I’m currently running the Pixel 6 Pro with Graphine OS.

Worst thing about this phone is the curved display. Everything else is good enough for me, which is saying a lot. I’ve had many phones over years and only a few have really been awesome.

In no particular order:

• HTC EVO Shift, EVO 4G LTE, EVO 3D
• Some ZTE Phone with android 2.2
• Oneplus One, 3T, 6T
• Pixel 4, Pixel 6 Pro
• Nexus 4, 5, 5x, 7
• iPhone 4, SE, 7, 12

Edit: format and a device

Pixel 7 Pro.

I’m generally happy with it, but the battery has been rather bad in that I have issues getting a full day out of it. I’ve also finding overheating issues when in 80+ degree F weather.

The pixel 7 pro. I have been so disappointed with Google phones in the last few years. I like not having bloat, and as a developer it is good to have a generic phone.

The 7 really raised the bar. I couldn’t live without face ID. I don’t know if I could go back. It is so much easier now.

Asus ZenFone 8.

I love it, it’s a nice bit of kit, and the few gimmicks it has are useful: scheduled charging for better battery life, digital well being stuff to stop me being glued to my phone.

Battery would be a problem for a super power user, but lasts me all day with commuting, reading the web etc. Camera is not on a par with flagships but I rarely take pictures.

Prior to this I had a Huawei until the battery died on me. I upgrade when I have to, I hate consumer upgrade cycles.

I have zero android ecosystem products.

I’m Android/Linux all the way unless work force me to use a Mac, which happens periodically, as part of the great cycle of life.

I have an S20 FE. Literally my perfect phone, and I have no plans to change it any time soon!

Google Pixel 6. I upgraded from an iPhone 8 a year ago. I love how open the os is, letting me do a bunch more then what’s on the app store.

For headphones I have Soundcore Q30. They’re decent Bluetooth headphones, that were pretty cheap when I bought them.

I use Windows with WSL. I tried switching to Linux for over a month, but I had too many issues with Windows only apps.

I also love usb-c. Almost all my devices can charge using the same cords. The only exceptions are my laptop with a 200W brick, and my diabetes pump. Nothing I can do about those.

• Current phone is Poco F2 Pro

• I’m okay with it. Performance is nice but there is a lot of bloatware. Battery could last longer but I guess everyone wants more battery am I right? The price per hardware was very good, don’t regret buying it.

• I had One Plus 3T, Nexus 5, Samsung Galaxy S2… I’m sure I’m forgetting one. Best one was probably the One Plus 3T, back then the One Plus prices were so nice. Sad.

• I try spend an average of 100 euros a year on smartphones. I bought my phone for 400 euros, must last at least 4 years. Never in a rush to swap, I only do it when the battery no longer lasts me a full day.

• No other Android devices. I constantly try to come up with use cases to justify buying a smart watch but honestly I just can’t an actual good use to justify constantly having to charge it.

• I have a 10 year old MacBook that is on its last legs. Battery time is pretty miserable right now. Other than that I just use Windows. I dabbled with a couple of Linux distros but I’m just not into it. I like Windows.

What phone are you using?

I have a Pixel 7, Obsidian Color

Are you happy with it? What are its best and worst qualities?

I love the phone. Its my first non low-end android, and I can’t see myself going back to an iPhone. I love the assortment of emulators available for Android, and the pixel 7 main camera is very good. The selfie camera could use some work, but picture taking is not what I got this phone for anyway.

Which phones have you had previously? Which were the best and worst of the lot?

My previous phones were an iPhone 11 and an iPhone 5C before that. I have a Moto G pure (low end android) for a little bit, although it was more of a secondary phone instead of something to switch to, as it is very sluggish to use. The iPhone 11 was a good phone, the selfie camera is still better than my current pixel phone. I definitely craved the feeling of freedom I got from my Motorola though, despite its shortcomings. So I went ahead and got my pixel.

How often do you upgrade to a new phone? Very rarely, I might be upgrading more often now though due to pixels having shorter security update Windows than iPhones.

What other Android ecosystem devices do you have? Watches, headphones/earbuds, etc.

None at the moment, although I am planning on getting Pixel buds.

Do you also use any Apple products, or are you Android all the way? (And/or Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, etc.)

For now I am android all the way. I have a Lenovo Thinkpad with Windows 11 on it, I have tried to switch to Linux but my laptops display needs fractional scaling as the dimensions of the screen are different from the resolution. So until fractional scaling gets better on nvidia cards I’ll have to stay with Windows.

Dang I wrote a lot 💀

S22+. Got an insane deal on a like new refurbished model, so it seemed like a no-brainer.

It’s a phone. Most nondescript phone I’ve ever used. Nothing about it is amazing, but no major complaints. Even the battery is fine for me, despite a lot of people complaining about poor battery life on the S22 series.

