I care about them in that order. So if it doesn’t have popup camera I don’t care as much as if it doesn’t have audio jack.
No popup camera, but Samsung Xcover6 Pro might be your jam: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_xcover6_pro-11600.php
6gb ram, 120hz display, Android 13, Snapdragon 778, SD slot, removeable battery, 3.5mm jack, USB 3.2 w/dex support.
Holy moly guacamole, there are so many features I wanted! I wonder what the biggest downside is aside from mid camera quality.
Probably the bloated software, and for some maybe the screen. Otherwise it has some good specs! Quite simular to the A52s, which is a much appreciated midranger!
Yeah, I read somewhere that the 6gb of ram is not capable of multitasking. So it is possible the bloat is taking a lot of the ram. My device has 8gb of ram, and 5 gb is in use, I don’t use my phone too much.
I used the A52s for ~2 years up to yesterday, i’ve had no problems with multitasking. Gotta say that i didn’t multitasked that much, but leaving a couple of apps open while running 2 others at the same time didn’t caused any problems, whatsoever. Still… I hate Samsungs bloatware, it is the main reason i switched to another brand with stock Android. Much better!
I’m getting a Samsung for dev work because it’s cheap, but I wouldn’t have gotten it if I wasn’t sure I could root it to remove the bloat.
Yeah, the price/hardware balance is good at Samsung (unless they use Exynos, man those can suck…). Good software update policy and the quality of it too. If Samsung gave an option to deliver a solid Pixel-like experience (just the regular Google bloat), i would’ve never left. Ever since they started “intergrating” their bloat into the actual settings/launcher, while still needing to update those apps through the Samsung Store, that did it for me. Now i’m going to use that A52s to try out custom roms and things like Lineage. Keeping my new one, Fairphone 5, as the “stable/non-bs” phone.
Just put of interest, what OS are you running on your main Fairphone?
LCD display, not OLED for some insane reason.
TIL such a phone existed.
This is my current work phone. Absolutely love it, also has an LED notification light. Seriously forgot how much I missed that.
Damn. Wish I saw this a week ago before I bought my first new phone in 5 years…
You might still be within the return period!
I have the previous version. Going on 3-4 ears now. It is good. Great even, assuming your camera requirements aren’t super high. The programmable buttons are so excellent and I wish that was a more prevalent feature.
You want an Xperia. No removable battery (there are almost no “normal” phones with removable batteries) and instead of a popup camera you get a regular front camera in a tiny bezel (so assuming you don’t want a stupid hole/notch in the display that’s what you want). But they are overall solid phones with excellent DACs and very clean Android. And it’s still a mainstream, non-Chinese brand.
The only disadvantage is price, but they target a niche audience. If you can take a deal with headphones or such it’s very much worth it.
Yup. Removable batteries are more rare in flagships than headphone jacks. Currently rocking a Zenfone 6, my next one will be an Xperia - as long as they don’t mess it up by removing one of the critical features. (I’m still salty about the removal of the notification led.)
Can confirm: I’ve been loving my Xperia since I got it a few months ago.
The other con you didn’t mention is availability. I’m in the Eastern US, drove around to several different stores and couldn’t find anywhere that carried it. Eventually had to order online and have it shipped, which I normally don’t like to do for something this expensive.
You crave the forbidden phone that does not exist!
No.
If you eliminate the removable battery requirements, there are only 9 released since 2020, mostly in China. See https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2020&nYearMax=2023&chkFrontPopup=selected&chk35mm=selected&idCardslot=1
If you care more about the removable battery than popup camera, there are more options, but still mostly from China. https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2022&nYearMax=2023&chk35mm=selected&idCardslot=1&idBatRemovable=1
there are only 9 released since 2020
The pop-up camera was mostly a “fad” of 2019, also without the removable battery requirements you could add the Zenfone 6 to the list if you include the inception year of 2019.
Fairphone has removable battery and is not one list.
No headphone jack
Very few phones had pop up camera I belive. So that itself narrows down your list. Add removable battery to it, even fewer. 3.5 mm jack, even tinier. SD card slot, maybe you can count on one hand.
Yeah, we know how filtering works…
No popup camera but I have the Gigaset GS5 and am happy with it. Dual Sim and a SD card slot, not one of those dual Sim/SD card slots.
Made in Germany and running stock android.
can i install GrapheneOS on Gigaset GS5?
I don’t know, they do the usual we won’t support a phone not running the android version we release.
My Asus Zenfone 8 has a 3.5mm audio jack. I believe the Zenfone 9 & 10 do as well. No removable battery or memory card slot but should be dual sim. My Zenfone 8 even has FM radio LOL.
Love my Zenfone 8 :-)
The Motorola G73 scores two out of 3 with a headphone jack and SD card slot, but it doesn’t have an easily replacable battery or popup camera. The Fairphone has a replacable battery and SD slot, but no headphone jack.
Samsung Xcover has all but a popup camera. Marketed for industrial use.
Has the pop up camera (has that ever been a thing?) You would probably have to go back a decade. I may remember Motorola tried to bring back easy battery replacement (where you just kept a spare battery with you and just popped it in when the phone died) but it didn’t last long. There is another phone that is still out I believe that you can replace different modules of the phone but I don’t believe it’s for convenience. The phone is geared more user repair and modifying the phone.
I remember some older OnePlus phones did it. I know Asus also did it as well.
The OnePlus 7 Pro, I quite liked that about the phone. Still have it in use as a backup.
7t Pro as well, still my daily driver! Can highly recommend it.
Such a wonderful phone! The pop up camera is so nice for privacy. I got a new phone and gave it to a friend and they still daily drive it happily.
I think I do remember the Asus phone. I think it was the zenphone 7 or 8 maybe.
Too bad the Fairphone doesn’t have a headphone jack. It checks the other boxes (besides the popup camera). Would a USB-C to audio adapter work?
Never.
What if you just got USB-C headphones?
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Just embrace the external DACs. It allows you to upgrade your audio experience anytime, unlike with the jack where the DAC in your phone may be pretty eh at times
I have been using the Apple USB-C DAC ever since both my Poco F1’s and my Ideapad’s jack died, and enjoyed the significant upgrade the DAC brought to the sound quality.
My device, Poco F2 Pro has all that aside the SD slot… It is a very solid phone though.
Currently using a CLO ROM called Neoteric (based in Paranoid Android I guess) but all AOSP ROMs are pretty fast, I just seek for the better battery backup.
Excluding the popup camera, your options seem to be low-end Nokia phones, the Galaxy Xcover6 pro, the FairPhone 3 and the PinePhone.
Try the Samsung XCover 6 Pro. Ignore the criticisms of it not supporting 5G on T-Mobile networks since I use Metro PCS that piggybacks off of it and it runs just fine. Other than its rather large screen size, it feels like one of the earlier Android phones with a removable battery, expandable SD port, and the all important audio jack. It’s rather sad as consumers that one of the few models out there that have these features comes from a business phone line.
And you get 5g on Metro PCS?
Yep.
I would get that phone in a second if they didn’t put an LCD over an OLED display on it.
Samsung S10 has Audio jack and SD slot.
That’s what I’m writing on that this very minute. It’s a refurb replacement for the S10 I killed a year ago.
Oppo Reno 2. Has everything you asked except for the removable battery. My aunt’s been using for 4 years and the cameras are really good. Cons are: EOL, it’s pretty old and has ColorOS if you do mind.
