
Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack - edmoffo
https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-headphone-jack-phones
======
lostgame
Apple’s lack of follow-up to the iPhone SE means the SE is still the best
iPhone with a headphone jack.

I honestly can’t believe Apple did an iPhone event without introducing a new
model in that size. I know at least a dozen people (especially women) who had
been saying for at least a year that until the SE had a replacement, they’d be
using one, or swapping to Android.

With the weakest offerings for iPhones yet, in terms of reason to upgrade -
and _intense_ consumer demand for such a product, I’m just starting to get
sick of Apple not listening to what it’s userbase is asking for.

Shoving a limited number of options in our faces only works if the consumers
actually want any of those options.

For a time, the ‘MacBook’ was lighter than the ‘MacBook Air’. For years,
Apple’s flagship iOS phones wouldn’t even connect to their flagship MacBooks
and MacBook pros without an additional cable or adapter.

They’ve killed the non Touch Bar MacBook Pro, while the industry laments the
Touch Bar’s existence.

It’s one thing not to listen to your customers. Apple has always been a
certain level of compromise (price, features) as compared to other options.
It’s another thing to completely ignore industry and user base response.
Reasons to make that compromise have run out for me, and are running out for
others.

I have been an Apple-exclusive computer (especially laptop) user for 15 years.
My next laptop will be a hackintoshed Lenovo.

~~~
CDSlice
Is Apple really not listening to it's customers, or just not listening to a
small, vocal subset? I've really only heard complaints about the touchbar from
software devs, which are not Apple's main customers. Apple's main customers
are creatives and people that want to spend a lot of money for what amounts to
a well made (MacBook pro keyboard issues notwithstanding), functional status
symbols. Making a smaller, cheaper iPhone isn't really useful for the
creatives and just devalues Apple as a status symbol for the people that buy
it for that.

> For years, Apple’s flagship iOS phones wouldn’t even connect to their
> flagship MacBooks and MacBook pros without an additional cable or adapter.

> My next laptop will be a hackintoshed Lenovo.

I really don't think you are Apple's target audience. Most iPhone users don't
connect their phone to a computer anymore, especially the people that are
buying flagship Macs and iPhones, and the few that do generally don't mind
buying the extra cable. And most people with the skills and patience to tinker
with their systems to make functional hackintoshes probably aren't big on
buying services, which is what Apple is trying to transition into.

~~~
lostgame
>> I really don't think you are Apple's target audience.

I am a creative professional - which, historically, was a very important part
of Apple’s user base; and the reason I still use their products.

The ecosystem and workflow of using an iPhone or iPad to write a simple
musical idea in GarageBand on the subway, and then finding it already on my
iCloud on my MacBook Pro at home, so I can open it up in Logic and refine it,
is unparalleled.

Anecdotally, I’ve never had anyone whom I’ve met, dev, creative, or casual
user, who enjoys or uses the Touch Bar.

It’s not even just the touch bar. The keyboard, the soldered RAM and SSD which
prevent upgrades, the lack of ports, when I spend more for a MacBook now, I’m
getting far less than I did in my many years of purchasing them.

Furthermore, I could pull up a heap of references for this, but it’s a much
more serious case with the SE form factor than even Apple’s current garbage
laptop offerings.

There are practically a lot of people with smaller hands - they would be happy
to give Apple their money but have nothing to give it for.

~~~
stevewodil
I'm a dev and like the touch bar. Ask me anything

~~~
HeWhoLurksLate
1) Would you like a physical function bar as well?

2) Do you use anything to _customize_ the Touchbar to your liking? (I haven't
used OS X in quite a while, and haven't heard of anything)

3) How's the rest of your keyboard doing? Do you like it?

~~~
brailsafe
I also like the TouchBar and use BetterTouchTool a bit. But the limitation
that annoys me is that I can't simultaneously customize it and display app
specific context buttons. As in one section customized if a spotify thing is
playing, but otherwise make the space available for overriding.

