Since 2019, my phone has been a OnePlus 5T running LineageOS, and I've loved it.

Unfortunately, it uses 3G for calls, and all New Zealand networks plan to turn off their 3G network in early 2026. I would still be able to use this phone for taking photos, playing games, and browsing the web on 4G data, but in theory I wouldn't be able to make or receive calls, because it lacks the somewhat recent VoLTE feature. I only need to do phone calls a little bit, but I do have to do them. So it seems like this won't be able to be my everyday phone any more.

The general advice for people in this situation is to buy a new phone, which I detest on principle, because I like my phone, and I don't like e-waste.

However, I also recognise that my phone isn't quite as good now as it was when I bought it. After years of use, the battery health has degraded, and the storage is filling up in ways I'm struggling to understand. The last six years have surely also brought advancements to processor speed, battery density, camera hardware, and screen brightness. So while I still like my phone, I do see how I could benefit from a new one. But which one should I buy? There's so many choices out there!

I've been spending the last few months trying to find what's right for me so I can have something to switch to before it's too late.

Requirements

To help me figure out what to buy, I planned to identify key requirements that I'd like in a phone, and use that to make a shortlist. Then I'd go over the shortlist and weigh pros, cons and price to make a final decision. I don't expect to be able to find a phone that meets all of my 5 requirements, but at least 3 of them would be pretty good. Here's what I'm looking for, in no particular order:

Cameras, both software and hardware. I love taking photographs, and I've always used my phone to do it. I like the photos I get on the OnePlus 5T with Nikita's GCam port, but it does really struggle above 2x zoom. Phones can't do optical zoom like cameras can, because they can't move the lenses closer or further from the sensor.* How most phones do optical zoom is to have multiple camera lens and sensor setups, each one permanently tuned to a specific zoom level. The OnePlus 5T does have two cameras, but they're both 1x. So a phone that does good zoom would be great.

*Okay, a few models have hardware for continuous moving lenses, such as Sony Experia 1 mark IV through VII, but those are quite niche.

I did consider getting more serious about photography and buying a real camera, so that I could drop this requirement from the list. It would give me new ways to photograph things that I couldn't before, because phone cameras are fundamentally limited in capability by their small size. It could be fun, but it wouldn't make sense. Cameras and equipment are expeennnnnsiiive, so having to buy a new phone and a new camera would be ridiculous. I'd have to fill up my backpack with the heavy camera equipment and carry it around everywhere, which would make photography more labourious and less spontaneous. Also, good phones generally have good cameras anyway; there certainly aren't any good phones with no cameras. So it's not like a real camera would let me save money by buying a phone that doesn't have a camera, because such a thing doesn't exist.

Software look and feel is very important to me. Software companies often make choices that make things worse for users and make the company more money. I'm very sensitive to these sorts of things, and I do not tolerate them. I go out of my way to use freer, more respectful software and devices. That's why I run Linux, and LineageOS, and use an ad blocker.

For phones, this issue is very important to me. Lots of phone brands decide to include bloatware, which basically means preinstalled stuff that I don't want and often can't be removed. In the best case it would take the form of a home screen icon I have to ignore, or in the worst case it would show me ads in places like push notifications or in apps like Settings and Calculator.

Computers include bloatware too, but this doesn't matter at all to me, because it all goes away when I replace the original operating system with Linux. I'm free to do this because Linux runs pretty well on most commercially available computers, and the computer maker can't stop me from doing this. On phones, it's backwards, because the phone maker has control over whether they'll allow me to replace the operating system or not. I could on the OnePlus 5T, where I erased it and installed LineageOS to have an experience without any bloatware, where I control exactly what goes on my phone. But in recent times, fewer and fewer phone makers have been allowing this, and when it is allowed, there's often artificial drawbacks, which I'll talk about later.

Even if I like the software on the phone originally, they can push updates at any time to make it worse. So if I don't use LineageOS right away, having the option to switch to it is an important escape hatch that gives me control over a very important device that should feel like it's mine.

I've mostly been thinking about Android phones, but Apple is also interesting to consider regarding software. They go a step further than Android. On Android, even if the manufacturer decides to lock down the operating system, I can still install any apps I want on top of it. But Apple doesn't even allow people to install unapproved apps. However, Apple is also widely recognised to have very good software look and feel, without bloatware. So there are ups and downs.

Bloatware aside, each Android manufacturer applies a totally different UI style to their phone, as seen in the lock screen design, home screen icon theme, and pull-down quick settings. Some of these appeal to my taste, some don't. Online reviews usually don't show or talk about the UI in detail. The only way for me to know if I like it or not is to go hands-on with a demo device in a shop.

