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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...
Android P, SD 835.
The company's future is a bit unknown at this point, but I've been curious to take a look at the Essential Phone -- a pure android experience, unlocked, runs on most networks, and while not the highest of specs it seems reasonably good.
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?
SD 820, many 8.1 oreo roms to choose from.
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
Does the question mean unlocked firmware/bootloader so that one can easily flash LineageOS (possibly rebuilt)or does it just mean a locked proprietary firmware where SIM card of any operator can be used?
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. ;)
If it doesn't run Lineage, then it's going to have a horribly out of date and branded Android. Read the supported devices wiki.
Unlocked to a carrier. Obviously.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Just works.
Fran
:):):)
1st 1st Poster of the new Millennium!
I forgot that this site eats less-than symbols. The above should've read "Apple is also pretty much your only choice if you want a less-than 5" display without compromising horribly on the camera and CPU. Even Sony's latest so-called compact phone has fallen victim to the "bigger is better" design mentality."
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
I've found that there's no appreciable difference between the Moto G5/G6 than the Pixel, with the sole exeption being the screen and camera. The screen, doesn't matter a whole lot, the OLED is a nice bump up, but the camera, you cannot fix or overlook a camera if your phone is your main camera.
I freaking hate paying more than I have to for a phone, I would just carry an old Moto G4 to do facebook and whatsapp, but the camera on it is garbage. The camera on the Pixel however is top notch, every photo comes out absolutely perfect every time. It's magic. If your memories don't matter to you then yeah, get a cheap phone, but if they do, don't skimp the extra $200 for a good camera on your phone.
moox. for a new generation.
I thought that wasn't a thing any more. Don't tell me people still fall for that subsidized phone scam.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
If you're looking for value then G6+ is hard to beat. Looks and feels like a flagship but costs like a burner (nearly...)
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
"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?
It seems likely that the good engineers have left the company and the reputation was for a corporation that doesn't exist anymore. Nokia at this point is a meaningless brand name.
A phone, I have with me all the time. A nice camera I only carry when I know I'm deliberately going to take photos of an outing or event, etc. Unfortunately, some of the best photo opportunities pop up unexpectedly. No I'm not going to carry a huge DSLR everywhere I go just in case. As such, having a really quite good camera on my mobile is extremely beneficial!
If you buy your phone cash, without going through your carrier, it should be unlocked.
There are some caveats. For example some Samsung phones require you to activate your phone with a SIM card from the country you bought it from, and only then, it is usable worldwide. Also you need to check that the frequencies your phone supports match the one your country use.
Now if you are talking about bootloader unlock, for installing custom ROMs, I suggest you take a look at xda-developers.com. A lot of flagship phones are, as long as you bought the off carrier, but you still need to check. You may also lose some functionality, like Android Pay or Samsung Knox, and the warranty policies differ.
I felt the same way.
I had a OnePlus one, then reluctantly upgraded to the 5.
I'm glad I did. The new features are useful and it's the last iteration before they moved the fingerprint to the back in favor of a notch and full screen...
I will not be getting another OnePlus until they remove the notch and put the fingerprint back on the front of the phone...
I hate these stupid notches and back panel fingerprint readers, so dumb.
My Samsung S6 was $500 and it works great. As always: Fuck Apple
I'm playing with the idea of buying a new phone and found this when I was checking phones out online about a week ago.
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/b...
Tom's has been around forever and as far as I know is still pretty reputable in regards to its recommendations.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
Used V30's in great condition can be had for well under 500. Headphone jack, works with sd card, fits in a proper goddamn case. The main flaw is that the screen is absolutely disgraceful when dim and showing contiguous colors. It's blotchy and has so many gridlines it looks like a spreadsheet. Literally the worst oled screen I've ever seen. Other major flaw is that security updates will likely be abandoned sooner rather than later. Also they're apparently too stupid to know people might want a flashlight widget.
"...the DSLR is so much better there is just no comparison"
"Most of what makes a good photo isn't the camera, it's the photographer."
