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[Q] Thoughts on the new Huawei handsets

Just curious as to what everyone thinks of the new (and rumoured) Huawei phones.
The one everyone probably is familiar with (or maybe not) is the Ascend P1 S. Dual-core at 1.5 GHz from TI (same as the one from the Nexus Prime, but different clock speed), 1GB RAM, 4GB internal memory with microSD card slot, supposedly faster than anything on the market so far (incl. the much-lauded S2) and to top it off, 6.68mm thin with a removable battery (obviously I've skipped on a couple of non-essential details like camera and stuff). Rumoured launch price to be about 650 NZD (around 543 USD according to my Windows 7 currency widget)
The other is rumoured, and is called the Ascend D1 Q. It's quad-core powered (Tegra 3?), and not much is known, but it's most likely to be specced to compete with the S3 and Endevour or One V (or whatever HTC's quad-core is going to be called), and seeing the price of the majorityof its handsets, it should be priced slightly lower than most of its competitors.
Feel free to contribute other phones to this thread and any thoughts/comments of these listed above, as I'm looking to replace my ageing X10 with one of these, but I'm always open to suggestions and recommendations

Sounds really nice, but can you really boast to your mates you own a Huawei phone?

paulreynolds said:
Sounds really nice, but can you really boast to your mates you own a Huawei phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, what we're looking at are phones which are going to rival the giants on the specs table even if the company hasn't made a name for itself. Plus, Huawei is the company that sells its phones under carrier names (like the ZTE Blade), but they're gradually expanding to make their name more premium. That was pretty much what Samsung and HTC did years ago and they're doing pretty well these days, so if Huawei meets the same sort of development into the premium sector, it will eventually be a name that you'll be proud to say out loud

I would recommend waiting a year or two before purchasing a Huawei headset. My friend works in Huawei, and they have some very big plans for the mobile market, especially after their initial offerings, the models they have coming up afterwards will have very good specs and pricing will be on point.

ChinaElectronicsInsider said:
I would recommend waiting a year or two before purchasing a Huawei headset. My friend works in Huawei, and they have some very big plans for the mobile market, especially after their initial offerings, the models they have coming up afterwards will have very good specs and pricing will be on point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oooh that's good to hear
Just a question about their thoughts - can you ask your friend if Huawei intends to follow the "iPhone approach" to their handsets? i.e. no removable battery or microSD and a microSIM instead of a standard one, because they're essential features that I really want, but are gradually disappearing on handsets today, especially in the newer models, like the Xperia S I was (note the past tense) interested in.
Thanks for the info btw, and I might just buy a Ascend P1 S or D1 Q (if that's going to be the official name) for the time being, as my X10 is beginning to reflect its age in some higher-demand apps, and the Huawei phones are designed just so unbelievably well from the high-end specs to the fact they went for the menu, home, back button configuration which, in my opinion, is far better than any other configuration.

Some cool android Devices and gaming possibilities [Discussion]

