Help Need a phone worth having

[codezer0]

Not sure why, but my v20 has been real fussy lately. I'd been holding out in hopes of a phone maker to finally have a successor to this worth looking at, but it seems we'll sooner see a vaccine for HIV than that ever happening.

Up to this point, been happiest with unlocked phones. Unfortunately, I just can't bring myself to spend any money on a sealed battery phone. Since, for as long as I've been alive, every single one of them has been absolutely terrible for me.

Simply... I need root. Full stop. And I'm sick of XDA making it hard to find out if it's possible or not. Just as I'm sick of them having a monopoly on who's allowed to root their phones or not. Stop right there; yes, they do. Because every other site that claims to enable root always comes with some kind of malware.

I use a headphone Jack daily. Both in my car off the clock, and in my vehicle when I've got some down time at work.

With root, I like twrp to make an image backup of the phone. So for that, I want an SD card slot.

Lastly, the biggest problem, and always the problem from the start, is the battery. The last time I tried to settle with a sealed battery phone, I was recommended the moto x pure. And suffice to say, I spent way more than the phone was worth replacing chargers, charging cables, and then having to sell it for pennies on the dollar when it refused to quick charge and no shop around here would even touch it to fix it.

I was hoping someone out there would have basically made "a v20 but with a 5g radio" or that I could have got a fair phone 4 for example. But seeing as the us phone public is predominately full of office morons that refuse to leave WiFi range, much less the operating range of an outlet, now I have to suffer for their buying decisions.

 

[mikedt]

Good luck with your quest I think.

 

[svim]

So you're essentially looking for a phone that:
-- supports 5G
-- has a user-replaceable battery that also supports fast charging
-- is easily rooted, and that can be done without using one of those dodgy, Chinese rooting utilities
-- includes a headphone jack
-- includes a microSD card slot
Good luck finding a phone that will meet all your stated requirements.
Presumably you are willing to sacrifice one or more of those aspects, yes? (i.e. you hypothetically referred to a Fairphone 4. Even if it was available everywhere, note that it doesn't have a headphone jack.) If so, perhaps list them on a rated scale of importance.

 

[codezer0]

So you're essentially looking for a phone that:
-- supports 5G
-- has a user-replaceable battery that also supports fast charging
-- is easily rooted, and that can be done without using one of those dodgy, Chinese rooting utilities
-- includes a headphone jack
-- includes a microSD card slot
Good luck finding a phone that will meet all your stated requirements.
Presumably you are willing to sacrifice one or more of those aspects, yes? (i.e. you hypothetically referred to a Fairphone 4. Even if it was available everywhere, note that it doesn't have a headphone jack.) If so, perhaps list them on a rated scale of importance.

It needs root... because otherwise the factory rom always gets in the way, or allows ads that just give me rage fits. Without being able to root, I guarantee it'll piss me off within a month.

With root, one of my best practices is to try and keep an image backup. So SD slot kind of goes hand in hand there.

I use the headphone jack, daily. I had no idea that the Fairphone 4 lacked one.

Regarding the battery... if it's a sealed battery, I want to pay as little as possible. I'm not kidding when I say I've never even had a single satisfactory experience with a sealed battery phone. My earlier content regarding the moto x pure and how miserable it made me would be evidence enough of that. I'm only willing to invest if I can replace the battery (and/or install an extended battery, like I can with my v20).

And simply put, I see no reason paying currency for a phone that doesn't have a 5G radio.

I'm really sick and fed up with how trash the US phone market is in this regard. None of this should be impossible. the v20 I presently have was already proof of that.

 

[mikedt]

About rooting info, you got XDA, and that's pretty much it. Back in the day when certain manufacturers actively supported rooting, I had Oppo phones and so for any rooting info for those, the go to place was Oppo Forums run by the company, but that was shut down a few years ago now.

But now a rooted smart-phone would actually be rather useless to me, mainly because of particular apps I must have and use daily.

 

[codezer0]

Good luck with your quest I think.

I'm already not looking forward to it.

Once again, off the top, with Amazon as one stop to check against...

This Xiaomi has a few people claiming it works well on T-Mobile, and at the current prices, is almost below my threshold where I don't see it as an investment. That said, I'm well familiar with how Xiaomi likes to brand photos taken, and that's a no-no in my book. The problem I'm hung up on is... I search this model on XDA, and it wants to insist it's something else entirely. So, can I root it or not?!

On the next avenue, this Oukitel doesn't give me much hope for its ability to use 5G. But that battery capacity... whew! At least with that capacity, I'm more confident about it actually lasting all day with me, if not more. But even on amazon, it's conflicting whether it would actually work on T-Mobile or not.

