What phone you use as your daily driver? And, a discussion of them.

[P4-630]

Not really, if you calculate everything, carrier phones are significantly more expensive over time than paid for ones. It's just a basic economy. Carriers wouldn't sell phones if it wasn't profitable to them.

You don't get it do you? Some people can't afford a 1000 USD phone, a solution can be at monthly payments, ofcourse you pay some more over 24 months then if you bought it in once but at least you can have that nice phone you wanted that you couldn't pay otherwise...

 

[The red spirit]

You don't get it do you? Some people can't afford a 1000 USD phone, a solution can be at monthly payments, of course you pay some more over 24 months then if you bought it in once but at least you can have that nice phone you wanted that you couldn't pay otherwise...

If you are that straped for cash, then that's even more reason not to engage with loans. It doesn't matter how much you want that phone, if that's too much for you, then you can't really buy it. And now back to reality, budget phones at 200-300 USD offer tons of value. You can get 80% of flagship at 25% of cost. They also last a long time. Also flagships and ultra-flagships are poor at their jobs, because you want the best, but they are only best until next release. Most flagships have horrendous depreciation and if you are with carrier, you still have to pay like depreciation doesn't exist. It's just a poor deal no matter how you look at it and is one of the reasons why people still say "poor stay poor, while rich get richer".

OP should just take a look at phones that cost 200-300 USD and pick whichever is the best. There are plenty of good options.

 

[GamerGuy]

I used to get my phone with a mobile plan, I'm a slow learner, but it took me a while to realize that it'd be more cost effective to simply buy my phones outright and pay for a simple SIM plan. From the Fold, followed by the Fold 2 and with the recent Flip 3, I'd paid for them outright via pre-orders. The Note10+ and Mi Max 3 were used and bought outright as well. I'm now using 3x SIM plan, each costing me 7.36USD for a 50GB/mth plan, so I'm basically paying about 22USD/mth for my 3x SIM plans for my 3 phones. In the long run, I'm gonna save myself a fair bit of moolah.

My Flip 3 (and Fold 2) just got updated to One UI version 3.1.1, with ensuing Security Leval patch. My Flip 3 has 8GB of RAM, with the new feature as part of the overall update, RAM Plus has been activated with 4GB reserved as virtual RAM (not sure how it works, or whether I'd need it in the first place), so I now have 8GB + 4GB Virtual RAM on my Flip 3. I don't really see a need for this since the Flip 3 has 8GB of RAM already, but I guess it'd not hurt. I'd checked, looks the Note10 series (hence, my Note10+) has been slated for this upgrade as well, though, like my Fold 2, it already has 12GB of RAM, so I don't see a need for this added feature.

 

[Guwapo77]

iPhone 12 Pro Max, just waiting for my iPhone 13 Pro Max 1 TB to arrive in the mail. Why? I think its an outstanding phone and I've never had any issues with any iPhone I've had since the 3GS. However, this will be my last iPhone for at least 5 to 6 years unless something magical happens. The last thing I waited for was the 120Hz screen.

 

[droopyRO]

Don't they have plans+phones in your country?

We can buy stuff with credit cards that have 0% interest rates. If you pay in time, 3, 6,12 months in installments that have 0% interest. It depends on the bank and the shop where you buy it from. And with my pre paid SIM at 6$/month i have 6GB + 30GB of internet traffic, unlimited calls, 2000 SMS'es and free calls to Italy in the same network.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

If you are that straped for cash, then that's even more reason not to engage with loans. It doesn't matter how much you want that phone, if that's too much for you, then you can't really buy it

Sometimes its not about being 'strapped for cash' but not wanting $800-1300 flying out of your account all in one go. But i digress... Samsung (and maybe other phone manufacturers) will quite often have 0% finance on their up and coming latest and greatest handsets if you buy from them directly to get people onboard but the elephant in the room is they are still going to charge you on the upper end of the scale for the privilege of having 0% finance. once the phone has been out for a few months the price usually drops by 10% or more but every retailer will run their own deals and promotions to get those sales.

Otherwise I generally agree with your sentiment. Dont spend money that you havent got. Budget phones have also come a long way in the last 5years

But FOMO plays a big part in purchases. The handset will always be on sale but there are people out there that dont want to miss picking up a flagship handset on launch because to them its a symbol of status as well as rights for bragging.

 

[The red spirit]

Otherwise I generally agree with your sentiment. Dont spend money that you havent got. Budget phones have also come a long way in the last 5years

I wouldn't really call phones in 200-400 USD range budget phones, they are mid range. Budget phones are 200 USD or less. If you buy midrange phone, it will most likely will last you a really long time. I managed to keep Galaxy Note 3 Neo for over 5 years and I could still use it if I wanted to. It cost me around 300 EUR. I think that if you are poor, you should spend according to your means or preferably bellow your means. Extra payments and unnecessary expenses kill modest budgets.

