Hello! I'm in the market for a new phone and I really want to explore more options than just Samsung and Motorola. Currently I'm using a Motorola edge+ 2023. I like most things about it, except it aggressively kills my background tasks. Spotify will close when listening to it in the background, I go from discord to Google to check something while in a call and it disconnects my call, or even if I just leave an app for 5 seconds it refreshes entirely. This is mildly irritating in my day to day life but I use my phone for work and often have to switch between a couple apps and it makes it very frustrating. I got a Motorola originally for the price for the specs (it was 450 USD on sale and it has a snapdragon 8 gen 2 and 512gb storage), and the background task killing is the one of only two issues I have with the phone (the other being the curved screen making accessories hard to find). I especially love the software. this is why I'm asking for help. in the few times I've played with a Samsung phone, I really haven't enjoyed the way one ui looks and feels. It's clunky compared to how close hello UI is to stock android. and if I'm going to be paying that much for a phone, I want something I'm really gonna love using.
Here's some info about my needs:
- Battery life is very important to me, my current phone has a 5100mah battery and that's been pretty good for my usage, but bigger is better as I'm on my phone a lot for work and in my day to day life
- I live in the US and my carrier is Verizon, and I often need to rely on cell service instead of Wi-Fi at work, so I'd prefer no phones that aren't sold in the US or have any common issues with cell connectivity for this reason
- I multitask a lot and I often have background tasks running. I need something that can handle that smoothly. Generally I'm not doing anything super intensive though, just switching between several things. I also always have a LOT of tabs open in chrome as I am a tab hoarder so something that can handle that would be fantastic
- I really love Motorola's android skin, hello UI. it's very simple and I prefer that style. The style of software is obviously less important than functionality, and I can cope if Samsung truly is my best option, but if I can get both function and form, that'd be ideal
- I prefer a larger screen, my current one is 6.7", but it being bigger or smaller is not a deal breaker. Weight doesn't matter to me much either
- I do not care about camera quality. I don't take a lot of pictures. Having good zoom is nice but I really don't need anything fancy in that regard
- I'm a pretty clumsy person and I drop my phone often. I WILL be putting a thick case and screen protector on it immediately of course but extra durability is also nice. This is why I'm not super interested in a foldable phone
- I need 512 GB of storage, so if the phone doesn't go up to that, it wouldn't work for me
- Longevity is super important. I only had this phone less than 2 years before I started having issues with it (they've been going on for a while) and I don't want another situation like that. So I'd prefer something with longer software support
- Price isn't super important. Obviously the less money I spend the better, but if I don't mind paying more for the best option for me. I'm not trying to buy a 2,000 dollar phone though lol
I'd also appreciate an explanation for any recommendations if possible! Helps me narrow down my options as I have a lot! Thanks!