VOTING SORRY IT WAS MISLEADING ( VOTE YES! FOR HELPFUL) ( VOTE NO! FOR USELESS )
First of all Not sure if this is where it should be i thought putting this in off topic was too far from the point and reading through other threads it didn't seem to fit anywhere, Anyway i'll post it here anyway i would like to think most people on this website would appreciate this and see if i have to valid points and some cool things to show you maybe.
I would firstly like to start with some cool Android game consoles being developed by a company called JXD http://www.jxd.hk/ they're other companies doing this (not as good and more expensive) in my opinion but i'll supply information for you do to your own researched at the bottom of this thread.
Anyway This is the newest console released the S7300 just released a day ago it's quite amazing system and extremely cheap ( older models if you have a budget to test these out starting as low as $20 - $40 USD) This latest one is about $150 it's android the specs are listed here
As you can see the device has possibility for some good gaming and a start to some innovative ideas and maybe bigger companies creating devices similar to this.
What is the point?
Well i was a huge user of my Xperia play and Galaxy s3 which i recently sold for a Android iphone 5 rip off mainly because it looked good worked great and was light enough to go jogging without it annoying me, but this gave me a lack of gaming which i love about my android mobile so i decided to look for an android gaming device it took an hour or so but i found hundreds some on ebay some on random websites, after separating the over priced devices and the ones with poor design and bad hardware i found a website or 2 with the device i was going to purchase, and after looking all day i found there is a good start to this android gaming, but how come it hasn't set off bigger or faster yet, i find it a shame.
What to do?
Well many may disagree but this is the only website i use for anything remotely android related, but i was thinking if XDA could add apart of the forum for unpopular devices such as these underground branded ( Non rip off android devices and the emerging gaming android console and devices ) to increase the speed it picks up i believe if we have people talking about it more and helping sharing in customized apps themes etc... it might help set off the community to use it more which may encourage developers to add more support.
I mean Why Not! we have tablets but everything seems to be big brands Sony, Samsung, Apple, Nokia, i thought this was a website for unlocking your device for better use and doing things with it the majority of us think is "Cool".
I might add more later But for now i'll leave some links to a few devices i looked through and website to purchase or compare prices for your curiosity.
Developer jxe website all their devices are listed there but no purchasing options but good to get the names to Google
Another product i thought would be good to mention just for the hell of it if you go jogging like me or like high quality sound with less wires and cheap at the same time would be to purchase a MW600 it's a Bluetooth headset and you just plug your headphone into it and it connects wirelessly to you phone.
http://www.willgoo.com/ - This website seems to sell any modded gaming android devices from all the companys making them at the moment at the cheapest price and a vast collection to choose from.
The latest device out is http://www.willgoo.com/jxd-s7300-du...ons-8gb-p-306.html?referrer=CNWR_771331638507
Reason i liked this among the rest?
for one the touch screen isn't the out dated touch resistant most others use.
First to have an actual dual analog joysticks! and not like the xperia play with the stupid touch slide which i found tedious after a day of use.
2 back buttons and simple nice thin design.
highest resolution offered.
and does say it has 3G i don't know if it's via a sim card or it means through wifi tethering with another device who knows but i'm happy either way
another product i thought would be good to mention just for the hell of it if you go jogging like me or like high quality sound with less wires and cheap at the same time would be to purchase a MW600 it's a Bluetooth headset and you just plug your headphone into it and it connects wirelessly to you phone.

Unmarked android phones.
I'll list a few android phones i think are semi decent and can be cheap and stilll good looking on a budget here is the top 2 websites i trust and can be cheap if you search well
eForChina and Dhgate
These 2 websites have plenty mobile phones people could check out at a cheap price, the one i purchased because i wanted a decent phone that runs android but looks like an iphone 5 is zophone 5
It's a little more steep in price than the others but i managed to get it for £120 off ebay but its light and does what i need it to do.
Done more research the website most china branded (unbranded) mobiles are released to http://android-sale.com/
this website's most famous brand seems to be the goophone for the iphone 5 android clones but they also make some really good unique none clone designs packing quad core 2gb ram models, would be good if you're looking for some unique designed phone you won't see any friends using.

That thing looks slick. Will do more research.

Yeah it would be nice to see games compatible

liamguest said:
Yeah it would be nice to see games compatible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has a dual core mali 400, and a dual core a9 clocked at 1.5, it should run most games other mali 400 devices run. I pre ordered one and now waiting for it. I hope it gets popular enough to have a community and a few custom rom builds. It has quite decent specs for emulation(main purpose its being promoted for) and should run almost every game on the android market. The main issue with JDX devices is battery life (is why I hope for custom roms), but the device claims to come pre rooted, you can see pictures of it supposedly having play store support, so if a community does surge for it it could be as popular as the kindle in terms of a dedicated community interested in custom android builds that support better battery use and remove some of its bloatware. im replacing the free 8g card ill get for pre ordering with a 32(64 if it takes it) card and have a decent 40gig snes/ps1 emulation device with touch controls that will let me do the basic things i do on my phone. Since i plan to tether it from my phone, I'm aiming to keep my phone pocketed the whole time, Headset calls, redirect texts to the JXD, and play/browse on the 7 inch screen so if a call comes in my gaming wont be interrupted something that ruins some games that reboot when a call comes in.