Repairability. Damage to my phone could happen at any time, whether it's new or old. I can't prepare for it in advance, it just takes one accident. I can't live without my phone, so I really don't want it to be broken. Whether it's something major like it not turning on, or minor like a cracked screen, I still want to get it fixed as soon as possible. Smartphones are incredibly intricate devices and I don't have the skill, practice, or parts to repair one myself. (The nerds reading this are thinking "check iFixit repair scores and order tools and parts" - no, get real.)

So I'd end up taking it to a local repair shop. Local repair shops only stock parts for commonly available phones. If I have a rare phone, like something I ordered from overseas, they wouldn't have on hand the spare parts needed to repair it. I'd be without my phone for at least two weeks while I wait for them to get special parts shipped in. This just isn't acceptable.

I was in this situation about a year ago when I knocked my (imported!) OnePlus 5T off the kitchen counter and it landed badly, hitting the edge of the cat's water bowl. This got one of the volume buttons stuck down, preventing me from adjusting the volume easily, and next time it rebooted, it thought the pressed volume button was a request to boot into safe mode. Turns out safe mode stops you from opening any apps, so the phone was unusable as a phone, and I couldn't reboot into normal mode. Scary! I had to go a whole day without being able to use my phone, which made me feel very, very bad. I took it to a repair shop, and they said they'd have to order in a new volume button daughterboard, as well as a new screen in case the screen ended up breaking while they took the phone apart (a reasonable precaution). They said it would take two weeks to get the parts.

That night, I managed to find instructions to boot in recovery mode and edit a file that disables the volume buttons, which I could only do thanks to the power of a rooted phone. This let me reboot into normal mode and use apps on the phone again, just without the ability to adjust the volume easily.

Anyway, I want to buy a phone that's available in shops in New Zealand to make it more likely that repair shops will have parts on hand. I am very lucky that this is the only accident that's occurred in the six years I've owned this OnePlus 5T.

Size. I've always felt like my OnePlus 5T was slightly too wide to use in one hand, so if my next phone was a little narrower, that would be great. Certainly I wouldn't want to get something larger.

Headphone jack. I do not "blue tooth". I do not "air play". I do not "pair". I do not "sync". I do not "cast". I do not "stream". I do not "noise cancel". I plug it in. And if I can't, I don't buy it.

Non-requirements

Price was not one of the requirements, it's only a small factor to think about once I've got my shortlist. I don't mind spending more money if it gives me a purchase I'm happier with, and if I'm able to use the next phone for a good 6 years like I was this one, it'll be worth the price in the long run.

I'm not foolish enough to add a sixth "no notch/camera cutout" requirement. I've greatly enjoyed my notch-less OnePlus 5T, but I know in my heart that the battle is already lost. I will cope with whatever notch they deign to give me. (Except maybe the Apple one. Seriously, what are they doing?)

To summarise, my five requirements are Cameras, Software, Local, Size, Headphones.

False start

I went out and did a run of all the local shops that sell phones, and immediately I found a problem. There are no locally available phones with headphone jacks - it's one or the other. Damn. Well, there's no way around it. Let's keep the local requirement, and scrap the headphone jack requirement. Whatever, I can use a USB-C dongle. The absolute bastards.

New summary: Cameras, Software, Local, Size.

I also noticed a worrying trend regarding phone size. All phones seem to be either 6.2" or 6.7". (Yes, I know this measures screen diagonal when what I actually care about is width, but the bezels are consistent enough that it's a close enough proxy.) 6.2" comes out to be a little narrower than the OnePlus 5T. Still not as svelte as I'd have liked, but acceptable. 6.7" is big. The easiest way to describe it is a phone that size is a two handed phone. But if I wanted to commit to a two handed phone, I'd use a tablet.

Shortlist

After much umming and ahhing, I end up with the following shortlist of local phones:

Samsung S24 or S25

• Size: 6.2". Acceptable.
• Cameras: I like the sample pictures I found online.
• Local: Yep! Probably the most commonly sold phone brand. I wouldn't have any trouble getting it repaired.
• Software:
  • Bloatware: Hopefully not too evil? I didn't see any ads in any default apps.
  • Look and feel: It's not what I'm used to, but I think I could get used to it?
  • Updates: 6 years of updates promised. Very good.
  • Operating system: Can be rooted, but some phone features are permanently disabled and remain so after factory reset. No custom operating systems like LineageOS have been made for this phone.
  • Account: Optional Google account if you want to use the Play Store (LOL) and optional Samsung account to use specific things they worked really hard on like the Health app.

