A different kind of cellphone thread- WWGRMD- flagship edition

TL:DR Because this E36 M3 is gonna be long-

I need a new phone. I'm comparing the pxel3 XL, the OneplusPro7, and the Note10+ WWGRMD?

Alright kids, strap in for a different kind of cell phone thread. Normally around here, we talk about value, older generation, and inexpensive phones. That's not happening today. I use my phone for WAY too much. I take a ton of pictures, both work related and otherwise. I use it on a regular basis to help customers troubleshoot problems I don't know off the top of my head, figure out what the hell they want when they ask me for a thing (I had never heard the terms molly bolt or sex bolt before I did hardware. I know what they both are mechanically, but local isms elude me) I watch a ton of videos with it, bmx, cooking, etc. Basically, as much as I hate cell phones, I use the damn thing for everything, and as such, I don't really compromise on features. I'm willing to pay for it, and that's something I've accepted. Given that I can make a phone last 2-3 years without an issue, I don't see it as a problem. 

Now for the fun part. My gs8+ has recently suffered a cracked screen due to me being a fatass. (Seriously. It was in my pocket when I went to ride the snow white coaster at Magic Kingdom two nights ago, and I got squashed into the side of the car some, and so did my phone. BOO). It still works fine... I guess, but It's on the way out. The battery doesn't hold a charge that well, and with my constant use, that's sort of important. I generally get 8-10 hours of use before I need to plug it in. I had been originally planning to gut it out until the eventual announcement of the pixel 4- and I'm not sure I want to wait that long, nor do I believe the screen has a ton left in it. An insurance replacement will cost me 100$, and that was on a phone I planned on replacing anyhow. Most down payments for me via tmo are right in that territory- so either I pay that much for a two generation old phone (That quite honestly I never liked a ton- but I got tricked with shiny objects and mistakenly traded my note5, which I got after my nexus5 suffered a disaster at the hands of a shot glass in the first aid kit at the brewery). or I can suck it up and make the jump a month early. 

Now for the contenders. 

GNote10+- the hot rods hot rod. Fastest chip, most ram, most memory, killer screen, excellent camera. Also has pretty good water resistance, a UI I know well, and it comes in a super neat lenticular color. (If you don't know already, you should. I like loud colors. I would get the rainbow prism/aura glow. ) Also has wireless charging.

Negatives include NO HEADPHONE JACK (seriously, berkeley all of you for not letting me use my corded phones. I don't want wireless pods, and I really don't want to carry a dongle. Though with my recent trend towards wanting to ride bike more, wireless phones might not be that bad. ) Battery life isn't being reported as excellent- whch we already know I have a problem with. It is also by far the most expensive at 1100$- which is nearly 3 times as much as I paid for my dd/beater corolla. 

Pixel3 XL- best camera on the market. Wireless charging.Water resistance. Not 1100. I'm familiar with a no frills Android experience and I really like it. I'm not a fan of assistants- I don't need cortana, alexa, siri, bixby, or anyone listening to me. Google assistant, at least on the surface is the least obtrustive to me. No bloatware- I don't have samsung this and samsung that clogging up the works.

Negatives include- Smallest screen- 6.3inches vs 6.8. SIZE MATTERS. Slowest chip, and least amount of storage. Given what I've been working towards, I'll peg this thing out quick. Also- the oldest. I can't easily get one at Tmo- and would require a bit more doing to put my hands on one. Also, the oldest, and historically speaking, due to be replaced by the pixel 4 in a month. Kind of expensive for the spec sheet, though still less than the note10+. NO HEADPHONE JACK. 

Oneplus7 pro- NO IN SCREEN FRONT FACING CAMERA. This is awesome for me. It has a pop up one, and as far as I'm concerned, could stay taped the berkeley shut. I don't selfie. I'm generally horrified at my own appearance in fact. I am a loathsome human being to look at most days. I'm surprised swmbo continues to do swmbo with me. What i'm saying is- I don't need or want a front facing camera, and this is the least obtrustive option. Pretty killer spec sheet for the price. Second largest screen of the group, at nearly 6.7in. Same snapdragon 855 as the 10+ and available 12gb ram as note10+. very similar resolution specs as well. On paper, it's the cheaper note10+.

