Phone Recommendations

Last update : 28/1/2023

- Introduction -

- Not recommended / avoid -
Huawei / Honor
Apple
LG (except the V30 and/or EU LG cellphones)
Xiaomi (except Android One)
Nokia (HMD)
Samsung
Carrier-locked devices
Cellphones with dynamic partition
"Gaming" cellphones
Cellphones without headphone jacks

- Universally recommended -
Bootloader unlockable
Custom ROMs & TWRP availability
Cellphone Condition
Warranty
Miscellaneous hardware stuff you care about

- Recommended with caveats -
Personal recommendations
ASUS
Google Pixels
OnePlus [3(T); 5(T); 6]
Xiaomi (with someone else who has a Mi account)

- Not tried out yet / unknown -

Just keep using your old cellphone if it still works

Introduction

Personal cellphone recommendations of what you should get & what you should avoid. This page ignores all issues of firmware (except for egregious ones like Xiaomi's) as they cannot be either modified and/or audited to become trustworthy.

15/2/2023 Update : I no longer want to deal with Android, so I don't recommend getting any Android devices unless absolutely necessary.

Not recommended / avoid

First off, here's the rough list of devices / brands I recommend avoiding.

Huawei / Honor

On paper, Huawei (and Honor by extension) has an undeniably awesome spec sheet - enough to arouse my performance enthusiast side. However, as its bootloader are no longer officially unlockable, it is getting a veto from me, regardless of its mouth-watering specs.

In addition, while there are unofficial methods of unlocking the bootloader, they're either a paid service, or malware bait.

Apple

Sure, iPhones have those good build quality & record-smashing benchmark performance (breaking their own record obviously). They're also easy to use for the sheeple who's allergic to Android (or more specifically Samsung). However, even with those advantages, I don't think they're worth considering, considering the issues below :

LG

By default, LG will not allow bootloader unlocking unless you're using the EU variants (officially supported) / US unlocked (might require screwing around with the site). However, with their developer website being now useless, bootloader unlocking is impossible except by using security exploits (such as the LG V30, which will be mentioned below).

The V30 is one of the few LG cellphones to be exempt from this list just because it has an exploit for bootloader unlocking (Archive). But still, development for the V30 is basically dead in the water.

Xiaomi (except Android One)

Xiaomi's official bootloader unlock protocol requires a Mi Account; a phone number; Mi Unlock, a Windows-only unlocker app; & takes at least 72 real time hours, if not more (up to 2 weeks AFAIK). In addition, EDL requires a Mi Authorized Account, something owned by either overpriced & probably shady providers, or service centers who don't know how to use them & instead charges you for a motherboard replacement. However, if you have a friend / family / relative with a Mi Account, you could ask them for a favor & have them lend their account & SIM card (obviously have to be tied to the account) to help you unlock the bootloader.

As for their Android One cellphones, their hardware may suck (except for A2, it's horrible), but at least the EDL & UBL methods are similar to Pixel & OnePlus.

Also, Xiaomi (and Redmi & Poco by extension) is a Chinese company. Any issues applicable to Chinese companies applies to Xiaomi.

More information regarding Xiaomi can be seen below.

Nokia (HMD)

Similar to Huawei, Nokia doesn't officially allow bootloader unlocking (except for Nokia 8). However, unlike Huawei, Nokia releases their cellphones under the Android One program, which makes them even worse, since Xiaomi & Motorola's Android One cellphones allow bootloader unlocking. While there could be some unofficial ways to unlock a Nokia cellphone's bootloader, it might involve tearing down the cellphone (or, even worse, using paid stuff).

In addition, Huawei also made it clear that there's no bootloader unlocking for their cellphones, unlike Nokia, as Nokia has a bootloader unlocking site (but it's only for Nokia 8).

Samsung

The elephant in the room. The biggest Android manufacturer known to date. But not a cellphone brand that I would take, use, & recommend without severe hesitation. However, after hearing a news where Samsung disables the Fold 3's cameras once the bootloader's unlocked, I decided that Samsung cellphones are simply not worth it.

General advantages of Samsung devices :

General disadvantages of Samsung devices :

Carrier-locked devices

Carrier-locked devices may not have the ability to unlock bootloader, putting their life at the mercy of the carrier & their maker. Once either deems them obsolete, you can't extend their life by installing custom ROMs, since there's no way to unlock the bootloader to begin with. Of course, some carrier locked cellphones (LG V30 is the only example I could provide) could unlock bootloader (by using an exploit), but they're rare.

Cellphones with dynamic partition

This indirectly translates to any & all cellphones released with Android 10 (and beyond) out of the box. Since cellphones with dynamic partition are currently unable to modify system, vendor, & product partition (aside from installing custom ROMs, for now), you can't just debloat it as you wish. However, there is work done to make super partition read/writeable, so you might want to wait & see.

8/8/2022 Update : Late update, but informing that there's a way to mount partitions in TWRP as RW, allowing modifications to such partitions.

"Gaming" cellphones

These so-called "gaming" phones such as Xiaomi BlackShark, ASUS ROG, Lenovo Legion, Nubia Red Magic, & Razer Phone. They're not really gaming cellphones - they're actualy just decent networking phones with some gaming flairs, such as :

Personally, other than the ROG Phone II (since there's some custom ROMs & the ever-important inbuilt headphone jack), I don't want to recommend "gaming" phones, at least until someone out there makes an actual "gaming" cellphone, with microSD, HRR LCD, inbuilt headphone jack, & active custom ROM support.