Maybe Padone 2 ? over 7k mAh, four core etc... Nothing but fine gaming devices with possibilities

They should make a special section in the forum for JXD Devices. Especially for developers that wants to help with making the device easier to use.
Sent from my HTC Rezound 4G LTE Smartphone

[Q] Does the model of your phone really matter?

Hi all,
Recently my trusty Galaxy S2 started to bug the crap out of me and I decided it is time to start looking out for a new device.
Some of the devices which have caught my eye: HTC one M8, Z1 xperia compact, Oppo first7, One Plus One (although this one seems to be to be more elusive than an albino unicorn) and Mi 3 (although I am not a big fan of Miui).
-note: even though this post is not to ask any recommendations regarding phones, if you would have any to share, please feel free to do so
As someone who spends time on this forum ever since my HTC Excalibur, breaking my phone and hoping to fix it (the kid who takes apart his alarm clock and doesn't know how to put it back together... that's basically me), the first thing I mostly do when getting a new phone is rooting it and installing a custom rom...
Earlier today, I read an article on The Verge, which made me wonder: do different phones still matter?
If you consider the choice of a phone depending on following elements:
screen size
battery life
Android version (and probably OEM added bulk)
price
specs (ie ram, processor speed etc)
design
"various features" (such as the double lens on the HTC one)
Screensize is mostly similar in phones nowadays (except for the z1 compact), the android version is mostly the latest version thanks to everyone on this forum (in phone list above the Mi3 is a a bit different) and design is subjective... so these three won't really make any difference.
From the article on The Verge, it seems that specs to be of less importance nowadays in modern phones (it's attractive to have a quadcore whatever processor with an unlimited amount of ram, but does anyone really use all this horsepower -if you don't game?).
And the thing which I called "various features"; I haven't seen a single feature that wow-ed me enough to consider this a musthave (again if someone knows about something I don't please let me know
Which leaves us to battery life and price.
These seem to be the only dealbreakers for me at the moment...
Anyone who can find him/herself in this opinion (or absolutely disagrees)?

