[General Questions and Answers] mkey82:
Looking for a new smartphone

Hello people.

I've been looking around for a few days now, it's an even Steven in my head currently.

When it comes to priorities I'm looking for this:

1. decent battery life and a decently sized battery. I limited my scope to mainly SD 625 and above chipset

2. a device which could last for 4+ years, with proper care of course and possibly a battery replacement down the line

3. price below 300€ and EU availability. Paying (extra) taxes makes my screen crawl

4. solid construction since I have a tendency to drop my phones half a dozen times over their lifetime. Never broken one, incredibly

5. custom ROM support

6. a 5 inch device with the micro sd slot and the audio jack, preferably without glass one the back. I also very much hate the protruding camera lens, but won't throw a fit over that proclivity of mine at this time. I prefer flat phones.

Point 6 is very much destined for compromise.

I don't put much stock into graphics performance, I only ever play simple games and use the phone moderately. Currently I'm using Cubot X17 and while this was quite a cheap phone over 2 years ago (about 140€) battery life is not great (35+% per hour with low screen lighting) and has weird spikes at times, with considerable inexplicable drops, among other issues. Either way, I'm looking for a decent replacement, the list has been boiling down to this:

1. Lenovo P2, I can get it locally for about 310€ which seems a tad too expensive

- large battery + SD 625 should provide a nice battery life

- not sure if it supports quick charge or some form of the same

- supposedly has an iffy camera

- is a bit too bulky and rather ... lets say plain

2. Sony Xperia M5 Dual, goes for about 210€ here

- it's rather old but the last in the row of xperias which looks interesting to me

- my previous xperia was an Xperia Ray and I really REALLY loved that phone. Until it got run over by time, repeatedly

- I looked at X compact, but appears quite expensive locally for what it offers

- doesn't appear to have lineage support

3. Xiaomi Redmi 4 (Prime), this one looks quite affordable, about 210€ on honorbuy or about 190€ on goldway

- first phone on this list about which I have some concerns over lasting 4 years+

- some similar models really sucked on durability tests and while I don't plan to snap this one in two with my hands or anything else, I'd prefer to own a phone which doesn't break like a kitkat under moderate pressure

4. LeEco Le Pro3, on honorbuy the 32GB version goes for about 290€ which is decent. I also haven't been able to find it anywhere else on EU "stock"

- this is a very interesting phone which meets most of my requirements and then some but ...

- it has 32GB ROM without the micro SD port, which sucks and ...

- it apparently has issues with the charger so I'd probably have to toss the provided one in the bin and use a normal charger, just to be safe. Or buy a decent quick charger. Also ...

- the company also seems to be going under, so why the hell am I even considering this device ????

- it is also a 5,5 inch device

- has lineage support

5. Samsung Galaxy S6, (32GB) locally I can purchase this one from a rather remote store for about 270€ which seems to be a very good price, usually here the standard price is about 450€

- the main issue I have with this device is the battery life which appears to be problematic to say the least, which makes sense considering the resolution and the battery capacity. How large of an issue is this? I typically optimize my devices considerably so if it can be extended considerably with care I wouldn't have a problem doing so

- similar to Le Pro it's bound to 32GB ROM which may not be as terrible in technical sense as much as it's irksome

- regarding build quality, this one seems most reassuring to me

- doesn't have lineage support but Samsung seems keen on updates for this phone (or does it?)

6. Samsung A5 2017, for about 335€

- just seems rather overpriced and not really worth breaking my set goal of 300€

7. Xiaomi Mi 5s, the 64GB versions goes for about 280€ from honorbuy, 250€ from goldway

- considering structural integrity of Mi 5, Mi 5s makes me very cautious. It doesn't have glass back so it should fare well in this regard. At least better than Mi 5

- they appear to have moved to a steel frame for Mi 6, which is nice but I'd have to break my 300€ rule. Break it, kick it in the nuts and look myself in the mirror and ask "what the hell do you need such a high end device for?" I really, really don't

- has lineage support

This would be the extended list, I guess. If push came to shove, I'd probably drop P2, M5 and A5. Then if I start to cross reference stuff, I'd start to think about how Redmi being only about 20% cheaper than Mi 5s is not really worth it so it boils down to either Le Pro 3, S6 or Mi 5s. Or does it? Please, help this sucker out.