Cellphones without headphone jacks

This is my personal opinion - I cannot & will never (except for the Pixel 3 & Mi A2) use a cellphone without a headphone jack (and cellphones without any kind of ports by eventual extension, should it exists) unless I have a very good reason to do so. Here's why I won't generally use and/or recommend cellphones without headphone jacks :

Universally recommended

Actually, I cannot universally recommend a device at the moment - there's just no "truly perfect device" out there (perfection is subjective). The X3P (assuming it doesn't have any QC issues) is very close to perfection, but held back by Xiaomi's bootloader unlock & EDL protocol (as well as that hole in the middle of the display). The ROG Phone 2 (and maybe 5) is probably better, if not for OLED display & lack of microSD (and QC concerns thanks to the 6z being notorious for having one).

Hence, instead of truly recommending a cellphone, I'd recommend what you should look for in a cellphone, & in which condition as well.

Bootloader unlockable

This is the most important factor in selecting a cellphone. However, many brands vary in their bootloader unlock protocol.

Avoid cellphones with non-unlockable bootloaders, since you can't install custom ROMs and/or TWRP without unlocking the bootloader.

Consider getting someone (a friend / family member) to help you if your cellphone's bootloader unlock protocol requires an account & you refuse to make an account for it. This applies to plenty of brands, such as Xiaomi & Sony.

Bootloader unlock protocols can be divided into several types, such as :

Custom ROMs & TWRP availability

Even if the device can be unlocked, it won't matter much if there's no custom ROM and/or TWRP to apply it. You could technically use adb sideload, but it's not ideal, especially if you're flashing on the move & away from a PC.

Building your own ROM and/or custom recovery (or a TWRP build) for your device is also an option, if you have enough resources to do so.

One way to check out custom ROM and/or TWRP availability is to check the XDA forum and/or Telegram updates channel for your device. However, the former's cuckflared & the latter is an app-first ecosystem that may not play well with non-app users. My reviews and/or ROM list page do list which device is supported by what ROM, but I admit it suffers from my bias of not recommending shit ROMs, so there's that as well.

Cellphone Condition

Advantages of getting an used cellphone :

Disadvantages of getting an used cellphone :

Advantages of getting a brand-new cellphone :

Disadvantages of getting a brand-new cellphone :

Warranty

Moving on to what most of us may have in mind - warranty, since we've probably been conditioned to take our device to the service center every time there's an issue with it.

While it's a good thing to have when your device fucks itself up, chances are it's going to be void - especially if you have unlocked the bootloader. So, in this case, don't rely on warranty - start learning how to fix your own cellphone. Only go to service centers when you're absolutely sure you can't fix it (just prepare to be ripped off).

Miscellaneous hardware stuff you care about

These includes "optional" hardware features you'd want to have in a cellphone, such as headphone jack, micro SD, alert sliders, side buttons, & such. My preferences can be found in the personal recommendations section below.

As for more interesting hardware features such as kill switches (Wi-Fi, mobile, mic, camera, & such), you probably won't find them anywhere except for something like Purism Librem 5. While I'm somewhat interested in having this feature, chances are they either won't fully work like expected (disabling microphone won't prevent other sensors such as the gyroscope from recording audio, for example), or questionably useful (physical kill switches are fine & all, but someone with physical access could disable / enable it without you knowing).

Recommended with caveats

Here's the rough list of devices / brands I recommend getting, with a few caveats that can be (somewhat) easily bypassed for the most part.

Personal recommendations

I'll link my cellphone list & cellphone reviews for more details (read : what I've gotten & used personally).

Also, let me add in what I tend to look for in cellphones :

Here are some general tips I would offer :

ASUS

ASUS - a brand known for being in both the gaming sector (ROG, Zephyrus, TUF) & consumer sector (Zen-whatever, vivobook). And with some QC issues since the ZS630KL.

General advantages of ASUS :

General disadvantages of ASUS :

Tips for ASUS phones :

Google Pixels

In contrast to their Goolag & Go-ogle policies, Google's Pixel cellphones are surprisingly open towards modders... at first sight. It's just that Google tends to make Android less user-friendly with every release.

General advantages of Google's Pixels :

General disadvantages of Google's Pixels :

Personally, I don't want to recommend Google's Pixels since they are generally inferior to most cellphones at their price point (aside from their camera if you consider it). However, depending on your usage case, here is what I can recommend in case you really want to get a Pixel cellphone :

OnePlus [3(T); 5(T); 6]

OK, let's face it: OnePlus is basically the US branch of Oppo (BBK by extension) in everything but name. However, this doesn't mean that their older (& unfortunately discontinued) cellphones suck. In fact, the 3(T) is pretty good (and less problematic than the more advanced Poco F1). 5(T) & 6 are probably fine, but I haven't used them & probably won't use them, considering OnePlus' rarity in the region I'm stuck in) is fine enough, provided that you could maintain it yourself (again, it's discontinued)

General advantages of OnePlus :

General disadvantages of OnePlus :

Tips for OnePlus cellphones :

Xiaomi (with someone else who has a Mi account)

Ok, I seem like flip-flopping on Xiaomi, as I previously don't recommend them thanks to their troublesome bootloader protocol. However, Xiaomi cellphones are generally popular for developers due to their relatively affordable prices, so you'll be guaranteed to have a decent selection of custom ROMs, at the very least.

General advantages of Xiaomi / Redmi / Poco:

General disadvantages of Xiaomi / Redmi / Poco:

Tips for Xiaomi cellphones :

Not tried out yet / unknown

Brand(s) I haven't tried out yet at the moment (and have no plans on trying out unless there's a good reason for me to do so).

Just keep using your old cellphone if it still works

I know that this page is supposed to tell you which cellphone I'd recommend, but fuck it - if that thing still works, keep using it. If that thing needs repairs, do it as long as the costs are cheaper than buying another cellphone of similar specifications. If that thing's beyond repair, only then you can come back & re-read what I would have recommended, and make sure whatever you've bought fits what you need.

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