I used to agree with the first statement, and went through multiple DSLRs over the years, but frankly, the best phone cameras today (i.e. Pixel 2XL, iPhone X, Galaxy S9+) can take some pretty AMAZING photos. Seriously. In direct comparisons any of those three can just about beat my previous DSLR under a variety of conditions (not just in bright light), and even my latest DSLR is no longer "so much better that there's just no comparison." The phone can actually hold its own pretty well, from an output perspective.
On PC or tablet screen sized images I can't reliably tell which is which from studying the photos, nor say for sure which image is actually "better."
Of course for flexibility, glass, and pixel-peeping performance a DSLR is still ahead, but we're rapidly approaching a point where pixel-peeping is becoming essentially irrelevant, and convenience outweighs flexibility for the VAST majority of amateur photographers. You can even shoot RAW with Lightroom CC on mobile, or a variety of other apps.
Actually, I had a seventh phone that was supposed to be a smartphone, but I beg to differ. Some kind of Microsoft OS, though I count myself fortunate to have forgotten the details now. About 10 or 15 years ago?
My own experiences with Huawei have been quite good, and my primary phone right now is a rather low-end and unlocked Huawei. Perhaps my expectations are too low, but the p10 lite seems to be doing everything I want and doing them well enough. Slightly complicated in that it's a limited data plan and I use a lot of WiFI, but still quite serviceable. Too soon to rate it #1?
Second best would be an older Huawei, also a low-end model, but locked. Some of my satisfaction may have been due to the carrier, but they got bought out because of their quality service.
Almost forgot the unlocked FreeTel, but I don't think that's an option now. Company was bought out by Rakuten. Medium low specs, but still quite good and currently my secondary phone, mostly for VoIP and PDA stuff. Only WiFi data now. Main annoyance is that it sometimes wants a reboot when the network has changed.
Close fourth was a Samsung Galaxy. Much higher specs and I used a few of the fancier capabilities, though not that much when I think back on it now. Locked and the real reason I rate it down here is probably the low quality of the services from that carrier. I endured them for 4 years that time around... Fool me twice, shame on me, and it was probably my third or fourth shame going back decades. It's just so hard to avoid the biggest carrier?
I'd put the presumably locked HTC as fifth and a big step down, but maybe some of that was due to my lack of experience? It was my first actual smartphone and I'm pert' shure I didn't know what I was doing.
Dead last goes to an unlocked ASUS which was a painful experience in many ways from the very beginning. It's still sitting unopened in the box they shipped it back in after the second round of repairs.
Anecdotal evidence, but I'm usually willing to share notes...
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Why do you need a smart phone?
I use my smart phone to:
- Call people in the address book on the device
- Avoid logging into social media or use it for browsing because tracking/privacy
- Maps are neat
- Alarm Clock
4/4 of these things I don't need a smart phone for. Why do you need a smartphone?
I've had mine now for 6 months and it just works very well, it's dual sim, designed for world market.
The only bad thing I have to say about it is that it won't do wifi calling and VoLTE in the UK due to not having UK firmware available.
It's one of the few phones that bluetooth just works. Samsungs just fall over with bluetooth.
People seem to complain about the screen but I have had no problems with mine, the dual camera works great for wide angle shots. It has inductive charging and USB-C fast charge form 10% to full in about 1hour 30.
Audio is very good and it seems to find a usable signal where other phones don't.
Ebay has them from $300 to $600.
>Delivery in Continental Europe and UK only
Which sucks, I would already have one if it was available in the US.
Another weak point is the charging time. Unless they fixed that in the .1 update. It's the reason I passed on a Nokia this time around.
I ended up going from a Nokia 920 Windows phone to an Apple iPhone 8. It honestly feels like a downgrade. The iPhone display isn't as good to read on, the battery-life is about the same - but the Nokia is over 5 years old and has the battery draining "clock on screen" feature turned on. The camera is perhaps better, but not enough for me to spot the difference, while the UI is clunky. Perhaps iOS 12 will fix all that, but I have my doubts. Only reason I'm not keeping that 920 now is because websites no longer supports it, and the whole no app support thing.
What do you consider qualities of the best phone? What do you need it to be able to do? Hardware-wise phones have become pretty similar. It's just the manufactures who would like us to believe differently so they can use numbers to confuse our evaluation/purchasing process.
