Category: My Phone History

This will be a bit of a tricky phone to give an objective review on for a couple of reasons:

1. I received the phone for free. The seller used eBay simple delivery using Evri, which got stuck in transit and passed the estimated delivery date. eBay refunded me in full and stated if the item ever does arrive it’s mine to keep. Low and behold another week later it did arrive.
2. I have a deep dislike of Google. I won’t go into it here but they are an advertising company, the data they harvest and sell on their users knows no limit.

With that in mind, I’ll do my best to not impart my bias onto this device. Who knows, maybe the two points will balance themselves out!

I purchased the Pixel 9a on a bit of a whim. I was in a state of paranoia regarding data collection on phones and had intended to use GrapheneOS with it. The prospect of a slightly smaller device than my Oneplus 13, and very little camera bump was also alluring. That combined with the massive depreciation Pixel phones generally experience lead me to place the order. When the order went missing, I wasn’t massively disappointed and didn’t look to order another. However it arrived, and I’m pleasantly surprised by it.

My initial impressions are it feels like an iPhone in the hand. It’s what I’d imagine the iPhone would look like if they continued with the design language of the iPhone 5s. That’s not a bad thing. It has square edges, but rounded enough to be comfortable in the hand. The bezels are larger than I’d expect but no worse than something like the Samsung A55. The best part about this phone is that it has basically zero camera bump. Without a case this phone can lie flat on a table with basically no wobble. I’m not sure what Google have done to achieve this, the device is a little thicker than an average phone but not noticeably so, but I’m impressed. The size is comfortable. Still a little larger than what you’d be able to comfortably use one handed, but much easier to manage than an iPhone Pro Max sized device. The metal frame with a plastic back is actually something I appreciate too. In the hand it still feels premium and it will make battery changes or any other work much easier to perform.

The specs, on paper leave something to be desired. Google have promised 7 years of updates for this model, which is admirable. However this phone only has 8GB of RAM where the other devices in the Pixel 9 series have 12GB for the base model and 16GB for the Pro variants. In my usage that hasn’t been a problem so far, but it may become a limiting factor later in its lifecycle. The Tensor line of chipsets are a point of contention too, especially the ones made in the Samsung foundry. However, so far I’ve experienced no issues with it. I’d be the first to point out a power hungry modem or a overheating chipset but I haven’t experienced any of that with this device. The only time I’ve felt the device get warm was as all the apps downloaded after the initial setup, even then it wasn’t excessive. The battery is 5100mAH, which probably explains why I’ve been able to set the 80% charge limit and not struggle at all to make it to the end of the day, something that my Oneplus 13 barely managed some days. Overall, again, I’m impressed.

Finally, we get to the software. Aside from my thoughts about “AI” and the telemetry, the Pixel OS is very nice to use. Despite it probably being the most “locked down” flavour of Android I’ve ever used in regards to limited settings and customisation everything works well. With that lack of customisation comes minimalism and well thought out functionality. This is the first time I’ve used a Pixel on Android 16, and aside from the childish fonts used in some places it seems to be quite well executed. Setup was easy, navigation flows smoothly and the phone seems to handle app management well. One thing that is refreshing compared to other manufacturers is a complete lack of bloatware. The only thing this ships with are the Google products, and even then not all of them. There was very little I needed to uninstall and disable out of the box. Something that on a Samsung or Oneplus would probably take me the best part of an hour to achieve.

Would I recommend the device? It depends.

Google do not have a good track record when it comes to hardware quality. Device failures are common, screens failing, batteries swelling, bits of the phone falling off are all well documented across multiple generations. On the flip side Google generally handle these issues quite well, extending the warranties, offering compensation or even replacing the devices years down the line. It’s still worth being aware of this though as regardless of the resolution its still an unnecessary inconvenience. Then there’s the value for money. The Pixel’s are generally priced way higher than what their hardware is worth. With their latest releases they are up at iPhone pricing with barely even half the power on paper. However there’s a saying within the Pixel community; “Never pay full price for a Pixel”. Almost immediately after launch Google begin offering steep discounts, carriers practically give them away and their value on the 2nd hand market plummets drastically.

