Mobile phones
A short list of likes and dislikes I have with the phones I’ve owned.
Pixel 3a
Likes:
- Plastic back. Grippy material.
- Colored power button. Adds a nice splash of color to the phone.
- “Purple-ish” color is a really nice shade of, well, purple-ish. I generally like my phones white, and this color adds just a barely perceptible touch of purple to it.
- Lightweight.
- NFC chip located near the top of the phone. Contactless payments were ergonomic to use.
- Decent haptics. Vibrations can easily be felt while the phone is in my pocket.
Dislikes:
- Battery life wasn’t great, especially after a couple years. After three years, it was too low to comfortably be a daily driver.
Pixel 6a
Likes:
- Plastic back.
- Camera strip looks funky.
- Decent haptics. Vibrations can easily be felt while the phone is in my pocket.
- Decent camera.
Dislikes:
- Bad battery life.
- Overheats easily. Especially in areas with low network reception. This is especially annoying during travel, where reception is often spotty, but is where you really, really want your phone to reliably work.
- Screen is slightly too large.
- NFC chip is located in the center of the phone. Contactless payments are annoying, having to reposition my hand holding the phone in order to pay. Tapping the phone against a card reader is unergonomic.
- Optical fingerprint reader isn’t the best. The area around the sensor lights up incredibly brightly when scanning for fingerprints. Especially annoying in a dark room.
- Heavier than the Pixel 3a.
- The pixel line no longer has a colored power button.
Samsung S23
Likes:
- Good battery life. Much better than the Pixel 6a. The Snapdragon 8gen2 chip is more power efficient.
- Does not overheat. Able to function properly in areas with low network reception.
- Lots of customization options, in the form of Good Lock.
- Decent camera, but only for stationary subjects in good lighting.
- Wireless charging.
- Optical fingerprint sensor is much more reliable compared to the Pixel 6a. Also it doesn’t need to light up the area around the sensor, which makes it more usable in dark rooms.
Dislikes:
- Glass back. It’s heavier and more slippery than plastic.
- Extremely slippery. I have to stick tape on the back of the phone to provide some friction.
- Camera has low shutter speed. Not great for moving subjects.
- Camera’s low light performance isn’t as good as the Pixel 6a.
- Lots of Samsung bloatware. Have managed to disable and uninstall about half of them, but the rest can’t.