I guess you mean good control over DOF? Do they? I remember watching some YouTube influencers marketing the Vivo X200 and I was a bit surprised until I saw they were all utilizing the faux shallow DOF for video. 35mm equiv with f/1.7 on a 1/1.28â sensor does not give you any meaningful control over DOF. That sensor is substantially smaller than 1â. ~116 mm² vs. ~71 mm². The Nubia Z80 Ultra uses a 1/1.3â sensor.
I believe the X200 gets 5 years of security updates. So, not a great deal paying a premium for phone with a mediocre lens/sensor that is a doorstop in 5 years from release. Donât know if the X300 series are betterâŚ
Iâd say, get a phone that does the phone job and invest in cameras (if you donât have one).
Youâre in a great position, use the phone camera for snapping pictures of your shopping list and other mission critcal image making.
Thanks again for the replies. Does anyone have an online source for discounted prices on older model (but new with warranty) Pixel phonesâe.g., the Pro 8 mentioned above?
Also, I see that some here are using much older versions of Android than me. Am I at significant risk if I just keep my Nokia another six months or so? I donât to any banking or fiancial transactions on my phone, but I would not want anyone to access info in my AirBNB, Uber, or Gmail.
The risks of running a non-updated phone are wildly overstated. Most security features are part of the apps anyway, not the OS.
Most likely, you will be fine.
That said, obviously, donât install apps from untrusted sources, donât click on links in unsolicited emails, stay our of unencrypted public WiFi, etc.
Do apps that check security (no rooting, no unlocked bootloader) work with Graphene? Iâm asking because banking apps and such may refuse to install if they find the OS âhas been tampered withâ. Oh, answering my own question: most do, some donât â including my bank.
Revolut and Millenium Bcp work fine, but Iâve heard of a ton that donât work, and itâs only a question of time until none do.
Sadly most banks seem to have frozen the development on their desktop/web platforms and most functionalities exist only in the apps, itâs a tragedy. I get that biometrics are very strong authenticators, but my bank has had OTP for more than 20 years and security has never been a problem.
I guess in the future people who opt for Graphene or Lineage, etc, will need to have a âburnerâ side phone to use these appsâŚ
Yeah⌠I share what you said. Here you can check, this person has shot everything in RAW so no software trickery no marketting. It will be the same for photo and he even shoots open gate so it is almost 1:1 comparison. Just a bunch of cat videos and nice showcase of what the x200 ultra can do. The x300 ultra should be visually almost identical.
The hardware on x300 ultra is the best you can get as a combo but x200 ultra is practically a great deal right now if you can get it cheap.
I often share this channel when people feel like they canât shoot anything better than a grocery list with their smartphones. And this one was on a pixel 7 pro⌠so yeah.
You cannot have it all but at the same time my suggestions were purely âbest for the most you want to spendâ .
If you just look at it as a tool to make calls and do basic stuff then why even bother looking at the cameras but if the author of the thread cares about cameras then I donât know of any other devices that can be better value while fitting their needs.
As I said even the cheaper older flagships are already great. Xiaomi has been using 1" type main ever since 12s ultra and all from 13 ultra to 17 ultra have the same sensor size.
I suggested Nubia because it doesnât throttling as much and has a 35mm as suggested to be preferred more over the wider 24mm default on most others. The OEM support is lacking but the hardware isnât and that Omnivision sensor is the same OV50H that is used as main sensor in motorola edge 50 ultra hence my initial suggestion of getting a motorola if you want to make it sub $300 because the value you get is probably the most there .
As for privacy, most that can have the option, people usually keep a cheap banking phone or whatever you wanna call it and unlock the main to do whatever they wanna do. At that point grapheneOS doesnât make much sense when you can just flash any other rom without GMS and be careful about things you click or install. You can never be 100% safe and thanks to Google you cannot comfortably have it all with a single device without facing issues because of Device Integrity checks everywhere. Some apps have their own checks so even with root modules some simply wonât work.
If youâre going to Japan - get a Sony Xperia, if you care about open-source and privacy, stay low for a while and wait for the new GrapheneOS-only Motorolas, it also doubles as not having to give Google your money!
Follow-up: Based partly on advice here, we have decided to wait and keep the Nokias for a while longer. They are working just fine, are running Android 14, have excellent battery life, etc.
I am interested in the Motorolas, Sonys, and other brands mentioned here, as well as the Xioamis with Leica optics. I am not jazzed about paying $600+ for a Google product at this point.
So, we will have to get physical SIMs in JapanâI suspect it will be pretty easy. We have had no problems doing this in Europe many times.
Can anyone here suggest a physical SIM to buy in Japan (voice, text, data, etc.)?
Do they? I remember watching some YouTube influencers marketing the Vivo X200 and I was a bit surprised until I saw they were all utilizing the faux shallow DOF for video. 35mm equiv with f/1.7 on a 1/1.28â sensor does not give you any meaningful control over DOF. That sensor is substantially smaller than 1â. ~116 mm² vs. ~71 mm². The Nubia Z80 Ultra uses a 1/1.3â sensor. 
