I think my Pixel 6 is on its last legs.
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I remember the 5c. That was a very popular phone for a few years and very tough. I used to work for a major phone retailer and I remember seeing people looking for cases for the 5c well after we stopped selling it.
I'm honestly reluctant to get another Pixel and I doubt I can wait until the Motorola GrapheneOS phone. I have some concerns about Motorola making a GrapheneOS phone. Their policies on unlocking boot loaders and stuff have been pretty anticonsumer in the past. We'll see what happens.
And I'm all for using tech until it dies, but I think this phone is in the grossly unreliable phase of its life.
Besides the ability to use GrapheneOS, there isn't a whole lot I like about the Pixel phones. They always seem to release flagships that are less technically impressive and rely on their software to make up for gaps, which seems moot if you're going to replace the OS.
My partner just inherited an S24 Ultra and it is very impressive with a super hi-res screen and very fast cpu, minus all of the AI junk. I was surprised by how much of the AI stuff I was able to turn off and disable on her phone. The cameras are also super impressive.
I don't know if I could stomach being stuck in the Apple ecosystem with an iPhone, as nice as their hardware is.
Then there are the Linux phones, which I think are just very expensive experiments at this point.
And of course, I even ask myself: "Do I even need a smart phone? It might be hard to function without one... If I need one, I want a good one."
Whats that idiom? Buy it nice or buy it twice?
I'm not crazy about where phones are in general right now.
A lot to think about.
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I get where you’re coming from with Fairphone, but I think the MrMobile review explains it well regarding the camera hue (green images) and general polish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiDu9ngFljA
For me, Fairphone falls into that same expensive experiment category as Linux phones. They are great in theory, but frustrating in daily practice.
I have decided that if I’m going to have a smartphone, I want the best tool for the job. I have been reading/watching reviews of the S26 Ultra and I like what they have done with it. What is interesting is how much Samsung is leaning into a manual mode for users like us. You can actually toggle off most of the Galaxy AI features in the settings.
It isn't perfect, but I think I can make it work.
Instead of a broken experience with deGoogling it with ADB, I can just disable the "AI Now Bar"and Gemini natively. Then, use the Privacy Display, the new screen (hardware) that prevents side-angle viewing, which is a massive win for privacy without any special software. And, keep the data processing local only (there’s a toggle for that now), so no data ever leaves the device to be processed for AI.
It feels like it might be a sovereign way to own a flagship: buy the most over engineered hardware available and then turn off the parts that get in the way. It is a 7 or 8 year phone that won't feel like a compromise.
The crappy part of it, for people like us, is there is no perfect solution. I am sure some privacy purists would scoff at my idea of getting a flagship phone, but I think this is one area where, unlike with a Linux computer, we can't have our cake and eat it too.
