Closest phone available to my dream phone?

growlor

Member
Jul 24, 2015
6
0
0
Visit site
Looking for my Goldilocks phone (one that is "just right") and not having much luck. They all feel compromised somehow, so am looking to see if I might have missed one.
What I am looking for:
Compatible with the USA Verizon network (could be from a reseller, like Straight Talk) as many of the places I travel, they are the only ones with decent coverage.
Removeable battery (I know it's not as big a deal as it used to be, but I want the control being able to take the battery out allows. in addition to the flexibility.)
MicroSD support (again - it's about control and flexibility.)
The most free/open OS I can get (I would LOVE to have a Linux phone without the Android wrapper some day - for now I guess Android is the closest we can get.)
Unhindered security updates. I used to be a IT security guy, so am a bit paranoid about this. I think some manufacturers were committing to provide updates for a while (maybe HTC???) I know part of the issue is probably my ISP getting in the way too, but hopefully some phone makers can work around them?
Fast CPU with lots of RAM.
Minimal/no add-ons and bloatware.

I've been looking around and the best/closest I can find thus far is either the LG G4 or the Samsung S5/Note4/Note Edge. What I would have liked would be something like a G4 with a faster CPU (usually a few higher speed cores beats many slower speed cores in real world useage) or a S5 bumped up with the processor and RAM of an S6.
I have also been drooling over some of those phones coming out of China, but the ones I have found seem to not have CDMA support (so when I get out in the boondocks, no signal.)
Have I missed one that might be my Goldilocks?
 

Aquila

Retired Moderator
Feb 24, 2012
15,904
0
0
Visit site
Nope; what you're looking for doesn't yet exist. The Note 4 and LG G4 are the only two that meet the specs and feature sets, but both have very bloated software and very thick and sticky UI's. There is a rumor that the new Moto X may have the SD card, removable battery is an almost certainly not.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
943,155
Messages
6,917,550
Members
3,158,853
Latest member
MarcosVo