Spec me a new phone

snowdog

snowdog

snowdog

Soldato
Joined
27 Oct 2005
Posts
13,756
Location
Netherlands
Hi,

My aging Huawei Mate 20 Pro is starting to run slower sometimes now after 5 years of use, it's not waterproof anymore as the back glass is cracked, the battery is just 67% of original capacity, I have various Waze buttons burned in in the screen, the charging port is iffy (needs regular cleaning with a toothpick now and onyl good cables work at all, cheap cables often don't contact).
I'm having a hard time finding a phone that is better in all aspects though.


What I need:
- Android (I use a lot of the google services)
- Fast phone: high end SoC and RAM and storage, I want it to last 5 years.
- Fast charging, at least 40w wired, 10w QI
- Camera's at least better then Mate 20 pro (including at least 3x optical zoom lens, a good macro mode, and a workable Ultrawideangle lens), but preferably a good improvement
- NFC/G pay
- Dual sim (and dual sim 4g, I need internet while on a call and always have 2 sims)
- Must be of decent build quality, and by that mean it must be hooligan proof, I drop my phone every other day on average, yes I will get a Spigen protective case, but it needs to survive 1000+ falls over the years, Sony's phones for example are utter **** with this, but Huawei, Samsung, and Oneplus seem fine, so similar quality to that.
- Reliable gyroscope/compass/GPS.

What I want:
- At least 256gb storage, unless it's so much more expensive then I'll settle for 128
- IR Blaster
- Reserve wireless charging
- Bright Amoled screen
- The more physical buttons and sliders the better (e.g. Oneplus's slider is a great feature).
- Good wireless tech performance ( BT, BLE, Wifi, yes I have Wifi 6 at home)
- Waterproof: Yes I want to be able to swim with it in my pocket in fresh water: With the mate 20 pro this was no problem until the back glass cracked after 4 years, I swam in lakes and rivers with it regularly and loved being able to clean the phone in the sink), and I like taking underwater photo's. I understand swimming in the sea is not recommended...


Nice to have:

- Fast in-screen fingerprint
- Easy root access without needing to upgrade ROM
- Nice automatic AI postprocessing of taken photo's ( realtime while taking the photo, eg similar to Hauwei's AI which improves photo's of objects or faces or animals)
- Dev friendly options
- Agressive Wifi roaming ( + keeping 4G active in case of unstable wifi)
- Good battery that will last 5 years of multiple daily charging and still be in a usable state without replacing


Don't care:

- Refresh rate of screen
- Silly high resolutions of screen (why?)
- HDR/10bit
- Software update policy ( tbh I'm only gettign security patches occasionally now and upgrades usually break more than they fix, I like the software as it is and hate changes).
- Default launcher and dialer, I still use Nova Launcher and Exdialer for my past 3 or 4 phones...
- Front camera (as long as its fine for meetings)
- Thinness (actually prefer a thicker phone that can resist more bendy and falls.

Main uses:

Spotify ( with big playlists of 5000+ songs ~8 hrs a day).
Calls ( I speak about 20 hrs on the phone every month)
Navigation ( waze + Flitsmeister)
Photo's (work, leasure and holiday)
Whatsapp
Meetings (teams)
Games (Civ 6 for ex.)
Browsing
Lots of Teamviewer.
Home automation.
Android Auto.
Smartwatch (and reverse charging of smartwatch when needed)
Spare remote
Debit card ( I can't remember the last time I used my actual card, 99% on transactions I pay with NFC/Google pay).

Basically everything possible on the phone :p.
 
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Doesn't have a dedicated optical zoom lens, so a stepback in my eyes.
I end up often using my zoom camera, and zooming in 15-30x (combined optical + digi zoom) in practice over the years (e.g. filming radar speed traps from a long distance).
No IR blaster which I find very very handy over the years.
Just ip54 rather than IP68 so a bit rubbish and to poor for swimming which I really want to do.

It doesn't meet my minimum requirements and in many ways a downgrade from my Huawei Mate 20 pro...

It's such a shame Huawei has been ruined by EU/US politics... They made great phones but without full Android/Google Support it's not for me.

I was thinking more in the Oppo/Oneplus/Samsung/Xiaomi/Realme direction, perhaps Poco... I considered the pixel 7 pro but it has no IR and had disappointing charging iirc.
I don't mind ordering from China. But I do want full google services, nfc, and the DRM rubbish for Netflix and such.

Camera wise I'd say something from the top 20 on Dxomark:
www.dxomark.com

Smartphone Ranking | DXOMARK

The DXOMARK scores in the rankings below reflect the device’s performance and the quality of the user experience.
www.dxomark.com www.dxomark.com


I am tempted by the Honor Magic5 Pro but I haven't done much research yet.
 
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The filters don't work properly, it just returns a list of 8 Samsung phones and nowt else.

