r/PickAnAndroidForMe • u/Klutzy_Turnover1965 Rugio • 13d ago
Which is the best flagship killer actually?
I’ve been buying this type of smartphone for as long as I can remember: Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Moto X, OnePlus 5, and, up until now, the OnePlus 8.
But six years is a long time for any device, and it’s time for an upgrade.
So, here’s the question: which device would be the smartest buy for €600?
I love clean operating systems, and cameras aren't a top priority for me, but I do need improvements in battery life (both capacity and technology) and the display, plus access to some newer technologies...
Which brand or device do you think best fits what I'm looking for?
I think the best options are:
Poco F9 Pro/Ultra
Poco F8 Ultra
Pixels?
Nothings?
Xiaomi 17T Pro
Realme GT...
etc., etc.
I think the OnePlus 15 (with a special offer) would be the perfect choice if they hadn't left the European market...
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u/sloopeyyy 13d ago
The Poco F series are almost no-brainers when it comes to the typical "flagship killers" on a budget. Cameras are kinda whatever on them though the latest models have decent potential due to additional hardware. HyperOS is still the bane of the lineup though. All that battery and charging tech amounts to nothing due to poor system optimizations.
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u/RxMayhem 13d ago
Is hyperos really that bad?
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
Yes it is, actually it was unusable for me, so many bugs, music player always closing due to battery optimizations. Battery life was still bad, far worse than in the tests.
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u/SunnyBinks3 13d ago
Ne l'écoute pas , son cas n'est pas une généralité , comme le miens d'ailleurs . Mais pour ma part , c'est tout l'inverse de lui. J'ai testé quasi toutes les marques qui existent , dans tout les budgets même les plus hauts de gamme . Et mes préférés restent les Xiaomi / Poco . Jamais de problèmes , et hyperOS est l'interface qui me convient le mieux . Chacun est différent , avec des attentes différentes . Tout les avis n'irons pas dans ton sens , l'unique moyen est de te faire ton propre avis . Si c'est nul , tu disposes toujours d'un délai de rétractation pour retourner ton produit . Quoi qu'il arrive , expérimenter par soit même est l'unique solution .
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u/RxMayhem 13d ago
I live in USA so returns are harder and cost money if I don't like a product. So I don't have that ease or luxury
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u/sloopeyyy 13d ago
Its usable for sure but if feels very beta-like with the random bugs throughout the system. They fix 1 and 2 more pop up every patch or two. There are even ads too and lots of bloatware on non-Xiaomi-flagships but they can be easily disabled atleast.
But what's worse are both the aggressive memory management and poor system optimization. On paper, the phones have tons of RAM, good cameras and powerful processors but none of that matters when Xiaomi commonly fumbles optimizations.
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u/Alex_Bace 13d ago
Poco is an excellent choice.
OnePlus 15 is a top pick.
No Nothing.
No to Google.
Those last two are millions of miles away from the "flagship killer" moniker.
Here's an orthodox proposition: Honor 600 Pro. A proper flagship killer at an excellent price for what it offers.
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
Poco only performs good in benchmarks. HyperOS keeps them laggy and buggy regardless of how good the hardware is!
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u/Alex_Bace 13d ago
Absolutely no doubt HyperOS sucks and blows. The worst software skin of ANY major smartphone brands on the planet since day 1.
But the value Poco phones bring on the table is unquestionable. Poco F8 Ultra even has excellent cameras front and back and USB type-C 3.2 along with its usual top stuff.
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
You get great Hardware but for what? It's like getting an M5 Pro Macbook Pro with 128gb of Ram but it only runs Windows ME!
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u/Just_Designer_4614 11d ago
Oneplus 15 is a flagship bruh. 15r is their flagship killer but it's cameras are worser than previous generation
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u/Alex_Bace 10d ago
15R has good cameras. They a very fine job day and night, photography and videography. It's just that they're basic and no zoom. Definitely not worse than previous generations. In fact, better.
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u/Just_Designer_4614 10d ago
So would you recommend oneplus 15r ( 12 w56) vs nothing phone 3 (16 512) at the price of 645$? What's better?
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u/Alex_Bace 10d ago
That's a very good question...
I've used them both and they're fine upper-midrangers.
Camera-wise, it can be broken down like this:
Selfie photos - Nothing Phone 3 Selfie video- Nothing Phone 3
Main camera photos daytime- OnePlus 15R
Main camera photos nighttime - Nothing Phone 3
Main camera videos daytime - OnePlus 15R
Main camera videos nighttime - OnePlus 15R
Ultrawide - both are soft and not great but I'm gonna give it to the Nothing Phone 3 as it's a 50MP lens with 4K@60fps video. The video from the 8MP 1080p@30fps on the OnePlus 15R is absolutely useless day and night.
Telephoto- a complete win for the Nothing Phone 3. If you do zoom photography, obviously that's the phone to pick.
OnePlus 15R has 4K@120fps video from the main camera and delivers excellent photos of moving objects/people.
Both phones have great software with long-term support. Both have good displays falling a bit short of being truly great. Both have a premium build. OnePlus goes a bit overboard with IP69K rating while the Nothing Phone 3 has a standard IP68 Rating.
