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Is anyone else not impressed with modern phones? They all seem like the same as last year but with more arbitrary restrictions and a higher price tag.

m52go 8y ago
Yeah. Last phone I bought was in 2015, and I haven't felt a compelling need to upgrade since then.
JustSomeNobody 8y ago
I have a 6S that, while it's running fine, I would like to upgrade for a better camera. But, I want to keep the same size. So, my options are to get a year old 8 or a XS. The XR and XS Max are too large. I really don't want to spend $1000 on a phone. That's absurd to me. I'll probably end up waiting another year. I've ruled out Android out of personal preference. Not an endorsement of iOS or a condemnation of Android. Just preference.
- sempron 8y ago
  You could consider a used/refurb X. That might be the sweet spot under $1k, if you’re okay not buying new.
- LiterallyDoge 8y ago
  It would be very cool to have an OS option that isn't from one of these two brands. Neither seem to be very respectful of the customer, Google for its privacy practices, and Apple is just so heavy-handed it's hard to take them seriously when they say they care about the user.
  - Brakenshire 8y ago
    Best contenders at the moment seem to be the Librem 5, which is running essentially mobile Gnome Linux, or the e foundation / eelo, which is trying to build a privacy friendly platform on top of AOSP/Lineage, but still attempt compatibility with Play Services API’s.
  - Angostura 8y ago
    Except of course iOS 12 has made my old 6 run like new
zodPod 8y ago
Na man I love the fact that I no longer have a headphone jack, my battery can't be replaced and goes bad in a year, my processor runs super beefy and drains my battery faster, but I can charge it wirelessly. Yeah I'm with you the new era of phones are just bullshit. It feels like they're running out of cool things to make them do and change about them so they're just doing stupid stuff to try to find something that accidentally works.
airza 8y ago
The current generation of flagship phones (and last years') have made absolutely staggering advances in the quality of photos taken. It's no contest whatsoever, at least for me.
- ceejayoz 8y ago
  Yeah, cameras are where I'm seeing the most difference, and with a) a family and b) a photographer spouse that's pretty compelling. Seeing the comparison between an iPhone 7+ and an X is remarkable.
deadbunny 8y ago
I picked up a Nokia 6.1 (2018 version) about a month ago when my Pixel 1 stopped charging (the USB-C port failed) for £200. It's a rock solid phone, runs stock android (Android One), no notch, decent enough camera, plenty of storage (for me). I was planning on getting the Pixel 3 and keep the Nokia as a spare but I have no need to spend a grand on a phone which ostensibly doen't do anything more for me.
- seanalltogether 8y ago
  Does the camera actually work for you? Mine has a tendency to take photos 1 or 2 seconds after I try to capture it, which means I'm often taking photos of the ground. I've also got the problem that many others have reported where audio just stops when listening to music. I feel like I'm constantly fighting with this phone.
  - p1necone 8y ago
    I'm having the same camera issue with mine, I read somewhere it was a known issue and they're working on a fix but who knows when that will come.
  - deadbunny 8y ago
    I take probably 15 pictures a year at best so haven't run into any issues as I've simply not used it other than one or two test shots.
kace91 8y ago
Yeah, this specific year has been quite underwhelming. The s8, iphone x, etc where great jumps ahead (or at least they seemed to be, due to the different form factor and all). It is understandable that the year after that feels underwhelming, but it's weird that they chose this specific moment to increase prices. Perhaps there's a big jump coming in the following years and they're trying to make the price increase for those features more palatable through gradual increases?
automoton1 8y ago
I think if you were to have a really old phone (say 5 years) it would be more of an impressive jump than from one year to the next. I think it's harder to notice some of the incremental improvements being made. They can feel kind of lackluster because they're not as big as the initial innovation that smartphones brought.
codinghorror 8y ago
if it has Qualcomm inside, the answer is definitely "yes"

m52go 8y ago

Yeah. Last phone I bought was in 2015, and I haven't felt a compelling need to upgrade since then.

JustSomeNobody 8y ago

I have a 6S that, while it's running fine, I would like to upgrade for a better camera. But, I want to keep the same size. So, my options are to get a year old 8 or a XS. The XR and XS Max are too large. I really don't want to spend $1000 on a phone. That's absurd to me. I'll probably end up waiting another year. I've ruled out Android out of personal preference. Not an endorsement of iOS or a condemnation of Android. Just preference.

sempron 8y ago
You could consider a used/refurb X. That might be the sweet spot under $1k, if you’re okay not buying new.
LiterallyDoge 8y ago
It would be very cool to have an OS option that isn't from one of these two brands. Neither seem to be very respectful of the customer, Google for its privacy practices, and Apple is just so heavy-handed it's hard to take them seriously when they say they care about the user.
- Brakenshire 8y ago
  Best contenders at the moment seem to be the Librem 5, which is running essentially mobile Gnome Linux, or the e foundation / eelo, which is trying to build a privacy friendly platform on top of AOSP/Lineage, but still attempt compatibility with Play Services API’s.
- Angostura 8y ago
  Except of course iOS 12 has made my old 6 run like new

zodPod 8y ago

Na man I love the fact that I no longer have a headphone jack, my battery can't be replaced and goes bad in a year, my processor runs super beefy and drains my battery faster, but I can charge it wirelessly. Yeah I'm with you the new era of phones are just bullshit. It feels like they're running out of cool things to make them do and change about them so they're just doing stupid stuff to try to find something that accidentally works.

airza 8y ago

The current generation of flagship phones (and last years') have made absolutely staggering advances in the quality of photos taken. It's no contest whatsoever, at least for me.

ceejayoz 8y ago
Yeah, cameras are where I'm seeing the most difference, and with a) a family and b) a photographer spouse that's pretty compelling. Seeing the comparison between an iPhone 7+ and an X is remarkable.

deadbunny 8y ago

I picked up a Nokia 6.1 (2018 version) about a month ago when my Pixel 1 stopped charging (the USB-C port failed) for £200. It's a rock solid phone, runs stock android (Android One), no notch, decent enough camera, plenty of storage (for me). I was planning on getting the Pixel 3 and keep the Nokia as a spare but I have no need to spend a grand on a phone which ostensibly doen't do anything more for me.

seanalltogether 8y ago
Does the camera actually work for you? Mine has a tendency to take photos 1 or 2 seconds after I try to capture it, which means I'm often taking photos of the ground. I've also got the problem that many others have reported where audio just stops when listening to music. I feel like I'm constantly fighting with this phone.
- p1necone 8y ago
  I'm having the same camera issue with mine, I read somewhere it was a known issue and they're working on a fix but who knows when that will come.
- deadbunny 8y ago
  I take probably 15 pictures a year at best so haven't run into any issues as I've simply not used it other than one or two test shots.

kace91 8y ago

Yeah, this specific year has been quite underwhelming. The s8, iphone x, etc where great jumps ahead (or at least they seemed to be, due to the different form factor and all). It is understandable that the year after that feels underwhelming, but it's weird that they chose this specific moment to increase prices. Perhaps there's a big jump coming in the following years and they're trying to make the price increase for those features more palatable through gradual increases?

automoton1 8y ago

I think if you were to have a really old phone (say 5 years) it would be more of an impressive jump than from one year to the next. I think it's harder to notice some of the incremental improvements being made. They can feel kind of lackluster because they're not as big as the initial innovation that smartphones brought.

codinghorror 8y ago

if it has Qualcomm inside, the answer is definitely "yes"