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[Q] What phone to buy?

Hi,
I'm looking for a new phone. I'm using a Nexus S running Slim Bean 3.1 atm and it is fine so far but it's not really great to be honest.
It's ugly, it's slow and it has a small screen.
So I'm looking for a replacement.
It's got to be rather cheap as I'm not on a contract and gotta pay the full price myself.
I'm basically looking for a top-notch phone for free
I'd like to be safe (ROM support) for at least 2 years like I've been with the Nexus S.
I'd like to get some quad-core glory and enough RAM (would be grateful for 2GB).
AMOLED is an absolute no-go and SD card would be quite nice.
Oh and it better not be a Samsung!
I've been thinking of the HTC One X, Xiaomi MI-2 (even thou it's pretty hard to get it to Switzerland), Sony Xperia S/(U).
Thought about the Nexus 4, too. But had to much negative experience with the Nexus line.
Any help is very appreciated.
Cheers,
Manis
PS: I hope I posted into the right forum. If not, please move.

You should really consider the nexus 4. All phones have issues. All phones. The nexus 4 is not made by Samsung so any Samsung issues you have will not be present. Great, non amoled screen, quad core processor, 2 GB RAM and definitely has ROM support.

Just a con :
Nexus 4 doesn't have card slot
And nor does it gave a removable battery!
Sent from my MT11i using Tapatalk 2

Hey,
thanks for your answer.
Of course every phone has its issues but the Nexus line seems to have more than other phones.
The Nexus S is okay. It was not the best phone at its time but also not the worst.
But the Galaxy Nexus is and was just an awful piece of ****. I used it for half a year and had to sell it. Never seen such crap.
And so I'm a bit cautious with Nexus phones.
I had very high expectations of the Galaxy Nexus and I was completely disappointed only 10 minutes after I got it.
Same with the Nexus 4. It doesn't look bad on the paper and reviews are good (they were also good for the GN), but I fear making the same mistake I've made with the Galaxy Nexus.
And yeah, LG is not one of my favorite brands (just like Samsung).
And the Nexus 4 still does not have an SD card, exchangeable battery, Mini SIM, FM radio.
But instead it has a strange resolution, small memory and no expansion possibilities, a pretty small battery and a fairly high SAR value.
Camera (at least megapixels) doesn't look that good compared to other phones either.
All in all the Nexus phones (N4 included) just look like cheap rip-offs of the brand's flagship device.
And it's pretty difficult to get the Nexus 4 in Switzerland, too.
Because we don't have a Play Store the price is almost doubled.
land.apfel

maybe the padfone 2 from asus is an option for you. quadcore, 2gb ram, 64gb internal... i got mine yesterdays and i'm really happy with it so far. great design and quality, really fast and the padstation is also a really cool feature of course but it has no SD and the battery insnt removable...

The PadFone probably isn't a bad phone but it's incredibly expensive.
Edit: I just read about the Oppo Find 5 not being dead. Seems to be a great phone, doesn't it?
I wonder whether there will be any chance to get it imported :/

PadFone! Activate!

[Q] CYANOGENMOD support..for how long?

when they introduced the OPO, I dont remember where it was said, but it was noted the support for CM would be for two years. I could install android vanilla but Id rather not tinker with the phone. so wondering about that.
I havent purchased the phone as they are back to the stupid invite after having a free to the public open purchase they had two weeks ago. this isnt exactly such an enticing phone as it was.
I think the phone is becoming a dinasour a bit and no longer the great deal it was as phones are already pushing QHD. im considering waiting a bit more or getting some other Chinese mfr phone for about the same price. not oppo or OPO though.
what chinese phones are alternatives to the OPO with specs and price?
hows the meizu MX4 PRO?

This phone is still a beast, it's still a monster. And only you can decide which device to buy, asking such a question will only lead to multiple conflicting opinions and you'll be left in the same position (having to make the decision yourself).
Transmitted via Bacon

Specs wise, this phone is only a generation behind. Everything else is top notch. QHD is more of a marketing gimmick because in general use, nobody is going to really bother about the extra pixel density (it's barely noticeable to the human eye anyway!) But yeah, you have to decide what you want. CM will continue support.
Sent from my OnePlus One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Defining a phone such OPO a dinosaur is quite an exaggeration IMHO...
That said, if you're are worried about official updates there's only a choice and isn't as affordable as One Plus & co : Nexus.
Meizu Mx4 pro looks good though, but I'm a bit worried about FlymeOS. I've seen it running on mx4 and seemed to me a bit too rough on the edges.
Sent from a baconized lollipop.

