For Android, I’d never recommend buying anything but a Google handset. LG, Samsung, Blu, Moto, OnePlus, and the other companies have a terrible reputation with regard to rolling out security patches quickly.
Google has the same relationship to Android as Apple has to iOS; the difference is that most of the code is open source so you can inspect it.
Unless you roll your own, someone is going to have root to your phone. Choose the devil you want to dance with, based on who you want to trust more: Google, Apple, or Microsoft.
Every smart phone should be considered compromised for audio, video, and location at all times. And if you can’t pull the battery, it ain’t off.
There’s absolutely no difference between having a physical button calling up a digital assistant on-demand versus having any handset with a digital assistant as part of its feature set which can be called up by voice or non-physical buttons. If you’re creeped out by a physical button that activates Google, then by all means avoid all Android and Apple handsets.
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Most phone reviews, including this one, never mention price. I realize I’m the only one who buys these things with cash but it’s important to me. Then again when I hear the price I won’t buy it which explains why I still have my “shit phone” Moto E.
It’s a shame really. the primary reason i got my LG G5 was because it was one of the rare few phones left with user replaceable batteries.
Until there are no phones left on the market without user-replaceable batteries, i refuse to buy any that lack this essential (IMHO) feature…
That’d screw me over 
Apart from being a mobile web-browser, my second most used function is the kindle ebook app.
That lets you map the volume keys to be page forwards/back buttons… The side is a great position for these keys, the back would be terrible 
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Accidental key presses are the bane of the iOS experience. I am sure we have all heard the Siri activation boops when someone pocket presses the home button or is trying to do something else with the home button. The fact that the spook servers get these random listens into peoples lives at times when they are likely stressed or under pressure is surely creepy.
The iPhone X now activates Siri with the power button, located directly opposite the volume buttons, ensuring that this will happen regularly.
Moving the power button back to the top is one of those user friendly things that sadly seems to be out of Apple’s repertoire these days.
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They don’t even let you do to the museums while you’re there?
Remember when all of this was supposed to be simpler than a desktop or laptop?
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All Father Ted references are welcome here.
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No joke: I landed, rode a train from the airport into the downtown core for 20 minutes, checked into my hotel, ordered a pizza and worked on a story I had due for the end of the week. When I woke up the next morning, I had time to shower, pack up, eat breakfast and walk ten blocks to the event venue. I went back to the airport after that, had lunch, because the price of in-flight meals in economy are bullshit, worked some more, talked to my wife and hopped back on a plane home. I would love to tell you that I worked in the air too, but the space provided where I was sitting wouldn’t accommodate my belly and a laptop at the same time. Occasionally, I get to take a trip where I have some spare time to spend in a city. But more times than not, the cadence of the trip I just described is pretty much how I roll on these sorts of jaunts.
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That would be an ecumenical matter.
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Legislators are starting to take note of expensive devices that are being made unmaintainable in various ways. I’d rather buy from a company that didn’t require legal compulsion, but if there’s no other way… https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/263101-washington-state-mulls-bill-mandating-replaceable-batteries-easily-repaired-consumer-electronics
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