put your SIM in the new phone, create a Xiaomi then you’ve gotta run their bootloader unlock software, which needs a Windows Computer, idk if it runs in a VM, if thats an issue for you. Then you’ve gotta keep your SIM in the phone and have it on for a full 7 days and then run the bootloader unlock software again, which will wipe your phone, but now the bootloader is unlocked
You do have to use MIUI for a week before you can wipe it and try something else, but once you go through it its fine. I’ve been using Paranoid Android on mine with no issues.
This should apply to any recent Xiaomi phone. Just something for your consideration
Are you in the US? If so what carrier are you using. I was looking at the POCO F5 before getting a great deal on a OP11. I would have still staved money going with the POCO but ultimately chose the OnePlus because no carrier would tell me if the POCO would work or not on their towers. Bands wise it said it would but the carriers said unsupported.
Anyway, I second this phone OP. It has great specs for the price. Having gone op5t > op7pro > OP11. The POCO was really tempting me besides the clarity on whether or not carriers would support it.
Yeah im in the US. I use Tmobile and it works fine for me, 5G and all. Looking at the bands that the POCO F5 supported, it seemed like only Tmoblie uses one of the radio frequencies that the F5 uses for 5G. That probably means that I wont have 5G everywhere in the country, but I lucked out and its good for where I live.
With MIUI, i did not have the option of Wifi calling with Tmobile, for some reason, but on Paranoid Android it works just fine.
IIRC the F5 had more bands that worked with Tmobile and AT&T for LTE
Edit: This was when I bought it. Carrier band support may have changed since Nov 2023
That’s good to know. I had at&t when I was looking but recently switched to Google Fi which I think primarily uses Tmo towers. But that sounds about right iirc based on when I was looking at them.
I’ve been keeping tabs on it’s xda forum and seems to have taken off much faster than the OnePlus 11’s. There is only 4 roms that are solid enough to use daily. While it seemed like there is much more activity on the f5’s forum.
If you are worried about a headphone jack, you are severely limited.
What kind of headphones do you use?
Wired ones.
Maybe get a 3.5mm to USB dongle and just keep it attached to the headphones?
Especially with how small and cheap those adapters are just stock up on them and scatter them all over the place. I have adapters that I’ve never used but are near me at basically all times.
That is a quite a project you have there :-) Let me just share this https://www.sustaphones.com so maybe you can find another phone which still has a headphone jack, or that other readers can benefit from that website.
Here’s how I do this (for phones and any complex technology acquisition):
This is what I did. There’s just too many variables to consider between the phones. You need a matrix.
No.
This is that matrix.
Using this method allows you to compare attributes for just two phones and pick a winner, for whatever reason, between just those two
The next two don’t need to use the same attributes, again, you’re just comparing those two phones and the attributes that matter to you in that particular selection.
By doing this parired choice, each attribute is included in the filter and it’s considered within the entire range of attributes and phones.
The newer Sony Xperias sound like a good fit for you. I haven’t used one myself, but they’re pretty decent from what I can gather.
Also it seems as if Sony is the only phone manufacturer shipping flagships with headphone jacks and SD card slots.
On another note, I highly recommend the GSMarena Phone Finder for getting a general selection of phones that have the features you care about.
Also been rocking Xperia for the last few years and I have no reason to ever look further. Amazing phones :)
seconded on the xperia line, i have the 5 III and love it. small but lots of screen available with the tall aspect ratio
Thirded one on the xperia line. Previous to this 1ii that it’s being with me for 3 years and a half, I had a Z1 that lasted 7 years with me until fell off my hands and the screen cracked.
That being said, their software support is shit and I ended rooting them and using LineageOS (I even had a MIUI ROM with the Z1 at one point) so that’s something you have to have in mind. LineageOS on the 1ii is good, better battery life than stock but I lost screen mirroring.
Go with usb-c headphones to broaden your options.