Time for a phone culling......

neil74

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Mar 12, 2016
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Posted something similar on another thread but thought I would post my own thread partly to get views on my own decision making process but also hopefully to help anybody who is considering one of the many phones that I currently have.

I need help that much is clear as I have amassed quite the collection of devices totally by accident, I usually run with one droid and one iPhone but recently it has gotten out of hand as a combination of ‘too good to miss’ offers, new tempting flagships and eBay timewasters has seen me end up with 6 phones! I am waiting on the next Sell for £1 eBay promotion to sell some on (hopefully next week) but now that I have them all, it is really hard deciding which ones to keep.

Anyway my current collection is as follows….

- iPhone Xs Max. I barely use these days as every time I put my sim card in it I am reminded just how dated iOS feels. Big year for Apple IMO they really need to focus on software over hardware IMO. I am on the upgrade programme otherwise I would have sold it by now. It is also HUGE and I wish I went with the Xs ot just stuck with my X

- P30 Pro. Amazing camera, lovely finishes a real cracker but the heft coupled with the flatter sharper edges make it less comfortable to hold than the 10+ or Mate 20 pro, a 1080p screen is also disappointing even if to the naked eye it looks just fine. I actually do not mind EMUI and Nova covers up many of it’s ills anyway. The lack of any real secure biometrics is a minus but not a huge worry for me personally and I have found the FPS to be both quicker and more reliable than the S10/10+ The choice between this and the S10+ is a tough one, in the P30 pro you have last years processor with a cutting edge 2019 camera and in the Samsung you have this years processor and design with last years main camera hardware. The 10+ maybe edges it as the slightly more refined choice though.

- Mate 20 Pro. Nicer in the hand (IMO) than the P30 pro and just a really nice device, slightly smaller than both the 10+ and P30 pro make it a really comfortable phone to use, proper secure face unlock too. It is painful though waiting for EMUI 6.1 to arrive with a proper AOD! The camera on the P30 pro is better but the Mates camera is IMO still better than the S10 in anything but really good light.

- Pixel 3 (running Q). Lovely silky in hand feel, probably the best camera most of the time, just point, shoot and enjoy! Those software updates! The design though does feel dated and a slightly larger 5.8 or 6" screen could have easily been achieved in this footprint, superficial me is always looking at my other devices and wanting to pick one of them up instead. If you ignore that though it is mostly a joy to use. The lack of any expandable storage is annoying and vanilla (ish) android is sometimes a little basic e.g. still no ability to schedule the always on display (still not fixed in the Q beta) I have only really kept it to try Q and sometimes it is also just nice to use a smaller device.

- Samsung S10 plus ceramic. I was attracted to the ceramic as I do not use a case but whilst smaller than Xs Max it is still hefty in everyday use, but that screen, oh that screen! In anything but amazing light (i.e. outside during the day) the camera does feel to be a step behind the Huawei and Pixel although I’d say the wide angle is slightly wider and the video is slightly better. I dislike Samsung’s gesture implementation a lot which is a shame as I like gestures, currently using Fluid NG as a workaround but this is a negative against both S10s not having it baked in for sure.

- Standard S10. The better sized device and glass over ceramic makes it more manageable still. The screen is still a decent size and I prefer the single cutout. The choice between the 2 S10s is a tough one for me, the ceramic does cloud it slightly as the plus feels more premium. The issue with both S10s though is that whilst One UI is a big improvement I use Nova which covers up a lot of that and battery life on both is IMO below par for the battery size. Also, I’d not expect to see Q until Jan/Feb 2020 whereas Huawei seem to be committing to it far earlier this time around.

My current thinking is to sell only 2 of them for now with the standard S10 and one of the P30 pro/S10+ going, (leaning towards keeping the 10+)Maybe though I should have a major cull and go back to one droid and one iDevice? now that would be tough!

One thing is for sure is that I probably need help, phone addicts anonymous?