At least for the next few years, I am pretty firm on needing a jack on my device.
I am currently using an LG v60, and while nice, it’s starting to show its age.
Any suggestions on where to go next?
I was looking at the ROG phone, and while it does seem very nice, I feel like it is a bit much as I don’t game on my device at all.
Are there any good phones I should be looking at?
Thanks!
Depends on your budget and location.
Unlimited budget: Sony Xperia 1 V ($1400). Has almost anything you’d want. SD8G2, MicroSD slot, etc.
High budget: Asus Zenfone 9 ($700). Great compact phone with a headphone jack. Alternatively wait for the Zenfone 10 to come out as it’s coming out this week.
Or even the Xperia 5 V ($1000), a slightly downgraded version of the 1 V.
Lower budget: Sony Xperia 10 V ($450). Expensive for the specs but you get outstanding battery life, 25-50% more than any other phone on this list. And it’s the only budget phone with a telephoto lens.
USA pick: Moto G Stylus 5G (2022). Can be picked up for $250 on Amazon and has excellent all-around specs for the price.
Europe/Asia picks: Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro+ ($350) if you want good cameras for the price. However the chipset might struggle with MIUI from time to time.
Xiaomi Poco X5 pro ($300). Good all-arounder at this price.
Xiaomi Poco F5 ($400). Best chipset out of all of these budget phones, at nearly flagship levels.
The Zenphone 10 is launching in 3 days, it is also rumored to have a headphone jack like the previous Zenphone 9!
Best, as far as specs? Gonna be the Asus Zenfone 10 (officially announcing 6/29 but most of the specs have been leaked) and the Sony Xperia 1 V (already available outside the US).
Both will have Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and plenty of memory and storage. The lower models of Xperia (5 and 10) will also have headphone jacks but somewhat lesser specs.
https://www.androidpolice.com/leak-asus-zenfone-10-every-angle/
FWIW the Xperia I V is very very similar to the I IV, it’s predecessor. Sony’s software support kinda sucks (only 2 years of Android updates, IIRC) but you can likely get a decent deal on last year’s phone at this point.
If you’re interested in custom ROMs or want something less Google-centric like GrapheneOS, you could also consider the Pixel 4a, 4a 5G, or 5a, depending on your size preferences. They’re losing official support now or soon but they’re still very good phones, very cheap refurbished, and GrapheneOS should be supporting them for a few more years just fine.
The 1 IV is known to have overheating issues with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. I’d recommend an Xperia 5 V instead.
I was under the impression that GrapheneOS support lasts only as long as the official support, for security reasons.
I considered posting about the previous gen Zenfone and Xperia, but the 8G1 gets hot and throttles frequently from what I’ve read.
Good point about the pixels. I put Graphene on my 5 and it runs nicely.
I was using an LG V30 for the past few years. Needed to replace it as the battery wasn’t lasting anymore.
Like you a headphone jack is a must. So I got a Sony Xperia 10iii because that’s all I could afford. I would ideally like the Xperia 5 but it’s way out of my budget.
Still, the 10iii is a great phone and does everything I need it to. It’s fast, takes good photos, has a good display and size and great battery life.
If you don’t want Sony the only other phone I’m aware of in the premium segment is Asus ZenFone 9 (the 10 is launching next month) which had rave reviews and was even phone of the year I think. It reminds me alot of my V30 in many ways.
If your budget is low like mine, look at the Sony Xperia 10v which just launched. It has better speakers, cameras, OIS, and battery compared to mine.
Or look at Samsung as they tend to have a headphone jack in the budget segment. A54 I think has good reviews.
The Zenphone looks nice, but I really want the SD card slot :/
Hackable? Able to install Lineage/custom android?
I rock an A42 and have zero complaints, I assume the 54 is similar.
Oh nice, I had no idea Sony made affordable phones lol.
I will look into this.
Yes. The 10 series is the affordable line. I do wish they had something in the €500 range as well, say a 10 but with more powerful CPU just for those who don’t want a SD695.
Still rocking my S10 that I believe is the best phone made.
Wireless charging, wireless power sharing, good waterproof rating, headphone port etc.
Holding onto this thing as long as possible. Might price out a battery replacement… 💪
As a phone repair tech, Samsung phones are some of the easiest to repair. Especially for batteries or (if you can get Samsung OEM parts) screens.
I highly recommend you take a look at installing the new battery yourself if you’re able to be precise with a screwdriver. All it takes is the aforementioned screwdriver, a hair dryer/heat gun, and an old credit card.
The only parts you’ll have to buy are the battery and the water resistant seal for the back glass.
Eh…Galaxy S5 is a bitch to repair. Specifically for the display.