~~~
daseiner1
Have you investigated the option in BTT on a button to always display
regardless of context?

~~~
brailsafe
Right now I have a spotify song display alongside default apple controls. But
afaik there isn't the ability to allocate a bit of the touchbar to BTT, Apple
default controls, and app specific context controls. BTT takes over most of
the bar, but then I lose the ability to easily use pycharm debugging controls
for example.

------
tablethnuser
I've been using the budget Moto G+ line for the past four years. I can upgrade
my phone every year around Black Friday and get the latest model for sub $200.
The older phones still work well and get handed down to my less tech savvy
family members.

I'm not really sure what people are paying for when they get those $800+
beasts for phones. When I use a friend's I can tell they are higher quality;
either they feel more fancy or load apps more quickly. But it's marginal like
the difference between a workstation and a gaming PC.

I think more people should try out budget Android lines. One really nice
benefit is they only contain the technologies that have proved themselves.
This article focuses on headphone jacks but there's quite a lot of silly phone
tech that comes and goes in the name of marketing showmanship.

~~~
IkmoIkmo
Great points, although I would want to add a bit of nuance from my personal
experience.

One thing that often gets overlooked in pricing is depreciation. Flagship
models tend to keep their value quite well, whereas budget models depreciate
to next to nothing.

Take the iPhone X, launched 2 years ago, used it's around $570 today, versus
the $999 it launched at.

Meanwhile, a $300 phone tends to drop down to $100 on the 2nd hand market two
years later.

It just doesn't hold value very well, for one because budget phones become so
much better, and secondly because there's no marketing or natural demand for 2
year old budget phones, and stores themselves discount 1st hand versions of
these phones to extreme extents 2 years later. Who here is googling to get a
good deal on a second-hand Moto G5? A $300 phone 2.5yo phone that's $50 used
today, and $150 new.

So after depreciation, the difference between a $1000 flagship and a $300
budget model isn't $700, rather it's the cost of depreciation $430 vs $200 (or
$230 more).

That $220 isn't nothing, but it's $9.50 a month on a 2-year basis. If you
compare that to say a Netflix account, a data plan, cloud storage
subscription, Spotify, or two Starbucks coffees a month... $9.50 a month extra
to carry a flagship phone is pretty doable for most people. And you get a top-
notch flagship phone.

Not saying everyone should skip budget phones, but it's not as painful a
financial decision as it may seem.

~~~
sydd
you forgot to take into account that most phones are replaced because they
break - usually their display gets smashed. In this case budget phones come
ahead too:

Let's say you drop your phone after 2 years of use.

If you got an iPhone X you need to spend around $300 on a screen replacement
or sell if for $200.

If you got a 2 year old $300 phone you just buy a new for $300 (or do the
replacement for $150.)

But anyway I really dont see a reason why someone would get a $500+ phone. I
has better hardware (which most people wont make use of) and better
design/bragging rights. What can do a $1000 phone better? A better camera (for
most should not matter, instagram/facebook compresses your fancy images to
shitty JPGs), a faster CPU/RAM (nowadays its barely noticeable unless you play
stuff like Fortnite on your phone)

~~~
linkregister
_> you forgot to take into account that most phones are replaced because they
break - usually their display gets smashed._

Is that true? If so, how do you know it to be true?

~~~
sydd
look up some statistics. For example here they say that 72 million phones are
damaged/lost/stolen in the US each year:
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherelliott/2019/07/06/a...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherelliott/2019/07/06/are-
you-ready-for-the-summer-surge-of-phone-damage/#3ecfae6d72a6)

Actually this article mentions phones being lost or stolen - another 2 cases
where a cheap phone comes out much better.

------
chuckgreenman
I'm a single-issue voter when it comes to cell phones - if it doesn't have a
headphone jack, I won't be buying it.

~~~
wilsonnb3
but, why? I sincerely don't understand why the headphone jack is the hill that
so many people choose to die on.

The $9 lightning to 3.5mm dongle has worked perfectly for me, as has my USB-c
to 3.5mm dongle.

~~~
magduf
Because people don't want to fuck around with a stupid dongle to have a
feature that the phone should have had in the first place. Dongles get lost,
and you also can't charge the phone and use the dongle at the same time. Maybe
you don't think it's a big deal, but when the asking price of the device is
$1k, any little annoyance like that is a legitimate deal-breaker: for that
much money, it should have everything, instead of stripping features out to
save money.

~~~
Kerrick
I have pretty much never charged my phone and used it at the same time. The
cord is too short, and cords that are long enough are unwieldy. Plus, the cord
sticks out right where my hand wants to hold the phone.