If you can wait another half an year, you can buy even oneplus 2 or xiaomi mi5. But right now this moment, I feel oneplus one and mi4 are cost worthy phones with awesome dev support. Other phones like meizu dont have that good dev support ever even if its cheap..
Oneplus and mi4 arent latest tech but is no different from expensive phones like nexus 6. You can do the same work in oneplus too and it's half the price with better quality.
Sent from my OPO

Is good to buy Nexus 5 in 2015?

Hello XDA Community
I have seen that google launched the new Nexus 5X but it doesnt like to me, no big changes, i had a Galaxy S6 and i sold it cause it was really laggy and it has 3gb of ram and looks like has only 1gb, so now i have iPhone 6 and i see that Nexus 5 is cheap ($300) and looks like a good phone so :
1. Still is a good phone with no lags?
2. Should i buy it?
3. Battery is good?
4. Big Problems of Nexus 5?
Thank you

1. Never really been a laggy phone. It's a Nexus.
2. Depends on what you're looking for from a phone. What are your priorities e.g screen size / software / camera / weight / durability? I'd recommend at least going to a shop if possible or find a friend with one and play around with it for a few minutes, get a rough 'feel'. Price-wise it's still good value, though I would have thought you could find it cheaper than $300 considering it's 2 years old?
3. Completely depends on how you use the device, and what you define as 'good', and this applies for all devices. You do have to be realistic with the Nexus 5 as its battery is not the largest, so don't expect class leading. For many it's still perfectly capable, for others it's awful. Your experience might lie somewhere in between...
4. Again depends on people's definition of a 'big problem' . In the early days, some people found a rattling power button a 'huge issue'. On my first Nexus 5, my charging socket came loose, but was replaced under warranty. No big issues since. I still like it, running fine for me.

I just upgraded from a Nex4 so to me yes!

its available within 200$ on amazon. I am wondering too as 5X is 5.2 and seems might be big. But also not sure if its good to buy 2year old model but still 200$ is good value.

If you're comparing the price on amazon with the One Plus X then there's only a 10 dollar extra for what I make out to be a more 'premium' phone. If it uses the correct bands for your carrier that Is. So if were to use T-Mobile you'd be fine however the N5 is still a solid phone.

Blackberry DTEK60 as an upgrade

Thoughts on the unveiling of the Blackberry DTEK60. Looks excellent if you ask me: Stockish Android, Front Facing Speakers Small Bezels, finger print scanner on backSnapdragon 820, decent looking battery, and above average camera.
For $500 dollars seems like a great upgrade for Moto X owners looking for a stock android device with front facing speakers.
Thoughts?

Its looks like a amazing device with such potential. But its going to be underestimated and not enough custom roms for it most likely...

thekalby said:
Thoughts on the unveiling of the Blackberry DTEK60. Looks excellent if you ask me: Stockish Android, Front Facing Speakers Small Bezels, finger print scanner on backSnapdragon 820, decent looking battery, and above average camera.
For $500 dollars seems like a great upgrade for Moto X owners looking for a stock android device with front facing speakers.
Thoughts?
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To be honest I don't know if i would go to that. Not knowing the situation with blackberry and they could go down the tubes any time now, updates may be scarce. Worse than Moto or LG hahahaha. Also for that price the Xiaomi Mi* seems like a good phone, but especially the Mix
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Kir6y said:
Its looks like a amazing device with such potential. But its going to be underestimated and not enough custom roms for it most likely...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will most likely receive no third-party ROMs development. The phone will not be rootable as well. Blackberry won't let you do so, at least easily because it would go against their security prowess.
I just bought my Pure for sub-250$ so such a phone for 500 is a no go. I think something along the line of ZTE or the upcoming Xiaomi Mi Mix would be better (even though these phones are very hard to get our hands on).

