Sadly the android market is moving to prettier phones at the substantial cost in functionality. So sure there are many phones that look like a premium handset,

Sadly the android market is moving to prettier phones at the substantial cost in functionality. So sure there are many phones that look like a premium handset, but they they have an epoxied battery inside and often lose updates in a year or so. Normally you'd expect a nice aluminum and glass phone with top cpu/ram/gpu/storage specifications to last a long time. Except when they expoxy in a disposable battery or no longer gets OS upgrades. What I find even more baffling is that it's becoming fairly common to offer custom removable backs (at the cost of complexity and thickness) and still not allow for a larger battery or replacement. Take any 2 year old phone that's seen daily use and it's likely that one of the primary complaints about it's functionality is poor battery life. Normally that could be fixed with $15-$25 on ebay.... only if it's replaceable. Sad, planned obsolescence strikes again.