Is this something people actually do in any situation except low-power
emergencies?

~~~
astine
I do this all the time, especially while driving. I plug an aux cord into my
phone to listen to podcasts or audiobooks and plug the usb connection into
power supply in my car. I wouldn't be able to do a long road trip if I had to
switch between these.

~~~
bradlys
This is a decent amount of people but I think this is increasingly rare as
more and more cars have Bluetooth. And it's not hard to update many older cars
to newer headunits that have Bluetooth in them. (as I did for some of my cars)
or just get a headunit that does power+transmission over USB too.

~~~
NoodleIncident
You can definitely tell the difference between bluetooth and an aux cord.
There's no excuse for using a wireless connection between a phone and a car
that are already plugged into each other anyway

~~~
bradlys
Personally, I dislike having to plug in multiple cords. 3.5mm also doesn't
transmit what you're listening to. I find that pretty useful to know. My phone
screen is used for other things besides displaying song info.

------
oftenwrong
This is just a top-6-best-gadgets list with affiliate links for each pick and
a provocative headline.

~~~
arbhassan
And whats wrong with that?

~~~
radiorental
An argument could be made that it is not in the spirit of HN.

------
winternett
I got a Nokia 7.1 for around $300 and it has the headphone jack and a Micro SD
slot, another feature that phone makers are getting rid of...

Phone memory is terrible these days, I have a huge collection of Mp3s and wav
files I don't want to give up, despite bluetooth stuttering at times in my
car.

Putting low onboard memory on modern phones should be a crime when USB sticks
with 128GB plus are selling for $15... They do that to boost streaming and
data charges... It's like car makers intentionally putting a smaller gas tank
in a car if carmakers also owned the gas stations.

~~~
css
1,600+ MB/s read on iPhone Xs NAND vs 90 MB/s read on an SDXC card. Of course
the USB sticks and the like are cheaper, they're not comparable at all.

~~~
wjoe
Not really relevant. Obviously you want fast I/O for your OS storage, but for
external storage that's mostly going to be used for music, videos, and images,
it really doesn't matter how fast it is.

~~~
css
Loading my (40k+ image) library on a 90MB/s card was painfully slow. Fast I/O
always matters, there is no reason to make a performance sacrifice like that
in 2019.

~~~
dwild
> Loading my (40k+ image)

> there is no reason to make a performance sacrifice like that in 2019.

> 64 GB: $1099

> 256 GB: $1249

> 512 GB: $1449

Cost is a reason, not having 40k images to load is another one. We clearly
don't have the same sacrifice to do sadly.

------
old-gregg
I've been quite happy with my 6s, going to replace the battery again soon. But
eventually iOS updates will cease coming, yet I absolutely cannot live without
a headphone jack.

Honest question: how would you even approach the Android? My smartphone is
basically a more mobile extension of my laptop: sending document snapshots
directly from the phone's camera to my MacOS desktop, starting iMessage
conversations __with anyone with a phone number __on a Mac and continuing on
my phone, copy-pasting from my laptop into my phone, etc.

Android seems to be designed to run in "I'm an island" mode, i.e. the phone is
one and only computer a user is supposed to use. I understand that my usage
pattern isn't what manufacturers (and Google) are optimizing for, but what
would be the closest approximation?

~~~
mattmcknight
"Android seems to be designed to run in "I'm an island" mode"

Not at all, if anything it is more flexible, as it syncs cloud first, making
what's on your phone accessible through a browser on any device, although with
numerous sync programs available on the desktop as well. Scan docs into Google
Drive (or dropbox) and the file appears in a synced folder on your laptop.
Photos can drop straight into Google Photos. I use Android Messages on the
web, can drop a chrome app to the Mac desktop if you want, it is seamless with
the phone (and Hangouts still works too). I don't have any need for a shared
clipboard, (maybe I use things like Google Keep for that?), but I know you can
use pushbullet or the like.

~~~
old-gregg
Thank you. Sharing files and URLs is going to work just fine.

What about communicating? I tend to avoid typing on my phone, and I heavily
rely on the pattern of receiving SMS or iMessage messages on the phone and
replying later when I get to my laptop or answering inbound calls on my
laptop. These two would be the toughest to lose.

