Mobile Phone Recommendations? Ask For Advice Here!

Also your palm has a tendency to register touches, meaning it can be a pain to hold, additionally
the curved screen, even though it's gorilla glass, makes it about as fragile as an egg.
dropped mine within 2 months from purchase less than 30cm onto asphalt and it shattered the backside.
meanwhile my old HTC that I replaced it with was near indestructible, the bezel took the beating not the glass.

those are my gripes.

Budget for new phone $200-$400 I don't need it to play games or shoot high quality cinematic movies.

 

I got an A52s a while back and it's been great. The newer A53 is less powerful so avoid it.

 

What about this https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08XYDXYR7

 

Ah ok, I have a case on it so not an issue for me. Plus I disable the side menu's.

Agree about gorilla glass, not really sure "Gorilla" is an accurate term for it

 

So, the time has come to finally retire my Google Pixel 2 XL. The last few weeks have seen it succumb to a few hardware faults (fingerprint reader has died, battery life is diminishing, and occasionally the screen will unlock with only one color - usually red).

I am in the market for something that either equals (or close to it) or better yet exceeds the hardware spec I have come to know and love with this device:

- Minimum 6" screen, with a resolution no less than 1440x2560 (the 2XL is 1440x2880 but I will settle for 16:9 standard ratio).
- IP rating 6x, 5x won't cut it for my line of work.
- Android 12 preferably, will settle for 11 as that what the 2XL has.
- Must have the full suite of Google Play Services, or at least be able to support Android Auto and the usual Play Store in its entirety.
- Would like Wireless Charging but not a deal breaker if not available.

I am happy to purchase second hand, however it'd want to be in near-new condition.

I would prefer to bypass the Samsung offerings, not because the hardware is crap but simply because I am so spoilt with having used "Vanilla Android" on the 2XL that I am just not a fan of the Samsung re-engineering of the interface, so much so that I find it awkward.

Prior to the 2XL I had an Oppo of some sort (I forget the model) and while it was a great phone at the time as far as hardware spec went, the software was a major let down - I came to hate ColorOS, and all its locked down bastardry. I eventually was able to unlock its bootloader and root it so I could at least alter the screen DPI to what the LCD panel was natively (stupid Oppo) but that was just a major pain in the arse I'd like to avoid.

So far, the Google Pixel 6 Pro seems to be the obvious choice... however, I know four people personally who have all purchased the Pixel 6 (3x the 6, 1x the 6 Pro) and all had some form of failures, glitches or just out-right lemons - that said, all were purchased within a month of the release date, so it could have just been "bad luck with bleeding edge tech". I have seen on Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree that there are gaps in the pricing of devices exactly the same as each other by as much as a few hundred dollars (eg: FB had one 6Pro up for $800 with "limited use" including box/etc, and another for $1250 with the exact same spec) - my hunch tells me the cheaper device would have been a potential lemon.

I've used the GSMArena Phone Finder with limited success - it spat out 34 options to me; Oppo, OnePlus, Xiaomi, vivo, just to name a few. I don't have a problem with these as options as I infact have owned quite a few "China specials" and find the devices quite surprising bang for buck, however the lack of Google Play Services on quite a few of them have me worried.

I did see the Meizu 18s which has very good spec and a somewhat reasonable (overseas) price tag, however I have read that the Google Play Services and all things included can be quite difficult to get onto the device, and in doing so other software features on the phone break or fail, which is a shame.

Please help me find a phone!

 

Yeah, the Pixel is hard to recommend with all the crap. It's first gen hardware from Google, best to avoid like the plague! The 7 or 6a might be alright, but I'd wait a couple of months after they come out.

I'd honestly consider Samsung - I've not been a huge fan of Samsung OS (I'm on a Pixel myself) but it's not that bad and you can debloat a bunch of the Samsung apps which will help. The A73 5G is $800 from JBHiFi and has a SD778 which is pretty good, and the S21 FE would be worth a look too. 4 years of software support is nice too. If you need the 1440p screen though you'll have to be looking at the S22 Ultra which is going to add a 1 to the front of the price tag.

As for the China brands, Oppo Find X3 Pro has a pretty awesome camera, but not sure if it's up to Android 12 yet (although I bloody hate Android 12, wish I'd stayed on 11).

