Anyone been investigating mobile phones recently?

[suicidal_monkey]

Anyone done any mobile phone hunting recently? My cousin’s LG V20 had a disagreement with a puddle…so am after some recommendations :byebye:

• Battery life is important.
• Camera quality is not.
• Ideally not larger than the LG V20.
• Budget unclear atm (will try to get a better idea...) but ideally not too expensive.

She’s thinking S20 (though I suspect that might be too ££…)

[OldBloke]

Google's Pixel range has always been my first port of call. The introduction of the 'a' range has been hugely successful - a cut down version of an expensive flagship model without overly affecting usefulness.

The Pixel 3a is a great example but getting a bit old now. The 4a or 4a 5G are also highly regarded (I currently have the 4a 5G). The Pixel 6 is just around the corner so expect price cuts on older models and we might even see the introduction of a 5a variant but this will attract 'new model' pricing.

Not as sexy as the latest Samsungs and iPhones but they're much cheaper and you do get minimal bloat and updates as soon as they're released. This is important to me but everyone's mileage differs.

[suicidal_monkey]

Thanks OB - The 4a was recommended by a number of people at work too. Moto g9 Play was suggested as a decent budget option - it's our company smartphone of choice. Also came across the oneplus Nord which looks interesting, and the Nokia 5.4 ... will throw these ideas back to cousin ... and see if she gets the S20 anyway

[TeaLeaf]

I'll add my Pixel vote too.  I'm on my third Google/Pixel phone and have been really chuffed with all of them.  They're dead reliable and well built.

[albert]

I use a Pixel 3a, I skipped the 4a but 5a will be in my sights. No complains whatsoever except the camera may be just far too good for your cousin.

[BrotherTobious]

I have a 3a xl love it solid as a rock and cheap, not as chips but cheap

[smilodon]

Pixel 3 XL. I tend to upgrade at the end of the security patch cycle which is three years, so I'm looking forward to the pixel 6 reveal.

[TeaLeaf]

Forgot to say, Pixel 3a XL here too.  

Google IO is only days away, so you might find that a Pixel 5a is announced which could be super value if it follows the trend of previous 'a' variants.

[suicidal_monkey]

does dMw get commission on every pixel purchase or something :g::flirty:

I have passed on the hearty recommendations for their lineup - will find out shortly if she already made a decision from yesterday's suggestions or if she procrastinated and is still using the puddle-water-streaked V20

Thanks all

[albert]

To be fair, the V20 does have epic sound hardware. On board 24-bit DAC on phone at that time was pretty special. Got mine still right here.

[smilodon]

Pixel 6 Pro arrived. I'm very, very impressed so far. Lot's to like but it's the camera I was most interested in. I've never had an optical zoom on a mobile phone before, so was interested in seeing how it did.

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wide

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normal

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x 2

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x4

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and just for laughs
some digital zoom

Quite impressive. Thought I'd really push it and see what the x 20 digital/optical combination looked like.

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Ultra wide

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optical zoom

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x 20 crazy zoom

It looks very janky at that insane zoom level but interestingly unlike traditional digital zoom, where the image falls apart and blurs completely, this looks like Googles Tensor chip is guessing all the lost detail and filling in the gaps. While it does look a bit like an oil painting it's not an entirely awful effect. Depending on what your pointing at it might be better than no picture at all. This would be the alternative with most other digital zoom systems. The other impressive thing was that the zoom shot was obviously hand held. x 20 is roughly 650mm on a full frame camera. I'm not sure there are many systems that could shoot sharp hand held at that focal length. Especially when holding a phone rather than a full frame camera with a proper grip etc.