I am considering getting an Android phone as my main work phone. Cost is not that big a concern (within reason). What do you think is, at present, the best Android phone?

Possibly a phablet since I really like the big screen (currently my main phone is a Lumia 1520, and I love that size), and no less than 64GB internal storage.

I am considering:

Nexus 6P
One+ 3
Asus Zenfone 2

But, for no particular reason.

What is your take, guys?

Well, I think you beat me to the punch. Those are the three phones I would have suggested.

My bias lies toward the Nexus devices and their plain vanilla Android, mostly because I've yet to see any of the third parties produce anything appealing. Others on this board like the Oneplus for its security features.

I'd probably say that the Zenfone 2 is a little outdated since the announcement of the 3.

So yeah, personally I'd go with the Nexus 6P because that's the one I wish I'd gotten instead of the 5X, which I just don't think is up to snuff (too slow).

I would hold off on the 1+3 until it the inevitable initial issues are discovered and sorted out.

If you wait 3 months or so, by then one should have an idea of whether/how-well it works, and the N6P might become cheaper with the announcement of the next Nexus in that timeframe.

Thanks guys. I've been recommended the Zenfone 3 as well, and it is really promising.

Yes, I can and will wait, if my current phone does not die sooner. My reason for looking into another phone is that my current one has very little battery capacity left and the touchscreen is occasionally malfunctioning. Otherwise, albeit 3 years old now, a superb phone (with a poor app store).

I'd go with the Nexus 5X or 6P, depending on your desired size. Among other things, you can have some confidence that they implemented USB-C correctly, which is emphatically not clear on some other USB-C gadgets.

Guys, is the 6P coming in 64MB storage top? I thought I heard of 128MB version, but I can't seem to find it on line.

6P is available with 128GB

https://store.google.com/config/nexus_6p

Right now, the Nexus 5X is being discounted and rumors are swirling about a new generation of Nexus phones, supposedly to be made by HTC. (Remember them? Not dead yet!) I don't buy into rumors much, but dropping prices on old gear are hard to ignore. Here one link to a Nexus 5X bargain.

Why wait? If you're looking for a higher-end phone, as in something with 128GB internally, then you might as well wait for the "VR-ready" phones that are coming soon. At Google IO, earlier this summer, Google spoke of a standardized minimum spec for phones meant to run VR applications. That will presumably include a 4K display and other GPU-related goodies, and if you want to get serious about VR, then you want to be downloading and caching lots of geometry and imagery, which would imply more Flash storage.

I looked everywhere except the very Google store.

Thanks.

I did not mention this before, but I really value a large screen, so 5X is not an option for me.

128GB storage is mostly for apps, music, video, and relative peace of mind over time. Admittedly 800 Euros is quite a high price, so I'll have to think about it and definitely a drop in price may be really interesting.

VR capable device are going to be VERY interesting, but that is not yet a requirement. Mostly, I am afraid my phone may die before VR becomes a viable option. I certainly hope not, though, so, we'll see.

I'm thinking of replacing my 1+1 with a Nexus 5X for better network compatibility.

What don't people here like about the 5X ?

Thanks

I've heard people complain about the dreaded old Android stuttery scrolling problems resurfacing on the 5X

Well, I've just finished trolling through the various threads here that discuss the 5X, and it sounds like the problems were all early-days issues thus far.

Quite likely the monthly updates from Google / Cyanogenmod have stabilized things well enough by now. I'm jumping.

cheers

Why not the One+ 3 , Mark?

1) Penta pixels:
I've gotten used to true 1080p on the display of my 1+1.

2) Lack of confidence in OnePlus:
My 1+1 radio has a tendency to suddenly "fall of the cliff" in areas of modest to weak signal strength. Something ain't right there, and lots of others have noticed the same issue. Generally, a reboot is required to reacquire signal again.

3) The Nexus 5X can be obtained cheaper than a 1+3 now.

B&H finally reopened for online orders a few minutes ago. Ordered. Plus a flip case for it from China.

Cheers.

The early problems I had with the 5X are mostly fixed, but it can still be a little slow for my taste. It used to slow down to a completely unusable point, but it seems those bugs are gone now. Now I'm just annoyed that the camera will take so long to get going, and I've missed a shot of my toddler doing something.