Side-bar. Since we're dealing with sealed batteries for the majority of this? No, I will not entertain a second-hand unit. Why? The battery, duh.

 

[mikedt]

I'm already not looking forward to it.

Once again, off the top, with Amazon as one stop to check against...

This Xiaomi has a few people claiming it works well on T-Mobile, and at the current prices, is almost below my threshold where I don't see it as an investment. That said, I'm well familiar with how Xiaomi likes to brand photos taken, and that's a no-no in my book. The problem I'm hung up on is... I search this model on XDA, and it wants to insist it's something else entirely. So, can I root it or not?!

I've not looked at XDA myself much these days. But a good friend of mine does have the Xiaomi Note 10, he's had for a year and seems very happy with it. Of course he's got the China variant of this device. He actually bought the Xiaomi while we were on holiday in Chongqing, as an emergency replacement for another Xiaomi he dropped down a crouch-toilet....OOPS! It was condemned as unrepairable by the Xiaomi Service Centre there.

On the next avenue, this Oukitel doesn't give me much hope for its ability to use 5G. But that battery capacity... whew! At least with that capacity, I'm more confident about it actually lasting all day with me, if not more. But even on amazon, it's conflicting whether it would actually work on T-Mobile or not.

Side-bar. Since we're dealing with sealed batteries for the majority of this? No, I will not entertain a second-hand unit. Why? The battery, duh.

Don't know much about Oukitels. except they come from China, and that's it. AF has had a few posts about Oukitel phones, but generally not good.

I only ever bought one used Android phone, the original Samsung Galaxy S, when I first joined AF in 2010.

 

[Dannydet]

My observation in the whole cellphone industry is that the days of rooting, battery replacement, audio jack, etc. Are getting more and more difficult or no longer supported in the hardware.

 

[codezer0]

My observation in the whole cellphone industry is that the days of rooting, battery replacement, audio jack, etc. Are getting more and more difficult or no longer supported in the hardware.

Still ticks me off to no end.

Back in the heyday of Android and iOS, when I finally was in the position to be able to get a smart phone, I went hard on android because (a) cost, and (b) all the stuff you could do with an Android that you can't do on an iPhone, at any price.

Now the platforms are more similar than ever, and for all the wrong reasons.

 

[Hadron]

With root, I like twrp to make an image backup of the phone. So for that, I want an SD card slot.

You don't need a microSD card for this: USB memory stick and an OTG adapter works fine - or these days just a USB-C memory stick.
I was doing that back in 2013. So if that's your reason for needing a microSD slot you can drop that requirement if it makes it easier to satisfy the others, though honestly I think the battery is the big problem here:

I just tried GSMArena's "phone finder" with all of the requirements I could search on ("rootable" isn't one of them): currently available, 5G (I didn't bother trying to work out which bands), Android, card slot, 3.5mm jack, removable battery. I got one result, and as that's a Samsung and you are in the US I have doubts about rootable. Removing the microSD requirement didn't change it. Removing the 3.5mm jack added the Fairphone 4 as a second option. Removing the "removable battery" requirement (with 5G, 3.5mm, microSD required) gave 196 results. So I know that's the one you really don't want to compromise on, but it's also the only one that will make much difference to your options.

 

[codezer0]

You don't need a microSD card for this: USB memory stick and an OTG adapter works fine - or these days just a USB-C memory stick.
I was doing that back in 2013. So if that's your reason for needing a microSD slot you can drop that requirement if it makes it easier to satisfy the others, though honestly I think the battery is the big problem here.

I just tried GSMArena's "phone finder" with all of the requirements I could search on ("rootable" isn't one of them): currently available, 5G (I didn't bother trying to work out which bands), Android, card slot, 3.5mm jack, removable battery. I got one result, and as that's a Samsung and you are in the US I have doubts about rootable. Removing the microSD requirement didn't change it. Removing the 3.5mm jack added the Fairphone 4 as a second option. Removing the "removable battery" requirement (with 5G, 3.5mm, microSD required) gave 196 results. So I know that's the one you really don't want to compromise on, but it's also the only one that will make much difference to your options.

It also makes it dramatically easier to keep photos or files in the event I have to update or wipe the phone.

Linux in general is way too happy about wiping external storage. And anything on a dongle is just going to be sunk cost when it gets broken or lost.

 

[codezer0]

I just tried GSMArena's "phone finder" with all of the requirements I could search on ("rootable" isn't one of them): currently available, 5G (I didn't bother trying to work out which bands), Android, card slot, 3.5mm jack, removable battery. I got one result, and as that's a Samsung and you are in the US I have doubts about rootable. Removing the microSD requirement didn't change it. Removing the 3.5mm jack added the Fairphone 4 as a second option. Removing the "removable battery" requirement (with 5G, 3.5mm, microSD required) gave 196 results. So I know that's the one you really don't want to compromise on, but it's also the only one that will make much difference to your options.