It also depends on where you live. In the EU, most countries offer an easy way to remove SIM lock so any phone can become unlocked. You may still end up being bound in a contract but hey, technically your phone will be unlocked.
You may also consider another type of unlocking - rooting. Although most phones these days can be easily rooted, there are some which still resist the process or which hackers consider not worth their time or attention.
For me - a person who doesn't use social media or Google software and who writes his own apps - any phone with a 6" screen and decent battery life will do.
>"What's the best unlocked smartphone?"
You will have to define what you mean by "best"? Cheapest? Fastest? Most features? Best built? Let's try for cheapest with the maximum features...
My last phone was a $350 Nexus 5. I used it for something like 4 YEARS (replacing the battery once). Didn't regret it a bit. But it is kinda irrelevant now, so...
Now I have a Lenovo/Motorola Moto G5 Plus that I bought in November for $170 at Costco and does almost everything I could want. It is much faster than the Nexus 5, not overly large, yet not stupid thin, has decent battery life, nice screen, is totally unlocked, works on all carriers, has no crapware, the cameras work great (but doesn't try to compete with my professional Sony), has decent sound and functionality, has a real headset jack I can plug into anything, a freaky fast fingerprint sensor on the FRONT where it is easily accessed, and has SD card support so I can have all my music and photos with me. Popped in the T-Mobile SIM card, my SD, added a magnetic USB charger and a gel case, logged in and pulled in the rest of my stuff, loaded Nova Launcher and I was in business! I wish it had an easily serviceable battery and better updates (like to the next version of Android, which was implied but still not delivered), but for $170, I consider it a MAJOR win even if it lasts me only 2 years (it has already been 9 months).
I told all my friends and family about it, and before they sold out a few months later, mot of them grabbed one and like it a lot. Why anyone would want to buy a $1000 phone, especially every couple of years, is totally beyond my comprehension, unless it is just some stupid fashion statement and they have way more dollars than sense.
I ordered Xiaomi mi 8 from a chinese website for 361$. specs: SD845, 64GB/6GB RAM, dxomark 99, 6.2 inches SAMOLED with HDR10.
...disabled features. I have an unlocked S7, and for some reason the unlocked model does not have "WiFi Calling".
The phone co. branded versions of the S7 do, and I'm sure the unlocked phone has the capability but it is not enabled or accessible for some reason.
I have a OnePlus 5 and I'm very happy with it. Great value for money ...
I miss being able to hold a phone in one hand and type. I have nexus 4 that I keep updated still. It's not my daily diver because it's underpowered for my current work but it's great when I just need a map and something to stream audio. If I could design a dram phone it'd be a similar size, modern processor, 16G+ storage (I don't keep much) and 3G+ RAM with a headphone jack. That's it. I don't care about screens or cameras (I remove them and leave them with my collection of tinfoil hats, where possible) or of the other frills. Unfortunately for me, I'm not in a target market. Everyone seems to want to give their phone biometric data and keep Bluetooth and NFC running and take selfies so they can face swap with tennis shoes and.... GET OFF MY LAWN!
I will not claim it "the best" but I have an Honor 8 and had no problems with it being able to join a network.
When it comes time to replace it, from what I know now, I'll be giving OnePlus serious consideration at the very least.
I don't subscribe to RMS's GNUtopian vision.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Over the last several years, I've opted for a refurbished Samsung S4, then S5, and put LineageOS on them. The results on these have been outstanding, and I paid less than $150 in either case.
Most phones can be purchased unlocked. iPhone is still the best phone in terms of privacy, performance, features, quality and longevity of updates.
For my job, the new parent company demanded a bunch of crap that I was not willing to put up with. And since I travel a lot for work anyways, I picked up a second phone just for work.
I read the reviews over at the Wirecutter and picked up a Moto G6 unlocked from a local BestBuy. While here in the states I run SIM card free, but when I travel I pop in a SIM card and go.
As far as usability goes, it's okay. I think Google does need to really polish their stuff to Apple's level, but that's my opinion.
