so true. actually the whole phone market is dogshit right now
it sure seems like things are getting worse, when all my phone upgrades have been forced:
1. original iphone wipes itself when i connect it to a new computer. ouch. my own itunes account, but somehow not recognized, and zap. went to android after this.
2. first android was the nexus. it had a known hardware bug where the soft buttons were being triggered randomly without being touched. started to drive me insane.
3. enter a unibody aluminum HTC. owned it for 3 years. i missed the sdcard slot but grew to love it anyway because it was durable as hell. it fell down a flight of concrete stairs. then carried on about its day. eventually the camera died on it (all pics started coming out hazy and red). i still see people using htc 7s even now.
4. enter nexus 6p. decent phone. screen was not very bright which was annoying outside but otherwise checks all the boxes. and it still gets the latest updates-- thing runs on oreo! but now its falling apart. the glass at the back broke twice, the sim is loose, gps works half the time, the plastic bottom fell off..
5. and so here we are today. cannot find another 6p. the pixel looks worse in many ways (fugly and bezels are even bigger while the software is the same). the v2 with no headphone jack?? and all these phones with glass backs that are actually even thicker than their predecessors that are obviously not going to last very long (anyone out there have a screen shatter?? lets double those odds). everyone using their own bloatware and not updating anything... android ones only really available in eurasia... ugh. do not want to crawl back to apple. someone help? blackberry, where are you?? lol
Sadly, there's no phone that has great software and great hardware. Pixels and iPhones have great software and quick updates, but they have no jacks, and the screens aren't very good, etc.
Samsung S8 or LG V30 have probably the best hardware (great AMOLED screens, jacks, SD card slots, etc), but the software might be lacking - there's some bloatware, some "me too" apps, and updates aren't quick. Although I have been told that the software situation is much better this year.
I think something like OnePlus 5 sits in the middle, almost a Nexus replacement - good (but not great) hardware for reasonable price, almost stock software, and it's kind of enthusiast phone, so it will very likely get working LineageOS for years to come.
I've been using the Moto Z Play for 6 months and it's my favorite phone yet.
The battery life is insane, easily can make it 2 days and I'm an extremely heavy user. I love the plain vanilla Android stock and I got a deal where I got the Hassleblad camera Moto mod for free which is a great addition.
it sure seems like things are getting worse, when all my phone upgrades have been forced:
1. original iphone wipes itself when i connect it to a new computer. ouch. my own itunes account, but somehow not recognized, and zap. went to android after this.
2. first android was the nexus. it had a known hardware bug where the soft buttons were being triggered randomly without being touched. started to drive me insane.
3. enter a unibody aluminum HTC. owned it for 3 years. i missed the sdcard slot but grew to love it anyway because it was durable as hell. it fell down a flight of concrete stairs. then carried on about its day. eventually the camera died on it (all pics started coming out hazy and red). i still see people using htc 7s even now.
4. enter nexus 6p. decent phone. screen was not very bright which was annoying outside but otherwise checks all the boxes. and it still gets the latest updates-- thing runs on oreo! but now its falling apart. the glass at the back broke twice, the sim is loose, gps works half the time, the plastic bottom fell off..
5. and so here we are today. cannot find another 6p. the pixel looks worse in many ways (fugly and bezels are even bigger while the software is the same). the v2 with no headphone jack?? and all these phones with glass backs that are actually even thicker than their predecessors that are obviously not going to last very long (anyone out there have a screen shatter?? lets double those odds). everyone using their own bloatware and not updating anything... android ones only really available in eurasia... ugh. do not want to crawl back to apple. someone help? blackberry, where are you?? lol