Thanks for making this! Finding myself shopping for a replacement phone, and so far have decided to settle with waiting unless I see a decent deal on a nexus 6p.
Would suggest also adding whether the phone supports a removable battery/extended battery. That seems to be a feature that is nearly dead on new android phones these days, except for the lg v10 and the moto z (via the moto mod battery case).
Also seconding the 'last update' column - I'm largely trying to forego most of my power-user desires for sd slots/removable batteries for a nexus phone because of just how many security issues with android seem to require it to be up-to-date.
Oh yeah, would also like a 'fingerprint reader' column - it's becoming near-ubiquitous these days though some phones from last year don't have it (e.g. moto x)
"Would suggest also adding whether the phone supports a removable battery/extended battery."
* Carrier Support (GSM vs CDMA)
* "Modes" (Frequencies, bands,whatever you want to call it)
* Sim card size (Normal 3FF, Nano 4FF)
* Removable Battery
* Wireless charging (I must have Qi)
* Fingerprint
Comparison vs other phones (I'd love to compare these vs my Note 3. Yes... 3.) would be nice, but probably a bit beyond the scope of this.
A couple of months ago I got a new phone. I had a fairly short list of needs:
1. Micro sd slot
2. Supports sprint in the US
3. Supports cyanogenmod
4. Given those, it should be powerful as possible
To my surprise, none of the 2016 flagships were acceptable. The Nexus line did not have a micro sd slot. Samsung s7 did not have cyanogenmod. Oneplus 3 did not support sprint. Most other phones were just not powerful, slow processors, etc.
I ended up settling for a 2015 moto x pure (style in op). Still disappointed that I couldn't get one with an 820 processor. Are my needs that exotic that nobody cares about them? Or have the phone companies just dropped the ball?
I have the same requirements, except I can use GSM. I currently use an older Sony Z-yuga.
Your biggest problem requirement is Sprint. Outside of the US, almost no one used CDMA. The rest of the planet is on the GMS/HSDPA/LTE stack.
I think Sprint and Verizon are the two largest networks in the world that are still on CDMA. Verizon is actually owned by Vodaphone and I think the reason they haven't rebranded their US offering is because all their other companies are on GSM.
I think that the phone companies are struggling to get a grip on the drivers on the market.
The rather esoteric needs of a software developer is probably not high up on the marketing department's list of USPs... Plus, that it seems as if different regions are wanting different things - like an absurd number of cores, etc.
As an example, I am very fond of Sony. They make the best android phones in my opinion, with a really nice clean design and good support for updates. A plus for me is that it's still a Swedish team that make the phones although they seem to slowly loose the fight against the Japanese mega-corp mannerisms. There is more and more shit pre-installed on the phone, etc.
Unfortunately they peaked with the Z3 - anything after that is a lesser phone in some aspect. ZX is good and expensive as hell but compensates the faster processor and camera with a much much worse battery. X is fast, but is not water proof, etc.
Edit: I don't think the ZX supports CDMA unfortunately.
Variance is one of the trademarks of a successful open source project. It is people taking an existing thing and adapting it to their individual needs. That's what made Linux run on Phones, routers and tiny little gadgets. Sure you cant run Gnome on them but you shouldn't be expecting them to.
If you want a known quantity with common support, buy a standard mainstream model. If you want the best thing for your needs you may have to do some research. It's like picking a Linux distro. I'd rather have variance than only Ubuntu.
Whether the modern Android experience has roots as a free/open source system is becoming a bit of an academic exercise. In a practical sense, useful distributions of Android and iOS are both combinations of open and closed source components.
Don't worry. At the rate we're headed, soon nobody will root their devices anymore, because practically every app they want to use will refuse to work on a rooted device.
This is great! I like how the filtering quickly lets you drill down and find phones that meet your criteria.
My suggestions for improving this would be to add:
- Dual SIM - many buyers, esp. in developing countries and frequent travellers prefer dual-SIM phones.
- Network Bands - many people have a preferred mobile network, e.g. Verizon or T-Mobile in the US, Telstra in Australia, etc. Each of these networks only supports specific frequency bands for 3G and 4G. So I'd suggest adding in a search-based filter which allows a user to find phones that support a particular band, e.g. 28 that their favorite mobile network uses.
The item I'd like to see added to the device infobox is an answer to the question "Can I run my own AOSP on this?", backed up by a link to some wiki or blog post of someone demonstrating it.
Slightly off topic, but what I found terrible hard to look up on the specs lists for android phones is support for USB OTG. Some companies disable it, some enable it, and some switch between enabled and disabled between different sub models of the same phone. Sadly, I had to go to stores and ask to put an OTG to check for compatibility.
A slightly OT question: does any 2016 Android phone have MHL/HDMI alt mode? It seems to be a feature that became dropped by multiple manufacturers around 2015. I wasn't able to find one in this year's models.