[GUIDE] Picking Out Your Next Device

I often say to myself, that there must be more makes and models of mobile devices out there than the variety of vehicles these days. If that turns out true, it's no wonder. This industry is the fastest growing market right now. With such a selection, features, brands, and prices, it's hard to choose which device will be the best for you. Hopefully this guide will give you an idea on what to look for in your next device.
FIRST OFF:
GSMArena is your friend. They provide detailed specifications of many devices out there. The ones they don't show, well, a good rule of thumb is that the device is probably not popular enough to warrant your attention, if you want to do some of the things this site is known for (more on that later).
A cool feature of GSMArena is the ability to be able to compare two (or more) devices side-by-side, so once you have a small handful of possibilities, you can compare features easily.
One thing you do need to be careful of, is that GSMArena does not feature every variation a carrier may instill. So the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini you may see at the Bell Aliant store really has 16GB of storage space, but Bell may be the only carrier that uses that variant.
NETWORK:
Those looking for a Wi-Fi only tablet can skip this section...but a must-read for everyone else.
If you have a handful of devices in mind, right off the bat you should rule them in by checking their network status. I cannot tell you which one will work for your network, but your provider will tell you what technology (or technologies) they use (CDMA vs GSM/HSPA/HSPA+/LTE), and at what frequencies. My provider runs HSPA+ and LTE at 1700 and 2100 mHz only (no 2G), so that narrows my options for phones. As an example, last years Moto G LTE would work, but not this year's version due to mismatched frequencies.
Network technology is quite important, especially if you use CDMA. This means you would have no SIM (a tiny device that contains your subscriber information that you get from your provider) card (unless it has world phone capability, and even then, the bands probably won't work for your region) and are stuck with the carrier you buy the phone from. There are some CDMA-based network phone's, like the Motorola Photon Q (released for Sprint), that have their SIM card non-removable (a CDMA/GSM hybrid) where people have modified by soldering in a proper SIM slot. However, the GSM bands used for this device no not work for North America providers.
REFUSALS:
Think of a list of what you don't want. Want to avoid a phablet? Check! No to an Android OS older than Kitkat? Got it! No Samsung devices? You are on fire!
Maybe you can even think of some of the basic internals we take for granted. Usable space is one of them. It's hard to tell, but there is a big disconnect between the ROM size and what you have available to use. Heck, the system data's gotta take up space too! But the big question, what does this leave me? My recent phone, an LG Optimus F3Q, came with a JellyBean ROM, on a 4GB device. I had 1.3GB to play with. Not a lot, in light of the F3Q's predecessor for T-Mobile, the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G had a 8GB ROM (Ice Cream Sandwich) and 5GB to play with. Why the downgrade, I never understood.
Seems as though a couple years ago, 16GB or more was reserved for high-end phones, 8GB for mid-range, and 4GB for budget phones. I am still seeing phones set up this way, such as the LG G3 S (aka Beat). This is a phone that was released with a 8GB ROM (the smaller cousin to the LG G3, much like the relationship between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S4 Mini) and KitKat as an OS, upgradeable to Lollipop. This phone is in preparation of space-hungry Lollipop, and it shows when you look at this device's usable stoage space. For a 8GB ROM, you get around 2.4GB available to you. Since Lollipop's new runtime doubles the space of applications (un-compiled version, and compiled version of everything) compared to previous Android versions, the situation is just as bad with this phone as I have previously complained about with the F3Q. Thus, my refusal is no less than 8GB for Jellybean-age devices, or no less than 16GB for Lollipop or newer.
FEATURES:
Okay, so now you know what you don't want. What about what you want? Time to start a second list. Be reasonable, as in don't add features that won't be in phones for the next several years (like 1TB storage). This could be a quad-core processor (which seems to be the bare minimum for decent devices these days, or maybe 2GB of memory/RAM).
GIMMICKS:
In your feature list, did you add dual-SIM support, QWERTY keyboard, or some other gimmick? Be careful with that - a lot of manufacturers don't handle gimmicks too well, and only put them on lower-specced devices (Samsung Duos line comes to mind). These devices are not meant to push a lot of units, so the prices of them usually are quite higher. Keep in mind that dual-sim is not quite a gimmick, but it strays from the norm enough that you would be confused if it wasn't.
TO MicroSD OR NOT MicroSD?:
This is increasingly becoming a gimmick sadly. I like spending less on a device and then supplementing it with cheap memory. But this cannot be the case for many. Some manufacturers are bringing them back, others, are abolishing them from their devices. It's hard to see what the weather will be like there.
It comes down to personal choice, if it's a worthy feature or something you can live without.
BATTERY:
Battery life holds a big importance. Typically you want to look at the number of mAh the battery holds (as a comparison to like devices), but for say, different screen sizes, a smaller battery will work just as well on a smaller screen. So you need to look at screen-on-time metrics to know how long you can use your device, and how long you can go before a recharge. The challenge is that manufacturers usually advertise battery life by idle time, which is a perfect-world scenario (all sensors and radios turned off, no screen-on-time - basically the device is hibernating more aggressively than you will ever let it).
Another consideration is whether the battery should be removable. I used to be a strong supporter of removable batteries, since I would replace a faulty battery from time to time, but these days, I'm ambivalent to that idea. With external battery packs, you should never have to pop the back cover because the battery went dead. With the fact you can turn off a bootlooped phone after pressing power for many seconds, you never need to pull the battery either. Although, the big reason for a removable battery is for longevity of the phone, as the battery is usually the first to fail (after-market batteries are tested to function well for 300 charges). With a user-replaceable battery, you can easily buy and insert a replacement, be it from the OEM or third party (which often provides a little more juice). Once again, it comes down to personal choice.
DEVELOPMENT:
Okay, by now, you must have some decent candidates. But how do they stack up to this site? If the device does not have a forum yet, there is no guarantee it will ever get one. Even if it has a fourm, there is no guarantee it will get any amount of development. This becomes a judgement call whether your phone will be rootable, and have the ability to install custom ROMs (if that's your thing). If you are not concerned about that kind of support, no loss has been made, but if custom ROMs are your thing, don't buy and then "hope and wait" for something that may never come because you got a device noone cares about.
FINALLY:
Sometimes you cannot have everything you are looking for and not looking for. So this becomes time to prioritize and find the best match of features and refusals. It is not necessarily settling, but if we could all have our "Homer", the cost of phones would be astronomical (and some people place certain price points as refusals).
If you still get stuck, there is the device suggestion thread where others suggest the best device out there for your needs.
Hope this helps someone on their next purchase.