For the money I would definitely consider an alternative other than blackberry at the moment..lack of modding or rom's would make it a boring 500+ piece of hardware .

marksedge said:
For the money I would definitely consider an alternative other than blackberry at the moment..lack of modding or rom's would make it a boring 500+ piece of hardware .
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Honestly, I used to be a big custom rom guy back in the day, but Android is so great today I have no reason to root or install a custom rom. Just looking for stock android and I'm happy.
I'm curious, what specific customizations are you and others looking for today that warrants rooting and custom roms?

thekalby said:
Honestly, I used to be a big custom rom guy back in the day, but Android is so great today I have no reason to root or install a custom rom. Just looking for stock android and I'm happy.
I'm curious, what specific customizations are you and others looking for today that warrants rooting and custom roms?
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My logic was price wise ,for the same amount of money or less there's alot of options available like Nexus 5x or 6p which by black Friday should be a decent deal and even now and they run stock Andy just as good .if I was to shed out that kind of money it would be for pretty good flagship phone .The blackberrys are intriguing but for the money I would stick with Samsung /HTC /Sony and then Nexus line and as far as modding I'm not too big in it anymore but when the device hit eol and someone makes a stable Cm or paranoid/Aosp rom of current or next Andy build I would jump straight into it .

Sorry, is this post about Blackberry? That Blackberry from Canada? the death company?
500$ ...what???
Enviado desde mi XT1575 mediante Tapatalk

marksedge said:
My logic was price wise ,for the same amount of money or less there's alot of options available like Nexus 5x or 6p which by black Friday should be a decent deal and even now and they run stock Andy just as good .if I was to shed out that kind of money it would be for pretty good flagship phone .The blackberrys are intriguing but for the money I would stick with Samsung /HTC /Sony and then Nexus line and as far as modding I'm not too big in it anymore but when the device hit eol and someone makes a stable Cm or paranoid/Aosp rom of current or next Andy build I would jump straight into it .
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Yeah the Nexus 6p is an excellent phone, it's just too damn big for me. I can barely handle the Moto X. Looking for a 5.5 inch phone.

thekalby said:
Yeah the Nexus 6p is an excellent phone, it's just too damn big for me. I can barely handle the Moto X. Looking for a 5.5 inch phone.
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Yeah the 6p is huge but just feels and looks like a premium device .My brother has it and nephew has 5x running 7.0 just smoothly .I came from a HTC one m9 and had a nexus 5 so I definitely learned my lesson on phones that cost 500+ .If it not a game changer than I wont spend 500+ when three months done the line some other comes with something better .Heck even one plus phones are good for the money.

With phone options out there with comparable specs in the $400 range, just can't justify getting a BB. For a business wanting a secure phone, it would be a good choice but fit most users, I doubt the extra "security" would really matter. For a tinkerer, this phone is a no go.

Honestly, after having the Alcatel Idol 3, that phone looks almost identical to both the Idol 3 and the Idol 4.

[Q] Replacement for Nexus 5 (2017 edition)

Hey all, I've seen a few posts out here similar that were older. My wife has a Nexus 5. It has been alright but she runs into space issues and hasn't been super thrilled with the battery. I have a 5x that I've loved (except it does a weird thing now where the screen won't come on when its in a call, but that's a whole other matter). She's dropped the phone and it's old enough to make me not want to mess with that, so it's time to look for something else.
I was wondering currently in June 2017, what a decent replacement would be for a Nexus 5. I would imagine there are all kinds of options out there that should be decent quality and cheap. Main goals at this point are 32 gig and a good battery. Wouldn't mind SD card capability and replaceable battery but from what I understand, you can't get as many replaceable battery phones anymore.
I'm not 100% opposed to buying one used if there are some that hold up well, but obviously new would be nice. I'm not looking for latest/greatest, just something she will appreciate that will work for awhile. Before we had our Nexus phones, we had the Moto G line, which obviously are kind of bargain basement types and it showed, so I hate to make that mistake again.

Lenovo P2: SD 625, 5100mAh battery and 32/64GB storge with dual sim or single sim + sd card.