There's a Motorola G30. It's decent all around phone for 180-220 USD. It doesn't really lack anything and has great camera. Even with one major Android update, it should have no problems lasting 4 years and it may get more than 1 update. There are many phones like that. As long as you avoid too expensive brands (Apple, Google) or politically uncertain brands (Huawei, Xiaomi) or some low quality brands (Umidigi, Doogee, Asus, Blackview, OukiTel and etc.), there are some decent options. My go to brands for mid range phones are Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus (their lower end phones), Nokia, Sony (more like used to be, because now they barely make anything). You can experiment with Xiaomi, Realme, but their quality of phones and long terms software support may be questionable and they have been deceptive in market (adding fake cameras, not supporting all WideWine DRM, ads in software, spying concerns without government intervention). Out of what is left, you settle on some vague budget, look at reviews and decide what is best for you.

But FOMO plays a big part in purchases. The handset will always be on sale but there are people out there that dont want to miss picking up a flagship handset on launch because to them its a symbol of status as well as rights for bragging.

Stupid shit like FOMO is something that people should learn to leave in high school. Anybody can learn to control it and frankly should learn it. I don't think that letting it run amok has made anyone happy.

 

[TheUn4seen]

I have the Galaxy Note 10+. Not much to say, There was a time when I changed phones every few weeks, after a while I lost interest in this market and just got every generation of the Note series, it is my favourite since the first, "enormous" and "impossible to hold with one hand" as some reviewers called it, 5.3" monster - really, back in the year 2011 people thought that 5.3" screen is too big - no "lifestyle" fluff, no childish colors. Just a phone with reasonably best hardware available, easy to root, de-bloat and get rid of Google's spyware. I skipped the Note 20 because, as incremental updates often go, there really is nothing to spend so much money on if you have the 10+.
I did have the Note 7. Two of them, actually, one as a business expense and one for personal use. Sadly, none of them caught fire and burned down my house, the first one I returned during a recall, got an S7edge, a smartwatch, microSD card and some other accessories for it. Second one I sold a year or two later to a collector for much more than I originally paid for it
I also have the Realme 6. I got it cheaply as damaged, repaired it, got Lineage OS on it and now I use it as a secondary phone. I like how much did the "low end" market improve. This device is actually nice to use, despite the rounded LCD corners.

 

[mrpickem]

I still have my Note 10+ and its a solid Android performer but I've switched to iPhone going on 2 years, had 11 Pro Max and now 13 Pro Max..great battery, camera and everything just works,

 

[GamerGuy]

everything just works,

That's the advantage of Apple's walled-garden ecosystem. I could have gone with an iPhone, one of my brother (and his wife) is a diehard iPhone guy, but I find no 'fun' factor in just regular cellphones any more. Hence my preference for foldables which add that little extra 'fun' factor to me.

My Note10+ is for watching movies as I have 512GB internal + 512GB mSD (might up to a 1TB mSD card) as it has great battery life and an awesome 1440x3040 AMOLED display. My Mi Mix 3 which have a decent display is great as an alternate to my Note10+ for movies, as well as a good eBook/manga reader, I do also have a Mi Pad 4 and Tab S5e (former as a reader, latter for movies) for when I go overseas.

I'm looking forward to rollables, and felt the pain when LG bowed out of the cellphone arena, they had a nice prototype rollable they were working on before they'd quit. I'm waiting for Samsung to roll out their rollables (see what I did?), gonna see what these offer and more importantly, the pricing....ain't gonna be cheap, gonna make regular flagship Android and iPhones look cheap. Heck, the Fold series has already done that actually.

 

[BlackSun59]

I've been using a Moto E2 gen 2 CDMA that once used FreedomPop but was able to be migrated to MNVO Tello using the Sprint network. Not bad for a $40 phone that lasted four years and a monthly phone bill of less than $7.
Alas, T-Mobile bought Sprint, so Tello is moving to GSM T-Mobile service. Now I am waiting for my new Moto G Play and Tello SIM to arrive in a few days.

 

[silentbogo]

I could have gone with an iPhone, one of my brother (and his wife) is a diehard iPhone guy, but I find no 'fun' factor in just regular cellphones any more.

