[General Questions and Answers] midix:
Hi all.

I am a developer (mostly web, just occasional mobile) with poor vision since birth and I'm looking for a smartphone which should meet the following criteria:

- budget under 350 EUR

- has no problems installing custom launchers; I'd like to install Launcher WP8 style . I have used Xperia Neo V and Lumia 920, and my eyes really enjoy minimalistic WP tile interface. I seriously consider to develop my own launcher some day for special needs of my eyes (and other people like me). I know that there is a magnifier built-in but I'd like to avoid using it, if possible - it's just simpler, if I can get text sizes, colors and usability without using those somewhat inconvenient triple tapping gestures

- has an upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow available or planned for sure (rumored does not count)

- at least 16GB RAM (have heard complaints that 8GB is too little space for Android today)

- screen size - 5" seems to be the sweat spot

- other features - like any midrange phone - 13MPx camera, microSD is mandatory

- solid build quality. I don't change phones more than once in three years, so I'd like the phone to last and survive normal everyday use.

- no glass back (I've heard bad reports of Sony Z being too fragile). Strong plastic or aluminium is good

- has repair services in Europe (and also in my country, Latvia). I'll be using the phone as my main "work horse", so I want to get repaired it fast and hassle-free, in case if...

- has not locked out normal development support (with "normal" I mean remote debugging and installing self-compiled apks )

- can be rooted and flashed with custom ROM and has reliable and stable ROMs available (most probably, I won't need this in next 2 years, anyway, but who knows... I just want to be sure)

So, I looked through the options available, and now I have three candidates:

HTC One M8s

Asus Zenfone 2 Laser ZE500KL Dual 16GB

Huawei P8 Lite ALE-L21

I intend to buy the phone from a reliable local shop, which means that I might receive a model which is definitely not locked to any carrier, but it might be not meant for my country (Latvia) Most probably, it will be some European model. However, my current Lumia model was targeted at Saudi Arabia, but it had no problems with installing European updates on it. I hope that Android won't disappoint me and I won't be stuck with something totally Arabic or Chinese, but from the other hand I've heard that sometimes those regions get updates even faster that Europe :D

So, the main question for the time being is:

Is it worth paying for HTC One M8S instead of buying Asus Zenfone 2 or Huawei P8 Lite?

M8S seems really attractive, but I'm not sure if it won't turn out to be PITA to install and develop custom launchers, considering deep SenseUI integration into the core Android. And there might be other factors, unknown to me which might make Asus Zenphone or Huawei P8 Lite a better choice for my requirements.

I'd really appreciate your feedback, especially from owners of the mentioned devices and developers who know HTC, Asus and Huawei ecosystem and their attitude to developers (support, ignore or fight against unauthorized software).

There where some attractive models which matched specs-wise and price-wise but unfortunately I had to neglect them because of unknown Marshmallow upgrade or because of glass back:

SAMSUNG G903F GALAXY S5 NEO 16GB

Samsung A500FU Galaxy A5 16GB

Huawei Ascend P7 Black

Sony E5603 Xperia M5

Sony Z2

Sony C6603 Xperia Z Black

Sony D6603 Xperia Z3