Hey everyone,

So, for a bit of context I’ve used every smartphone I’ve owned until it was dead in the sense that the hardware wasn’t repairable anymore. The realme6 pro I’m using at the moment is currently on life support so it’s time to look for a replacement.

Here’s some criteria for what it’s important to me:

  • I’m not a phone gamer, I don’t care how well it runs Genshin Impact or PUBG, but I do use emulators like Citra.
  • I don’t really care about photography, any fancy camera is a bonus, it’s not something I normally would consider when comparing phones.
  • Wireless charging would be nice since from experience charging ports are a common point of failure. It’s not necessarily a must however.
  • A micro-sd and headphone jack would be nice to have, but I’m ready to sacrifice that if the phone has decent storage.
  • Bloatware and weird proprietary forced, subscription/AI/ads bullshit baked into the default OS are a big no from me. I’m not as hardcore as some of the Lemmings I’ve met, but I do value privacy.
  • Little extras such as an IR blaster, notification slider, or maybe some fun little gimmick like the glyph interface on Nothing phones is of medium importance to me. I like to tinker too, so any decent customization options is a plus.

I don’t need a top of the line flagship, I’m looking for a midrange phone that’s available in Canada. With that in mind, I had some ideas already:

  • Nothing phone 2, this one seems fun and ticks most boxes for me. What’s holding me back is the 3-4 years of updates (but that seems standard enough nowadays) and the relatively high price. If you can ease my mind and tell me I’ll still be able to comfortably use this phone in 2028+ I might get this.
  • One plus 12R, I like the specs and price on this one. What worries me is the bloat I’ve seen mentioned. Has anyone had experience with their android flavour? If so, is it feasible to remove/deactivate all useless apps?
  • Pixel phones, I haven’t researched these enough to decide on a model though. I might give GrapheneOS a try if I end up using a Pixel, I’m impressed by the 7 years of Android updates too. What’s holding me back however, is the lack of “fun” compared to my other options, no IR blaster or distinguishing features makes it equal to my other options.

With all that said, any other recommendations are very welcome. Looking forward to reading your thoughts :)

  • ianovic69English
    3•3 months ago

    I use a OnePlus 12R. It has an IR blaster and a side slider.

    The screen is fantastic, the camera is decent, the speakers are fine for a phone.

    The OS is fine, there’s almost no bloat and I never log in to the OEM account on any phone. The proprietary bits I use are the photo gallery and the side bar, both of which tell you what they do and don’t do in terms of privacy. Neither admit to tracking but I’m ok with that.

    I’m not a privacy fanatic and I think using any device and/or service these days is going to open you at least partly to some kind of visibility.

    Aside from that, I like ColorOS. It’s not miles from stock and the options for tinkering are generally useful for getting a phone to work the way you like, without being a Samsung shit show.

    The 12R is smooth and powerful. If you can still get them from the OnePlus website with the free Buds 2 Pro, worth £170, for me it’s a no brainer. I was also able to use PayPal credit of 4 months at 0% interest, around £200 pm.

    The availability and custom ROM support sealed the deal for me but you may find it worthwhile even without some of the points I made.

    Good luck!