If you’re willing to accept all the trade-offs I’ve just mentioned, and are OK knowing that there are devices with much better specs for the same money a Pixel may be for you. Even then, I’d only recommend you buy one used. This way you skip the massive depreciation, and avoid encouraging Google’s shady practices by not putting any money directly into their pockets.

This is a phone that I should never really have come to own. At the beginning of this year I had an Oppo Find x8 Pro, which is essentially the same phone, from the same parent company just with a Dimensity 9400 instead of a Snapdragon 8 Elite. There is very little in the way of differences between the two devices, at least nothing meaningful in day to day usage. However we are where we are.

Everything I wrote about the Oppo Find x8 Pro stands for this phone, they even run essentially the same operating system just with a different name (OxygenOS for Oneplus and ColorOS for Oppo).

What stands especially true is that this is a very difficult device to protect. Not helped by the fact that for the most part the well known case/screen protector companies have failed to make anything for this device. That leaves your only option to be direct from China. I have tried at least 5 different brands and types of screen protectors for this phone and own 5 cases for it.

The curved edges of the screen are the main problem here. Some screen protectors fail to adhere to the edges of the screen, some have borders obstructing the edges of the screen, others ruin the sensitivity of the fingerprint reader. Then there are issues with the cases; some offer no camera protection, others leave the curved edges of the screen exposed when face down and worst of all some cases will foul the screen protector causing it to detach from the screen.

For anyone in this same conundrum I have finally found a combination that works. The SKIG UV glue glass covers the screen well, and still allows for even the most intrusive cases to not interfere with it’s edges. The case is from a company called “YCADEN”, and is a rubber case, with felt inner lining, magnets and camera cut-outs. The reason I didn’t like any of the official cases was that they have holes around each button, which lets dust in, they also don’t do a good job of protecting the camera and I hate the loss of clarity when using a glass camera protector. Initially with the SKIG screen protectors I had an issue that the fingerprint would register fine on setup and then proceed never to unlock the phone again. Strangely though after a day or so the fingerprint begins to improve and is now working reliably again. I’ve stocked up on these in future for reasons I’ll delve into.

About 2 months into the ownership of this phone I was pretty frustrated with not being able to find adequate protection for it. I gave up and began to use the phone “naked” which means no case or screen protector. As I’ve previously alluded to I think I have mild autism and ADHD, and on this particular day, sat outside on my lunch break I had an intrusive thought. I wondered how tough this device was, and if I threw it down onto the rough concrete floor, would it survive? For whatever reason I gave into that thought and gave the phone an impromptu drop test. Needless to say it did not survive. The screen shattered and the housing took some damage. The screen still functioned so I put one of the SKIG UV protectors on which allowed me to use the phone normally.

I priced up a replacement screen from Oneplus themselves, however they wanted £280 + postage, which is frankly ridiculous and almost put me off repairing the phone at all. Thankfully I found an original replacement with frame on Aliexpress for £130, which while still annoyingly expensive was easier to stomach.

The adventure didn’t end there though, and is still ongoing. Once the screen arrived I promptly discovered how Oneplus achieved their impressive IP69 rating, and that was through using a phenomenal amount of adhesive to hold it together. That combined with the frosted glass on the back rendered it nearly impossible to disassemble. Suckers would not stick, and the tolerances were so tight that I couldn’t insert a pick.

Eventually using a combination of heat, and levering a small screwdriver through the slim slot to push on the glass from the other side I managed to remove it, amazingly without breaking it. However when I was cleaning the old adhesive off the back glass to reuse it, it completely shattered. In a rage I threw the entire phone in the bin. Only to remove it 5 minutes later and continue with the swap the following day. Because the screen came pre-bonded to a frame it meant rather than swapping the screen the job was essentially swapping the motherboard and components into a completely new housing. Fortunately I’ve performed this task on iPhones in the past, compared to that this was a breeze.