Pixel 7 Pro w/GrapheneOS. Being able to control what my phone is sending or not sending + the battery life gain from everything not phoning home is amazing.

Just made the change to a Pixel 6a from my really old Samsung Galaxy.

My only requirement was about size. I wanted something “smaller”, first I thought about going with a newer Samsung from their mid-range ‘A’ category, but after seeing how big those things were, I decided to look outside the Samsung ecosystem.

I discovered GrapheneOS and as an open-source enthusiast, I really liked the idea. The professionalism of the dev team and the bloat free aspect of the OS made me get a Pixel.

The size is not that bad, but I wish it would be a bit smaller. So far I’m really liking it. I love the camera of this thing (even without GCam). The physical button placement was a bit weird for me at first, but I’ve gotten used it.

I usually abuse my phones till they die, so I was looking for something that would last and I really think that I will be able to go for 5 years with this phone without an issue.

I have a Pixel 4a because I refuse to spend more than $200 on a phone. The battery is starting to not last very long so either I am going to replace the battery or get a Pixel 6a for $200. I’d really prefer to not need a new phone because I like the headphone jack.

OnePlus 7T

I love this phone. I thought it’d take longer than it actually did to get used to not having a home button anymore, but I adapted in less than an hour. Love how OxygenOS is very close to stock Android. The glass on the back is super slick. Everything is super slick to me. My hands are chronically dry. So I hate all these glass-backed phones.

I’ve previously used a OnePlus 3, OnePlus One, Samsung Galaxy S4, Motorola Photon 4G, and a Motorola RAZR ve20. I loved my Galaxy. It was my first OLED experience. My OnePlus One felt like kind of a downgrade, but it also allowed me to stop having to sign contracts to get an affordable phone in 2015. Plus, back then, it felt like being a part of something new and exciting. Man I miss Cyanogenmod.

I upgrade basically whenever I need to. The phone I have now is ~3½ years old. The back glass is busted and the battery is starting to lose its life. They will repair it and so I’m thinking of sending it in. I can picture myself using this phone on another 3-4 years barring some kind of carrier stupidity.

No other Android devices. I’m an otherwise Windows/Ubuntu person. Started trying Mint recently. I do have a Fitbit.

I used to have a 4th gen iPod Touch circa 2011 before I got my Photon 4G. iOS 6 ran like crap on it and I was around the corner from building my first PC. I had started using my Android phone for my games and music and such so I just didn’t have a use for it anymore. Sold it off and I haven’t owned an Apple product since.

Samsung galaxy S21. I really enjoy it and has worked perfectly. I like Samsung rendition of Android, I feel like it gives me a larger overview of settings and so forth. I’ve had an iphone 6 and Huawei Mate 20 lite. My problem with the iphone was that i didn’t really understand it, and the app library was limited. The Huawei became slow fast, but that might just be because of it being the lite edition. In edition to the Samsung S21 i also own a Samsung galaxy watch 5 and a pair Samsung buds 2. Both these works great, and i really enjoy Samsungs health app wich is how the watch connects to the phone. The buds are even compatible with my windows computer :)

Currently, I’m using a Motorola moto g100 and I’m happy with it. Good battery life, nice big screen, much improved performance compared to my last phone. Best phone I’ve ever owned. The main inconvenience is the location of the fingerprint sensor: I’d have preferred if it was on the front of the device somehow (definitely not on the back – I often have it lying flat on the table).

I also dislike the fact it can only remember five fingerprints while I have 10 fingers. Who thought that was a good idea? :þ

Previously I had a Moto G5+ and a Moto G. I guess you could say I enjoyed the quality and relative lack of bloatware of these Motorola phones, while being more affordable than some of the alternatives I was considering at the time I bought them.

Going further back, I had a HTC Desire Z (with a slide-out physical keyboard). I picked it as my first smartphone because I was hesitant to get rid of physical keys, but as it turned out I hardly ever used them. Looking back, this one was clearly the worst value for the money.

Since I switched to smart phones I’ve been upgrading every 3 or 4 years.

Before the smart phone era, I had an Alcatel device (can’t remember the exact model). I used that tiny near-indestructable thing for over a decade, only charging it about once a week. It was mostly an “in case of emergency” though, not nearly as heavily used as later phones, because it wasn’t really usable as a miniature pocket-computer (like smart phones are). Still, I was pretty happy with it at the time: the only reason I got rid of it was because the ‘0’ button broke, and in my country all phone numbers start with 0.

I also have an LG G Watch (Wear OS). A relative worked at Google when these were handed out to employees but didn’t actually want it, so I got it as a gift. It’s pretty old now: I’ve replaced the bands a few times and it won’t charge past 70%, but it still mostly works and the battery still lasts all day. I’m not sure if I’ll get another smart watch if and when this one finally breaks, though.

No Apple products, and my laptop runs Linux Mint. These days, I only use Windows at work or when helping relatives with tech problems (sigh).