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?

Comments

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[Anonymous Coward]

Had no idea I was in for such a treat. The Sony Xperia phone experience is well refined and a joy to use.

slashvertisement in the guise of a question?

Re:damn slashdot

[hcs_$reboot]

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Define what you are looking for exactly.

[wierd_w]

"Good user experience" is very subjective, and very "how I use the phone!" specific.

Not everyone is looking for the same thing in a phone.

For instance, a recent purchase I made from ebay is a modified Motorola Photon Q.

Normally, this phone is incapable of accepting a SIM card, and is locked to Sprint. However, a simple hardware mod removes the baked on SIM module, and attaches a push-push sim card slot instead.

After that, and enabling carrier unlocking, it will accept any sim, even international.

Why bother? It is the most modern phone with a slide-out keyboard. If you use your phone for more than just making calls (you would be surprised how useful being able to jam on an SSH session while on the go can be) then this kind of mod is damn handy, and not being stuck 6 years in the past as far as android is concerned (Did I mention this bad-boy supports LineageOS? :P) and having a fairly decent hardware package along with that swanky keyboard is fan fucking tastic--- If you are into that kind of thing..

If all you want is to poke at facebook, post photos to instagram, or do all that social media shit-- you will want a more mainstream phone.

So, again-- what EXACTLY are you looking for in a phone?

Re:iPhone

[samkass]

Agreed... an unlocked iPhone is probably the original posters best "non-ideologically-pure" option. Smooth, fast UI, good camera, great support, secure, continued OS security and functionality upgrades... and I'm going to call shenanigans on receiving a "DOA" iPhone 7 unless they bought a stolen used one. Apple backs up their products better than almost anyone. But Apple is the one Slashdot loves to hate, so...