Has the chip shortage and Mediatek annihilated the budget hardware for custom ROM potential? What are my choices of a new budget device?

Hi all,
I'm the type of person that doesn't really renew hardware until it dies out, and don't usually care for too fancy things either, so I keep my budget as low as possible.
I do appreciate vfm choices though, so I do pay for what features I can fit in my budget.
I also highly value a clean, bloatware-free software experience, good support (security updates and updates in general), that's why I've always been at least somewhat in touch with the custom ROM community so that I can keep my phones alive for as much as possible).
That said, I have a Redmi Note 4X (served me well for about 4 years, currently running PixelExperience) that is dying on me, so I've been checking out budget options (ideally around the 200 +-25% euros range).
I'm very sad to see that Xiaomi (which I've always preached to friends as best vfm, despite my despise of MiUI) is adopting the anti-OSS approach of MTK hardware, while at the same time has resentfully moved away from it's Android One phones and initiative (https://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-deletes-twitter-poll-android-one-miui/).
Similarly other budget choices seem to follow way (eg Samsung budget lines).
I was hoping to buy into 5G with my new device since some 5G towers are starting to appear in my country's big cities, but with a quick search I see that if I back out of 5G, I might still have some 4G options that can keep me in the Snapdragon realm and therefore the custom ROM community.
All that said, what would be my best vfm low budget choices with the current market?
Also please feel free and encouraged to comment on my perception of Mediatek gaining market share and it's effect on the community.
I'd find it interesting to see a different perspective on it if anyone has one.

Hi, if you are fixed on the ~200,- Euro price range go for a used Pixel3 in good condition. In a big german portal ("ebay-Kleinanzeigen") you can grab one in the price range of 150-180,-. i buyed one for 110,- and another for 140,-. My other productive phone is a Pixel2 running LOS18.1 currently. I buyed it to play/test but it is a very good device, so i started to love it ( ) and i use it as my daily business driver. You should be able to get one at ~ 100,- Euros.
The other alternative is the Pixel5. Disadvantage: its new and used one are at €~400-500,- currently. I expect that the price will go down when the Pixel6 is out in the market . The P5 is well supported with LOS either.
Edit: Have to tell that a screen size of 6"/ Height of 145-150 Millimeter is the maximum for me. I dont want a tablet, yes most current phones are tablets!

