• @[email protected]
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      92 years ago

      Not a single phone has released their proprietory camera driver blobs in recent history. I wish that would happen. There will always be a loss of image quality in custom roms which don’t use the stock version on the phone.

      • ඞmir
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        72 years ago

        Fairly sure Pixels can use GCam just fine on third party ROMs and the basic photography modes give identical output

        • @[email protected]
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          2 years ago

          Yeah, but pixels have a low market share unfortunately. Something like Samsung will have the majority market share in most countries. I had a one plus 5 and even with the gcam mod the image output was significantly low (pixels back then only had 12mp and the aspect ratio etc was terrible.)

          • ඞmir
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            22 years ago

            Pixels are the standard for how custom ROMs should work, blame other OEMs for not confirming to standards and breaking APIs.

            • @[email protected]
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              32 years ago

              I do blame them. I also blame google for not offering those features in android in the first place… A lot of custom rom features are available in the Samsung rom so I don’t really use rooted devices anymore.

              Especially hate how android changed with their anti-call recording stance, which now requires root, exposed and an xposed module just for this basic feature. Samsung offers this out of the box.

  • Extras
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    32 years ago

    If it wasnt for grapheneos I would get it but honestly might be a nice work phone too or a travel one

  • @[email protected]
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    22 years ago

    I’ve been getting the g power series for a while now. Battery life is important to me in my field of work. And for ~$200 it’s hard to beat. No, it doesn’t have a great display, or even true 5g. No OLED or high refresh rate. It does have a 5000ma battery that can last two or three days of use. Head phone jack, SD card slot. Features somehow missing from premium offerings?

  • @[email protected]
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    102 years ago

    Moto’s update support has been horrible since post Googorola. They are a decent option but never a truly great one.

  • hedidwot
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    92 years ago

    Is nice, but 2GB less RAM and missing OIS that the previous model has.

  • @[email protected]
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    2 years ago

    I would love to see comparison to the Poco F1 which at the time had the same price. I suspect its pretty close, despite the 6 years gap. That being said, the F1 was unreal value at the time.

  • Kaputnik [he/him]
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    82 years ago

    For that price point I’ve had a really good time with using Xiaomi phones. Specifically the Redmi Note series. They’re similarly cheap but they’re built well and feel expensive, not with a plastic case or anything like that.

  • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
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    2 years ago

    You can do a lot better for the price if you’re prepared to go without the stylus. Also no OIS on a main camera, and only one year of Android version updates, on a 400 US dollar phone (300 is only a limited discount) in 2023? Surely not. At this price point you can get a Northing Phone 1 or Samsung Galaxy A73 5G, witch both have a much faster and efficient processor, better cameras and much better software support with more Android version updates, some form of water/dust resistance, and OLED displays.

    No wonder why Motorola phones are no longer available in my country.

  • HidingCat
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    192 years ago

    Man, is the US market for cheaper phones so bad that this is a contender? And this is US$400!

    • @[email protected]
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      42 years ago

      Short answer yes.

      The longer answer has to deal with the way that our cellular networks are set up. Most people “rent to own” their phones here and usually trade in their phone long before they get to the owning part.

      Contracts are set up so you can get discounts, but only if you stay with the carrier for 2-3 years. The discounts are given as monthly credit towards your bill and if you pay off the phone early you forfeit all future credit.

      This system allows for carriers to sell more expensive phones at rates that, while not low, most people will stomach. Phone manufacturers avoid selling good budget phones here and I think that’s a big part of the reason. Why sell a budget phone when you can probably convince someone to finance a flagship?

      Now, as an enthusiast aware of other budget phones you might think importing might be an option, but that unfortunately isn’t the case. A couple years ago all the carriers here switched off using the 3G network for phone calls and instead we use Voice Over LTE (VoLTE). This new system requires cellular carriers to explicitly support phones/models for them to be able to make traditional phone calls. These support lists are not public and make it incredibly difficult to tell if a phone not sold by the carrier will function on their network. Gone are the days were you can just check the bands the phone supports and pop in a sim.

      This got a bit long and probably was more me ranting than actually explaining anything, but I hope someone finds it at least a little bit informative

      • HidingCat
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        22 years ago

        Yikes, I knew your systems were different, but holy hell I didn’t expect all that. VoLTE is part of the GSM standards, how’d the USA carriers make it work like a proprietary system?

