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Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Unlocked Smartphone? (slashdot.org)
Slashdot reader datavirtue writes:
I've tried a lot of phones for extended periods of time. Some of these have included the Samsung S4, S5, S8+, Note 4, S7, iPhone 5, and Huawei Honor 8. I have stayed away from Apple... My favorite phone was the Nokia 920 Windows phone for its fluid performance and simplicity and hardware camera button, but that phone is long gone.
When searching for an unlocked phone after leaving my current job I ordered a Huawei Honor 8 which refused to join a network, and a iPhone 7 which was DOA. This led to my reluctant purchase of a Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra when the Microcenter sales team couldn't find the last Google Pixel they had in stock. Had no idea I was in for such a treat. The Sony Xperia phone experience is well refined and a joy to use.
Are there any other unlocked phones that you know of under $500 that run this good?
Share your own opinions and experiences in the comments. What's the best unlocked smartphone?
When searching for an unlocked phone after leaving my current job I ordered a Huawei Honor 8 which refused to join a network, and a iPhone 7 which was DOA. This led to my reluctant purchase of a Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra when the Microcenter sales team couldn't find the last Google Pixel they had in stock. Had no idea I was in for such a treat. The Sony Xperia phone experience is well refined and a joy to use.
Are there any other unlocked phones that you know of under $500 that run this good?
Share your own opinions and experiences in the comments. What's the best unlocked smartphone?
No, no kidding. You can get a used iPhone 7 for below that price. Battery? Get the battery changed this year, it's still cheap from an Apple store.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Any phone that you can get with regular monthly OS updates or you can install LineageOS on
when someone asks me to look for a phone i tell them to
1) use GSMArena's phone finder (or whatever their prefer) to search for a phone
2) check the phone they find against the list of devices that LineageOS supports https://download.lineageos.org...
Currently i'm using a Moto E 2015 LTE phone (surnia), but my next phone won't be a Moto - when they launched this model they promised it would have regular OS updates without having to install alternate OSs but then they fucked us and even discontinued all support for the phone. They sold it with a 2 year warranty but dumped its support 6 months after they launched it.
root@127.0.0.1
One of the things i loathe on modern smart phones is the manufacturer's custom UI and the pre-Insalled garbage on them.
This is, why I usually recommend Android One phones (all current Nokia or Xiaomi Mi), or phones with an experience as close to AOSP as possible, like Motorola or Oneplus
Sony builds nice handsets, with a horrible UI, but they offer their Open Devices program with detailed instructions on how to build AOSP and how to install it
I recently purchased a Nokia 2 from Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075FLG6MV]. It's a generic android phone, unlocked, and with an unlocked bootloader. It cost $100 bucks. I'm not in love with it, but, it supports 2 sim cards at the same time, which is really cool, and I'm sure I'll find some use for eventually. ;)