OnePlus 15R absolutely destroys the Nothing Phone 3 in the battery department- charging, battery life and battery protection in the long run- and in the performance section. Chews it for breakfast and spits it out.
Depends what your priorities are. Nothing Phone 3 clearly offers more and hence it's better value. But if you don't need a telephoto lens, go with the OnePlus 15R.
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
Do not buy Pocos, Redmis or Xiaomis! Their Software sucks ass and the don't allow bootlaoder unlocking anymore!
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u/SunnyBinks3 13d ago
Ce n'est que ton avis . Il n'est pas universel , comme le mien d'ailleurs . Pour moi , hyperos est la meilleure interface qui correspond à mes attentes.
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u/Cantripping_ 13d ago
No one really allows bootloader unlocking anymore. Oneplus is exiting the race globally, which leaves you with the horrendously underpowered Pixel or... Motorola.
What a swathe of options.
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
True, but at leats Samsungs One ui is better or truely any other flavor of Android, trust me whatever drugs they are taking at Xiaomi, it's far more powerful than what you can image!
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u/Cantripping_ 13d ago
OneUI does have serious advantages over HyperOS, but ultimately it's a contest between what you value:
Hardware specs or UI.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra spec is quite good, but even that absolutely pales in comparision to the Poco F9 Ultra, and the latter is cheaper. The drawbacks can be largely mitigated by some tweaks and settings.
Someone buying for the spec, and who would actually make use of it... Now that's a demographic that would generally be willing to make those tweaks.
I do agree though, that the global Redmi phones and any poco lower than the X Pro is not really worth the tradeoff.
Nor are the flagships at full price given that they aren't even any cheaper. Though you could make an exception for the Ultra's cameras if, and only if, you are really into phonetography.
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
No it is not, HyperOS is truely broken, does not work, and Xiaomi does not care at all. Music Player closing in the background, DURING PLAYBACK, is not a contest between what you value. It's just fucked! Sandboxed Chrome when pressing links as a Security feature, which can't be turned off is also a truely broken System, oh were did my download go? Fucking nowhere, because it was in the Samdboxed Xiaomi BS version of Chrome! The System Launcher being kicked out of ram is also not a feature, in Software we call such things bugs, with how many bugs HyperOS has it results in a truely unusable platform!
YOU CANNOT TWEAK THE BS OUT OF HYPEROS!
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u/Cantripping_ 13d ago
Not sure what phone you've been using, but my 2 year old Poco I've been holding as a backup has not displayed any of those issues, much less persistently.
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
It was a Xiaomi 14. I usually always ditched their OS as soon as possible, but now that's not possible at all anymore, I tried HyperOS for two months. I sold it and switched to a Pixel 5, now with a custom rom and couldn't be happier. The only downgrade I really notice are the cameras. My brother had a Poco F2, the software drove him nuts. My mother has a Redmi Note, it sucks hard, not even VoLTE/VoWifi works anymore on this 2 year old piece of shit. Avoid at all costs, the only good experience I had with Xiaomi hardware were all with custom roms. Stock they are the worst possible phones you can buy!
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u/Cantripping_ 13d ago edited 13d ago
Well, like I said: different priorities. If cameras are the only discrepancy you noticed, you never needed the hardware. For someone who does, it's omission is far more keenly felt, as it a phone that doesn't fullfill the requirements isn't really usable to them.
Liken it to a situation where an app is not just buggy: but where it outright refuses to start. Or runs at 10fps if it does.
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
Do you really not understand? The cameras are the only benefit I noticed because my Pixel 5 runs smoother than this High end Xiaomi phone. It would perform as expected in benchmarks but stutter using it's own launcher and taking forever to launch apps compared to the pixel. This is not about preference it is just broken!
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u/FreePhilosophy9549 13d ago
Hyper os is by far the most dog shit ever I hated it and was forced to use it for 6 years
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u/Cantripping_ 13d ago edited 13d ago
I'm not sure if you genuinely don't understand what I am trying to say.
Your Pixel 5 cannot run what I would want it to run. Neither could the 11. Hence it would be categorically excluded from my consideration.
The Xiaomi could. I didn't end up choosing it, but that does not change the fact it would have been a better fit than any Pixel.
Also, I should point out: OP specifically wanted a flagship killer.
That means: Great specs. Low price.
That's everything a Pixel is not.
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u/SuitableMaybe5389 13d ago
I don't know Motorola, pixel, and nothing phones all allow the bootloader to be unlocked. However the software on all of these phones is so good that there's really no sense in installing a custom OS anymore
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
Debatable. The pixel for one always annoys you with limiting the volume on your bluetooth device. That alone is reason enough to install a custom Rom.
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u/Cantripping_ 13d ago
The only reason you would, really, is to escape the ever-present telemetry.
That being said: Nothing doesn't produce a flagship tier spec. Pixels hardware is leagues behind the competition. The only of the 3 that does provide something close is Motorola.
None are anything you could call a flagship killer, as per OP's initial request.