Basically, I loathe interacting with the phone if I have a laptop in front of
me. An Android will probably constantly want my attention to answer texts and
calls.

~~~
mattmcknight
Google has jammed up messaging pretty badly, most by rolling out too many
products, and not making one clear choice. I'm going to presume you would use
Android Messages, unless you are already using Google Voice or Hangouts. If
you use Android Messages, you can receive a message on your phone and respond
via the Messages for Web web page (which I have as a Chrome desktop app on
Mac).

------
rpmisms
I sincerely hope that headphone jacks will return as a fad. Not everyone has
bluetooth wireless charging everything, nor do many want that. If you must get
rid of the 3.5mm port, why not have dual USB-C to charge and listen at once?

~~~
el_cujo
This doesn't really fix your "charge-while-listening" dilemma, but I'm
surprised more people don't bring up just buying earphones that use USBC as
input. No dongle to lose. Sure, they're a little more expensive, but for
someone like me who rarely uses headphones and really only cares about having
earphones that stay in my ear/aren't uncomfortable, it's made transitioning to
a newwer iphone easy.

~~~
schwartzworld
> just buying earphones that use USBC as input

Ugh. No way. Phones are pretty much the only devices that are letting go of
their headphone jacks. A USB-C headphone is extremely limited in its use, and
is guaranteed to cost more than one with a 3.5mm plug. How are you going to
watch a movie on an airplane with your USB-C headphones?

Bluetooth headphones are just as bad. You can get a passable set of wired
headphones for < $30. Good luck finding a pair of bluetooth headphones worth
it in that price range.

~~~
taylorfinley
FWIW I've been pleasantly surprised by Walmart's sub-$10 Bluetooth headphones,
made by Onn. Particularly impressive is their bass response, easily beating
much more expensive earbuds I have had. Obviously Bluetooth buds aren't for
audiophiles but these are very impressive for the price!

------
Roboprog
If you do any kind of music creation on your mobile device, Bluetooth is
completely unacceptable.

When you push a key/knob, you want to hear the sound NOW, clearly.

One of iOS selling points is music production, otherwise, save the money???

~~~
lostgame
Thank you. Someone needed to say this. I’m sure some would argue that you
could use the adapter - but do I really want to carry an adapter and have to
find it within a moment of inspiration?

~~~
Roboprog
To clarify, I mean for audio.

For MIDI it works well enough most of the time. I think note-on/off messages
are 3 or 4 bytes, though, which is quite a bit less of a chunk to buffer and
verify or whatever Bluetooth does

~~~
PascLeRasc
Note-on/offs are 3 bytes exactly [1] and take 320μs to send [2], but I'm not
sure what kind of overhead Bluetooth adds.

[1]: [http://www.music-software-development.com/midi-
tutorial.html](http://www.music-software-development.com/midi-tutorial.html)

[2] [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~music/cmsip/readings/davids-midi-
spe...](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~music/cmsip/readings/davids-midi-spec.htm)

~~~
Roboprog
Thanks, gotcha.

Half byte for on/off header, half for channel, byte for the note/pitch, byte
for the velocity.

This snippet probably xmits even faster at higher bps.

------
chasedehan
Totally happy with my SE (I am locked into Apple phones unfortunately and this
is my only option).

Outside of the headphone jack, I also really like the smaller size. Plus, I
love people's reactions "how old is your phone!?" and then get surprised when
I say I bought it new 6 months ago.

------
izzydata
I feel like at some point in the near future phone naming conventions will
adopt the car manufacturer naming convention of just being the name of the car
and then whatever year it is. It would be silly to have the Samsung Galaxy S26
or the Apple iPhone 32 XR instead it should just be the Samsung Galaxy (2028)
and the Apple iPhone (2025) or whatever year it is. The updates to the phones
will start to get very insignificant from year to year.

~~~
iwasakabukiman
Phil Schiller has openly said that the iPhone names are swiped from car
manufacturers[1].

> "I love cars and things that go fast, and R and S are both letters used to
> denote sport cars that are really extra special," he said with a smile.

[1] [https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/22/iphone-xr-phil-
schiller-...](https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/22/iphone-xr-phil-schiller-
interview/)

------
huntermeyer
LG V30+

> LG has crafted the best-sounding headphone audio in any smartphone yet. The
> V30’s quad-DAC audio system is a legitimate technological advancement that
> delivers real joy

[https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/16/16481024/lg-v30-headphon...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/16/16481024/lg-v30-headphone-
jack-awesome-futile)