I think used* or an older new* discounted phone are viable options.
5G is overrated and not needed.
I just picked up a second new N10+ 4G running on Q although my savings weren't tremendous, the phone is.
That's what I think about the latest generation of technology and Android OS... not much.
The chip shortage will continue into 2022-3 more than likely. Grab it while you can as prices are still climbing. Tough times and more are likely coming.
*only from known good vendors. Protect yourself fully! A lot of scamming and misleading advertising going on now. Best to talk to the vendor on the phone first.

zimral.xda said:
Hi, if you are fixed on the ~200,- Euro price range go for a used Pixel3 in good condition. In a big german portal ("ebay-Kleinanzeigen") you can grab one in the price range of 150-180,-. i buyed one for 110,- and another for 140,-. My other productive phone is a Pixel2 running LOS18.1 currently. I buyed it to play/test but it is a very good device, so i started to love it ( ) and i use it as my daily business driver. You should be able to get one at ~ 100,- Euros.
The other alternative is the Pixel5. Disadvantage: its new and used one are at €~400-500,- currently. I expect that the price will go down when the Pixel6 is out in the market . The P5 is well supported with LOS either.
Edit: Have to tell that a screen size of 6"/ Height of 145-150 Millimeter is the maximum for me. I dont want a tablet, yes most current phones are tablets!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I am kinda fixed on the price. Could maybe go up to 250 but anything over that would be a waste for my personal needs.
To be honest I'm slightly skeptical about the used market especially at this time since the shortage seems to have promoted scamming
That said a lot of people have suggested used Pixels as being great value so I'll still think of this option, thanks for your insight!
blackhawk said:
I think used* or an older new* discounted phone are viable options.
5G is overrated and not needed.
I just picked up a second new N10+ 4G running on Q although my savings weren't tremendous, the phone is.
That's what I think about the latest generation of technology and Android OS... not much.
The chip shortage will continue into 2022-3 more than likely. Grab it while you can as prices are still climbing. Tough times and more are likely coming.
*only from known good vendors. Protect yourself fully! A lot of scamming and misleading advertising going on now. Best to talk to the vendor on the phone first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As stated just above ^, I'm slightly skeptical of the current used market.
I bet the N10+ is an amazing device, however its way out of my budget (~870) and, honestly, an overkill for my needs.
Would you have any suggestions for an "older new" phone around that budget with a snapdragon
From my searches on the biggest local search engines for tech products since I posted this, the only new options that come up which mostly fill my needs appear to be:
- Moto G 5G Plus (4GB ~220)
- Oppo A72 (~210)
- Oppo A74 (~240)
- Xiaomi Redmi 9T (~170)
- Xiaomi Poco M3 (~170)
- Xiaomi Poco X3 (6GB ~200 / 8GB ~235)
Pretty much everything else has Mediatek.
Would any of those be a good choice with solid support for custom ROMs?
Are there any others out of this list available on EU vendors?

My area of interest in phones is pretty narrow.
Mostly Samsung as it crosses over to my device. The Note 9 seems nice and their price is down now.
I don't root so I'm not the best one to advise you on that.
Maybe get the phone through a carrier deal and distribute the payments over time.
Again it's better to avoid Android 11 and above.
You said your phone is "dying", it may be easier to repair it for now to get more room to maneuver.

@Joakpa
Taiwan's MediaTek has not suffered in any way from the global shortage in the semiconductor market
With regards to Custom ROMs:
Custom ROMs ( mostly ) simply are AOSP based de-bloated Android versions: they aren't compiled to be run on Android device with a specific SoC, they only must match SoC's architecture ( either 32-bit or 64-bit ).
With regards to SoC:
Only when it comes to play high-end games ( video editing, and similar CPU demanding tasks ) the type of SoC is of interest: MediaTek SoCs are a good choice for daily use tasks, whereas Qualcomm's Snapdragon and/or Exynos SoC and also Hisilicon Kirin SoC are the right choice if heavy task must get done, IMO.
In any case it should be at least a 8-cores 64-bit SoC to get Android flawlessly running.

