I need to know what phone I should get.

[andrewducker]

My Pixel 4a stops getting security updates in a month. And so it's new phone time (annoyingly, as it's working fine, and you'd hope that security updates would be addable to any version of Android).

So I went looking for a new phone that has: Android, NFC (so it can pay for things), a fingerprint sensor, a headphone jack, at least 6GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. (Please don't waste both of our times arguing about these specs. If you want to rant about them then go make your own post.)

So far, the front runner is the Xiaomi Poco X5 Pro 5G - which I can get on Amazon for £279 as part of the current Prime Day.

Does anyone want to leap in and tell me that I should buy a different phone instead?

Comments

[rmc28]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jellyphone/jelly-star-the-smallest-android-13-smartphone

Kickstarter ends in 50 hours, meets your spec as given, phone is ridiculously small, won't ship until October. I'm getting one: I have a Unihertz Atom L which is about 3 years old and I'm quite happy with, but I could not resist tiny phone (and I also now have a tablet if I actually need a bigger screen).

[autopope]

Pros: it's by Unihertz, they make solid Android phones and they ship updates.

Cons: if they say it's their smallest phone ever, it's going to be almost unusable unless you've got tiny fingers and microscopic vision.

[andrewducker]

Yes, it looks good, but too tiny for me.

[altamira16]

I think there is a market for tiny phones, but most of your apps will look like trash because a lot of companies are not building designs for the smallest form factors, so you are going to have applications that take up your whole screen with two words and other dumb things.

[andrewducker]

That looks terribly cute, but I do need a bigger screen than that.

[calimac]

One reason I don't have a smartphone at all (I have a "dumbphone") is that I need an even bigger screen than that: in fact, to read anything more complex than a text message (and sometimes I even have trouble with those), I need a screen bigger than anything that would fit in my pocket, so it becomes impossible to carry around, because Absolute Guarantee I'd put it down somewhere and forget to take it.

[andrewducker]

Tablets are very cheap nowadays, particularly if you just want them for text.
But also very easy to leave lying around.

[channelpenguin]

I love tiny things.

Hmmmmm....

[hairyears]

I have been watching this for some time: I have small hands and I need a phone that I can use one-handed - otherwise, it's a tablet, not a phone! - and the only suitable android that's stil receiving security patches is the Sony Ace, a Japan-only phone that isn't well-supported by UK neteorks.

I may end up getting it anyway, as theJelly is a little too small, especially the screen: but tbe phone-based 'push' 2FA systems for logging into work remotely are not permitted to run on out-of-support and insecure devices.

[myka]

this looks interesting. I like small phones, but I'm not ready for an update yet.

[draigwen]

My android phone hasn't had an update for 2 years... I really need to replace it but buying a house is more important!

[andrewducker]

I am appalled by your terrible priorities!

[bugshaw]

I also have the 4a and hadn't heard about the updates stopping - so thank you to you, and grrr to them. It's a nice phone, nothing is broken, and I'd happily use it for a couple more years.

Choices

[casualreader]

https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nRamMin=6000&nIntMemMin=256000&chk35mm=selected&chkNFC=selected&sAvailabilities=1&sOSes=2&sFingerprints=1

Re: Choices

[andrewducker]

Decided I wanted a more recent one so that I got more patches:
https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2023&nRamMin=6000&nIntMemMin=128000&chk35mm=selected&chkNFC=selected

Re: Choices

[darkoshi]

My current phone seems to meet all those criteria, so I'm not sure why it doesn't show up in the results.
https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s10e-9537.php

But it won't be getting updates for much longer either, if at all.

Re: Choices

[andrewducker]

My query there has YearMin set to 2023...

Re: Choices

[darkoshi]

Yep, just noticed that. I was reading the slider wrong.

[coth]

For the same reason I've just replaced my perfectly good 5-year-old Huawei P20 Pro with an almost identical Pixel 7a - which does not have a headset jack but does guarantee 5 years security updates to May 2028. At £440 approx it is almost - not quite - as good as the phone it replaced and less than half the price of its successors in Huawei's current line.

I'll get tracked by US billionaires rather than Chinese ones, but at least the US ones are in favour with the government.

I'd have put a new battery into the Huawei if it had not been for the security issues. It was a very good phone even after Google stopped working with it.

[andrewducker]

Same here.

[altamira16]

I also have a Pixel 4a.

[andrewducker]

You have my sympathy.

[bugshaw]

Have you done the research on where a working Pixel 4a should go when it's been replaced?

[andrewducker]

https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail?id=sgoopix4a128gjbunla&categoryName=phones-android&superCatName=phones&title=google-pixel-4a-128gb-just-black-unlocked-a&referredFrom=boxsearch&queryID=81e595e9622ee11a667627ac96c13d66&position=2 ?

[yalovetz]

Well damn, I'm using a Pixel 3. I probably haven't been getting updates for a while and didn't even notice.

[andrewducker]

October 2021 apparently. They don't really bother to tell you. Some day, I hope, regulations will force them to support their phones for longer.

[mellowtigger]

No fingerprint scanner, so not helpful for your needs. :( I mention it only because the design intent seems very interesting. Maybe they're a sensible corporation to watch for future versions that meet your needs.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/fairphone-is-coming-to-america/

[channelpenguin]

I just got a new Google Pixel pro 7 bought for me by work. But I don't use it :-). Nice but very very pricey. Still cheaper than the iPhones the most have though!

I've had a Redmi 10 for a while now and been really happy with it so I reckon the Xiaomi would be a good choice.

[emceeaich]

I just want a decent Linux phone.

[andrewducker]

Has anyone attempted a Gnu phone?