Currently g42 hawao with calyxos, best past one was nexus 6

Pixel fold

V60

Best phone ever made, headphone jack, beautiful sound, perfect screen, had the extra screen if you wanted, did everything, microsd, no bullshit software, still had docked mode.

Had the z fold 3, was OK, but it was really way too skinny to use folded, and unfolding it all the time was a pain, the pixel fold really nailed the form factor.

Shame google makes garbage software, Samsung put infinite bloatware, but they also had docked mode and charge limit, which this crap doesnt. OTOH at least I can read and use it folded.

Sony Xperia 5 V

Great camera, small size, excellent battery life, removable storage, IP rated, and has a headphone jack. The only thing it is missing is a removable battery.

I once played around with a fair phone. It felt like the best phone I ever played with.

I had an old Motorola that had Android, replaceable battery, and audio connection. It does after 4-5 years when the power button stopped working and they stopped updating the phone after the first couple of months.

Currently using a Galaxy S21 FE. I'm honestly not rhat picky, as long as it's not apple, and as long as it's fast enough, as my employers have paid for them. I got this one after being on the wrong side of the country while my phone died, so I had the shop clerk phone up the guy at the head office to confirm that I could just pick one and send them the bill. The S21FE was what was in store at the time, and I was kind of in a hurry, as I was in the middle of a projectrelated field work.

I've mostly stuck to Samsung because that's the (mangled) version of Android that I'm used to. It takes some tampering with adb to remove the bloat, but once done it works really well.

The "best" phone (quotes, because I think that's highly subjective) I ever had was the Galaxy Note 2. I loved that phone. Great stylus, good OCR, and once it got used to my terrible handwriting, it was much better and less prone to error than typing on the softkeys. The Note 3 through 6 were not available in my country, so I know nothing. And it annoyed the fuck out of me that Note 7 was a safety hazard, because beyond that it seemed like a really good phone. Sadly the later iterations of the Note series seem too cheaply made. Plastic stylus, etc.

Honorable mention: Openmoko GTK 2. I loved it, but the concept of a linux smartphone (or smartphones in general) hadn't matured completely in 2007, so it wasn't at the stage where it could replace my dumb phone completely.

Today, as mentioned, I'm not that picky. I feel like most phones are the same, except the ones that are too cheap. There is only so much useful hardware that can be crammed into a phone, and beyond that there are mostly improvements on things such as the camera. The rest comes down to software.

You can rip my blackberry key2 from my death cold hands.

The best phone was probably a landline that was shaped like a duck.
It quacked when you had an incoming call.

Currently using a OnePlus 9 Pro. Best phone I've used? The OnePlus 5t, hands down. Slightly wider aspect ratio in portrait orientation, great screen, camera and fingerprint reader for its day and fantastic 3rd party ROM selection.

Redmi Note 11

Nokia N-Gage

Pixel 6a. Changed the OS to GrapheneOS. This is the best phone I've owned.

Probably 1+ 6t (that's before it was merged). No bloat nice phone.

Or my old BlackBerry before they stopped bothering to test anything and rested on their laurels. I miss the one place portal everything posted its notifications etc. Android is awful for that.

I like my Pixel 7 Pro (current phone) but I have to have a launcher on it because their home screen sucks.

Pixel 2 XL was my favorite phone and still works. I'm still on a Pixel 5 because of the physical fingerprint sensor

I miss the Nexus 6. I loved the large comfortable display and dual front-firing speakers. It does not have modern pros like a fingerprint reader, USB C, or a recent processor. But it also doesn't have modern cons like an obstructive front camera, 9:18/20 display, or curved glass.

iPhone SE. I would use a smaller model of iPhone, if there was one. I need a phone I can easily take with me, not some aircraft-carrier sized high-tech device ;)

S8+ I thought was the best one that I had till I upgraded

Pixel 8 with GrapheneOS

iPhone 12 Mini. I loved my 5S and first gen SE and I still can’t understand why phone manufacturers these days insist on making tablets and calling them phones. I just want something that fits in my pocket. I would probably have switched to Android years ago but I haven’t found a single Android phone with a small form factor, decent performance and decent camera.

On an iphone 13 mini because it's just about the last reasonably-sized smartphone left even though ios has tons of little quirks that annoy me. Favorite was probably the OG Pixel I had until like 2020 when it finally died, RIP

The OnePlus 7t back when it was on oxygen os 10. Great hardware, perfect software. It was the first phone I got where I didn't need or want to flash a custom rom. Unfortunately, every software update that it got since then felt like a downgrad. After oxygen os 10, oxygen os and Oppo's color os have been going through something of a merge. The result is that oxygen os is no longer as stock-like as it used to be and lots of small convenience features have disappeared in favor of flashy yet useless-to-me features. I have an 8t now and it's fine but I don't think that I'll get another OnePlus.

I recently got an Asus zenfone 10. I usually buy midrange phones but this time I couldn't find a good one. I like small phones, and they seem to be an endangered species these days. This one also has a headphone jack which is nice.

cheapest. there hasnt been an innovation since they added bluetooth i care or need.

my phone is [generally] not used for content consumption, i have real machines for that.

I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max. It's a nice phone. I like IOS better than I thought I would. I do think the Galaxy I had before it was pretty good though, too. If I didn't struggle so much with the iPhone keyboard, I guess this would be my favorite, but I use my phone so much and the swipe typing is so rough, it's hard to give a full endorsement.

That said, I am probably overestimating how gos typing on Android was. I remember lots of autocorrect issues, but iOS has a bunch of keyboard bugs that make correcting errors even more frustrating than making them in the first place.

Considering the state of the phones back then my 1+ 3t was amazing. No bloat, dirt cheap. A real flagship killer, as they positioned it.

These days I only require a phone to have fast charge like OnePlus or Oppo delivers it. 15 minutes charge for a full day of use. That's awesome. I can never go back to iOS because I'm so used to my custom keyboard and the gestures I use for quick acces to apps and other stuff.

I've been a fan of the Pixels. I'm on a 7 now, no complaints.

iPhone 15 pro currently. Blackberry passport was the GOAT though.

Between an Android or an Iphone smartphone.

Anything with Android on it for sure.

When you look at smartphone manufacturers, the only reason you should consider a specific manufacturer besides price (i'm talking function wise) is for any prebuilt settings. Some might have some special kind of battery saving feature among others including opening Android more compared to others. Some phones might have build in local radio support or Bluetooth others likely don't.

iPhone 14 Pro. Got it deeply discounted from my carrier when the 15 line came out.

It's ok, but it's a modern smartphone like any other so I have too many dislikes to say it's the best. The phone I think of most fondly was probably my LG Keybo 2

Pixel 4a. I'm too lazy to get a new phone that often. Though, I don't get any proper updates anymore, that sucks. Best phone has always been the current one I use at the time.

I have a Fairphone 5. Maybe too expensive for what it is, but hopefully it doesn't have a big evil annoying company behind it and it should hopefully last a while. Still running stock Android on it though, because I don't want to lose Play Attestation or whatever it is called.