@jwoegerbauer
Taiwan's MediaTek has not suffered in any way from the global shortage in the semiconductor market
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my point exactly... the result of this has been that more and more phones (eg Xiaomi's budget lines) that used to be based on Qualcomm Snapdragon (which HAS suffered from the shortage: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chip-shortage-qualcomm-idUSKBN2B32OO https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/qu...hip-shortage-stretching-into-2022-11627504790) are now turning to MediaTek, therefore hurting the reach of the custom ROM community to the extent of the budget phone market.
With regards to Custom ROMs: / With regards to SoC:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do understand that. And it appears that you probably do understand exactly what I am referring to as well. Your own answers to this thread shows you do. MediaTek is a nightmare for custom development (Edit: mostly due to closed-source if it's not already clear enough), and compatibility of custom ROMs is a requirement as I've explained. Therefore MediaTek phones are out of the question for me.

My favorite budget phone for custom ROM is the Motorola Moto G8 Power. $220 CAD

Joakpa said:
@jwoegerbauer
That's my point exactly... the result of this has been that more and more phones (eg Xiaomi's budget lines) that used to be based on Qualcomm Snapdragon (which HAS suffered from the shortage: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chip-shortage-qualcomm-idUSKBN2B32OO https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/qu...hip-shortage-stretching-into-2022-11627504790) are now turning to MediaTek, therefore hurting the reach of the custom ROM community to the extent of the budget phone market.
I do understand that. And it appears that you probably do understand exactly what I am referring to as well. Your own answers to this thread shows you do. MediaTek is a nightmare for custom development (Edit: mostly due to closed-source if it's not already clear enough), and compatibility of custom ROMs is a requirement as I've explained. Therefore MediaTek phones are out of the question for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't write for just writing an opinion.
But considering the same position I was in years ago as you write yourself today so I have a few pennies to donate.
Spoiler: read if you want
I was skeptical of mediatek phones until I researched more and asked more. I found a good person who explained and showed me how much mediatek phones would evolve over time. Yes! I was a loyal Qualcomm user for the rest of my life if I didn't have this guy to give me new insight.
Not! I haven't stopped using phones with Qualcomm. But I went to personally verify everything that was said precisely because I was urged to really have my opinion.
In the beginning everything was weird and hard to understand. But for those who have knowledge in qualcomm, even if little, it was very easy to deal with and understand the steps to have Custom recovery and Custom ROM.
There were 4 mediatek phones in my hands and what I saw over time was a large community of people helping each other and new knowledge that I didn't have.
So the lesson for custom recovery and many ROMs is to have a developer or person who has a lot of knowledge to create everything smoothly. Mediatek's Source Code has been a big issue in the past. Research the number of mediatek phones that have custom rom partially working and fully working. It's bigger than having exclusivity for a particular qualcomm phone with a fully functional ROM.
Yes! Qualcomm phones are faster and easier with custom ROM. It still needs a developer with the skills and time to have something bug free.
Many qualcomm developers also know how to do something with mediatek phones. So the word about Custom ROM development is: having a good developer.
The bad part: Many qualcomm users make donations either by phone or in $. But it is difficult or rare for mediatek users to make donations either by phone or $.
As for your current question: without good money to buy something new and decent, no doubt choose a good phone with qualcomm. To get a different view, buy 2 used phones one with qualcomm and one with mediatek (choose the best SOC, processor and good RAM, battery and processor) within budget. This will give you a unique experience and your opinion at the time.
We are now with GSI and many A9;A10;A11 phones already have the ability to handle minor bugs without having the help of developers.
Good luck on your journey.

