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"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228) 07/04/2016 at 05:51 • Filed to: None

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...and I suddenly get how normal people must feel when they’re looking for a new car. ‘This phone feels stuck in 2015 with its lack of 4k camera, fingerprint reader and waterproofing’. I just want a phone that doesn’t need a hand 20" wide to work, has good battery life and won’t disintegrate the first time I drop a lump hammer on it while I'm using it as a torch under my car. Is that too much to ask?!

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 05:56

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Galaxy S6 mini.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 07/04/2016 at 05:59

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Thanks :) shall have a look at prices on that one :)

facw > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 06:00

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I’m still using my three year old HTC One (M7). I’d be perfectly happy about that situation except for the fact it has the dreaded purple camera issue. Not sure it’s worth replacing over that problem though, and honestly I don’t like any of the current phones as much in terms of look and feel.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 06:02

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Withstanding a hammer is a hard one, maybe a CAT phone? Because most other phones don’t really like heavy objects, since most glass/plastic cracks, and metal dents, and that are the most common phone materials.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 07/04/2016 at 06:04

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Yeah I’ve noticed that...

I’ve got an S3 Mini at the moment which has done remarkably well for the abuse I've given it. I think being a cheap phone means that it's actually quite bulky compared to a lot of the pricier stuff which helps, even without gorilla glass.

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 06:05

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I’ve been perfectly happy with my Samsung Galaxy A5. The only thing that sucks is that the camera sticks out of the back due to the phone being relatively thin.

duurtlang > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 06:07

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I imported my phone from China a few months ago. You basically get a phone for half the price a similar one would cost by Samsung. Including shipping and the like I paid about €175 for mine, for a mid-range one. It’s got a huge battery, and battery life is easily 2-3 days with my use. I got a Xiaomi Redmi3 Pro, but there are lots of others to choose from. I got mine here .

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 06:10

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That could very well be true, though you must remember the s3 and s3 mini were top of the line at one point, but all phones were blukier back then.

I’ve got an iPhone 6S, it’s still like new after almost a year of use, since I’m very careful with my stuff, so it has an easy life. I wouldn’t advise a top of the line phone from any brand for the hammer drop test though. Haha

Flavien Vidal > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 06:13

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Nexus 5x. Very happy with mine :)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Flavien Vidal 07/04/2016 at 06:16

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How would it do for the hammer test?

Echo51 > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 06:20

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Moto G 3rd gen, probably won’t survive the hammer test, but at that price you won’t cry too hard at having to replace it. Also waterresistant and pretty decent overall.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > duurtlang 07/04/2016 at 06:35

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Nice idea :) unfortunately I don't have the money to buy anything outright, it would have to be on a contract basis :S

duurtlang > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 06:42

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Really? You’ll typically end up paying more for the same phone.

KirkyV > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 06:55

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When it comes to rugged phones - that might actually stand a chance of passing the hammer test, even screen-up - there’s a few options, but they’re all super compromised when it comes to everything that isn’t holding up well to errant tools. The only one I’d recommend is probably the Galaxy S7 Active - not generally a Samsung fan, but they’ve been getting a lot better lately, and like I said, choice in rugged phones is limited - but it, for reasons that still escape me, is only available officially in the US.

So, putting aside the rugged thing... Well, given your other requirements, I’d go one of three ways:

HTC 10. It’s the most expensive by a significant margin, but it’ll probably offer the best overall experience. HTC Sense is still the best non-stock Android skin, at least to my taste, and you’ll get relatively quick updates—not Nexus fast, but HTC have a good reputation for being quicker than the competition. It’s the smallest of the three, with a 5.1 inch screen - actually small phones are increasingly hard to come by - and the build-quality is basically second-to-none. It’s the one phone on the list that I think might actually hold up to the hammer, at least if you hit it on the back. It’s also the only phone on the list with micro-SD expandable memory, which is handy if you like keeping a lot of music/films/whatever on your phone.

Nexus 5X. It’s super cheap, relatively speaking, it has stock Android, and you’ll get updates and support quicker than any Android phone that isn’t another Nexus. It’s bigger than the HTC, with a 5.2 inch screen, but still smaller than most phones these days. The downsides are the cheap construction - kinda eh plastic as far as the eye can see - and relatively underpowered internals, though performance should still be acceptable. Oh, and the max memory is 32GB, which could be a problem depending on how much music you like to store locally.

OnePlus 3. Here’s where you’ll find the best compromise on price, performance and build quality, and the software’s basically stock Android with some tweaks, so it won’t be a chore to use—though OnePlus actually have a kinda eh reputation when it comes to speedy updates, so keep that in mind. The one major issue - updates aside - is that it’s the biggest of the three, with a 5.5 inch screen. Personally, I’d probably accept the trade-off, even as someone who prefers smaller phones - I made a similar compromise when I went from my old Nexus 5 to my current Nexus 6P, and it hasn’t been as much of a pain as I thought it would be - but that’s ultimately down to you.

