Android

Uh oh... :)

But seriously... I'd go with the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G.

For you, it's stuff like the headphone jack.

For ME, it's having a card slot for more memory. This one has it, the other two do not.

I don't see a reason to pay a premium price for fewer features.

Consider your privacy, a Pixel with GrapheneOS is vastly suggested.

Or fuck it and go Pixel and flash one of the many ROMs out there and cry about the headphone jack?

I'd say this option is your best bet, Google has long supported unlocking your bootloader since even before the Pixel reboot when they were known as nexus devices.

Personally, if you're open to also tossing your weight requirement, the Pixel Fold has been fantastic. A rare solid Google First-gen product. Iirc Google actually sells the inner screen as a first-party part (Probably the biggest issue I foresee getting it to 7 years). It's got waterproofing, but dust otoh... you're not a construction worker, are you? LMAO

I'm using the PF right now, and it's kinda like getting a dual monitor setup for the first time, once you use it on a daily basis you won't be able to go back. I think the PF2 is releasing this summer if they're able to stay on track and you can wait

Other than that, Pixel 7a I believe is still being sold if you're looking for a budget device, or the Pixel 8 Pro for top tier

ETA: it doesn't have a second physical SIM, but all Pixels iirc (I know the PF does for sure) supports 1 physical and 1 eSIM simultaneously

The newer Sony Xperias sound like a good fit for you. I haven't used one myself, but they're pretty decent from what I can gather.

Also it seems as if Sony is the only phone manufacturer shipping flagships with headphone jacks and SD card slots.

On another note, I highly recommend the GSMarena Phone Finder for getting a general selection of phones that have the features you care about.

Here's how I do this (for phones and any complex technology acquisition):

• Make a spreadsheet with a column for each phone.
• Each row has a different attribute, price, screen size, OS version, warranty, Bluetooth version, etc.
• I put my current phone in column 2.(Column 1 contains labels) I freeze row 1 and column 1 to make life easier when entering data.
• Keep adding phones and specs until you've exhausted the ones you care about.
• Compare phone in column 3 with column 4.
• Of those two phones, and only those two, which one would you get?
• Hide the column for the phone you would not get
• Compare the winner with the phone in the next column, and only those two.
• Rinse and repeat until you have two phones left, your current phone and the winner.
• Congratulations, go buy a phone.

I would strongly consider just crying about the headphone jack. Like you I'm really annoyed that most phones got rid of it, but take a look at how many more options you have on gsmarena phone finder if you ditch it.

My main use case for it was sharing my wired noise cancelling headphones between my work PC and phone for zoom calls. But I ended up getting a nice pair of Bluetooth headphones recently and so haven't used it in a long time. I'm sure it'll still annoy me on occasion living without it, but if it's only a few times a year I can live with that for all the options it opens up for new phones.

Dual SIM (2 physical cards)

With the dawn of eSIM, I'm not sure if Dual physical-SIM is very useful.

Last time I went on a trip, I just downloaded an eSIM + kept my physical SIM slot.

The OnePlus company heavily jumped the shark somewhere around the time of the 8-9-10 series, with one of the company's two cofounders leaving (the non-business tech guy if you take my meaning). I have heard that it has gotten better since then but if their stock OS is still based off of the Huawei-based ColorOS then I would strongly advise caution with that company who may disappoint the entire user-base once again (e.g. in refusing to provide updates, or releasing actively bad ones that convert your beautifully buttery-smooth device into a steaming pile of cRaP that acts like it is drunk when you make requests and the system has to think before doing any minor task. Yes this literally and personally happened to my 7T, and I will never trust OnePlus ever again as a result. They really do have a long history of alternately doing just that, then winning it back then, then betraying their users again.

I am not current on the status of their hardware though, so it might be okay if you planned to immediately replace the OS with something else?

Note that there are USB-C to Mini Audio Jack Adapters. I don't have one so cannot speak from personal experience, just throwing that out there.

Have you considered the Sony flagships? They fit all your criteria except maybe the bootloader bit

Thank you everyone and thank you for the links! Based on all info, I decided to wait for Asus's statement until the end of April. I hope my current phone will survive until then. In case of no good news, I will try to find a OnePlus Nord CE2 somewhere, or may go with a good used one. If that doesn't work out either, then maybe an Xperia. Or Nothing 2. Or Pixel... We'll see.

Might be worth poking around here.

https://www.unihertz.com/

They offer phones with dual sim, headphone jacks, back of phone fingerprint readers, customizable button.

Good luck!

I got a Xiaomi POCO F5 recently that might fit all your Must criteria (idk about size), but another Xiaomi may work. Just if you're located somewhere that doesn't use the Type C Socket, you may need an adapter or a different 67W charger

Xiaomi has a bootloader unlock process, though it is a bit involved. You've gotta put your SIM in the new phone, create a Xiaomi then you've gotta run their bootloader unlock software, which needs a Windows Computer, idk if it runs in a VM, if thats an issue for you. Then you've gotta keep your SIM in the phone and have it on for a full 7 days and then run the bootloader unlock software again, which will wipe your phone, but now the bootloader is unlocked

You do have to use MIUI for a week before you can wipe it and try something else, but once you go through it its fine. I've been using Paranoid Android on mine with no issues.