Might be worth getting the Pixel 6 Pro after all, and just buy from a place that's easy to deal with returns and warranty...

 

Will echo my post from above, but I went from the original Pixel XL to a Samsung A52s. After debloating most of the Samsung non-essential crap off it (everything except for the gallery basically, because the galley is linked to the camera in a way that breaks functionality if you uninstall it) I haven't had any problems with it, and it was very cheap. I was going to get a Pixel 6 but ran into people with the exact same problems as you describe which caused me to discount it entirely.

I don't do anything special requiring the high end models whoever made them so A52S it was. Note, don't get the newer A53, it's worse than the A52s to make it more profitable/easier to sell to non-1st world regions.

I have had a few minor issues, first one being the controls are opposite day to the PIxel, but you can swap around the on screen buttons at the bottom and then you just have to get used to the side. I had some issues with gmail not notifying when it got an email but those had something to do with vibration being disabled in the "system interface" application settings thing, and the last one was that the timer clock countdown wouldn't go off when the phone was locked but you fix that setting "timer vibrate" to off.

I also couldn't get a proper otterbox case for it, I got something called the "supcase unicorn beetle pro" for it and it's not quite a full blown otterbox defender two part shell + rubber case but it's done the job fine.

 

The housemate has an A52s which he loves - moved from an S21 something to the Pixel 6, hated the 6 and realised "why bother with the top end of town", settling for the A52s. His experience with it has been flawless, and has never really complained about it other than the screen being a little lack-luster compared to what he has used in the past.

Hardware spec, the Oppo and OnePlus flagships are bloody good and pretty hard to beat, however my previous experience with ColorOS has left me with a bad taste in the mouth for their offerings. I wish there were the possibility to actually play around with the phone for even an hour or two before committing to the purchase.

I think you might be right...

Definitely food for thought for me, I just wish it has a better screen (1080x2400, with 405ppi at 6.5 inches - the 2XL has another 100+ ppi over it). Besides the screen and the Samsung bloatware/crap interface, it ticks every other box.

 

From all reports skip the pixel 6, mkbhd also gave it a pretty bad review 6 months on.

I've been using the s21 Ultra for the last 12 months and really happy, my last Samsung was the S3.

The Samsung stuff I barely notice and it doesn't bother me at all. Bought it new unlocked for under 1k when Samsung ran their trade in program around a year ago

 

Seems I can pick up an S21 Ultra 5G on Failbook for between $800 for the 128GB variant to $1100ish for 512GB (though there are about 5 of the 128GB variants for every 1 of the 512GB variants). Spec wise it is on the money for what I want. Might just bite the bullet and go for it. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

Quick follow-up - purchased an S21 Ultra 5G yesterday, will set it up during the week, thanks all.

 

Just for reference I just did the S20Ultra to S22Ultra upgrade through Samsung upgrade program and it only cost me $814 for a flagship model. Great update price.

 

How did you end up? Looking to replace Huawei P30 Pro...just because....and am looking at options currently

 

That's cool, is there certain eligibility or just a working phone? I wonder what they do with old phone, refurb and resell?

 

These are the questions you need to answer in relation to phone condition when using the Samsung Trade-in program....

Yeah I've always been curious about that also.

 

its gets sent to a 3rd party.
its just another way to discount the purchase price without pissing off the telcos is my gut feeling.
most people didn't even send in their old phone and only lost the trade in price itself. the samsung discounts etc all stayed

i bought an old iphone 6 on ebay to trade in when i did the same program to purchase my s21 ultra (about 12-14months ago now)
i did send the iphone in, no way i wanted to keep an apple device

 

From what I could see in the last release there wasn't much point in me keeping the phone and then selling it, thus losing the trade-in discount, because the offers were so generous that I don't think I would have gotten much more for my older phone selling privately anyways.

Incidentally I send my old phone back and they still charged me! Took a month to get my money back, wasn't good at all.

 

refurbed s21 ultra here, https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/710398

 

I think OZB killed their site.

 

Am after low - mid price mobile phone

Want:
Good battery life
Gorilla Glass ( I am a clumsy SOB )

Like:
Wireless Charging ( I have a base )
Fair Sound with wireless earbuds
Nice Display
USB Type C charging

Dont Care:
Charging Time
Camera
4G or 5G