Finally, I’d probably be remiss not to mention that Apple’s new iPhone SE could be a relatively compelling alternative, if you’re willing to put up with the kinda shitty screen and don’t mind iOS. It’s much smaller than all three Android alternatives. I’m just not an iPhone fan myself, so I can’t really speak to it.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > KirkyV 07/04/2016 at 07:08

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Thanks a lot! That’s really helpful :)

I’ll head out and compare what I can get pricing-wise on those 3 options as they definitely sound quite good.

I think I'll pass on the iPhone though as I'm not a fan of the UI.

UnCommonDenominator > duurtlang 07/04/2016 at 07:31

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Depends on the deal and/or phone. Everything varies contract by contract, and I’ve certainly been in the position of not having $500 available to shell out.

So I either bought a $100 phone or, when no or minimal incremental charge for interest, give with the carrier financing.

UnCommonDenominator > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 07:33

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Strong recommendation for the otterbox cases. I’ve had a note 3 for almost 3 years now - no damage. I’ve broken 2 cases though through drops.

Better to be $65 in 3 cases than out a $650 phone.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > UnCommonDenominator 07/04/2016 at 07:37

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Yeah a case is a great idea. I'll make sure whatever phone I get has a good availability of cases. One of the issues with my S3 Mini was that the only cases you could get tended towards the 'powerpuff girl' end of the design spectrum...

UnCommonDenominator > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 07:40

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Nothing says “I’m secure in my masculinity” like a hot pink case with flowers.

Edited to correct autocracy. Auricular. Autocross. Autobus.

Autocorrect.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 08:57

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Fail without a case, but I too love mine. Even with a cheap case that fully covers it, it’s survived corner bumps with tail gates and other collisions. The only fault I’ll give it, is the camera isn’t the greatest. It’s not bad, but it’s not great. If you have a decent camera on the side, it’s a non issue.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/04/2016 at 10:29

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Just a note on the nexus. The internals are identical to most 2015 flagships. Don’t let the 6 core 808 processor make you think it is underpowered. The 8 core 810 that was supposed to be in flagship phones had a habit of overheating resulting in reduced performance. The 808 in the Nexus is plenty powerful and stock Android makes it even faster.

Mercedes Streeter > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 07/04/2016 at 10:37

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This!!! To me, the only problem with the 5X is RAM. Standard Android kinda sucks at managing the 2GB it has to work with. I ended up upgrading mine to Cyanogenmod 13. Better RAM management, better battery life, cool ass theme engine, and it won’t void my warranty (because Google is okay with custom Roms in Nexus phones)? Sign me up!

Mercedes Streeter > duurtlang 07/04/2016 at 10:41

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WAT!?!?!! $160-ish bucks for an insanely beautiful metal phone that would blow my Nexus 5X out of the water? *Cries*

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Mercedes Streeter 07/04/2016 at 10:44

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Android isn’t great with RAM at all. I have issues running out of the 3GB of ram in my LG G4. Though it isn’t nearly as bad as my Galaxy S4. You want to use 2 apps at once? Too bad.

Mercedes Streeter > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 07/04/2016 at 10:52

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My 5X used to freak out when I had two or more apps open and tried to use Chrome...the lag was absolutely unbearable...Especially since the 5X is my first Android phone in 9 years (I had been rolling iPhone for so long). And then AOSP Marshmallow gulped down the battery at a speed that made my old iPhone 6 seem like it had a good battery.

All’s better now though. I have no idea how Cyanogenmod does it, but I can somehow have 10+ apps open with only a small decrease in performance. And the battery lasts twice as long as stock.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Mercedes Streeter 07/04/2016 at 10:55

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I would bet it disables encryption. By default all data on Nexus devices is encrypted which takes a bunch of processing power.

Mercedes Streeter > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 07/04/2016 at 11:00

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At first, no. I installed CM13 when it was it was in its early stages. It was blisteringly fast, but the devs hadn’t found a way to disable decryption. So, whenever I needed to update, I had to use the adb sideload. The newer builds give you the option to decrypt.....yaaas ota updates!!!

But yeah, I have no idea how it handles RAM, maybe it takes some ideas from how a good Linux distro handles it?

duurtlang > Mercedes Streeter 07/04/2016 at 11:53

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I used a Galaxy Nexus (2011!) until a few months ago. The difference was... huge. This new phone is so much faster. Expandable memory, dual sim, no replaceable battery (that’s a downside), 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage, 4000 mAh battery and a fingerprint scanner. Hard to beat for that price. Size is roughly the same as my old Nexus, which I like. Large but manageable with 1 hand. Also nice: I charge once every 2 days in stead of twice a day before.

KirkyV > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 07/06/2016 at 08:47

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Really? I’m surprised—I’ve been super happy with the camera on my Nexus 6P, and I’m pretty sure it has the same sensor. I’ve been leaving my DSLR at home a lot more often since I got the 6P—it’s, obviously, still way better if you actually want to do serious photography, and I generally bring it along on holiday, but the 6P’s camera is more than good enough for the day-to-day.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > KirkyV 07/06/2016 at 08:48

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Compared to my previous Lumia it is better, but it’s zoom is pretty not great.

Mercedes Streeter > duurtlang 07/09/2016 at 11:36

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Well damn, my next phone might be Chinese then! lol

I guess my only problem with a Chinese Android device is that I’d miss out on most Roms...but that price is hard to beat!