Frustrations with purchasing a phone

[displaceAerospace]

Because I don't have money for therapy I will now air out all my frustrations with purchasing a smart phone in this era with you guys.

I have been thinking in the back of my mind that I should probably buy a new phone as I am currently rocking an iPhone 7 (it also keeps overheating so I can only use it for 15 minutes at a time cause the heat makes the digitiser go crazy). I then check the price of the newest iPhone and start malding immediately.

I have now caved into the realisation that my next phone will indeed have to be an Android, this is also probably the best choice as I try to be more privacy conscious and stuff and would like to put a custom OS on my new phone. I do have a few hurdles or worries that I would like to clear up before I decimate my wallet with the purchase of a new mobile device.

• All the phones look the same
  The bottom end of the smartphone market is just identical looking Chinese phones that will spy on you no matter the cost. They all have literally the same specs and almost identical designs and it's just a poor man's spec race.
• Camera Quality
  I don't know if this is some brainwashing marketing move Apple has pulled on me but the only phone I've ever felt confident shooting with was an iPhone. Maybe I've gone delusional but the vibe of the pictures from my iPhone is just right and whenever I went to a retailer to try out some other phones, the picture from modern mid-range phones did come out better but only marginally and the kind of improvement I was craving only came from flagship phones like the S22, Xperia 5 IV and others. I do get the limitation of smartphone camera sensors and the space they have to fit into and that a phone will never look as good as something taken with a DSLR.
• Alternate Operating Systems
  Since I am a big stinking nerd I would also like to get a custom operating system on my new Android. But the most known ones like, GrapheneOS (only for pixels) and LineageOS (limited support). Maybe some XDA Forums lurkers with magical esoteric knowledge of what is possible with stock Android or other custom OS' could enlighten my dumbass.

Thank you for listening to my rant about my troubles with buying a new phone that doesn't overheat every 15 minutes. Currently my short-list includes an Xperia 10 V aaaand that's about it, Pixel looks nice, but I don't like the irony that the best Google free smartphone is one made by Google and maybe the S22 which my friend has (I do like the design of that one). If you have any cool stories or recommendations about phone buying, please be free to share them down below.

[CrabHead]

Im not a huge expert on phones, but the Google Pixel phones would be the best option for you following the criteria. You can have a custom OS, it looks cool in my opinion and the camera quality is really good.

For myself, i recently bought Realme 8i. Its cheap, looks very nice, has a 120hz battery, very good battery life span, only minus i dont have the ability to load custom os'es but maybe you can? I dunno

[WrathfulMantis]

I currently have a Pixel 4XL and I really like it, however I used to have a Pixel 3A XL Which I loved significantly more
Biometrics wise 4XL uses your face to unlock whereas the 3A XL uses a fingerprint scanner on the back
The rear fingerprint scanner was something I ended up falling in love with on the phone as you could use it as an extra touch sensitive input for things like scrolling or pulling down the system pannel from above which ended up being much nicer than using "Gestures"
The 3A XL also was mostly plastic whereas the 4XL is glass backed with an aluminium frame, I prefer the plastic but that's up to preference.

Also it's worth mentioning that I have very big hands and the XL versions of these phones are just about comfortable for me to use one handed, if you have normal hands it might be worth getting a normal sized version.

[ReleaseTheGeese]

It is a problem that they all look the same. I can remember the early HTC Android phones, they actually looked unique and when I see one they make me want one (and I'm on team Apple). Or the Sony Xperia series, or even the iPhone 4 all stand out as unique in my head. Now the slabs are just uniform glass topped boxes.

I don't even think this is a getting older thing. How will the younger generation get excited about technology when it is bland and just used for cynical advertising? I can't see a future where anyone will make Samsung Galaxy S23 restoration videos while looking forwards to setting up a Samsung account.