You could potentially match on audio, though – look for the 15 seconds of podcast audio preceding the ad, and the 15 seconds following it, if folks reported it in a sponsorblock way.

Alternatively, we could build a shazam-style database of 30 second podcast ads, then skip them when they’re identified. There isn’t much variety out there.

If only we could get RCS with any app other than Google’s. I wonder how long they can gatekeep those APIs.

Minimalist with a 6.7" screen, eh? Now I really want to know how they define minimal lol. Minimal features? Minimal security? Minimal support?

Thanks! I’m also trying a new Fi SIM, mine is pretty old and I know that older SIM cards can cause issues sometimes. So far so good!

I’d go with the Fairphone if I were you, as long as you actually care about having the phone long term. I know the Pixel is very shiny and very nice, but Google really does have an awful history of QA. Fairphone isn’t perfect either, but being able to repair things yourself is a huge benefit. Sure the CPU and camera and screen aren’t as nice, but they’re probably nicer than what you’ve currently got, and definitely nice enough unless you’re a tech reviewer who’s constantly looking at the new shinies.

Plus, y’know, it is kind of cool that Fairphone tries to produce their phones without any slavery or labor abuses, and at least makes real attempts at sustainability. When you get burned by Google, you just feel shame because you knew they were going to screw you one way or another. If you get burned by Fairphone, at least you tried to do something better in the world.

I’ll probably switch it to GrapheneOS after next month because I think it’s a software issue, not a hardware problem. But my partner can’t use Android Auto even though our car supports it, her phone crashes and becomes unresponsive randomly, and apps frequently drop out of memory when you aren’t heavily multitasking. The phone is perfectly capable of running a browser, music player, and maybe the camera all at once, so it’s frustrating to see this nonsense play out.

The phone is only two years old and runs stock Android. Around 60-70% storage usage on average. No clue what’s causing so many problems, but I’ve heard other 4a users say similar things lately.

I know you don’t want to hear it, but if you want a phone that’s (relatively) privacy respecting, reliable as hell, well constructed so it won’t break after just a couple of years, and supported for a long time… you just described an iPhone. You could be the 2022 SE today for $400ish and use it for 3+ years before you have to do anything to it, and even then you’d just have to pay $69 or so for a battery swap. You could also buy a 13 Mini or a 12 Pro for close to the same price and get an OLED screen and a better camera.

The Pixel series is probably your best bet in terms of specs and theoretical support. But I would be very surprised if you were able to use a Pixel for 3+ years without developing a hardware issue. Maybe you’ll be lucky, but I wouldn’t bet on it, personally. My partner’s 4a isn’t even 3 years old yet and it’s clear that Google does not backtest any of their software updates on older hardware either. Hopefully that changes going forward, but Google has a pretty shit record with long-term support. They’ve promised to make replacement parts available for the 8 year lifespace of the 8 series phones, but the phones are glued together and hard to repair, so unless you’re hardcore about DIY, it’s unlikely that you’ll bother with it. Instead you’ll likely end up going to a repair shop, which you could also do with older Pixels today. And both Pixels and their replacement parts are iPhone-level expensive unless you’re playing the carrier incentive game.

I’m not sure why others are shitting on the Fairphone’s hardware. I think it’s incredibly dumb that they killed the aux jack, and the phone is way too big for my liking… but it’s literally built to be easy to repair. And Fairphone has a proven track record of support for their phones. It isn’t perfect, but I’m much more likely to believe that you’d use a Fairphone for 5+ years than a Pixel. If you’re concerned about part availability down the road, just buy a couple of spare batteries, a spare screen, a spare camera module, and a spare USB-C port today.

Official, too! And I believe the predecessor, the Z2 Compact, also has official Lineage support.

Sadly the XZ2 did away with the headphone jack and has a (subjectively) shittier design. But it is still smaller than any modern phone by a fair margin.

Have you had any issues with crashing modems on your cellular provider? I’m curious if my issue (works OK for a few days after flashing Lineage over stock, then the cell modem totally dies and the wifi crashes every minute or so) is limited to Google Fi. Sadly Fi’s international data is really valuable for me so I can’t switch to another MVNO, but it would be nice to know if I have the option.

It turns out that the DRM keys only matter on Android 8 (Oreo) – on 9 (Pie) and on all custom ROMs, they don’t matter. I think. Camera quality certainly seems fine to me – comparable to my 2016 iPhone SE, that is, acceptable but not beautiful.

It seems nobody really cares about the DRM keys any more unless you’re hellbent on reselling your XZ1C with the capability of taking high quality photos on Oreo. A pretty niche thing these days!