This is fantastic! Both in terms of information provided AND in the way it is displayed and presented. Simple yet extremely functional and easy to use. Very nice
That's super useful, thank you. I got the Moto G (which is on the list) and will use this to get my next phone when this one dies (non replaceable battery so I imagine 2 more years tops). All the table is missing is how easy it is to root.
There is nothing useful third-party "extra sauce" can add. In fact all the incentives for them are to make the OS worse.
Meh, it's "non-replaceable" in the same manner as the Moto G 1st gen. I had that one from release (non-LTE version) until the day my Moto G4+ arrived from Amazon. About a year ago I replaced the battery for my Moto G1 for ~$20. A crap-load of screws (~15 Torx T4s) to get the back cover off, and one connector and I was done.
Went from about 5 hours of useful time (1-2hrs SOT, had to charge at work just to make it home) with about 2hrs of listening to podcasts to making to dinner time (maybe 12hrs, 2-3hrs SOT).
I figure by the time I need to replace the battery on my G4+, someone will be selling a replacement. Just cause it's not "User Replaceable" doesn't mean that someone with a screwdriver can't replace it.
On a total side note, I'm kinda pissed that the new Moto M is coming out so soon. It's practically the same price as the Moto G4+ and seems to be better. I like the USB-C, rear fingerprint sensor, and metal body. Oh well.
I am all into finding stock Androids, and the replacement for my stock-Android Chinese eBay special phone will probably be chosen through your site. :) But I think you might want to put some effort into making this site smaller. It's currently 3.3 megabytes for a list of 60 phones with small thumbnails and a list of tech specs.
It is planned but as sibling comment suggests, in the backlog for the moment.
If anyone is interested in the technical details -- I am using an angular-cli version that doesn't support AOT compilation so no tree shaking. Also no Angular Universal, therefore a loading screen.
Sounds excellent to me. I think many modern webpages are 10's of megabytes (which is lame).
I guess the specific audience of people looking for good stock phones might be operating off of a low cost data plan though? Otherwise of the many things the author could work on (improve curation, link to Swappa for purchase), I wonder if shaving a megabyte off the size is the most pressing issue.
Ive transitioned over the years from iPhones to Samsung androids then the nexus range, ie gradually closer to stock.
About 6 months ago my second nexus 5 crapped out and as I couldst find any nexus replacements (Im In SEA) I decided to try out the Xiaomi Mi4i. Im now fully converted. Its as big an improvement over the Nexus as the Nexus was over the Samsung. And its half the price of one.
The biggest surprise was MIUI. It rocks and in my opinion a far superior UI than vanilla android. Its also updated really frequently, the last update they did (last week) rectified the only major issue I had with the UI (quick-links on the status menu).
Seriously, I cannot praise this phone highly enough. My only qualm is the performance with while flicking between apps. But hell - its $170!
Thanks for making this site. For your 404 page, something along the lines of "these are not the droids you're looking for" would be great, given the site url.
[+] [-] seltzered_|9 years ago|reply
Would suggest also adding whether the phone supports a removable battery/extended battery. That seems to be a feature that is nearly dead on new android phones these days, except for the lg v10 and the moto z (via the moto mod battery case).
Also seconding the 'last update' column - I'm largely trying to forego most of my power-user desires for sd slots/removable batteries for a nexus phone because of just how many security issues with android seem to require it to be up-to-date.
Oh yeah, would also like a 'fingerprint reader' column - it's becoming near-ubiquitous these days though some phones from last year don't have it (e.g. moto x)
[+] [-] wernercd|9 years ago|reply
Otherwise, awesome tool.
[+] [-] jhasse|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] monksy|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] ikeboy|9 years ago|reply
1. Micro sd slot
2. Supports sprint in the US
3. Supports cyanogenmod
4. Given those, it should be powerful as possible
To my surprise, none of the 2016 flagships were acceptable. The Nexus line did not have a micro sd slot. Samsung s7 did not have cyanogenmod. Oneplus 3 did not support sprint. Most other phones were just not powerful, slow processors, etc.
I ended up settling for a 2015 moto x pure (style in op). Still disappointed that I couldn't get one with an 820 processor. Are my needs that exotic that nobody cares about them? Or have the phone companies just dropped the ball?
[+] [-] djsumdog|9 years ago|reply
Your biggest problem requirement is Sprint. Outside of the US, almost no one used CDMA. The rest of the planet is on the GMS/HSDPA/LTE stack.
I think Sprint and Verizon are the two largest networks in the world that are still on CDMA. Verizon is actually owned by Vodaphone and I think the reason they haven't rebranded their US offering is because all their other companies are on GSM.
[+] [-] oDot|9 years ago|reply
You'll need a company that can make a water resistant phone with a card slot, or is willing to give up the water resistant feature.
You'll need that company to be able to ship a CDMA version, which is harder when GSM is more common.
You'll need that company to not be a *ick company and have drivers for their hardware.
You'll need that company to achieve all of that and still be able to get a 820 and keep expected margins.