~~~
qzx_pierri
All of LG’s phones either have bootloop issues, or display issues. It’s been
consistent for years. If I could trust them, I would check this out. I got
burned with the V10, and one of my friends got burned with the V20. Check
their forums, it’s crazy.

~~~
ThatPlayer
It was only for about 2 years during the V10 and G4. I'm still using a V20 and
it has not bootloop, and is probably effected by it. I did have my G4 bootloop
and they did fix it out of warranty.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_smartphone_bootloop_issues](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_smartphone_bootloop_issues)

------
kitd
A 1% problem. I upgrade my budget Android (ie < GBP150) every 3ish years.
Never had this issue.

------
manbearpiggy
Iphone SE - when you don't need a spaceship in your pocket.

also limits the Alphabet co. reach - but I keep a tinfoil hat for extra
protection.

------
foobarbecue
Writing this on my Sony Xperia XZ1. It's small, fast, waterproof, high res,
and has headphone jack. My only complaint is lack of openness.

~~~
nix0n
Unfortunately, the XZ1 and XZ1c (which I have) seem to be discontinued.

~~~
Broken_Hippo
Sony's newer models have gotten rid of the headphone jack. I know this because
I replaced mine earlier this year after dropping my old one on a bus floor.

I don't really mind so much most of the time, though, since my headphones were
wireless anyway. I only really use the dongle if the headphones are low on
battery.

------
amelius
I was wondering, how do people connect _two_ headphones to a single phone? Is
that possible with Bluetooth or any other connection method that's not a
headphone jack?

It seems to me that some people got sloppy with the requirements analysis of
their connector.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
Bluetooth 5.0 supports 2 devices being output at once.

> It seems to me that some people got sloppy with the requirements analysis of
> their connector.

I guess I'd have to throw this back at you and ask if you know a lot of people
who use 2 headphones on a single phone. Considering phones are largely
personal items, I feel like that was probably a super small subset of the user
base.

~~~
andrewaylett
Lidl's own-brand headphones have a 3.5mm connector on the opposite earcup to
the cable, so you can daisy-chain them. My children do so frequently, so they
can watch Minecraft videos without annoying their parents.

~~~
Zenst
Also handy if you break the cable as can use that port with a 3.5mm to 3.5mm
connector and back working - cutt off the offending broken cable that is a
nightmare to fix as are most headphone cables, bit like soldering two hairs
together with solder that melts at the same temp as the wire as it is sooo
small - though I'm not great at soldering.

Ideally wished they would just include a replaceable lead like some do - but
the Lidls ones work well, cheap and in recent sale - less than £5 - bargain
and also fair quality.

------
namanyayg
I'm still on my Samsung S8. The rapid release cycle made me apathetic to every
new phone release.

Lists like this are good, I want to maximize considering useful features
(battery) while ignoring useless additions (1mm thinner!)

------
mkertajaya
Since I discovered a USB DAC/Pre-amp, I no longer miss headphone jack. My
headphone sounds even better using usb dac/pre-amp from audioques. I recommend
this setup if your phone don't have headphone jack and you still want to use
your expensive headphone. Link here: [https://www.audioquest.com/page/aq-
dragonfly-series.html](https://www.audioquest.com/page/aq-dragonfly-
series.html)

------
anewguy9000
the pixel 3a is made with non-gorilla glass. didnt we learn like 10 years ago
thats a bad idea on a phone? my keys scratched it up in a single _day_ and the
whole thing shattered within a couple of weeks. garbage.

edit: i know people are saying its dragontail which is supposedly as strong as
gorilla. well empirically speaking, i can say that is false; the same key
scratches my pixel 3a easily but doesnt leave a mark on my pixel 2. take that
for what its worth. ymmv.

~~~
wlesieutre
By the same token, didn't we learn 10 years ago that cell phones and keys are
better off in different pockets?

~~~
penagwin
I worked in a phone/computer repair store, based on anecdotal research on
glass screen protectors, this isn't necessary anymore.

I'm sure this applies to many phones (haven't tested specific ones) but the
glass screen protectors refused to scratch for me, I tried screw driver tips,
razors, as hard as I could against a flat desk.

If I applied enough concentrated force (or jabbed it) it would brake as
expected, but anything short of that left a barely visible mark, if anything.
I have seen them scratched, but it's not common.

I say throw a screen protector on it if you can and don't worry about it.