This should apply to any recent Xiaomi phone. Just something for your consideration

Typing this on a Zenfone 10.

The good thing is that this phone don't really have bad querks like ZF8&9, and the 2 years update only means not getting new android features, Zenfone still works perfectly fine a long time after the 2 year mark.

And yes, Asus has been quite an A** hole in the whole bootloader situation, but putting that aside there are still plenty of ways to tinker a phone without root(Fdroid, adb, launcher, netguard, etc..).

I would say If custom ROMs are too important for you, get a Pixel, they are just that good with it.

But if you are willing to look past that, Zenfones are great.

That is a quite a project you have there :-) Let me just share this https://www.sustaphones.com so maybe you can find another phone which still has a headphone jack, or that other readers can benefit from that website.

i can vouch for xiaomis

The 3 phones you linked from gsmarena vary A LOT in price. First you need to establish your budget. Zenfone 10 is basically last year's flagship, though IMO the screen is too small to be usable for me.

The xiaomi redmi note 13 pro is one of the best value for money phones but it has a "value" soc(system on a chip), which is fine for most every day use but it isnt anywhere near current flagship levels of performance(less performance headroom for future apps). Xiaomi's sub-brand "poco" has phones that offer insane soc but you are sacrificing some other niceties(cameras, etc). Poco f6(and f6 pro) are about to come out.

IMO Oneplus usually aint worth it. It is basically rebranded oppo phones, you might as well get a xiaomi. Budget oneplus phones offer mediocre value with slow soc. However, oneplus flagships from previous years can often be find on sale, in which case they might be worth it. Sony old flagships also can be found at steep discount.

Nothing phones are pretty but their value is low, especially in terms of performance.

IMO, if you dont mind buying a chinese android phone, with 2-3 years of support, xiaomi is usually the best option. Redmi note 13 pro is a good choice, poco x6 and especially x6 pro and upcoming poco f6/f6 pro are also great(if you really care about performance). I dont think i would recommend an expensive xiaomi phone because you can basically get a samsung flagship at that price.

I think the 7 year support offered to google and samsung current flagships is very important. Xiaomi phones reach end of life after 2 or 3 years. Which means that if there is a security hole discovered later on, they will remain unpatched. Considering the amount of banking and stuff people do with their phones nowadays, this point deserves consideration.

So while i have absolute confidence in the performance of xiaomi phones like poco x6 pro or poco f5(and newer) for the long term, the software support landscape has changed a lot this year. And the old norm of 2-3 years software support might not be cutting it anymore.

Also xiaomi has xda forum

https://xdaforums.com/c/xiaomi.12005/

PS Be careful with the snapdragon names. Poco f5 has snapdragon 7+ gen2, while poco x6 has snapdragon 7s gen2. The performance difference between these 2 almost identically named socs is immense. The upcoming snapdragon 8s gen3 is also nothing like snapdragon 8 gen3, it is basically an overclocked 7+ gen 3. Which is still amazing but not 8 gen3 amazing. The "s" stands for "slow".

I used an LG G3 for around 5 years, and I was in a similar situation to yours when it started dying (but with a slightly different set of features I wanted).

I ended up buying a Xiaomi phone (Mi 9T Pro), but the community support for it wasn't even close to the LG and I constantly tinkered with the system to keep some stuff working on custom ROMs (mostly MicroG issues, might be fine with Google Play Services).

Now I use a Pixel 7a. It fit all my requirements except for having a headphone jack, but after getting some AirPods Pro for free, which were much more convenient than using my IEMs (I fairly quickly stopped using them with my phone), I dropped that requirement. I'm assuming the community will support this phone for a while, but since you said you don't mind spending more the Pixel 8 series has more than six years of official support left.

I’ve had very little experience with OnePlus, but my sister has had a OnePlus 8 for about two years, and has had consistent, weird problems with it. She hates it.

Go with usb-c headphones to broaden your options.

Have you checked out the buying guide on the sidebar yet?

Xiaomi phones tend to have more active custom rim communities since they have historically been fairly liberal with bootloader unlocks. Make sure it covers your provider's frequency bands if you buy the global version and you live in the US, for example, otherwise you may have reception issues.

Still, the Zenfone 10 is probably your safest bet if a 3.5mm jack is mandatory for you.

Heya OP, I'm more or less at the same point you were. So how did you decide in the end?

FAIRPHONE 5

Why oled only? Modern lcd screens are fantastic. For example look at the OnePlus n30, its lcd screen is super bright, very colorful, has absolutely no PWM, has a refresh rate of 120 hz, has a wide viewing angle range with no change in brightness or color, and is just gorgeous all around.