Otherwise I like the phone, but if I had to do it over again I'd probably get the 6P, and I'd definitely get more than 16GB.

Is there such a thing as 'the best' Android smartphone, or does every brand and model seem to have some downside in hardware or software, known limitations or future OS update/orphan/abandonment risk?

Between the customized OS overlays imposed by various phone manufacturers and the lengthy OS upgrade mechanisms for carrier 'supported' models it seems difficult to define what 'best' means, for Android hardware purchasing.

This is a little like asking what the best Windows laptop is. It's subjective. Similar advantages and disadvantages exist in this situation. Plus, Google has done a good job at separating a lot of the system functions from the OS so they can push updates to third party phones quicker. I don't like the third party overlays but given the sales figures it seems a lot of people like them or don't mind them.


(BTW, why use single quotes? I'm pretty sure you still use double quotes in those situations)

Sure.

I rephrase my question: what is your favorite high-end Android phone at present, and why?

Could you clarify this, Mark? Or even just a link? I am new to this issue with the One+ 3.

The subpixel layout for that type of PenTile AmoLED display is quite different than how most LCD displays do it. The result is that the effective resolution is much less than 1080p, making text less crisp than it could be.

See the Display portion of Anand's review:
http://www.anandtech.com/print/10411/the-oneplus-3-review




Now mind you, my old Galaxy Nexus had a 720p AmoLED display, and I didn't mind it a nit. But since replacing that with the 1+1, my eyes have gotten used to the crisp seamless fonts and icons of the 1+1's 1080p LCD display. No going back!

Edit: I just remembered something else that was bad about the Galaxy Nexus AmoLED: way, WAY too dim. Not usable outdoors. Anand suggests the 1+3 might have a similar issue.

My 1+1 is very usable even in direct sunlight though, and Anand suggests similar brightness from the 1+3.

That is really useful. Thank you.

I do, definitely, appreciate a good quality display.

I've had a Nexus 5X since they came out, and recently got another one for my daughter, taking advantage of the discount that comes when you sign up for Google Fi.

Screen: it's a traditional backlit screen. You don't get the deep black levels of an OLED but you do get very good color accuracy. The thing I hated about my old Galaxy Nexus was that they had the color saturation cranked up to ELEVEN, so everything looked garish. (The latest 1+1 news suggests they're releasing an SRGB mode. Android doesn't yet have support for multiple color spaces, so apps that want to take advantage of the wider color gamut of OLED displays would have a way to do it. I suppose this will come sooner or later.)

Lag: This was indeed a problem early on with the 5X. I'd previously reboot every morning. Now, the monthly security updates are pretty much it for my rebooting. That said, every once in a while, background tasks do drag the phone down. Misbehaving apps that don't know how to play nice (which seems to include TiVo, AT&T UVerse Voicemail, and sometimes others) can drag down the whole phone.

I am reading good things about the Huawei Mate 8, too.

I've had the phone for a day now, and it seems rather excellent. The RF subsystem is outperforming that of my 1+1 -- works fine in the heretofore dead spots.

That was priority one for me, and the only reason I wanted to replace the 1+1. Now I just have to decide which distro.. err.. "ROM".. to run on it. Stock is okay, but has very limited customization options, even with Xposed on top of that.

Okay, i have the Nexus 5X set up with CM13, similar to how my 1+1 is set up with CM12.1.

One MAJOR nit: there's no way to lock the homescreen to portrait mode independently of the apps. So it's either rolly-polly homescreen as I handle the phone, or my photos don't autorotate.

Or I must continuously go in and out of settings (or a quick..er..slow toggle) to enable/disable autorotate over and over and over..

Somebody thought that was a good design. Ugh.

Anyone else solved this one yet?

Yes, I bought an iPhone.

sorry, couldn't resist

This seems like it might do what you want

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nl.fameit.rotate&hl=en_GB

On a second reading of the blurb, probably not

Found it. CM13 has hidden the setting "Allow (Home Screen) Rotation" under their semi-secret Settings menu, separate from the rest of the rotation settings which are located in the normal (Android) Settings menu.

They are a bit schitzoid about settings, with most of them integrated into the Android menu, yet some (like that one) tucked away in their own menu which isn't discoverable from the main menu.

Yeah I was going to say. That's not how stock Android works at all. The home screen never rotates.


So ha! Try again!