I don't want to compromise on the battery, because anything positive I ever could've said about any sealed phone was instantly erased as soon as the battery was considered.

I couldn't even get any shop around me to even look at, much less work, on that moto x pure when the battery was basically untenable.

I don't want to have to buy a new phone every other year, much less every week like Samsung and such apparently want me to do.

Gsmarena won't even look at anything from oukitel, which doesn't help me, either.

Sealed phones, around here, in this heat? That's just going to guarantee I get stranded somewhere and it shutting down on me because "its too hot whaaaa"

Why does nobody understand this?

 

[Hadron]

Sealed phones, around here, in this heat? That's just going to guarantee I get stranded somewhere and it shutting down on me because "its too hot whaaaa"

Why does nobody understand this?

It's not a matter of understanding, it's just about the bottom line: your problem doesn't matter to them if they make more money from sealed devices. If a large fraction of people genuinely refused to buy sealed devices, or if enough people were prepared to pay a big enough premium for a removable battery, then we'd still have options. Otherwise it's irrelevant to the manufactures how much trouble their choices make for some people.

It's not even a matter of whether you can make money selling a device or not: Apple's iPhone "mini" models were profitable, and actually sold better than almost any individual Android device. But Apple reckon they can make more money by using the components in larger, more expensive devices so they are being discontinued (in essence they didn't bring in a lot of new iPhone owners, and existing ones buying less profitable devices may be in the users' interests but it isn't in the company's). That's just capitalism. And it's the same for other manufacturers or other features, except that if you aren't in Apple's privileged position it's not a choice between making a significant profit and an even larger profit but more likely between scraping by or going out of business (just as LG have left the phone business). And that's how we end up where we are, where there are a large number of devices offered but they all have essentially the same features. I don't like it either, as most of those devices are useless to me, but that's where the industry is.

 

[codezer0]

So then, what the hell do I do? Because all this does is just reinforce the notion that no phone is worth spending any significant amount of money on if I'm going to be disappointed with it even brand new.

Once again, it's just another case of stupid people making my life worse, and having no recourse to be able to do anything about it.

I have no reason to believe any sealed battery phone, at any price point, is going to actually be able to survive even a single working day with me. Much less have the screen on time to match.

Even now, at the carrier stores, there's literally nothing that I could get at any tier that doesn't feel like a downgrade.

Adaptive charging and such doesn't mean dick when the thing always slows to a crawl or just shuts off when I'm trying to actually get something done with it. Simply, every sealed phone I've ever had, for as long as I've been alive, has been like the moto x pure, if not worse. There's a reason the meme of the iPhone having 10 minutes of battery per charge still endures. and I'm sick and tired of phone that always just halt charging or shut down when I still need to use them while they're charging, because of course the battery bled itself out faster than a hemophiliac at a vampire convention.

 

[svim]

.....

Why does nobody understand this?

Well you do have a lot of very unrealistic expectations so it's not surprising you're so pissed off about not finding the perfect phone that can actually match up with your list of absolute requirements. You consider your 8 yr-old V20 was that phone but at the same time are ignoring the indisputable fact that the smartphone market is a constantly evolving (or devolving in your opinion) industry.
So buying a new smartphone typically involves accepting change, or don't, with the understanding that does involve a lot of consequences. Since you refuse to compromise and adapt, you can continue to waste your own time and efforts trying to find a matching V20 equivalent in a new model but otherwise for your own mental health it might be best to just stop using smartphones. Your already seething with so much hate that another new phone is just going to add to that.

 

[codezer0]

Well you do have a lot of very unrealistic expectations so it's not surprising you're so pissed off about not finding the perfect phone that can actually match up with your list of absolute requirements. You consider your 8 yr-old V20 was that phone but at the same time are ignoring the indisputable fact that the smartphone market is a constantly evolving (or devolving in your opinion) industry.
So buying a new smartphone typically involves accepting change, or don't, with the understanding that does involve a lot of consequences. Since you refuse to compromise and adapt, you can continue to waste your own time and efforts trying to find a matching V20 equivalent in a new model but otherwise for your own mental health it might be best to just stop using smartphones. Your already seething with so much hate that another new phone is just going to add to that.

HOW THE HELL IS IT UNREALISTIC?!

The fact that it exists, means it was able to be done. If anything, they (the phone makers) keep telling us they get better at it each time.