~~~
wlesieutre
Having them in the same pocket I'd be worried about the force that could get
applied by sitting down in a tight pair of pants with a modern-sized phone.
The sort of situation that caused the "bendgate" problems. Maybe it's over
cautious, but with phones costing $1000 I'd rather not mess around with it.

And I don't love the glass screen protectors, had one on my phone briefly and
it seemed like it screwed up the image quality. Subtle, like a faint RGB
shimmer over the whole thing. So now I've just got a thin plastic case and I
try to not drop it.

~~~
penagwin
What type of phone? You might want to try a different screen protector - every
well applied glass screen protector I've seen on iPhones has been nearly
indistinguishable from the glass screen (and I'm really particular about
mine).

We did have issues on the Galaxy phones with that edge though, we could never
get the screen protector to stick properly.

~~~
wlesieutre
iPhone SE. I didn't get the cheapest garbage screen protector or anything
either, it was a favorably reviewed one on the wirecutter. No bubbles under
it. Maybe "slightly grainy" is the way to describe it? Been a couple of years
so it's hard to say.

------
alistproducer2
Sorry but this list is trash. Every smartphone on that list was overpriced and
runs some horrid vendor customized version of Android that's sure to become
obsolete because the vendors will stop updating it with a year or two. the one
that was around $200 (Motorola) had specs way worse than the phone I'm using
(Nokia 2.2) to type this message, which is $70 cheaper than the Motorola and
has a headphone jack btw.

~~~
gruez
> _Every_ smartphone on that list was overpriced and runs some horrid vendor
> customized version of Android

Literally the first phone on the list: "Pixel 3A and 3A XL" (by google).

~~~
giancarlostoro
Not only that but I've had LG G series phones for years (G2, G5, and now the
G7) and never lost support within my reasonable time owning each model phone.

~~~
_1tan
Also generally good third party ROM availability! Still happily rocking a G5
after switching from a G4 for the USB-C connector.

------
pwenzel
Still rocking my iPhone SE. Gonna keep using it until it no longer charges,
the headphone port dies, or Apple stops putting out iOS updates for it.

~~~
iwasakabukiman
I love my iPhone SE but even with a brand new battery, it can barely make it
through a day of extremely light use on iOS 13.

~~~
javagram
Isn’t iOS 13 not out yet?

I don’t have such issues on iOS 12 and my SE.

Of course “light usage” may be different between us...

------
jzwinck
The Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro has very good cameras and a headphone jack for about 430
USD:
[https://www.mi.com/global/mi-9-t-pro](https://www.mi.com/global/mi-9-t-pro)

In some markets it's called the Redmi K20 Pro.

~~~
krzat
This phone is really impressive. I got non pro version for 270$. It has OLED,
USB-C, minijack and good battery.

------
cmarschner
The lack of a headphone jack is the only reason I haven’t upgraded my iPhone
6s. I tend to use them at night, phone plugged in. I have at least five cables
and don’t want to buy five dongles which I would lose. I would lose bluetooth
earplugs in a matter of days. I just want to keep my system which works
perfectly.

If at least they had put in two lightning connectors - these are not nearly as
durable and start failing now after 5 years. That and the battery would be the
only reason for me to get a new phone.

------
metaphor
It's ironic how the author chose to omit one of the last viable smartphones
with both a headphone jack _and_ QWERTY keypad that still receives regular
security updates[1], yet includes one whose headphone pinout deviates from the
rest of standardized industry.

[1] [https://blackberrymobile.com/us/product/blackberry-
key2/](https://blackberrymobile.com/us/product/blackberry-key2/)

------
lovehashbrowns
I'm pretty excited for the ROG Phone 2. I honestly hate the look of it; it's
far too "gamer-y" for me. I mean, it makes sense since it's a gamer product.
But everything else about it looks great. High refresh rate for the screen,
double USB-C ports, really good battery life. And it comes with a headphone
jack! If it has water resistance, that's what I'm gonna go for. Otherwise, I
guess I'm gonna keep my Note9 for a while.

~~~
zeroDivisible
I didn't hear about ROG Phone 2 and it has some features which I really like,
but I think the killer for me was lack of Micro SD and a better camera.

If only there would be a flagship phone which has all: an awesome camera (I
snap loads of photos, the whole "best camera is the one you have with
yourself" mantra), big battery and a Micro SD slot, it would be an instant buy
for me.

So far I've been upgrading my Samsung Galaxy from 2 -> 4 -> 8+ as that was the
closest I could find to what I wanted from the phone, but I'm happy to change
to any other brand.