        • @[email protected]
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          12 years ago

          No clue, all I know is imported phones don’t always work, it varies from carrier to carrier, and the only way to check is with the IMEI

    • @[email protected]
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      102 years ago

      Motorolas are my favorite type of phone. I’m never going to use Apple and Samsung phones are bloated with garbage I don’t want. It’s not like there’s another real option.

      • @[email protected]
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        42 years ago

        Sony, Asus, Nothing, Pixel…

        I’m not doubting the hardware, but software is a real issue. Carriers are now pushing 36 month plans… what good is that if your device is basically out of date after 18 months.

        • @[email protected]
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          22 years ago

          OnePlus one was the best phone I ever got. Then I got a Xiaomi for a better camera and now I’m looking to get a new phone.

          Haven’t OnePlus gone to shit now?

          • @[email protected]
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            32 years ago

            They have. OnePlus was great until the OnePlus 5. Now they have become just another premium smartphone brand. Same thing will happen to Nothing eventually.

        • @[email protected]
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          52 years ago

          The Nothing Phone is the only other real option, but it’s also one phone while Motorola has several options for several different price ranges. OnePlus is purely Chinese (I know Motorola isn’t perfect but it could be worse). Google Pixels aren’t cheap.

          • ඞmir
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            72 years ago

            Pixels are now super cheap in Europe (in The Netherlands in particular)

            Could get a 7 for €400 and now 7a for less than that

            • @[email protected]
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              22 years ago

              Good to see they are reaching that price range, but it’s probably more “good value/price ratio” than cheap.

            • @[email protected]
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              22 years ago

              Does the 7 has working Dual SIM support? On the 6 it’s broken since release. It’s 2 years now and still not fixed. Phone calls randomly drop and after 30 minutes or so the modem just crashes and needs both SIMs to be deactivated and actives again. Absolut shit show.

              • ඞmir
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                2 years ago

                Belsimpel, T-Mobile or Tele2 in combination with any carrier plan.

                I assume you’re not using a Prepaid plan but if you are then my comment was misleading. Everyone I know here has a carrier subscription so I usually list those prices (but with one-time payment for the phone).

                Now that the 7A is out, 7 doesn’t seem to be getting discounts anymore.

                Google Store sometimes has 7A sales for ~€450.

          • Phanatik
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            32 years ago

            OnePlus may be Chinese but the OS has some privacy features like removing permissions for apps you don’t use. Out of the Androids I’ve used, it has way more customisation than I expected.

          • @[email protected]
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            22 years ago

            What is the difference between OnePlus and Motorola being chinese? It’s a serious question, i thought Motorola was fully chinese owned?

            • @[email protected]
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              12 years ago

              OnePlus was fully designed and created in China while Motorola was bought out by Lenovo. Motorola is still fishy but it’s technically still an American company so I feel better about it. It’s just false hope that my data isn’t being stolen, privacy is dead anyways.

              • @[email protected]
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                22 years ago

                Alright :) In my opinion the companies are all not that trustworthy unfortunately. Because Motorola is not that good with updates it’s not the brand for me.

      • Muehe
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        72 years ago

        The third iteration of Nokia is back to building phones, and the smartphones they sell are part of the Android One program (stock Android, two years of updates guaranteed).

          • Muehe
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            22 years ago

            Yes, the Nokia X10. Worked rather well over the last two years, although the only thing I can compare it to are devices I got from work (mostly older Samsungs with a ton of crapware).

          • Muehe
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            2 years ago

            No, they are owned by HMD Global which is a company that was initially comprised mostly of former Nokia executives. They produce in China though (like everybody else).

    • Pelicanen
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      22 years ago

      The Nokia XR21 also has a 3.5mm jack. It’s likely weaker performance-wise but it has a battery life of approximately 3 days so it won’t run out of juice as quickly.

    • Skull giver
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      72 years ago

      If you care about 3.5mm, check out the Sony phones. I don’t think they’ve ever dropped the 3.5mm in their smartphone lineup.

      Yes, Sony still makes Android phones. They’re actually the standard brand for SailfishOS!