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How I chose my Next BEST mobile device ( OnePlus 6T, Nokia 7.1, Motorola One, MI A2)

How I chose my Next BEST mobile device
60% Reasoning and 40% Economics 

This is for rational thinkers... If you are kind of person who makes decisions based on emotions, this will sound boring to you.


Like many of you, The first question come to my mind is "why do i need to change my phone."

I am using Nexus 6, which is released in November 2014.
Its a great phone with Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM, 13MP front and 2 MP Selfie camera, supports wireless charging and water resistant.
It was release with Android 5 (Lollipop) and ended its upgrade life with Android 7.1.1 and last security patch applied on November 2017.
But its a great phone. Probably one of the best phone i used till to date.
Thanks to XDA developers it can be up gradable to Android Pie using custom ROM.

Its been 4 years since I bought this phone and during these years, I was tempted a lot by the new phones coming to the market. Every time poking the question should I buy a new one or hold on to Nexus 6.

Every time I see a new phone, it has something to offer but not a "must needed" feature, rather an incremental features. These features mostly falls under good to have.

In early 2018, I started observing Nexus 6 camera started having issues. Either it wont start quick or take forever to take pictures. I missed capturing few precious moments.
With a big screen, its battery started draining quick. Its not a big problem most of the days, as charging is accessible at home, work and car. But when I go out on full day conferences, it wont last 6 hours of very minimal use.
Recently performance of the phone also started crawling. apps takes forever to open. some times it feels like working on one app at a time. I feel the 100s of notification that i get from apps and my work related apps started impacting its performance. Because of work related apps, I have to encrypt my device, which also impacts overall performance.

So the reasons driving my mobile purchase decision are 


  1. No more security updates
  2. Crawling performance
  3. Draining battery
  4. Unimpressive Camera performance and quality of pics
  5. Missing latest advances Android OS
With that I finally made up my mind to get a new one.

Since security updates is one of the major requirement, PIXEL line of Google phone is an obvious choice as its offers guaranteed 3 years of security and OS updates. But I see Google moved from mid range phones to premium range costing around $800-$1000.
For a phone, whose life span is guaranteed to be 3 years, spending $1000 is not worth for me.

So I started researching alternatives and found Android ONE program, which offers the same 3 years of monthly security and OS updates.
Nokia 7.1, Motorola One and Xiaomi MI A2 are contenders.

Nokia's HMD global went mainstream by announcing every future phone from Nokia will be based on Android ONE program and most will have extra "Enterprise ready" security certification. Its very appealing to me. But it only Snapdragon 636 with 3/4GB RAM. With 12MP and 5 MP front facing and 8 MP selfie, It costs $349 + Tax
Motorola knows for their endurance. Its a mid range phone with comparable specs costing $399 + Tax.
Xiaomi is relatively a new player to me.. As this Chinese manufacturer, mostly focused in Developing markets. Out of the 3, it has better specs and price point. It offers snapdragon 660, 4/6GB RAM, Dual 12 and 20 MP with 20 MP selfie camera costing $220 + Tax

All 3 phones offering ~3000 mAh battery. 

Upon further research,  Among the 3, MI A2 is undoubtedly offers best value for money. But its missing few LTE bands required to operate in US market. Check this link to understand challenges of operating a Chinese phone in US.

Nokia 7 sounds pretty good but bit expensive compared to MI A2.

But surprising enough, I bought a T-Mobile's OnePlus 6T with Nexus 6 trade in offer. Dont think its a emotional decision. Economics played tricky role here. None of the originally short listed phones are offering any Trade in or traditional subsidized pricing. But OnePlus 6T paired with T-Mobile and is offering $300 Trade value for my 4 years old Nexus 6. That brings down OnePlus 6T on par with mid range MI A2 and Nokia 7.1

OnePlus 6T offering guaranteed 2 years of OS updates and 3 year security updates for every 2 months. Its have Snapdragon 845 (Top of the line SOC as of 11/2018), 8GB RAM, Dual 20MP and 16 MP camera and 16MP Selfie camera. T-Mobile version has 3700 mAh battery.

These specs are way better than above 3 phones and reviews are inline with recent Pixel and Iphone.
When I am getting a new phone, there is no point in not trading in old phone. Otherwise old phone, mostly waiting to visit garbage one day.
With trade in, recycling is taken care. OnePlus 6T coming around ~$300 paid over 24 months @ ~$12/month.

Sounds like a no brainier and I went for it.

If we sit back and think, what made me got OnePlus 6T, its not just its excellence of the product but customer center marketing and financial model too.
I dont really understand why not every phone manufacturer offering it.
If you closely look at T-Mobile's OnePlus 6T trade in offer given below, very old Oneplus One device also eligible. Oneplus may have done it to keep OnePlus customers loyal but I would have made every device eligible. Let me explain.


Few years back, carriers like AT&T, Verizon used to offer 2 year lock in contract and offer flagship phones for a subsidized price. The current Trade in phone is a different form of the same financial package.

I got $690+ Tax Nexus 6 from ATT for $250 + Tax with 2 Year contract. After 4 years, getting a $580+ Tax phone from T-Mobile for $300 paid over same 2 Years. For me both are same. The trade in phone, is just a trick. Its like giving it for free. I dont understand why T-Mobile made every available phone in the market is eligible for trade in ?

These contracts or EIP (Equipment Installment Plan) are very effective. When I moved to T-Mobile as part of Uncarrier offer, T-Mobile picked up my lease break in fee of $300 and its totally worth for T-Mobile as they got my business for the last 4 years. Now T-Mobile got my business for 2 more years for $300 price cut in new phone. I am sure, its totally worth again.

Nokia, Motorola, Xiaomi , AT&T - are you listening  ?

Update 1/31:
  1. No more security updates : T-Mobile pushing OnePlus6T updates very slow. But there is a work around. You can flash your OnePlut 6T to international version by following steps . After this you should be able to update it directly from OnePlus 6T.
  2. Crawling performance : OnePlus 6T performance is great.
  3. Draining battery : Found a way to optimize battery discharge cycles. It is expected to increase battery life by 60%.  
  4. Unimpressive Camera performance and quality of pics : So far OpePlus6T camera is great. Thinking of porting Google Pixel camera to it.. will keep it updated.
  5. Missing latest advances Android OS. With OnePlus's great community, I beleive this device is going to live beyond typical 3 years.

-- Feel free to comment and let me know what you think about it.

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