Samsung have some of the best handsets in the market hands down, but pixel isn’t too bad either
I’d agree to that. I’ve been a pixel user for a few years now, the only reason I chose them over Samsung is that I don’t like Samsung’s software preload.
Am I the only one who dislikes the wireless charging gimmick? Id rather phones dont bother with it to keep the size and cost of the phone down a bit.
I love it because I have a great dock for it. I just set my phone down on it and it charges.
Wireless power sharing makes it worth it to me. It’s not helpful often but being able to charge someones phone in a pinch has saved my ass a few times.
I have usb-c chargers scattered around the house so that I can charge whatever I have (phone, iPad, Switch) wherever I am. Prefer a single standard, whatever it is.
I own both of these:
- Pixel 5a 5G (although updates end in 1 year)
- Asus Zenfone 9
They’re both good!
Update end of life dates: https://endoflife.date/pixel
My zenfone 8 is solid, but has high treble when listening on max on my headphone and Planar IEM. I would not necesserily recommend builtin jacks. If you can choose a lot cheaper device for lack of a jack, you can get a fucking great bluetooth adapter and a very good IEM from the difference.
Apart from that, I recommend Gigaset/Volla and Fairphone since they are servicable and have removable batteries.
GSM Arena has a “phone finder” tool that allows you to lookup phones with specific features. There are over 500 phones released in 2022 to present with a headphone jack. You can narrow that down a lot if you only look at phones with IPX8 water resistance.
Some options:
- Sony Xperia 1 V (expensive)
- Sony Xperia 10 V
- Asus Zenfone 9
- Samsung Galaxy Xcover6 Pro
- Nokia XR21
I have tried that in the past, but I always found that I either got 150 results that were mostly Chinese junk phones or 3 results that were incredibly underpowered low range devices.
I will check it out again.
I’m still clinging on to my samsung s10e and hope to get another year or so out of it…after that I think I’m just gonna bite the bullet and get a dongle dac.
My S10e battery started to bloat so ive swapped to the zenphone 9 in the last week and a half, as long as you dont need wireless charging and get over the initial bumps moving away from samsung’s android tweaks its a great phone.
I like to fall asleep listening to podcasts, so sadly I need something that can play and charge at the same time.
I did have a Pixel 2 XL back in the day, and perhaps the situation has improved, but bakc then the dongles were incredibly unreliable…
I do the same. After switching to a headphone-jack-free phone, I got a Bluetooth headband with speakers in it that’s specially made for sleeping. The sound quality is pretty poor, but I’m only using it for podcasts and it’s fairly comfortable (more comfortable than earphones for me).
The Zenphone 9 is a great phone. If you don’t mind going for a slightly older phone, then I would recommend the Galaxy A52s.
I was considering this one, but I have heard wildly different stories from people using them.
Some say it’s an incredible phone, some say it’s a laggy nightmare with bad battery life.
Unsure who to believe.
The battery life is incredible for me (~72h max) and don’t think I ever experienced any lag.
I think it is probably only a small number of people that have the battery issues and posted online since the ones with working phones won’t post about that. Could be a software issue (Network reconnecting? Battery not properly calibrated?). Anyway this should be fixable by RMA on the off chance that it does happen to you.
Asus Zenfone
Xperia if you’re into photography at all
Asus Zenfone 9 and Xiaomi Poco F5 are also viable options
Poco sadly doesn’t have all the connection bands I need.
I have a set of 18 year old Shure SE530 headphones that I still use. I simply bought an external bluetooth adapter for them. I would challenge anyone to do a double blind test with them bluetooth vs. hardwired.
Was going to post this. I didn’t want to give up the quality of my IEM’s so went with a BTRK3 adapter and feel like I have the best of both worlds. Bonus is I can play mobile shooters with 4 fingers and not have a jack in my way.
This is basically the route I took, albeit with a BTR5 and SRH840s, and I don’t think I want to go back. I can slap that little shit on whatever I want and it’ll make the sound quality orders of magnitude better.
Can you explain more?
I have an iPhone which has a lightning connector - if I want to hook it up to the computer, I can either connect Bluetooth, or I can plug in a 3.5mm aux connector to the lightning port… which would also allow me to connect my old Sennheiser headphones.
However, for listening to podcasts at bedtime, I generally just use the computer which usually goes to sleep at bedtime - but I could adjust that.
Pixel 4a (5g version) amazing phone, I pur calyx OS onto it ( you must buy an unlocked version if you wish to run calyx ) I cannot recommend it enough… got to have a headphone jack
Would you mind telling me your experience with Calyx? I looked into both it and Graphene in the past, but never committed.
My only worries are having my Microsoft work apps and my banking apps function correctly.