A replacement back has been ordered for the phone, however after the experience with the glass back I’ve opted for the plastic back from the blue variant. In a knock on effect, this will destroy any resale value of the phone because it will be a Frankenstein that was never sold; a black frame with a blue back and silver camera surround. My justification for this is that if I ever need to go back inside for another job like a battery replacement, it should make my life a lot easier being plastic. It may also reduce the weight of the device slightly too.

So what does the future hold for this device? Given my track record, who knows. At least I can’t really sell it now. It’s already been destroyed and brought back so there’s really nothing else to do other than protect it adequately and keep using it. My partner is currently using a Pixel 7 Pro, if that fails or she needs a replacement for whatever reason maybe I’ll give her the Oneplus 13. Until then though she’s perfectly happy with her devices and hates the stress of changing phones unless it’s necessary.

I’ve already pre-ordered the Unihertz Titan 2, although I did that more to support the market of phones with physical keyboards than intending to buy it to replace the Oneplus 13. I have my doubts on whether it’ll be suitable as a “main phone” replacement however it’ll be a nice gadget to have a play with.

This phone was an interim device that I owned alongside my iPhone 16e and ultimately replaced it.

For most people this would be an excellent phone, and for the price it can be had ~£150 it represents excellent value for money.

It has decent specs; Snapdragon 6 gen 3, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage with SD expansion, very good quality LCD screen.

Realistically I should’ve kept this phone, however at the time I was going through a phase of mobile emulation and this was struggling with some of the PS2 and Gamecube titles I was trying to throw at it. I purchased it 2nd hand, and sold it for exactly the same money I purchased it for.

This one stands out from the rest of the Motorola range in that they’ve actually given it a long support window for OS and security updates. They’ve removed the OS update promise from their site now but it was originally 5 years, and they’re still advertising 6 years of security updates.

Realistically I should’ve kept it, but I didn’t and now own the Oneplus 13 which I purchased solely for it’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. If we go back 3 devices we’ll see that I already had a device with this chipset in the S25…

I’m glad I document all of this, because it really does expose the problem I have with constant need for new and shiny, and the self justifications that go along with it. I’ve often suspected I have mild undiagnosed autism, which is backed up by the fact my mother, father and 2 brothers both have it. Both of my brothers also have ADHD, which I suspect I have too. I’d say my list of phones owned over the last 5 years probably confirms that.

I didn’t expect to be adding to this series so soon, but with a family holiday coming up where I would like to capture a lot of photos and videos (there are reasons for this I won’t go into) the need for a capable handy camera became more pressing.

The S25 256GB retails for £849 in the UK, which seems like a lot of money but then I suppose it’s probably the cheapest phone for sale with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. For whatever reason these are selling new, sealed in the box on eBay for around £510 for the 128GB version. I was able to get mine which is the 256GB version, unused with the seal broken for £540. With over £300 off the retail price this pricing is only £40 more than the upcoming Samsung A56 which seems like an excellent deal.

This phone ticks a lot of boxes for me:

• It is a compact device by 2025 standards.
• It has a set of very capable cameras for photo and video.
• It has the Snapdragon 8 Elite which is the most powerful chipset currently available.
• It’s very power efficient giving great battery life and excellent standby time even though the battery is only 4000mAh.
• Samsung are offering 7 years of updates with this phone so I can keep it for a long time.

To help the last point I’ve opted for a case and screen protector this time around. I don’t fancy paying for an OLED screen replacement any time soon!

The strange thing is that other than the cameras which were the driving force behind the purchase, the S25 serves to highlight just how good a deal the HMD Pulse is. Yes the screen, haptics, build quality and speakers are better on the S25, but at it’s core the HMD can do the majority of what the S25 can, at least in my use case: I don’t use AI, I have no need for it and would rather not trade additional privacy to have it. I don’t do any mobile gaming on my phone, I have devices better suited to gaming. None of my tasks are particularly intensive either.

One thing I have missed and I’m glad to have back is OneUI. Regardless of my opinion on Samsung’s practices, their greed and other issues they really have nailed their operating system. It manages to be more feature rich and customizable than any other Android skin, while still being a very well organised, intuitive experience. I may only feel this way because it’s the mobile OS I’ve spent the most time with.

