Hello, my 3 year old Samsung Note 8 got the screen shattered in a corner at work (last year) and I've been using it for 6 months like this but it's very frustrating with all the pieces of glass broken and the aluminium frame crushed with very sharp edge making the phone hard to use at time (I put a film strip on the screen to keep the glass fixed but the frame is still sharp as hell). I was hoping to get at least 4 years out of it after paying 500£ to get it new on grey market (actually I was lied by the seller that's a UK stock when it was actually from UEA market) brand new.
I need to replace it but I don't want to make contracts and the stupid prices of high end phones have gotten ridiculous (more expensive then tablets and laptops, sometimes even combined).
I'm looking st 1 to 2 generations older high end on the used market to lower the cost and keep it on the budget of 500£ with hope of using it for at least 3 more years (with the usually battery change as well, can't expect it to last that long give the phone's already used).
I have narrowed it down (somewhat) to OnePlus 7 Pro (around 400£), Samsung Note 10 Plus (450£), (disgruntley) Google Pixel 4 Xl (400£).
The thing is I find it hard to leave the Note because I love the pen, I use it often for notes, image editing, Excel spreadsheet editing. But the Note 10 Plus already got Android 9 to 10 and (soon) to 11 Update so I don't know if Samsung is willing to give more updates.
OnePlus 7 Pro looks amazing on paper and I would love so much to have that 90 Hz screen, it's the only thing I really feel the desire to have upgrade from the Note 8 (besides battery life). But j am getting tired of curved edge screen (I get so many accidental presses on my Note 8 that I can't even watch YouTube properly, every time I turn the phone to landscape it jumps to a different video).
Google Pixel 4 XL is quite old design by now and the k ly thing going for it (for me) is the 90 Hz screen. And I said disgruntley because I have difficulty trusting Google right now, they dump as many services as they start new ones and the poor showing of attention for Pixel 5 launch (the damn thing got less announcement time then their smart speakers) and troubling hardware QC and failures.
What I need the most from the phone is battery life (I have work shifts of over 12 hours long with commute time), beautiful screen (I'm a very visual person and interest in photography so I consume media), high performance on daily tasks (I don't like slowdowns as I juggle notes, IMs, web reading and YouTube). Cameras are not even a high priority (I have an Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III for that) but they are nice to haves in a pinch (like a proper ultra wide, wide and telephoto lens).
Is it really hard to ask these days for good phone experience at a reasonsable price with a hope of some longevity. I don't like wasting money on unnecessary features or upgrading just to flash out new phones or waste the planets resources.
PS. I tried really hard to justify getting into the iPhone system given that Apple is aiming to convert itself to ARM across the board so apps compatibility would be functionally identical on iPhones, iPads, Macs. But the price of switching everything makes my brain hurt: Note8 to iPhone, Buds Plus to AirPods Pro, Asus Zenbook Pro Duo to MacBook M1 or iPad Pro.