~~~
lovehashbrowns
I can understand the lack of focus on the camera, but yeah the missing MicroSD
slot for a gamer phone doesn't make much sense to me. That seems like an
important feature for that kind of phone to have.

Honestly, I'm very disappointed that Samsung also started stripping down its
Note line. That's the phone that should have all the features--MicroSD,
headphone jack, stylus, amazing camera, etc.

I'm in the same boat as you are. I've been going from Samsung phone to Samsung
phone for ages now, but they've taken their "pro" line and started taking out
"pro" features...just like Apple. :\

------
jjuhl
I really like my Nokia 8 (and its headphone jack). Much cheaper than most
devices on that list, but easily up there with them in terms of every day
perceived performance.

------
RawChicken
For the small phone seekers, I've been eyeing the Sharp Aquos R2 Compact. Its
a small phone (like they don't make them any more) with a headphone jack. Only
problem in my opinion is the non-replaceable battery. Furthermore, since the
phone is sold just in Japan, I'm fearing that the always-on shutter sound will
still be active in Europe (I read it was sim dependent)

------
sg47
I bought a Google Pixel 3a when it came out. After trading in my Pixel 1 (with
a damaged screen) and a rebate, it came out to $230 incl. taxes. I've been
extremely happy with the phone. It's a huge upgrade over the Pixel 1 and I can
use Apple wired earphones when I need to. For anyone looking into buying a new
Android phone, I highly recommend the Pixel 3a.

~~~
JohnFen
> For anyone looking into buying a new Android phone, I highly recommend the
> Pixel 3a.

Honestly, I'd only recommend it to people who really value the camera.

~~~
TheCapn
What's your recommendation? I'm about to look at upgrading from my Pixel 1 and
the 3a has been a frontrunner for me so far. I'm waiting to see what the
rumored 4 & 4a bring to the table before I jump on anything.

~~~
JohnFen
It's hard to make a recommendation without knowing your needs. However, if the
Pixel 1 makes you happy, then I'm likely to recommend that you just get
another Pixel.

~~~
TheCapn
It was more of a question to see your rational honestly. If you're saying the
only quality feature of the Pixel 3a is the camera I wanted to see what you
valued in smartphones to make that comment.

For me: ease of use/configuration. I don't want Samsung bloat, I'd prefer to
buy direct from manufacturer to avoid mobile carrier shit. I don't want to
deal with rooting and have been happy with Google's smartphone offer since the
Nexus line. I'd _prefer_ wireless charging, not an overly large phone, and a
fingerprint reader on the back, but after that I'm flexible.

~~~
JohnFen
> I wanted to see what you valued in smartphones to make that comment.

Ah, I see -- then you should have asked that! For anything, what I recommend
is not tightly correlated to what I would use myself, because the best
solution is very context-dependent. In order to recommend something, I need to
know what the requirements are.

In any case, I say that about the Pixel because the camera is really the only
significant feature of the Pixels that comes close to justifying the asking
price.

My existing (6 year old) smartphone only has another couple of years in it,
though, so I've been giving a lot of thought about how to replace it. I've
looked hard at the offerings on the market currently, and to be honest, there
isn't a single one that appeals to me at all (there are a couple, such as the
PinePhone, that look interesting but aren't in production yet).

I've spent a year developing a prototype of a home-built smartphone that does
meet my needs, but I've recently decided against going that route at all.
Instead, I'm just building a pocket computer (running plain old Linux) and
will use a feature phone for my communication needs. Not having to use Android
is hugely attractive to me.

------
quirkafleeg3
There are many people who's defence of headphone jack removal is 'Bluetooth
works for me'. That's not the point though. You may like it, but this is about
choice. By removing the audio jack, we have has a choice taken from us, and
choice makes or brakes a device.

------
Seb-C
I'm surprised that the OnePlus 6 is not in this list. It is the best
smartphone I have owned so far and it has a headphone jack. There is no way
for this list to be exhaustive anyway, there are still a lot of models with a
headphone jack (but this trend is indeed annoying).