While I don’t regret this purchase at all, because it was a good deal and I needed it, I do still need to get my impulse buying under control. I didn’t spend much time thinking about this purchase and when I came across the deal I bought it immediately. Following some tips online I’ve implemented a purchasing delay, something I’ll write about separately but I think it’s something that could help a lot of us be more intentional with how we spend our money.

This is perhaps the most basic device relative to the year purchased, and it is a stark contrast to the Oppo Find x8 Pro that came before it.

It has been a tool to reset my expectations and a realization of my actual requirements.

It turns out I don’t need a £2000 flagship, what a surprise! What I need from a phone is fairly simple:

• A device that is comfortable to hold and pocketable.
• NFC for contactless payments
• Android operating system for flexibility, RCS chats and Quick share.
• A reasonable camera for photo taking when I don’t have my DSLR handy.
• Quality video camera, the DSLR is unable to take video.
• Long battery life. I am at the point now where I don’t even want to see the battery percentage. It just needs to last the full day and go on charge overnight.

This phone manages all but the last 2 points. The camera is not up to the task. However in every other area it performs admirably. It’s never slow to the point of being annoying, it’s very stable in that apps do not crash and it doesn’t need rebooting, the screen is decent and it’s never not lasted a full day on a single charge.

For the £60 I paid for it this phone is hard to fault. I have written a full review of the phone here, but this post isn’t a review it’s more how the phone has fit into my life. Will it be my daily driver for the long term? Probably not. With a young son I regularly want to capture quick photos and videos and this phone really isn’t up to that. In anything less than optimal lighting this produces very noisy and blurry results.

The way I’m choosing to think about this is in 10 years time will I be happy with the 2025 version of me choosing to use this phone, and take pretty poor photos/videos? I’m going to guess I won’t. I am fortunate enough to have disposable income, and making a conscious choice now to make a purchase for a long term handy camera that’s always in my pocket might be a good call.

After getting bored of the lack of innovation from the conventional brands available to western markets I decided to look to the east. I’d seen devices from Xiaomi, Honor, Vivo, Oppo and Oneplus and they all looked to be making leaps where our more well known brands have been making calculated baby steps.

I settled on this Oppo Find x8 Pro, global edition. UK brands could learn a thing or two from these brands. This flagship arrived with an 80W charging block, a quality protective case AND a screen protector pre-applied.

Undoubtedly this was the most capable and premium smartphone I’d ever owned and it cost me £400 less than an S24 Ultra. The cameras were the best I’ve ever seen on a smartphone. The battery life was immense and the phone was so speedy in day to day use. This truly was an enthusiasts phone that made no compromises.

The operating system is very different to the likes of “Pixel Experience” or “One UI”. It has a lot of features crammed in and is quite unfamiliar at first. It feels more like iOS in it’s layout and theme.

For me though it was the external design that lead me to not keeping it. It feels like a very hard device to protect. The camera array protrudes a lot, and is essentially a big circle of exposed glass. The screen is curved, not majorly so but enough that screen protectors are difficult to get right. Adding on to that the phone is very heavy to start with, so throwing either a bulky case that covers the camera or a regular case with a glass camera protector and the phone becomes unwieldly.

I did try for a short time to use the phone without any protection, just trying to enjoy it and it’s design but I couldn’t. The anxiety caused by knowing how easily it could break got the better of me. This is an enthusiasts phone that makes no compromises to offer the ultimate specifications and performance. Unfortunately it turns out that I do need some compromises!

The Samsung A55 was what I purchased after the S24. I actually don’t have much if anything bad to say about this one. Even it’s Exynos chipset didn’t cause me any issues (shock!).

It’s the Flagship of Samsung’s A series devices. Compared to the rest of the A series I’d say it’s more of a budget S series device. After all it has an Aluminium and glass body, a big OLED panel, 8GB of RAM and a main camera with OIS. It even has a Micro SD slot, something that the S series don’t.

It has some cuts though from the flagship range, as would be expected. There’s no wireless charging. The bezels are bigger. It has a shorter update promise (still 4 years of OS upgrades). Other than that there’s not much downgrade.