I'm actually interested in a comparison between premium Chinese Flagship phones instead.

I think the main contenders are

Honor Magic5 Pro
Oppo Find X6 Pro
Perhaps the regular Find X6 (non pro), appears to be up-to-spec as well...

Am I missing any obvious alternatives?
 
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snowdog said:
The filters don't work properly, it just returns a list of 8 Samsung phones and nowt else.
Click to expand...

Seems fine here (and I don't get any Samsungs listed):

Phone Finder results - GSMArena.com

www.gsmarena.com www.gsmarena.com


2022->
Dual Sim
IPx8
Android
256GB+ Storage
OLED
Telephoto and UW Cameras
Under display Fingerprint
Infrared
Wired Charging 40W+
 
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Thanks dude, more choice than I initially saw, I knew about Xiaomi but the availability in EU is rubbish (Oppo as well at this moment, only a few shops have the x5 pro but x6 pro will need to be bought abroad) and there were some ROM issues with some models for DRM and NFC iirc.
Honor is slightly better available even by the big rainforest place for a good price, but also a few big mobile phone companies here have stock.
I forgot about Vivo, haven't yet checked availability.

I would love if any of them have extra physical buttons on the side or a slider like the OnePlus phones have. Physical buttons are essential for operating the phone in your pocket, like when on a bike, but in general a nice plus. I always use the volume buttons to shoot pictures for example and have various actions programmed to them currently (eg 3x press = start this app)...

I am really not looking forward to a new phone, it's always a huge pain, moving all the authenticators and other stuff over (even though google does a good job now with moving over apps and launcher and stuff), so to make the transition possible I really want a new phone to be better in all possible aspects, to hopefully not miss my ''old'' phone in any single way.
It took me like 6 months to get used from Oneplus to Huawei because of the physical button placement and don't disturb slider. But luckily that was the only thing ( I went from a OP3T).
Before that I had an Experia Z3 which was absolute rubbish and never got used to it after a Samsung Galaxy S4, it bent in my pocket when I sat down, cracked the screen, and touch was broken. Repaired it officially via insurance, and it lost its waterproofing within 3 months after that repair. Also rubbish UI, stock applications for stuff like alarm, dialer, launcher, etc were annoying after the superior Samsung ones ( it is because this phone I bought 3rd party paid for applicationss to replace that rubbish).
Samsung never disappointed, S2 and S4 were solid phones, HTC before that as well, had a nice physical keyboard, I just miss the IR blaster on the S23 ultra and the camera's don't seem up to par to the Chinese competitors because otherwise I'm quite a big fan of Samsung still... You could have big pieces of glass missing from all corners and the touch woudl still work, rugged phones. HTC too for that matter: Glass could be in cracked all over and it would still work.

So yeah I will be looking for the shortlist for reviews that check actually how resistant to dropping, bending etc those phones are and if the touch continues to be operable with a cracked screen and how solid the waterproofing is.
I remember there was a channel that did this on YT.

Any UI/software that is put over android that allows me to do more with less (presses) is also welcome (and the more customizable with touch gestures, or physical movements like shaking your phone or turning it a certain way or tapping it, the better), I don't agree with minimalism/clean android. This was a huge stepback from Samsung to Sony imho, something simple like changing the alarm time was a quick ''type 4 numbers on keyboard'' action on Samsung, but you had to use a very annoying slow slider/scroller selector on Sony. Or simply swiping left/right on the contacts to call or message people, such things make the difference between me being annoyed at the phone or being happy. Ideally you want to do as much as possible, as quick as possible, without having to use dexterity, having to look on screen (scrolling is a plague imho), with as few user input as possible. That makes a good UI/UX imho. Intuitive control of the phone. Same for notification leds that can be programmed ( e.g. missed call = red flashing, whatsapp notification = green flashing ,etc...)
 
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Went for a more bang for buck option, ordered a Xiaomi 13 12gb Global version from HK.

650 euros, much cheaper than the Honor Magic 50 pro, slightly smaller and much worse camera's, but the camera's should be better than my mate 20 pro and it ticks all the other boxes I think.
Very curious!
 
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snowdog said:
Went for a more bang for buck option, ordered a Xiaomi 13 12gb Global version from HK.

650 euros, much cheaper than the Honor Magic 50 pro, slightly smaller and much worse camera's, but the camera's should be better than my mate 20 pro and it ticks all the other boxes I think.
Very curious!
Click to expand...
Let me know what you think! Partly as it was my recommendation (;)), and partly as I've always really liked the look of them and never pulled the trigger!
 