Negatives- Charging. It's got something warp charge. It also ONLY has something called warp charge. I have wireless chargers and usb-c chargers all over the place for plugging myself and SWMBO in- and it seems like I'd only be able to use them for minimal charge capacity on the oneplus, and in the case of the wireless, not at all. No water resistance. I'm frequently outdoors and my phone can get wet. I'm not actively standing in a shower or anything stupid- but this is florida. It rains here. I get wet. my phone is in my pocket. My pocket gets wet. You get the idea. Unfamiliarity. Oneplus seems to run a very similar if not identical stripped down version of android, but I have no idea for sure. Also has the least powerful camera, though I'm not 100% sure that matters at all. NO HEADPHONE JACK. FOR berkeleyS SAKE LET ME HAVE A HEADPHONE JACK. 

Other things to consider- the note10+ appears to have the only expandable storage, as well as having the most available out of the box. I sort of miss my old S-pen- it was great for scratching doodles out on my phone and doing light photo editing. The oneplus7 is by far the cheapest of the group, and the internet seems to rate the thing the most favorably, though I am not sure I can get one in a tmo store... and I don't feel like waiting for the mail. I can recon that later today, or in the next 20 minutes, I can throw a rock and hit like 4 tmobile stores. 

Also- iPhone. pass. Hard pass. I'll be honest, on paper, it's probably the right idea. It's also as expensive as the samsung, it's an entirely new UI that I just don't feel like learning, and I'm just not a fan of apple. Apple to me is one of those things that for the people that like apple, it just works. It's the most reliable, most consistent, and the easiest to integrate- as long as you have everything apple. I don't do itunes, I don't have iAnything,  and well, yeah. No apple. 

EDIT- I forgot to add- I would prefer no LG manufactured handsets. I don't really have a problem with an LG as a whole, but they use a different glass setup than the rest, and if you crack a screen on those, the phone is bricked. None of the other phones suffer that problem. I can't really afford to be disabled. 

I like my OnePlus 6T pretty darned well. I moved to it a few months ago from a Nexus 5x. It's not a review of the 7 Pro, but it's... something?

Galaxy S10+. I love mine so far. Basically all the advantages of the Note 10+, but it also has a headphone jack.

The Pixel is likely the one that gets the Android updates quickest, which is generally something I consider a good idea.

One other phone to consider (unfortunately from reading only, haven't managed to get my hands on one so far) is the Sony Xperia 1. Apparently Sony finally has come out with a phone that does their cameras justice - after all, they make a lot of the cameras used in other phones. Downsides are no 3.5mm jack as usual these days, price and the slightly weird form factor (very tall phone).

Pixel. But since when don't they have expandable storage?

Samsung as a whole can go die in a fire, haven't looked back since my note 3 and don't see that changing anytime soon, I see them falling into apple where it's great if you're to stubborn to learn anything new and want to pay more for less. As far as I'm concerned their last good device was the Note 2. 

That pop-up camera on the one plus 7 just seems like a great way to break things even if you don't use it as intended. 

Personally, I'm holding out for the pixel 4, maybe. If I had to go buy a phone today though, it would be a pixel 3XL. I wouldn't even be happy about it, but looking over all the available options even outside of my Google fi sphere, all the phones on offer today are berkeleying garbage. 

Any berkeleying company that doesn't have swappable batteries and expandable storage in this day and age should just shut the berkeley down. berkeley your cloud storage solution and wireless charging, I want my data on memory cards, and I want to make use of the USB port for accessories without having to buy all new E36 M3 and worrying about your illusions of security and reliability on your cloud servers, things which no tech company has showed me they can do well yet. 

My LG G5 is still running strong though, even being in my kids care the last few years. Only phone of recent history (past 5 years so) that I actually liked and enjoyed using. 

All that said, I'm probably keeping my moto X4 until it's totally dead, because it seems like all manufacturers are ditching the things I want in phones. I might even say berkeley it and go back to a flip phone since mobile games have gone to E36 M3 and all I do is text. Although the motto g7 seems pretty comparable with a little digging.

Jeebus I'm glad I don't have to think about all of this.  iPhone.  I drank the kool-aid and while I'm sure there is tastier E36 M3 out there I don't need it or need to deal with deciding which flavor of Jamba Juice I want, my kool-aid is just fine.