If anything, it should have been the forefather of a great series, rather than the end of an era. And because morons go "BUH I WAN I FONE" now I have to suffer for their stupidity and arrogance.

 

[mikedt]

... bled itself out faster than a hemophiliac at a vampire convention.

I'll have to remember that one.

 

[svim]

HOW THE HELL IS IT UNREALISTIC?!
The fact that it exists, means it was able to be done. If anything, they (the phone makers) keep telling us they get better at it each time.
.....

It existed eight years ago when LG released that particular model with its particular combination of software features and hardware specs you find so appealing.
But even if LG didn't bail out of the smartphone market, phones continue to change -- Android versions get altered, apps get altered, and hardware configurations are never just duplicated, they always involve changes whether the consumer likes them or not. So no, there isn't going to be a new model that can match up with all the items in your list of expectations. They are indeed not real.

Or there are services that do make custom built smartphones, but be prepared to spend a sizable amount of money and the end result will be quite a bit bulkier than your V20. Automation and huge budgets make mass production possible but hand-crafting an actual working phone from scratch is going to be pricey and take a few months to even create.

 

[codezer0]

It existed eight years ago when LG released that particular model with its particular combination of software features and hardware specs you find so appealing.
But even if LG didn't bail out of the smartphone market, phones continue to change -- Android versions get altered, apps get altered, and hardware configurations are never just duplicated, they always involve changes whether the consumer likes them or not. So no, there isn't going to be a new model that can match up with all the items in your list of expectations. They are indeed not real.

Or there are services that do make custom built smartphones, but be prepared to spend a sizable amount of money and the end result will be quite a bit bulkier than your V20. Automation and huge budgets make mass production possible but hand-crafting an actual working phone from scratch is going to be pricey and take a few months to even create.

No, you don't understand. Or do you want to admit now that you work for a phone maker? Because if so, I've got more than a few choice words for you.

My last sealed phone, the moto x pure. What did it do? even new, it was a real bastard about battery life. I wake up with a full charge and it's already at 10% by the time I'm on my first break during a normal day here. Every week I was having to replace the charging cable because it would break in trying to keep the bastard topped up. And then on the weekends when I was doing a stint as delivery driver, it would just hard freeze when I needed navigation. I effectively had to go back to my international note 3 at the time, because... even though it was 3G only, it at least didn't slow down or just crash on me. Even on my time off, it'd go from 100% to flat in sixty minutes of pokemon go. Considering I already mostly gave up on phone gaming because of the toxic cesspit it's become, not even being able to do that was a buzzkill.

At the time, the only reason I eventually gave up using the Note 3 was because it could no longer do youtube without dropping frames, even on wifi.

Nowadays, because work wants to use 2FA to even get work email or to use any of the online services, and Discord, a smartphone is practically mandatory.

Sealed phones are always reviewed by idiot youtubers who go "duhhhh 3~5 hours of screen on is more than fine". Meanwhile, my v20 with its extended battery, still hits marks of 10~11 hours per charge. Considering my work needs me to be responsible for students, downtime because phone makers want to use shitty batteries is unacceptable.

I need something that can actually survive a normal work day, let alone much else in this godsforsaken heat. And I already know that phones that want to force facebook and tiktok as system apps aren't going to do it. I already know I can't trust a samsung battery because it will explode. I can't trust Apple because I know that as soon as they stop selling a given model, they will gimp it to 1% of its rated performance; and then ban my account if I dare have it repaired. And I've already had the experience of Motorola refusing to honor the warranty on the moto x pure to force me to deal with that mess for the best part of a year.

So, tell us again. Did you come here to contribute something of value? or are you here just spouting crap to tick me off?

 

[svim]

Point taken, you don't want to accept reality so enjoy your search for that perfect phone.

 

[codezer0]

Point taken, you don't want to accept reality so enjoy your search for that perfect phone.

What I don't want, is to be paying money for a worse experience.

Since when did getting my money's worth become illegal?

 

[Dannydet]

Codezer0 I sympathize with you.
Unfortunately the general public can only buy what is available.
Sad, really....

 

[mikedt]

It's a pitty Project Ära got nixed.

https://killedbygoogle.com/

 

[codezer0]

It's a pitty Project Ära got nixed.

https://killedbygoogle.com/

Dude, I would have been on the founder's program if Ara were allowed to achieve its original vision.

There's no lack of felonies I would commit at google for killing it off. But as I value being able to cross state lines without some Puritan ass cop telling me to suck his jurisdiction, I hold off.

 

[codezer0]

I'm seriously depressed that there is still not even news on the horizon for something worth looking forward to.

And now my v20 is not only failing to let me use data while on a call, but having the hardest time holding on to a call, at all.

I can't go on like this.