hipsterdo0fus said:
Hey all, I've seen a few posts out here similar that were older. My wife has a Nexus 5. It has been alright but she runs into space issues and hasn't been super thrilled with the battery. I have a 5x that I've loved (except it does a weird thing now where the screen won't come on when its in a call, but that's a whole other matter). She's dropped the phone and it's old enough to make me not want to mess with that, so it's time to look for something else.
I was wondering currently in June 2017, what a decent replacement would be for a Nexus 5. I would imagine there are all kinds of options out there that should be decent quality and cheap. Main goals at this point are 32 gig and a good battery. Wouldn't mind SD card capability and replaceable battery but from what I understand, you can't get as many replaceable battery phones anymore.
I'm not 100% opposed to buying one used if there are some that hold up well, but obviously new would be nice. I'm not looking for latest/greatest, just something she will appreciate that will work for awhile. Before we had our Nexus phones, we had the Moto G line, which obviously are kind of bargain basement types and it showed, so I hate to make that mistake again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pragmatically and from my perspective, since I am in the same situation searching for a replacement, the short answer is no. Never. I came over from Apple due to the easier customization ability of Android at the time.
I bought the N5 I have now, second-hand, originally for a family member (but they wanted an Apple), so I got stuck with it. Already rom'd. After getting used to the Android system, I said fine, I'm ditching Apple. Not say their stuff is bad. It just wasn't for me.
A broken screen, a new battery, and constantly rebooting to get a signal and nearly 3 years later and updating through first CM and now Pure Nexus.
I run this thing like a nuclear reactor especially during semester months.
Nothing beats it's simplicity. Nothing. It's one of the best pieces of tech I have ever owned and continues to be my daily driver. I did jump ship to an M9 and while a very impressive device. I yearned for my N5 (I thought it was dead). Got it back to functionality and haven't been back. Needless to say, here's what I am mulling over.
Pixel
Nexus 6p
Htc u11
Samsung S7 (or if I hit the lotto S8)
The Moto's. Since the Pure Nexus community is giving them a lot of love right now, especially the one with the crazy battery life but the 625 processor (if it was Daydream compatible I would've gotten it already).
One plus 3t
The high end xiaomi (I forget the model name)
An HTC 10. Another nice and underrated phone.
I can wax poetic about the N5 for days. Nothing beats it's flexibility, simplicity (aforementioned), and usability. Us N5 users do not need the bells and whistles and yet that's nice but we do more with less. I, too, will lament the day my hammerhead finally goes. In the meantime​, I hope my long-winded account helps you out.
Edit: I forgot about the Axon 7.

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately most of them are quite a bit higher in price than we paid for this Nexus. We had actually used the Moto G line prior to this.
I also have to say that since this is for my wife, I may need to watch out on the screen size being overly gigantor. She may not want something that is too much bigger than the N5. That Lenovo is the best in price so far, but for some reason it doesn't have very good rating on Phone Arena. Wonder why?

I still have my nexus, but upgraded to a Huawei Nova, not the Nova Plus, mainly due to spec improvements and similar screen size. Got 4gb memory and 64gb storage, about the exact same size as the Nexus. I hate the Huawei UI, but CM is available for it now, so not really an issue. It might be a bit pricey though. The Huawei Honor, I think 6x, also has a model that is 5.5in screen.
Not trying to sell Huawei, was just checking the price in the US of the one I have and noticed the Honor was similar. I got the Nova CAZ-AL10 for the specs, price, size, and because it is compatible with the mobile networks here in China. The Nexus was not unfortunately.

I think an Asus Zenfone 3 might not be a bad option. It has great battery life and it's not too expensive
I had a nexus 5x and just came back to my nexus 5 with a custom rom and I am loving it!!!

After the lost of my N5, I got an OP 3T and not even rooted it, sweet and fast on stock.
Edit: Actually rooted it and still sweet and fast, the best; more than 8 hours SOT

What about leeco pro 3. I own one and it is for sure one of the best phones for its price if not the best (USD 199, might be even lower now) the stock ROM isn't much to chant for but put a custom ROM on it and you're golden. They were running a sale on amazon a few weeks back but I'm not sure about its current availability. Snapdragon 821 with 4 to 6gb of ram and 64gb of storage. The camera is its weakest point but it's honestly not that bad. Battery life is also great averaging 6 SOT on nougat and around 8 on stock. 100% recommend.

How about OnePlus 5? I was considering replacing my N5 with it, but I'm not convinced by their previous software support.

gr__or said:
How about OnePlus 5? I was considering replacing my N5 with it, but I'm not convinced by their previous software support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can it be rooted?

maybeme2 said:
Can it be rooted?
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Is there a device that can't be rooted? I think so far all of the OnePlus devices where pretty open and got root quickly. Given that the OP5 has just been announced today, there is no root yet, but I'd be surprised if there isn't a root mid-july.

I don't know. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know. I think some devices are said to be easier to root than others which is what I meant to ask. I own a couple of nexus 5s and an old nexus 7 and they are easy to root. Just don't know enough about the op5.

Sorry I dig up the subject
I think to replace my nexus 5 and I hesitate between the nexus 6p (I find one at 190 euros used) or a nexus 5x (has 100 euros used too) what would be the best choice for you?
Thank you for your answers