Xiaomi 15

• Size: 6.2". Acceptable.
• Cameras: On paper, the specs look a lot better than Samsung's camera setup. If I wanted a so-called compact phone and only cared about cameras, this would be my pick.
• Local: Only sold as an exclusive partnership with PBTech, an online retailer.
• Software:
  • Bloatware: I have no idea. People online report mixed facts. Xiaomi's budget phone models have intrusive notifications, because they're selling hardware at cost to poor people with no choice and trying to make money after sale through software. I get it from a business sense. This model costs $1500 new though, and isn't available on carrier contract, so you have to buy it outright. With that target market in mind, I'd hope they'd go with a more premium feel for the premium price and not include the ads. But nothing's stopping them from putting ads in anyway to make more money! Even if it doesn't have ads now, they can always add them in a software update later, and the phone wouldn't give me the choice of refusing that update.
  • Look and feel: I have no idea. I can't touch it in a shop.
  • Updates: 6 years of security updates promised. Acceptable.
  • Operating system: Can be rooted, and custom operating systems like LineageOS are available for some older Xiaomi models. But you have to create an account on their social media platform and earn sufficient reputation before they let you press the button??
• Account: The usual Google, and optional Xiaomi account to build up reputation on their horrible little social media thing so I can root and gtfo later.

Wait, that's all?

That's the end of the list. I really expected to find more. But no, all the other options were instantly disqualified for being 6.7", or not liking the look and feel, or having bloatware, or all three.

In that case, maybe I should be looking to import a phone from overseas. I'd lose the ability to get quick repairs, which I already discussed and experienced the consequences of. But I would be able to get things that I otherwise can't get locally. Like a headphone jack... mmm... headphone jack...

Asus Zenfone 10

• Headphone jack: Praise the stars!
• Size: 6.0". Cute!
• Cameras: The 1x camera has a larger sensor than average, but looks horribly oversharpened when cropped to 2x (at least with the default camera software). There's no telephoto lens. It wouldn't be a remarkable upgrade from my OnePlus 5T.
• Local: Nope!
• Software:
  • Bloatware: From what I could find online, doesn't seem terrible.
  • Updates: This model is already 2 years old, so feature updates have ended by now, and security updates will end sooner than I'd like.
  • Look and feel: I have no idea. I can't touch it in a shop.
  • Operating system: Can be rooted, and custom operating systems like LineageOS are available for some older models.
  • Account: Just the usual Google.

I think the biggest factor against this one is that I don't want to buy a phone that's old when it's new.

Apple

(sfx: thunderclap, dramatic organ music)

Does anyone else remember seeing that "your thumb goes from here to here" iPhone 5 ad a decade ago? Pretty funny how things work out.

• Size: They have a "mini" phone, which lives up to its name!
• Local: Yep! Probably the second most commonly sold phone brand. I wouldn't have any trouble getting it repaired.
• Software: Well...

I can't compare Apple's software experience against Android with just a checklist, because the difference is too fundamental. Some Android apps I use every day are unavailable on iOS, and I'd be lost without them. It would be a huge learning curve. I also can't run unapproved apps, which makes it trickier for me to try to develop my own replacement iPhone apps if I want to re-create something I can't live without. Can I even run XCode without a Mac computer?

I'm not in the Apple ecosystem. If I already had their laptop, or if I was interested in getting a smartwatch, an iPhone would be a much easier sell. But just getting the phone and keeping the rest of my life the same has too many drawbacks. I hope Tim Apple keeps telling them to make mini phones though!

Conclusion

When I walked into a phone shop, I expected to witness with amazement how much technology has advanced in the present day compared to my eight-year-old model, and for the power of marketing to mind control me into buying a new phone that would bring all sorts of benefits to my life. But instead, I felt disappointed that I'd be forced to choose between two suboptimal devices, either of which would be a compromise compared to what I already have. I felt frustrated that my OnePlus 5T, which still meets my needs and is working wonderfully (apart from the volume buttons), is being taken from me by the 3G shutdown.

In fact, that whole shopping experience made me appreciate my current phone even more. Comparing it to the newest options on shelves, I can't help but feel that apart from drop-in upgrades like their better processors, high-end phones are a worse experience now than they used to be. Holding my OnePlus 5T, I'm fascinated at how many things it got right. I said earlier that I thought it was a little too wide, but compared to our current options, wow this thing is actually shaped really well. My thumb can reach the left side of the screen. The fingerprint sensor is also in a much better location, in a tactile bump on the back rather than somewhere in the smooth glass expanse of the screen. The curved back and light weight also make a big difference to the health of my load-bearing pinky finger. Seriously, whenever I pick it up now, I marvel at how nice it is to hold. There aren't any phones doing this any more!

I felt like I was being forced to switch to an unexciting phone with bad trade-offs, which is a far sight from the optimism I was feeling when I began this journey. Originally I'd been hoping to gain from this, but it seems we've only lost some really delightful designs in the pursuit of... well, what is it in the pursuit of? I was surely expecting that the new models would demonstrate some brand new technology that would blow me away, that's innovative, transformative, something that promises to change the way I live my life, to bring me new powers I've never had before, something essential that I'll find myself wondering how I ever did without...

(sfx: tense strings music suddenly halts, leaving a silence so deep you could hear a pin drop)

Oh no.