DragonPitbull said:
I wouldn't write for just writing an opinion.
But considering the same position I was in years ago as you write yourself today so I have a few pennies to donate.
Spoiler: read if you want
I was skeptical of mediatek phones until I researched more and asked more. I found a good person who explained and showed me how much mediatek phones would evolve over time. Yes! I was a loyal Qualcomm user for the rest of my life if I didn't have this guy to give me new insight.
Not! I haven't stopped using phones with Qualcomm. But I went to personally verify everything that was said precisely because I was urged to really have my opinion.
In the beginning everything was weird and hard to understand. But for those who have knowledge in qualcomm, even if little, it was very easy to deal with and understand the steps to have Custom recovery and Custom ROM.
There were 4 mediatek phones in my hands and what I saw over time was a large community of people helping each other and new knowledge that I didn't have.
So the lesson for custom recovery and many ROMs is to have a developer or person who has a lot of knowledge to create everything smoothly. Mediatek's Source Code has been a big issue in the past. Research the number of mediatek phones that have custom rom partially working and fully working. It's bigger than having exclusivity for a particular qualcomm phone with a fully functional ROM.
Yes! Qualcomm phones are faster and easier with custom ROM. It still needs a developer with the skills and time to have something bug free.
Many qualcomm developers also know how to do something with mediatek phones. So the word about Custom ROM development is: having a good developer.
The bad part: Many qualcomm users make donations either by phone or in $. But it is difficult or rare for mediatek users to make donations either by phone or $.
As for your current question: without good money to buy something new and decent, no doubt choose a good phone with qualcomm. To get a different view, buy 2 used phones one with qualcomm and one with mediatek (choose the best SOC, processor and good RAM, battery and processor) within budget. This will give you a unique experience and your opinion at the time.
We are now with GSI and many A9;A10;A11 phones already have the ability to handle minor bugs without having the help of developers.
Good luck on your journey.
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Let me start by saying I really appreciate your message!
I always like to see a different perspective on any of my views and having them challenged
You are absolutely right about the effect of a good dev being in control of said custom ROM development for ANY device, however (in my experience) developing for something closed source is more often than not "guesswork" and "hacks/workarounds". A good dev surely can often guess right, but it is still guessing. Write some code that guesses the output of system A and the input of system B, then bind them together so that you establish an interface from A to B. Now, there is a driver update for system A (and/or B), your interface is broken and your hard work is void...
You might be right about donations playing a part in it (I have no knowledge around that but I could see it being true), but I can also see developers not wanting to put time and effort into developing something that could crumble down at any given time (and it being out of their control). Of-course you could ignore driver/firmware updates or whatever other updates, but then what's really the point of developing past official Vendor Support periods anyway?
To get a different view, buy 2 used phones one with qualcomm and one with mediatek (choose the best SOC, processor and good RAM, battery and processor) within budget. This will give you a unique experience and your opinion at the time.
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My current finances do not encourage playing around with multiple phones at a time (I could, but it would not be ideal ) and I'm only looking to buy a new one mostly out of necessity, however I will keep your suggestion in mind for once I get the chance to have a bit more wiggle room in my budget. That said, do you have some specific MTK device in mind that you've seen having reasonable to solid support of ROMs?
Thanks again for taking the time to contribute to the conversation!

It tooks me a total of >~ 5 years to find "my" phone. I tried alot of them all buyed used or old ones from my wife & daughters. Huawei 8860, Mate20, P10, Xiaomi Redmi3, iphone5, Samsung A8, Samsung XCoverPro, GalaxyS5mini, GalaxyGIO, GalaxyS5 just some to name. At the end of the day i will stay with the famous GalaxyS5 as long as they run LOS and for real Production/Daily driver the Pixel2 and the Pixel3. I do not pay more than 120-150 € per phone. Point. I am able to select and buy used phones without getting ripped off. My next phone in ~ 2 years or so will be a used Pixel5. I dont want a phone without IP68. I am able to open a phone case and replace batterys, i have the knowledge and all necessary tools. And i like smaller phones.
I made a list of features i want: IP68, max height of 145mm, replaceable battery, headphone jack, good LOS support, good camera at night shots.
It is nearly impossible to get all of these so i removed the replaceable battery and the headphone jack.
And i end up buying..... PIXELS. Except the Pixel4 due to the bad battery and the Pixel4a due to the missing IP67/68.

mediatek and xiaomi are best supported rom in community if you want custom rom.