For me the main issue with iPhones is not "fun factor" or "walled garden" ecosystem (at least in my opinion both are a pro rather than con, with some exceptions), but UI design choices are terrible. The thing that puts me off buying an iPhone is that it's geared towards different audience: media consumption and social network integration is excellent (I don't care about either), while mundane things like changing an alarm, switching wifi AP, or making few work-related notes takes twice as long (even worse if you want to get to some advanced features or settings). And, of course, battery life

I wouldn't really call phones in 200-400 USD range budget phones, they are mid range. Budget phones are 200 USD or less.

+1. People seem to forget that flagship phones used to cost under $600 not too long ago, and then year after year have gotten past the $1000 mark.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

I always get phones for my wife on contract it's nothing to do with affording it I could buy the phone outright without issue but a contract not only allows me to spread the cost over 12 months, gives her a regular upgrade (uses her phone to trade stock so is more a tool than a luxury)but also improves my credit score the more small crap I buy with credit the bigger the stuff I can buy later.

 

[sam_86314]

The Verizon reseller lied to us and we weren't getting the Motorola One 5G UW Ace for the price they said, so we returned it.

Suffering with an iPhone SE in the meantime. I have a factory unlocked Pixel 5a on the way directly from Google. First plan is to install LineageOS on it.

 

[Hachi_Roku256563]

For me the perfect size is around 69.4 x 144 x 8.2 mm (pixel 4a)
phones of this size are limted to
Pixel 4a
Samsung S10
and Iphone SE
so its a pixel for me

I want a small, yet powerful, phone that I can control with one hand.

At least for me Iphone would never never be a option
as i want to make and sideload my own apps and have on more the one occasion

 

[sam_86314]

Hopefully, this is the last phone I get for a few years.

Been dailying a Pixel 5a for the last couple of days. Bought it directly from Google for just under $500 after tax.

Pictures taken with the V40. Also the temperature outside right now is pretty nice.

So far, I absolutely love it. It may be a slight downgrade from the V40 in terms of performance (slightly worse performance all around in synthetics that isn't noticeable in general use), but I really like how it basically has stock Android on it. Memory usage is also quite a bit lower, which is interesting.

Oddly, despite having a slightly higher-end SOC than the Motorola One Ace (SD765G on the 5a vs SD750G on the Ace), it actually scores worse on Geekbench. But the heaviest things I do on it are occasionally emulating Wii games and playing RuneScape, both of which it handles just fine.

My main complaints are the punch-out camera and the lack of a MicroSD slot. It's one of the few modern phones that still has a headphone jack; MicroSD and an under-screen camera would've made it perfect.

I plan on rooting it at some point. Unfortunately, I didn't unlock the bootloader before I initially set it up, so I'll need to reinstall everything when I decide to do that.

 

[Xeon]

I'm still rocking my G1

 

[Keullo-e]

I was surprised that my backup phone (iPhone 5s) also got a minor update for iOS12

 

[joemama]

Anyone using a cheap Samsung A50 like me?

 

[Space Lynx]

Anyone using a cheap Samsung A50 like me?

I have an A30 and really dislike it. I have never had a phone that cost more than $150, I am considering going all out and getting the Pixel 6 $799 variant next month, assuming it doesn't cost more than that... rumors are it will have a 5 year security updates and OS updates, plus I imagine ifixit will have official replacement batteries for it over the years, etc.

 

[Keullo-e]

I have never had a phone that cost more than $150

Kinda same here though my limit is 200EUR. Paid 185EUR from my iPhone 8 Plus and I have to say that it was truly money well spent. Though a battery replacement could be a thing soon..

 

[Hyderz]

iPhone 12 Pro Max, just waiting for my iPhone 13 Pro Max 1 TB to arrive in the mail. Why? I think its an outstanding phone and I've never had any issues with any iPhone I've had since the 3GS. However, this will be my last iPhone for at least 5 to 6 years unless something magical happens. The last thing I waited for was the 120Hz screen.

woah i cant justify the upgrade from just 1 generation but if you want the upgrades .. go for it

 

[Space Lynx]

woah i cant justify the upgrade from just 1 generation but if you want the upgrades .. go for it

everyones income is different, also the trade in offer that a lot of places offer in on a back to back upgrade like this is really really top notch... I mean it probably will only cost him 100-150 bucks to upgrade, if that, so fair enough. its amazing how much value iphones hold.

 

[Keullo-e]

everyones income is different, also the trade in offer that a lot of places offer in on a back to back upgrade like this is really really top notch... I mean it probably will only cost him 100-150 bucks to upgrade, if that, so fair enough. its amazing how much value iphones hold.

For me in general changing a phone sucks a lot, even upgrading one. All that hassle when setting up a new phone... that's why I avoid doing it.

 

[Shou Miko]

I am using my Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, in about 1month and 18 days or so it will turn a year and I am planing on having it next year too because my phone budget is non existing at the moment because I am moving to a new place.