Because the DRM keys don’t matter any more, no need to root or downgrade. You probably have to factory reset, but you should be able to take a backup and install a custom ROM. Lineage 17.1 and 20 have both treated me well, and introduce some nice new features and conveniences along with improved app compatibility now that Pie is so old. A tough sell on a daily driver, I know, but if you’re contemplating a phone upgrade anyway, this might get you a couple more years out of the XZ1C!

Verizon-style bootlocking ought to be criminal.

Makes sense. I can confirm there’s a nice step-by-step procedure for the XZ1C, and it’s been tested by at least dozens of folks, some of which have multiple devices.

I’ve also looked at the Atom L myself, please post a review if you do end up getting it and using a custom ROM on it! I chose the XZ1C over it because the Atom L is literally 2x the thickness of the XZ1C, which is already as thick as I’d like a phone to be. I’m curious if the thickness will bother you at all, and just how good the unlocking and custom ROM experience is on such a niche phone.

Why the official requirement? Just because you don’t want the device to be abandoned? Or is there some other “official” value-add I’m unaware of?

I’m going to ignore the “official” requirement because I think your task might actually be impossible with that req.

I use an Xperia XZ1 Compact with LineageOS 20.

4.6" screen. Very similar in dimensions to the iPhone 5/5S, which had 4" screens (just a tiny bit winder, maybe a mm taller). Headphone jack. microSD slot with support up to 512GB. Side fingerprint sensor. Decent (not modern flagship quality, but also not an AI “image” generator) camera. Band 66 support (though no band 71). And a notification LED!

Sony only supported it with two software updates (big surprise) ending with Android 9 (Pie). The Sony website lets you unlock the bootloader with a self-serve portal. You can use the Xperifirm tool to flash stock software & firmware, and custom roms work as usual with flashing, TWRP, etc. The SD card makes custom ROMs an even simpler process.

Note that you need the US firmware for cellular band & network compatibility, but you can copy the two files related to fingerprint sensor usage (system_X-FLASH-ALL-C93B.sin and vendor_X-FLASH-ALL-C93B.sin) from CE1 (chinese) or UK firmware into the US firmware, flash it, and you’ll get US firmware with a functional fingerprint sensor.

There’s recent builds of Lineage 17,18,19, and 20 (unofficial, unfortunately) with relatively few compromises. Gapps versions and MicroG versions seem to get published once every month or two by the unofficial maintainers. Yes, they’re unofficial. But they’ve been publishing new builds every month since 2019. And allegedly the only reason they haven’t gone official is because Lineage puts some restrictions on packages you can include in official releases.

There’s also HavocOS and a relatively recent /e/OS build, if you’re into that.

Unfortunately my mobile provider (Google Fi) has some compatibility issues with these ROMs, but there seem to be dozens-to-hundreds of happy users out there. The modem has a tendency to crash when signal is completely lost, so if you live in the middle of nowhere like I do, I don’t think I would recommend it. But if you live in a city or a country with competent infrastructure you should be fine.

The call microphone has a shitty physical design; it uses sound piped into a single, very long, very tiny hole in the bottom of the phone, next to the USB-C port. Guess what? Over time that tends to fill with dust, and then people can only hear you on calls if you hold the phone at the perfect angle, shout, or switch to speakerphone, which uses a different mic. Fortunately you can clean it pretty easily with a SIM card ejector.

TL;DR this is literally the last reasonably sized phone by a major manufacturer you can use as an actual smartphone with custom ROMs. And there’s a good amount of custom ROM support out there.

The other one I would seriously look at is the Pixel 4a, but it’s definitely above your size requirement. It might be more useful if you list a height limit or width limit to the phone size instead of a screen size limit – for instance, I won’t use anything taller than 135mm. But the iPhone SE (2016), XZ1 Compact, and iPhone 12/13 Mini all satisfy that requirement, despite having 4", 4.6", and 5.4" screens, respectively. Aspect ratios and bezels are weird!

FWIW the Xperia I V is very very similar to the I IV, it’s predecessor. Sony’s software support kinda sucks (only 2 years of Android updates, IIRC) but you can likely get a decent deal on last year’s phone at this point.

If you’re interested in custom ROMs or want something less Google-centric like GrapheneOS, you could also consider the Pixel 4a, 4a 5G, or 5a, depending on your size preferences. They’re losing official support now or soon but they’re still very good phones, very cheap refurbished, and GrapheneOS should be supporting them for a few more years just fine.