For the average person this would probably be the Samsung to get. They’ll still feel like they’re getting a premium device, but with a much smaller price tag. Being honest, even to me this device felt premium.

At launch this phone was arguably a tough sell with it’s pricing. The 128GB model was £439 and the 256GB was £489 (I can’t imagine they sold many 256GB models with expandable storage!). Quite quickly though this phone started popping up for much lower prices where it became almost irresistible. I picked mine up for just £225 new, unboxed.

For once with Samsung using Exynos chipsets this device performed well, and the battery life was good. I’m not sure what they had done differently with this one but I’m assuming it was a fluke as they made a complete disaster with the Exynos 2400 in the S24. The camera was very good too, it could produce decent photos and videos even in low light. This is a phone I do regret selling on, and I can’t even remember the reasons I did so at this point.

On the plus side I sold the device for the exact same value I’d purchased it for, so nothing was lost! This seems to echo a lot in these turbulent few years of excessive phone ownership. Thankfully I’ve never lost a considerable amount of money. Because I was always careful with my devices, and generally never purchased them brand new (if buying outright) they always sold for either the same or only slightly less than I’d purchased them for. Looking back over the last 4 years I’d guess I’ve only lost a couple of hundred on reselling these devices in total, something that most people would blow on a couple of nights out on the drink! (If you hadn’t guessed I don’t drink, I don’t like the unpredictability of drunk people and don’t like the after effects the next day)

These were two devices I owned one after the other, The S24 Ultra first followed by the S24 base model. Both times these were bought as part of a SIM contract, and both times when I had to go through the returns process I had an absolute nightmare.

The S24 Ultra was the most uncomfortable phone I’ve ever held. It’s tablet sized and has really sharp corners. This was a 2 handed phone every time, and it had some serious weight too. The camera was a noticeable downgrade from the S23 Ultra’s which disappointed me. Coupled with strangely poor battery life it and went back within my 14 day returns window. The network completely messed up my cancellation and left me without my number that I’d ported in. It took me over a month to get this back.

After the dust had settled I saw a really good Black Friday deal on the base model S24, with the same network. I placed the order. Initially it got cancelled because I’d previously had issues with the S24 Ultra. I wish I’d let them cancel the order completely as this one was even more disappointing. The company initially shipped it to the wrong address. I then had to drive 20 miles to the nearest Curry’s store, and wait an hour there to take delivery. The phone was a much more manageable size, but having a smaller battery coupled with the Exynos chipset was just a recipe for disaster. For the 3 days I used this phone I had to charge it 2 or 3 times a day. It was a permanently hot, stuttering mess. Again I returned it in the 14 day window and went through exactly the same problems with trying to reclaim my phone number. After about another month of back and forth, and them sending me cheques and credits as apologies I finally had my number back and I was free to go.

There are two things I learnt from these experiences. Never buy a phone with an Exynos chipset, and never buy a phone through iD mobile.

Very much in keeping with the weird and wonderful theme I’d started with the AGM M7, the Unihertz Jelly Star was my next phone.

The idea behind this one being it’s a fully fledged Android smartphone in a miniscule package. The display is 3 inches diagonally and it weighs just 116 grams. You can do everything you would ever do on any other smartphone you just don’t have much screen to play with.

Day to day usage of this phone wasn’t bad. The battery lasted fine. I could do what I needed to, even have things like banking apps and contactless payments.

The problems came whenever I had to use the keyboard. I have quite large hands, and wide thumbs so trying to poke a letter on the keyboard was more a game of luck and chance than it was one of accuracy. Swipe to text worked to a degree, but I still struggled as I couldn’t see where the swipe pattern actually was on the phone.

While this phone serves some people very well, and actually seems to be the answer for people lowering their screen time without making too many sacrifices for me it was just a fun gimmick. It was fun to show people who were generally amazed a phone could be that small, the illuminated rear was novel (but still a shameless Nothing rip off) and it really was full featured.

In the end though it didn’t really matter. I was unable to use the phone. Thankfully this marked the last device in my peculiar device spree.