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
Smartphones are more and more a trap and a cancer. Don't get one at all, get cheap basic phone that's good at being a phone and never mind the rest of it. You'll save money on the phone, you'll save money on the wireless plan, and you'll maybe save your life by not being distracted by the thing when you're driving or even walking for that matter.
So your iphone 7 was DOA and that's your reason for not using an iphone7? Was it used or something, as that's almost unheard of and of all the phones out there the iphone is the easiest to get service on (especially if you live near a major city).
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
My favorite phone was the HTC OneMAX.
Its only drawback was that it required a daily charging. Miss that and you were screwed.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Both are about $125, are fast enough for day to day use, have removable battery and upgradable storage.
I don't mind paying more than $500 for a good phone, but in recent years I've been appalled at the awful quality of high-end smartphones. I had to return an HTC One because it had a broken mic that apparently couldn't be fixed in the three times they claimed to have fixed it. My Samsung Galaxy's orientation is broken, regularly does completely random stuff, and it's full of bloatware I can't remove. Connectivity is poor. I really love Fairphone, but my Fairphone 2 does automatic reboots way too often (and no high-end smartphone has been immune to this).
Maybe the best smartphone I've ever owned was the Motorola Milestone I bought after my iPhone 3G was stolen. It had a period where it occasionally called random people, didn't receive software updates and had an encrypted bootloader that prevented me from updating it, but at least it felt like I had the best device available at the time. The iPhone I had before that had poor connectivity and is of course limited by Apple.
I don't understand why €600 can't get me a reliable, crap-free smartphone.
Blackberry. I picked one up last year (the Priv model) for around $250. It runs pure Android without any carrier crap added to it. As a bonus, it is a very secure phone. It comes bundled with several BB apps and my favorite is BB Hub. It's sort of like a communications unified inbox. You can uninstall the BB apps if you don't want to use them. The best part is that you get access to the entire Google Play Store. It will run any Android app.
For fans of it, there is a physical keyboard. Honestly I never really type with it but it does come with a lot of clever shortcuts. The screen is good (1920 resolution) and the camera is pretty good. Not as good as the iPhone camera but at 1/4 the price I can live with it. Battery isn't stellar but I can get through most of the day without looking for a recharge.
These days the only place you can buy a BB is either Best Buy or Amazon. For the money, it's a good phone.
If you all day battery life with a fairly speedy phone, it's the Moto z3. It comes with a battery mod that snaps onto the back that brings battery capacity from the average 3,000mah to 5,000 mah, while still being thin enough to hold easily, use 1 handed, and slip in and out of your pocket easily. (Assuming your hands are big enough for other large phones as well).
If you mean unlocked BOOTLOADER, as in, I can install custom ROMs, than Sony is the one to beat. Just be careful of the specific model you select.
If by uunlocked you mean "I can stick a SIMcard from any opearator and the thing will work", then a Nokia 6 or higher is the best Android for that job.
Onorable mention for the MotoZ with Shatershield + MotoMods.
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
I'm pretty enthusiastic about OnePlus. It's close to AOSP, with the changes being genuine enhancements (added interfaces and options to manage battery usage and data usage). The OTA update procedure supports rooted phones (though you'll need to root again afterwards). Some button customizations are possible without root. The "cheap" plastic screen protector that comes with the OnePlus 5 is better than any I've seen: is seems to be oleophobic and optically fairly clear, with much less friction than expected.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
I have the oneplus 5T - and its very good value. Fast, good screen, good battery life, dual sim, metal back.
For $159 you can get a Nokia 3.1 running pure Android (Oreo) with zero bloatware. It's part of the "Android One" program. The only real downside is that Nokia removed the NFC chip from the US model and it doesn't have any biometric authentication. At that price don't expect flagship performance either.
For $100 more you can get the Nokia 6.1 which includes NFC and a fingerprint reader.
Both phones have a beautiful design accented with metal. They are sleek and can take great daylight pictures. Their nighttime picture taking ability is poor though.
-==- Buy a Mac and leave me alone!
The current crop of android phones from Motorolla are great and very good value for money. Now that Samsung's are POS due to their Andoid UI usability 'enhancements' I prefer Moto's by a mile.