Best or some of the best Android smartphone ?

[EvilViking]

Little to no mention of a Oneplus phone. They're not any good?

 

[daglesj]

I got a OnePlus Nord 3 a few weeks ago.

Very very happy. I only get a new phone every 5 years as I look after them. It's such a step up from my Mate 10 Pro (another reason I like to go years between phones so I really notice the difference).

The phone had next to no bloat and what there was was uninstalled or just disabled.
The screen is super bright at max setting.
120Hz is a novelty feature for me as I don't game at all on my phones but nice to have I guess.
The main camera is good for me. I'm a big full frame DSLR user and I do like that I can zoom in a lot more on the Nord's pics before I see the usual 'smartphone smear effect'. I dont do selfies or super wide stuff so the other cams are of no matter.
The fingerprint sensor is fast but I would have put it a bit higher up on the screen.
The phone is nicely made and feels premium but you need a case! It is super slick and slippery to handle.
The speakers sound pretty loud and clear.
Call quality is great.
Battery life is two days easy for me. I can go to bed with 89% and wake up in the morning at 88%. The One+ forums are full of people moaning about awful battery life but I have no idea what they are doing. This thing lasts and lasts for me. I can just charge it to 65% in the morning and thats good for the day for me.
The fast 80W charging is insane but I might not use it longterm. I never charge overnight and never to 100% hence why my batteries last so long. I'm using my usual 25W at the moment.
Seems like updates will continue for some years.
16GB Ram and 256GB storage for the price is fantastic.
Oh and like my Mate 10 Pro it has a IR blaster so I can turn off annoying TVs in pubs!

 

[Dopamin3]

Just Nexus and Pixel phones for me. Otherwise I would rather switch to Apple than other Androids.

That was me in a former life. Stock Android, same performance as other phones of the generation, good cameras and unlockable bootloader? Hell yea, sign me up.

Then Tensor came along. My "Google" phones have been (LG) Nexus 4 -> (Motorola) Nexus 6 -> Pixel 3a XL -> Pixel 5a -> PIxel 6a -> PIxel 7 Pro 512GB. The Pixel 6a and Pixel 7 Pro have been nothing but disappointment. Pixel 7 Pro I really tried hard to make it usable, I tried custom ROMs and/or stock rooted with every kernel available (Radioactive, Kirikasura, Sultan, Cleanslate) but the phone still ran too hot. You can open CPU throttling test and within 9 seconds the SOC is hitting 100C on Tensor G2. Screenshot here from Pixel 7 Pro stock on Android 14 (split screen apps, Device Info HW and CPU Throttling Test):

Whoever at Google agreed to a multi-year partnership with Samsung for using their Exynos as a "base" for designing Tensor and then agreeing to let them manufacture it needs to be immediately fired. Not only does the SOC run unbearably hot, however the phone is assembled this easily transfers to battery heat. My 7 Pro will heat up randomly doing hardly anything, and God forbid I try to use Wireless Android Auto. Battery gets pegged at 42C+ and throttles hard. The Tensor G3 in the Pixel 8 series is hardly any better.

Samsung I guess is "ok" at designing chips. Exynos typically have decent performance, but Qualcomm Snapdragon is typically better in whatever generation you're comparing. But where they are actually terrible, is fabbing them. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was a shit show (manufactured by Samsung). Take the same chip and fab it at TSMC, rebrand it as the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and suddenly it's a competent chip. Geekerwan published a good video on mobile chip efficiencies. The 8+ Gen 1 offers higher performance at a lower power draw, even though it's the same chip just fabbed at different companies...

There is a reason Samsung always uses Snapdragon over Exynos in North America flagships. Historically for other regions they have sometimes used Exynos, but look at the S23 series- every region gets Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. They even know that they can't sell it. Why does Google think they can? I'm not holding my breath for Pixel 9 / Tensor G4, just another Exynos spinoff. Rumors point to the Pixel 10 / Tensor G5 being an in-house Google design manufactured by TSMC. Will the first gen design knock it out of the park on performance? Probably not. But will it offer decent performance and good efficiency? That's what I hope to see.

Little to no mention of a Oneplus phone. They're not any good?

OnePlus phones are pretty awesome. I preferred OxygenOS ≤ 11, but I'm used to OxygenOS 13 now and looking forward OxygenOS 14. They offer some of the best values, like ~$700 for a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 flagship with 16GB RAM / 256GB UFS 4.0 storage. Or on the more budget end, the Nord phones pack a solid value. I outlined in my last post some things about the OnePlus 11.