[+] [-] kpil|9 years ago|reply
The rather esoteric needs of a software developer is probably not high up on the marketing department's list of USPs... Plus, that it seems as if different regions are wanting different things - like an absurd number of cores, etc.
As an example, I am very fond of Sony. They make the best android phones in my opinion, with a really nice clean design and good support for updates. A plus for me is that it's still a Swedish team that make the phones although they seem to slowly loose the fight against the Japanese mega-corp mannerisms. There is more and more shit pre-installed on the phone, etc.
Unfortunately they peaked with the Z3 - anything after that is a lesser phone in some aspect. ZX is good and expensive as hell but compensates the faster processor and camera with a much much worse battery. X is fast, but is not water proof, etc.
Edit: I don't think the ZX supports CDMA unfortunately.
[+] [-] ergo14|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] snovv_crash|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rattray|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jhasse|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Esau|9 years ago|reply
- some you can root, some you can't.
- some have 3rd party junk, some don't.
- some get updates, some don't.
Being a fan of free/open source software, I want Android to succeed, but they have turned a good thing into a fucking quagmire.
[+] [-] Lerc|9 years ago|reply
If you want a known quantity with common support, buy a standard mainstream model. If you want the best thing for your needs you may have to do some research. It's like picking a Linux distro. I'd rather have variance than only Ubuntu.
[+] [-] sjwright|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chimeracoder|9 years ago|reply
Don't worry. At the rate we're headed, soon nobody will root their devices anymore, because practically every app they want to use will refuse to work on a rooted device.
[+] [-] thedays|9 years ago|reply
My suggestions for improving this would be to add:
- Dual SIM - many buyers, esp. in developing countries and frequent travellers prefer dual-SIM phones.
- Network Bands - many people have a preferred mobile network, e.g. Verizon or T-Mobile in the US, Telstra in Australia, etc. Each of these networks only supports specific frequency bands for 3G and 4G. So I'd suggest adding in a search-based filter which allows a user to find phones that support a particular band, e.g. 28 that their favorite mobile network uses.
[+] [-] carussell|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] butz|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TaylorAlexander|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oDot|9 years ago|reply
Here is what's in the works. Hopefully answering most of your requests:
- Upgradability (how fast does the phone get official updates)
- Better specs (sent out emails to the companies yesterday)
- Rootability
- Unlockable Bootloader
- CM port available
- Non-stock phones with CM port
[+] [-] logic|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wernercd|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jewbacca|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] voltagex_|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ikeboy|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fermuch|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Daniel_Marcos|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] moreati|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stryk|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] snarfy|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Paul_S|9 years ago|reply
There is nothing useful third-party "extra sauce" can add. In fact all the incentives for them are to make the OS worse.
[+] [-] ajford|9 years ago|reply
Went from about 5 hours of useful time (1-2hrs SOT, had to charge at work just to make it home) with about 2hrs of listening to podcasts to making to dinner time (maybe 12hrs, 2-3hrs SOT).
I figure by the time I need to replace the battery on my G4+, someone will be selling a replacement. Just cause it's not "User Replaceable" doesn't mean that someone with a screwdriver can't replace it.
On a total side note, I'm kinda pissed that the new Moto M is coming out so soon. It's practically the same price as the Moto G4+ and seems to be better. I like the USB-C, rear fingerprint sensor, and metal body. Oh well.
[+] [-] fastball|9 years ago|reply
When I was buying a budget android phone a few months ago, this was my primary criterion for purchasing. Wish it'd been around sooner.
[+] [-] lewiscollard|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oDot|9 years ago|reply
If anyone is interested in the technical details -- I am using an angular-cli version that doesn't support AOT compilation so no tree shaking. Also no Angular Universal, therefore a loading screen.
I hate spinners. And hamburger menus.
[+] [-] TaylorAlexander|9 years ago|reply
I guess the specific audience of people looking for good stock phones might be operating off of a low cost data plan though? Otherwise of the many things the author could work on (improve curation, link to Swappa for purchase), I wonder if shaving a megabyte off the size is the most pressing issue.
[+] [-] Normal_gaussian|9 years ago|reply
The CPU model is way to indirect a comparison to be useful
I want AMOLED
Aside from that a reasonable attempt at a solution
[+] [-] oDot|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ian0|9 years ago|reply
About 6 months ago my second nexus 5 crapped out and as I couldst find any nexus replacements (Im In SEA) I decided to try out the Xiaomi Mi4i. Im now fully converted. Its as big an improvement over the Nexus as the Nexus was over the Samsung. And its half the price of one.
The biggest surprise was MIUI. It rocks and in my opinion a far superior UI than vanilla android. Its also updated really frequently, the last update they did (last week) rectified the only major issue I had with the UI (quick-links on the status menu).
Seriously, I cannot praise this phone highly enough. My only qualm is the performance with while flicking between apps. But hell - its $170!
[+] [-] butz|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dshuang|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bossx|9 years ago|reply