Check out mid-range stuff. There's an absolute treasure trove. I've been using a Moto G5 Plus (the 4GB RAM model) for some time now and it's an absolute treat.

LG Stylo 2 Plus here, and I heartily agree on going with mid-range (and I prefer phablets as well). There's a Stylo 3 Plus now, which fortunately still has the headphone jack, bumps the SOC from a 430 to a 435, and the display to 1920x1080. Neither have the fastest SOC out there, but still plenty for my needs, and both have an SD slot.

So far, I've been very happy with my Stylo 2 Plus. Battery life is amazing (the battery is usually at about 75% when I plug it in for the night), the screen is sharp in spite of being 720p, and plenty bright. I can't see spending more than $250 on a phone these days, except for bragging rights.

Me too. Other than the mediocre camera I've been really happy with it.

Another vote for the G5 here. It's a little larger than I'd like, but other than that it's been perfect for me.

How regular is Motorola/Lenovo regarding security updates?

Pretty regular, I will say they haven't seemed to put forth a patch for WPA2 yet, but I'm also unsure how fully vulnerable it is mostly because Android can be such a customized beast.

I wish there was more Android One devices in North-America. Cheap, good, "stock Android" + garanteed updates.

I know it's universally hated here on HN, but Samsung. Their top-end models just work; they have some UI bloat but some of that is also useful. They look good, are generally well-supported, good cameras, great screens, good battery.

(This applies to S8 and above, S7 and below were bad.)

The problem with the S8 and S8+ is finding glass screen protectors for it. The only one I can find locally is $40, and the curved edges means it cracks really easily.

Yes, I tried it for a day without a screen protector and ended up with scratches on the screen.

I've had my GS8 since its release and there are zero scratches on it. I have it in a case, but otherwise no screen protector, and no issue. I've dropped it several times, and today had the scariest incident yet -- set it on the counter and opened the cupboard to have a big can of split pea soup fall and smack right off the screen. No problem.

Scratching definitely isn't a problem. Cracking is a risk, but a basic case dramatically reduces the odds of that.

I've been reading great things about the new LG V30.

The OnePlus 5 is pretty awesome.

How's the display on that? I'm on a Note 3, and I really like the fact that I've always been able to see Samsung's AMOLED display in the sunlight. I also have bad eyes, so I tend to keep the display pretty bright in the dark. It's always seemed so much more vivid than other phones I've compared it to, but that's been a while.

EDIT: And where the heck do you get one in the US?

Oneplus 3T (exact same panel as in 5) has good legibility in sunlight, I had no issues with it. As for vivid, you can configure display calibration on Oneplus to suit your taste. Unfortunately there are no gamma sliders for fine grained control, only 3 or 4 predefined settings.

OnePlus phones are a great Nexus replacement - they have good hardware (but not the best one) and near-stock system for reasonable price, and as enthusiast phone, they get a lot of community support from like LineageOS and stuff.

I’ll have to check that out. I’m stuck in the odd position of being tired of Apple’s “you can play in our sandbox”’approach, but I’m loathe to move to Android and give google what remnants of privacy I’ve managed to retain.

an iPhone 6s, most likely. i am in a similar camp of wanting to have certain ‘legacy’ tech wrt my laptop. my 2011 17” mpb will be my daily driver until it is pried from my cold dead hands (well hopefully its cold dead shell is pried from my living hands). i, however, didn’t feel the need to cry about it when the computers didn’t perfectly align with my desires though. maybe people just like complaining?

The first Pixel is a good phone, still very performant.

Pixel is my last big brand phone. Next one needs to run Linux and not be tied to Apple or Google. It has all gotten a little too controlled and walled.

Pixel is an amazing phone and aside from the privacy aspects... I can't see needing more phone. The camera is better than any phone camera I have ever used.

We need to get away from the Android / iOS duopoly

If you find such a thing, and it isn't completely godawful, let me know.

Heh. Will do. Sony Xperia runs Jolla, that is something. We will see. I am guessing it means sacrificing a little hardware quality, but we are all kind of spoiled as it is.

Interesting, I'll check it out. Thanks!

The new Nokia devices seems to be pretty good in the mid-range category.