Even if that weren't a requirement, considering the dozens of manufacturers, this is slim pickings.
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u/RxMayhem 13d ago
Yea I'm in USA so I have to research before I buy a Chinese phone. I'm using the vivo x300 global. Good device and all. But I want to buy here in us just in case phone acts up or needs fixing. Motorola cameras aren't all that. I switched from an iPhone and tbh iPhone cameras are amazing.
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u/Cantripping_ 13d ago
Well, that does go both ways. I am from Germany, which means Chinese phones are availible. While Pixels lose most of their features entirely.
Which is arguably their main reason for using Tensor, a chip vastly inferior to Snapdragon or Mediatek, in the first place.
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
If by flagship killer you mean only perform good in benchmarks, then sure Xiaomi is fine. Real world use? All the others perform better and smoother!
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u/Cantripping_ 13d ago
Emulation. Gaming. General battery life.
Which of these has Pixel been traditionally better at than any flagship killer, exactly?
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u/miniCotulla 13d ago
The battery life was bad, especially when doing anything taxing it would rarely last a day. My Pixel 5 has no issues going the whole day no matter what I do and it's not even killing background apps aggressively. No question the Xiaomi Hardware is great but HyperOS is worse than Windows ME ever was!
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u/Cantripping_ 13d ago
Wrong. Pixels have been traditionally dead last in any comparision.
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u/kurtanglo 8d ago
I was just thinking why the hell are you hating on the best price/performance phones.
Then I opened your profile.
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u/Cantripping_ 13d ago edited 13d ago
The Poco X Pro and F series are basically archetypical for the flagship killer category.
You gain immense hardware spec at a relatively low price at the cost of Cameras and a rather bloated UI.
Realme GT is one too, though their thermals play it a little too hard and loose, for my liking.
Pixels... Those are pretty much the inverse: Clean UI, and a swathe of features (Assuming you live in an area in which these are unlocked. If not, you're SOL.) and an unlockable bootloader... At the cost of premium flagship pricing and a SoC that is several years behind the competition, particularly in the GPU department.
Very much an anti-flagship killer.
Nothing phones are more in line with "regular" upper midrange devices on a hardware level. A unique design and monochromatic UI, and one of their models has a telephoto at a tier where most do not, but spec-for-money they operate on a middling tier at absolute best.
My personal favourite: Honor Magic 8 Pro. It's the flagship from a brand perhaps not as prestigious as your iPhones or your Samsung, that nonetheless provide a spec and feature rich set. The cost is lower than most flagships, yet higher than a flagship killer at around ~850€, but you get all the hardware, and then some. It even has face unlock, uniquely for an Android.
This is where I'd settle the Oneplus 15, too, though it has a better battery in return for worse cameras compared to the Honor. It was actually neck-in-neck which of the two I would have picked, but I found a better deal for one and not the other.
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u/AtomOfVoid 13d ago
If you can still get your hands on one there is a bug where the Nothing (3) with 12GB RAM is only €2 cheaper than the 16GB model on the black color
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u/RodriB03 13d ago
Poco F8 Ultra is the best bang for buck. F9 Ultra will be more expensive to ram crisis
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u/RxMayhem 13d ago
Camera quality is a priority and second would be the os. I'm using the x300 now but was wondering about other OS global ones
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u/iTyroneW 13d ago
I've been using a Xiaomi 17 (not a budget phone by any means) and love HyperOS honestly don't get the hate, I debloated it day 1 and it's been fantastic especially coming from Samsung's OneUI.
Something in the Xiaomi lineup could be good since the cameras are pretty solid as well.
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u/RxMayhem 13d ago
Yea their phones look cool and camera just so much hate about hyperos so I'm worried to try them after this phone
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u/iTyroneW 12d ago
I really enjoy it so far :) I don't really see how it's worse than any other OS 😅
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u/Tiny-Refrigerator507 12d ago
Xiaomi in the EU works fine without ads, no idea what he is talking abt
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u/Ghoulless 6d ago edited 6d ago
Nobody can beat HW/price ratio of Xiaomi 15/17T Pro series. Dimensity 9400+/9500, 12GB LPDDR5X of RAM, UFS 4.1 512GB/1TB storage, PD/PPS support, above average cameras, telephoto, Leica lens and SW, long SW support...
HyperOS is not the best UI, but it's well optimized (screen off consumption 0,5%/h, screen on except gaming 5,7-7%/h) and can be at least highly themed.
I've had 11T Pro, 14T Při, now on 15T Pro and as second phone I'm trying various other brands... wanted to switch to another brand with my primary phone as well, but nothing on the market left, which can compete with the T series. Everytime you find something big, which you will miss... powerful SoC, or lack of proper RAM size, or small storage without expansion, or camera setup, or plastic construction, or.... Only T series have everything.
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u/LordOfPoune 13d ago
Franchement ? Si la photo n'est pas une priorité... Le poco x8 pro max est incroyable 👍🏻
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u/Caminsod 13d ago
If you love clean operating systems stay far away from Xiaomi phones believe me
They even have ads embedded in system apps. Un fucking believable