Help me decide what my next phone is

z1ggy

Lifer
May 17, 2008
10,010
66
91
I plan to buy something used off Swappa in the coming weeks to replace my S8. I am trying to decide between the XS Max, Oneplus 7 Pro or Pixel 4 XL. TLDR at the bottom for those of you in a hurry or with ADD. A few things:

1) I don't care about OS. I'm not a loyalist either way.

2) My biggest uses for the phone are attending conference calls on Teams, Youtube Video streaming, golfing*, music listening. I want something "large" because I often watch video game streams.

2a) Regarding the golf - There's basically 2 apps I use mobile for and one of them actually only runs on iOS, but I've been getting around that using an old iPod, which has now crapped the bed. The other app runs on android but I've heard it's optimized for iOS. Who knows. Use the apps 1-2x per week, so nothing crazy. They capture swing data and stuff like that.

3) Prefer the build and software support to last at least 3 years. My S8 is so slow and doesn't seem to receive updates very quickly...

Part of me wants the iPhone just to have something totally new & different since I've been on Android since about 2011/12, but I'm leaning toward the OnePlus because of the higher resolution and largest battery. It's also $100 cheaper than the Pixel, and $150 cheaper than the iPhone. With light use my S8 will tear through battery.. Even going unused during the night time, if not put on airplane mode I'll lose 30% life.

TLDR; Can't decide between iPhone XS Max, Pixel 4 XL or OnePlus 7 Pro to replace my Samsung S8. Main use is YouTube streaming, Teams and music listening. Would love a better battery life. Want best software support.
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,444
5,850
146
Just get the iPhone. The Pixel 4 isn't great hardware wise and while the OnePlus phones seem decent, iPhone I think will just be better for you.

Oh and with regards to price, there's a Pixel 4a (that sounds better, especially for the price, than the 4) coming and there's been rumors of an iPhone SE Plus (so bigger display). And if they do promotions like they did for the SE (where Wal-Mart was selling it for $200 if you activated and did an installment plan on Verizon, ATT, or Sprint), it'd be really tough to beat.

How does the apps track that stuff? I'd think a smartwatch would be something you'd get some good use out of. Heck I'd guess there's a golf-focused fitness device of some sort too.
 

z1ggy

Lifer
May 17, 2008
10,010
66
91
Just get the iPhone. The Pixel 4 isn't great hardware wise and while the OnePlus phones seem decent, iPhone I think will just be better for you.

Oh and with regards to price, there's a Pixel 4a (that sounds better, especially for the price, than the 4) coming and there's been rumors of an iPhone SE Plus (so bigger display). And if they do promotions like they did for the SE (where Wal-Mart was selling it for $200 if you activated and did an installment plan on Verizon, ATT, or Sprint), it'd be really tough to beat.

How does the apps track that stuff? I'd think a smartwatch would be something you'd get some good use out of. Heck I'd guess there's a golf-focused fitness device of some sort too.
Thanks for replying.

So one app is called Mirror Vision, which basically uses 2 iOS devices to make a mirror. One device you use to capture the video and the other you place in front of you to view it. I use this to look at my swing as if somebody was behind me... it's very useful.

The other is called Arccos and works on Android and iOS but allegedly it runs better on iOS. It uses GPS overlayed on satellite data to track your position on the golf course, and is paired with sensors that you screw into the butt of the golf club to track all your shots. It gives you stats and all sorts of things. Based on the 2 times using it with my S8... it's been clunky. I'll be using it tomorrow again and I'll see if it's clunky again. It was just a little slow... lost my position multiple times and missed a few shots.

From videos I've been watching, the OnePlus is the better value but I do worry that a) I may not like the curved screen and b) Software updates will not come very frequently. The one thing I loved about iOS back in the day, was software updates were often and fast. I got my iphone4 to last 4 years. Can't say that about my Android... but the OnePlus is like $160 cheaper on Swappa. It has better resolution/DPI and a bigger battery. Not sure how that will translate into real world performance though.