I've been rocking a 6S+ for something like 4 years now and it still works awesome.

(edit; and it has a earphone jack)

Are you forgoing the Samsung Fold and what about the soon to release Pixel 4?  

The new Christmas '19 stuff will traditionally start to roll out in late Oct '19, if you really want to be an early adopter.  

I enjoy my Pixel 2. I hated, HATED, my Samsung Galaxy 6+S or whatever. I hate all the "custom interfaces" that go on top of the standard Android. 

Also use Google Fi because paying $100+ per month for a cellphone plan is just crazy town to me. I bought my phone outright and my cell phone bill is typically $30/month. 

look at a Moto G7 power , 6 inch screen , big 5000 mah battery and about $200, 

has headphone jack, does not have wireless charging......

Ransom said:

I like my OnePlus 6T pretty darned well. I moved to it a few months ago from a Nexus 5x. It's not a review of the 7 Pro, but it's... something?

Same here. I've been very happy with my 6T.

One note: When I was researching devices before settling on the 6T a while back, I read in a few places online that while the OnePlus devices don't have official water resistance ratings, they are resistant but the company never paid for the official testing/certification. That might be a big load of E36 M3. Iono.

John Welsh said:

Are you forgoing the Samsung Fold and what about the soon to release Pixel 4?  

The new Christmas '19 stuff will traditionally start to roll out in late Oct '19, if you really want to be an early adopter.  

The fold is a little TOO nuts even for me- and I was originally holding out for the pixel 4 after Samsung 86'd the phone Jack, but they all seem to be doing it- and I'm not sure I want glass splinters in my hand for a month and change. Left handed plus crack center on the left edge=sad. 

I have a OnePlus 6 and it's been the greatest phone I've ever had. No experience with the others listed. 

In reply to z31maniac :

Google Fi FTW.

Had Nexus 5 - Loved it
Had Nexus 6P - Loved front-face speakers, hated the phone
Got free Pixel X thanks to Google for 6P - Meh. It's free. It works. Not a fan of all the tracking/monitoring Google does...

I don't foresee me getting a new phone any time soon, but if I had to get one, I'd take a look at the OnePlus lineup.

After OnePlus, I'd stick with a Pixel. Never messed with a Samsung phone, though. Hear great things about them. I'd probably mess with one for a bit before throwing down hundreds of dollars at one, though.

The reason they are dropping the 3.5mm jack has to do with water intrusion. No hole...no water. 

Microsoft store of all places is running a trade in promo until the 22nd for the Note 10. Might be worth checking out with your cracked but working phone. 

I have a pixel 3. It's a good phone that does what I want it to. It's 64gb version which is half full, but I don't have a ton of pictures on my phone and don't have any games.

While it's great and all that my phone gets all the updates right away (had Android 10 since last week) and the experience is uncluttered I do miss my HTC 10 (same guts different screen than the original Pixel). HTC has a 3.5mm jack, gorilla glass 3, and expandable storage. Not a single scratch on it. Gorilla glass 5 is pretty awful for a careful user imo. After 2 weeks I had numerous light little scratches and 3 tiny annoying cracks in the edge. I have a case on my phone and never had a need for a screen protector, but if I did it over again I would use a screen protector. 

And the display. Seems qc on them varies widely. At work/during the day at home on weekends the brightness is set to 70% or so. In the car or outside on a sunny day I have to set it to 100% and it's right on the edge of acceptable. I've never had this issue with older phones, but they were all LCD.

When I needed a new phone they had a deal running on the pixel 3. I went for it for a few reasons. Price, camera, and use it on any network. Full price Pixel 3 vs full price Samsung S9 I think I would have gone Samsung, but I never compared them in person so I can't say for certain.

John Welsh said:

The reason they are dropping the 3.5mm jack has to do with water intrusion. No hole...no water. 

You present sound logic. 

John Welsh said:

The reason they are dropping the 3.5mm jack has to do with water intrusion. No hole...no water. 

I've lost one phone to water damage in 18 years. I'd rather have a headphone jack, USB port, and memory card. 

Shock and fall protection is far more important to me, and making the phones entirely out of glass, then giving them weird bulges for the camera bezel makes that worse instead of better.