~~~
em-bee
indeed, i found the list rather underwhelming. i just bought a OnePlus 5t. i
didn't get a 6 because it was not supported by /e/ (
[https://e.foundation](https://e.foundation) )

those were effectively the two criteria: /e/ support, and a headphone jack
(also 128GB of space and a price limit of $300)

------
nikofeyn
this list is silly in that it doesn’t even mention the lg v series phones. not
only do they have audio jacks, they have audio DACs built-in such that you get
better sound with better headphones. they are really quite good with my buyer
dynamic headphones.

the lg v35 and v40 are insanely good value right now, and the lg v50 is yet
another sleeper flagship, high-end phone that does it all, aside from
removable battery. however, unlike apple, lg offers a reasonable repair
service directly with lg.

also, my lg v35 has the same water rating as the iPhone xs line and is thinner
and lighter despite still retaining the audio jack and expandable storage.

------
egypturnash
My 6S still has a headphone jack, and I haven't had any real desire to upgrade
it.

~~~
vuln
Well until now you still received security updates so now you have a choice.
Get a new phone and continue to get security updates or ???

~~~
egypturnash
As far as I can tell it’s gonna get IOS13, so I don’t have to worry about that
choice yet.

------
Whatarethese
Headphone jacks are dumb when a majority of the populous does not use them.
They are a dust and water ingress point and just take up space that could be
used for something more useful. Such as more battery or haptic engine.

------
thiht
I just bought the Pixel 3a as a replacement for my Nexus 5x because I had two
requirements:

\- headphone jack

\- no stupid notch

I love it and would strongly recommend it, it feels like the actual successor
of the 5x

------
newen
Best Smartphones That Still Have Removable Batteries, when? They keep taking
away useful features from the good phones.

------
Causality1
I'm very surprised the article listed the LG G8 and not the Asus Zenfone 6.

------
mehrdadn
OnePlus 5, 5T, 6 have headphone jacks too, and they're decent phones.

------
beat
Why is it so hard to just use a dongle? I use old-school wired studio
headphones with my iPhone... I just leave the dongle that came with the phone
on them.

~~~
leetcrew
if you only use that pair on headphones for your phone, it's only a minor
inconvenience to just keep it attached to the headphones. if not, it becomes
yet another small item that you can forget or lose.

the real issue with dongles from my perspective is that they move the DAC out
of the phone. manufacturers already tend to cut corners with onboard DACs, and
they're likely to use even worse components in a $5 dongle.

in theory, usb-c could enable headphone manufacturers to move the DAC to the
headphones themselves and use much better components than a mass market phone
would. unfortunately I think the future is probably "good enough" but
convenient wireless protocols.

~~~
beat
I actually use those headphones for other things (I'm a studio recording
musician in my copious spare time, and they're my favorite studio headphones).
I just put the dongle in the same pocket as my wallet and loose change.
Haven't lost it yet.

I'm not sure the iPhone dongle is even a DAC. It seems like an analog pass-
through, but I could be wrong. At any rate, after decades of playing music and
producing numerous albums, I figure I'm as golden-eared as anyone, and I don't
feel the sound is compromised.

~~~
wilsonnb3
It is a DAC, and according to this source a pretty good one.

[https://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/lightning-adapter-audio-
qu...](https://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/lightning-adapter-audio-quality.htm)

~~~
twic
When it comes to cameras, Ken Rockwell is infamous for never giving a bad
review. Apparently everything is awesome.

~~~
beat
I dunno. I used to read Ken Rockwell a lot back when I bought a lot of camera
gear, and he can be pretty harsh on things he doesn't like. His attitude is
mostly positive, but I think that's in part because he documented an era of
incredible improvements in camera technology.

------
sand500
No love for Asus ROG II?

~~~
gundmc
Woah, I didn't realize ASUS made ROG branded phones. I had a ROG laptop for
years that I was very happy with.

------
LoSboccacc
weird there's no mention of the mi a3. under display fingerprint scanner, the
headphone jack, Android One and an interesting price. if it wasn't for the
720p display it'd be a best buy

~~~
flumberbug
> If it wasn't for the slow fingerprint scanner, it'd be a best buy.

Fixed.

~~~
JohnFen
Personally, I couldn't care less about the fingerprint scanner since I'm not
going to use it anyway.

------
baxtr
Best Computers That Still Have a Floppy Drive

~~~
spookthesunset
Best new laptops with a VGA output. Best new laptops with an centronics port.
Best new desktops with a turbo button.

