Ask HN: What phone should I buy? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What phone should I buy?

#21

Post by moh_maya » Mon, Oct 30, 2017, 1:23 AM UTC

iKlsR wrote: post #15

moh_maya wrote: post #6

Something from the OnePlus series, which, if you are comfortable with rooting, you can install a custom ROM and keep getting updates. Alternatively, you could perhaps buy a nexus 6P? It's on amazon.com now for about 300$.

I have my OnePlus One from early 2015 which is my daily driver, swapped in a new battery the other day and I'm good again. Sadly they seem to have abandoned it entirely tho, haven't seen an update or anything in over a year. Performance wise however, I don't see myself switching anytime soon.

Yeah. The OnePlus update rate is lousy. But in terms of value, it's hard to beat..

But there are good roms available [1], and rooting is not all that hard. So that may be an approach you could try?

[1] https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-3

Re: Ask HN: What phone should I buy?

#22

Post by fulafel » Mon, Oct 30, 2017, 3:37 AM UTC

corford wrote: post #17

fulafel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moto is poor with updates IME, security patch level lagging 6-10 months.

Fair point. Hopefully Lenovo will get better at this. I kind of overlook it since I don't use my phone for anything other than calls/sms, email, light web browsing (99% of the time wikipedia or hn), google maps, whatsapp, uber and taking a few photos. Rightly or wrongly I don't care too much about security since I'm not installing loads of apps and don't use the phone for much (still encrypt it though in case of phys…

If you hook it up to your Google and/or other social media accounts, you should care about security because a compromised phone can compromise your account, spam all your contacts, pwn your Gmail, etc.

Even if you don't use a Google account and install only selected apps, you need an up-to-date OS for web browsing, there are hostile ads even off sites like Reddit due to ad networks funneling bad stuff through. Also there are similarly unsafe ad network content embedded in otherwise reputed apps.

Re: Ask HN: What phone should I buy?

#23

Post by senorsmile » Mon, Oct 30, 2017, 6:30 AM UTC

Moto z play or Moto z2 play. My z play just got 2017-10 patches. The mods are interesting, but mostly useful for attaching a battery mod. My phone has never died in a 24 hour period, although I did once drain the external battery and get the internal down to 30%.

Re: Ask HN: What phone should I buy?

#24

Post by ferdbold » Mon, Oct 30, 2017, 8:54 PM UTC

senorsmile wrote: post #23

Moto z play or Moto z2 play. My z play just got 2017-10 patches. The mods are interesting, but mostly useful for attaching a battery mod. My phone has never died in a 24 hour period, although I did once drain the external battery and get the internal down to 30%.

Moto is absolutely terrible at updates. My Moto X Play that I bought in 2015 just got its update to Nougat (really?! Oreo is already out). I can also count on one hand the number of security patches this phone had in the whole time I've owned it.

Re: Ask HN: What phone should I buy?

#25

Post by wink » Tue, Oct 31, 2017, 2:05 PM UTC

sshine wrote: post #20

Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #19

I'll add one requirement to the OP request: not wider than 71mm. My hands are small and I use my phone with one hand most of the time. I'm still on a nexus 4 (love the size), but it's getting laggy and battery suffers (i owned this phone for 4+ years)

1 year in with the Nexus 5P and it's lagging for upwards of 1-2 seconds in Maps and runs out of battery sometimes in less than a day. The screen width is nice for reading but hard for using in one hand, e.g. when using it on a bicycle. Next time I'm definitely getting a smaller, cheaper phone with less battery use. And an FM receiver.

Nexus 5X here (bought in July 2016 iirc) - got Android 8 a while ago (liked 7 better, but ok) and can only hope it continues to get updates.

Can absolutely recommend the phone, but no clue how long it will be viable.