In reply to Shadeux :

I agree. I really don't understand why anyone would use anything else. Google will even let you pay out of the phone over 2 years now like everyone else does. 

I use the "guest" WiFi at work, WiFi at home, and most restaurants/bars/etc all have free WiFi now. 

z31maniac said:

In reply to Shadeux :

I agree. I really don't understand why anyone would use anything else. Google will even let you pay out of the phone over 2 years now like everyone else does. 

I use the "guest" WiFi at work, WiFi at home, and most restaurants/bars/etc all have free WiFi now. 

In my case, wifi at home is fine. Guest wifi at work is not a thing that exists where I work, and most of the networks here are abysmal and overrun with tourists to be able to do anything useful. I get the appeal, for sure. The price is fantastic. Unfortunately for me, it's not realistic. 

Back to the topic at hand, It seems the one plus is the leader of the proverbial pack. I have done a bit more research and it seems like the oneplus is plenty enough water resistant. I can't really run it under a faucet, but i've never once wanted to do that- or needed do. Oneplus appears to not want to pay for certification, which is expensive. It sounds like I might be making a trip to ye olde magenta cell phone retailer later this evening, so we will see what happens. 

RevRico said:

Pixel. But since when don't they have expandable storage?

Since never. The Pixel line has never had expandable storage. It's part of the reason I went back to Samsung after my Pixel 1 XL.

Any berkeleying company that doesn't have swappable batteries and expandable storage in this day and age should just shut the berkeley down. berkeley your cloud storage solution and wireless charging, I want my data on memory cards, and I want to make use of the USB port for accessories without having to buy all new E36 M3 and worrying about your illusions of security and reliability on your cloud servers, things which no tech company has showed me they can do well yet. 

Agreed on both parts, but swappable batteries went the way of the dodo at least 3 years ago. They no longer exist in flagship smartphones.

My LG G5 is still running strong though, even being in my kids care the last few years. Only phone of recent history (past 5 years so) that I actually liked and enjoyed using. 

I root for LG. They are the last ones keeping the faith on headphone jacks. Unfortunately, they have had their quality issues in the past, with things like bootlooping.

John Welsh said:

The reason they are dropping the 3.5mm jack has to do with water intrusion. No hole...no water. 

So they claim. I don't buy it. My S10+ with a headphone jack is IP68 rated. The Note 10, a very similar phone from the same manufacturer released six months later but with no headphone jack is rated at.... IP68.

It's all about cost. If they think they can get away with losing a feature, they will do it.

Serious question, what are most of you doing with your phones that you're worried about expandable storage? 

Even if you don't like cloud backups, you can still download off your phone to your computer or an external hard drive.

In reply to z31maniac :

I don't delete things. Ever. Even with multiple backups. There are files and pictures on my memory card over a decade old currently. 

On my X4 android one edition, so absolutely no bloatware or garbage apps from the factory, the OS alone takes up almost half the 32GB onboard memory. A couple games, some videos being shot in HD, and boom it's full. Ad caches take up a surprisingly large amount of room as well. Not to mention keeping music on the phone for when in a no service area. 

But for changing devices on the fly, it's far easier to swap a memory card than to plug in, wait for everything to transfer, then transfer it all back to the new device. There's also the ease of changing file hierarchy and keeping things organized across devices.

I've been using the same launcher, keyboard, and file sorting app since I got on android when Palm finally went under. I do things this way because they work, they're infinitely easier for me, and it's considerably harder to compromise my data when it only exists on my memory card instead of being off in the Bezos or Google cloud open to everyone from script kiddies in the far East to the American governments 5 Eyes allies. Still, it's Google based so I'm not kidding myself about not being spied on constantly, but I can at least try to minimize the data that's being dug up or put at risk. 

A while back I went into the Verizon store and said give me the best (and largest) IPhone available.  I have large stumps for fingers so these small phones just don't work for me.   Ended up with the 10X (I think that is what it is)  Works great no more button at all. It is all done with swiping. After 5 min of use it is way better than the old button at the bottom of the screen.  I still have my old 7 plus to compare it to.  The camera is absolutely fantastic and everything on it just works.  Best phone I have ever had.  It even plays nice with my windows computers at the office.