I have received it, been spending the past 4 hours setting it up and migrating stuff. (80+ gb data, 200+ apps, Novalauncher + Sesame, loads of app logins, etc)


So far:

Charging at 67W seems barely any faster if not even slower than on my Huawei mate 20 pro (40w). Either that or I'm using to much power because I was still migrating stuff like Whatsapp and downloading spotify playlists.
Battery seems to discharge faster than on my mate 20 pro (admittedly, I have replaced the battery with a new genuine one last week on my old phone, and my current constant heavy cpu load and data transfer isn't representative for normal use).
I really really miss the notification Led, I didn't notice they removed this, why? I hope I can get used to it. This is a bit of bad research on my part, in hindsight I would have said dedi notification led is a must. I hate having to turn on my screen to see if any messages/calls came in and also the notification led showing charging is handy. I do have a wearable so might set up soft notifications on my wearable. But still, why no notification led :( ?
Feels smoother to navigate and use than my old mate 20 pro and load apps. Kirin is dated now i see compared to snapdragon 8 gen 2.
Screen: Doesn't feel better or worse, seems slightly brighter, but my old Mate 20 Pro screen doesn't do under imho. Only the fact that it's worn and has burn-ins (from hundreds if not thousands of hours of Waze use).
Fingerprint sensor is MUCH better than on my old phone.
Stock android dialer is terrible, but I can't seem to install ExDialer with my pro license, they seem to have made my old version obsolete and now offer a version that requires monthly payment, bah. Stock android dialer is a bit rubbish.
Starting Civ 6 and noticed some graphical artifacts.gritching: I hope this gets fixed and isn't a gpu problem. Yet to try other games. EDIT: on restart it's fine.
Camera: barely palyed around with it, main camera feels better, the selfie (don't care), uwa (do care) and telelens (do care) feel worse. I can't find macro mode? Also zoom only goes to 10x, while my old phone would zoom to 30x or more iirc. Very odd, the score on Dxomark is much better for this phone, but I feel many camera features are far worse than my 5 year old phone. Also I played a bit iwth the AI, and the Xiaomi AI post processing is definitely worse than the Huawei one. But again, it's hard to compare when I've spent just 15 mins on the new phone camera, while I've spent probably hundreds of hours making photo's on my old one.

Tbh I have mixed feelings, but again, I've mainly been moving all my stuff and not really used it properly yet. My mixed feeling also being that I should have gone for an Honor phone which is in a way Huawei again.

It's so bloody hard to find a phone that is better in every way, if you had a great high end phone, even if 5 yrs old...

The notification led, lack of more than 10x zoom, and lack of macro mode do annoy me now. Hopefully that's all and all the other things will be a positive improvement instead.



 
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Hmmm, I don't know what I did wrong yesterday, today I can zoom to 30x with this phone, and the stabilization and quality is much better than on my old Huawei. And daytime quality photo's are much better.

I did do a few night mode tests yesterday and they feel over-brightened imho (as in post-processing wise). But I need to play with it more.
EDIT2: I am very impressed with the OIS on the Telelens, very nice, and much more detail than on my old Huawei.

Now after initial software setup, I barely have any annoyances. Also, Always-on display is a good replacement for notification leds!
 
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I can't describe how much I miss notification LEDs - they seem to have gone from all phones and I don't understand why. Glad it's been reasonably painless after some initial teething issues!
 
Tbh, always on display is better now that I got used to it.
But!
I still wouldn't mind having a seperate notification led as well, I must find out how to set up the always on display properly as it turns off when charging after a while ( but on my desk it seems fine when not charging/it doensn't turn off).
I think more of a setup thing than anything else, always-on display does make status leds obsolete imo.

Also TL:DR version, the Xiaomi 13 is starting to grow on me, so far it's getting better and better now that I'm gettign the software set up as I like.

The only pain I do get annoyed with, the stock screen protector along with my Spigen case (which is a must knowing how often I drop my phone) seems to attract a lot of dust, so I must clean my screen(protector) almost daily!
 
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Ok there is one huge major anoyance, I believe the Xiaomi 13 has a more limited dual sim mode than the Mate 20.

I only have VOLTE on my 2ndary SIM.
So I have internet when on call with my 2nd sim.

But my first doesn't.

My mate 20 pro would switch to a 4g connection on my 2nd sim while on a call with primary sim I believe.
This one doesn't, I don't have any internet without wifi when on a call with sim 1, I;m sure I also received calls on sim 2 but have yet to test that.

I don't believe this (Xiaomi13) phone can't hold 2 4G connections, while I'm pretty sure the Mate 20 pro did that fine.

How do you even filter for such features, dual active sims vs dual standby sims?

EDIT 2: Hmm my old phone isspoosed to onyl have dual sim standby, perhaps it has somethign to do with ap rovider hcaneg a few months ago.
 
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It appeared to be a coincidence after all, I lost VOLTE when I moved to a different provier 1 month before switching phones.

I quite like the phone and am very happy with the choice.

The MAte 20 pro feels very sluggish in comparison now. But, the battery life ( with a new battery) is better on my old phone. I think this phone will have a degraded enough-battery within 3 years to require a new one.
 
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