Aren't LineageOS quite widely supported? I have it on my nothing phone (1)

i have a xz1c (not my main phone), i like its sdcard slot and audio jack.

Not me personally, but Xperia are among the very few phones left that come in smaller sizes. Better for small hands. Not just the total size of the display but the width.

Plus all the other reasons already given of course help (lineageos support, audio jack, ...)

It was literally my only option for my peculiar set of needs:
SD card slot, headphone jack, stereo speakers and no notch (never been a big fan of those, though originally I just feared there was not enough third-party supply in case I needed replacements).

Big downside is that Sony still is notoriously bottom line in terms of software support. See them dropping the promised OS update to Android 17 for the 10 VI, two weeks ago.

It's devastating how much my choices have shrunk just with those things. Checked GSMArena's phone finders and just went from nice-to-haves to the features I really wanted. I was surprised anybody (Sony) offered my nice-to-haves in a phone altogether.

My carrier didn't have it, so I got it through my former workplace who was about to order some work phones anyway. That's also why I went with the flagship which I wouldn't have needed, instead of the 5 VI or 10 VI.

Before that, me sticking to Sony was actually coincidence. I used to have an iPhone, found it not for me, had an Xperia Z, then eventually a hand-me-down Z3, a Galaxy Note 9 (also a great phone but I hated the software and how Samsung kept trying to get me in their eco systems with the damn account). Switched to a 1 VI because of the aforementioned reasons and with the near-stock rom and the support for unlocking the phone in my region, I think I have another companion for a few years. Even the photos it shoots are great, if not the peak of the peak out there. That's secondary to me though.

Swede?! Them's fighting words!

Norwegian indeed, and not really awake at time of posting.

skulle the charging port die on me

Swede detected! Or maybe Norwegian... don't know that language much.

I loved all my Sony phones, I had to switch to Samsung and I fing hate it, the UI is terrible and Samsung apps keep asking me to create an account and accept their EULA. Plus their AI shenanigans.

The biggest complaint with my Xperia 1iii was that there wasn't enough support and light sensor was too sensitive. The battery crapped out after about 4 years and cell company only allows their phones (or a very short list of unlocked phones) on their network and the newest gen Xperias are not supported at all.

The UI is so much cleaner, SD cards, and no notch/hole. My Xperia 1iii has turned into a emulator, streamer, and portable gaming device. The battery doesn't last more than a few hours but it's not a problem because I usually can't play for more than a couple hours at a time anyway. I think it spent too much time charging and being directly in the sun. It was my attached to my windshield most of the time when I was a service technician.

Many of the Sony Xperia devices are supported by LineageOS (not often you see that outside of Pixel and Fairphone), you have the beloved audio jack, front speakers w/ no notch, microSD expansion, and they're just very cool devices :D

I got mine for free (or at least a discount, I don't remember which), I trust Sony more (as a company) than OnePlus, it was easier for me to buy, and I've had it for a number of years so I don't feel the need to replace it with a new one (as it still works).

The newest one also gives six years of security updates, so one can hang onto the phone for a longer time.

1. Audio Jack
2. SD card
3. Wireless charging, skulle should the charging port die on me

This is not going to be helpful, but in the mid 2000's I had an Xperia cell phone. It was the first truly mobile device I could get simple game emulators to run on. It also had a dedicated dpad and buttons for gaming. It was fantastic and for what its worth, I didn't even know they still made phones, but I'm gonna check em out now too.

Edit: Actually, the Xperia 1 VII looks sick as hell, and will probably be my next phone if I can get a hold of one.

I'm on a Pixel 6a and nothing has appeared that I need yet.

Rocking an 8 Pro. With 5 years sec updates & 7 for OS support (or whatever it was) + ability to boot load a different OS as someone else said: It would have to catch fire to get an 11. But then Moto are the next partners w/ graphene so....

I recently switched from a 6XL to a 10a. I'd been waiting on a couple repair shops to get batteries in stock but gave up after a couple months.

I realized that I'm old and don't need the biggest and best device anymore, especially since they cost like $1000+ now. I don't play games on my phone, don't watch media. I just do some email, music, podcasts, etc. Add to that I wanted to install GrapheneOS.

Yeah, my 9 series, I just use a case with the magnet ring on it, works great. I can't see a situation where the faster wireless charging would matter unless I only charged in the car or something where an hour of charging in a single go is the only time I'd be charging it.

Camera zoom - Sure, it's be nice, but, not worth tossing a phone that works great for 99.9999% of the pictures I take and just in general works great still. It's already got a 5x zoom, not sure how much more I could realistically want from it

I'm pretty underwhelmed with their offerings lately and probably wouldn't even have a 9 if I wasn't offered a great upgrade deal from my old 6.

My Pixel 7 would have to catch fire to get me to upgrade. Google is clearly trying to run the pixels into the ground. I'll give it another couple of years then probably switch to Motorola if they still support GrapheneOS.

The 10 added... magnetic Qi2 charging

A $3 metal sticker can allow any phone to use all the new magnetic doohickeys on the market. The wireless charger isn't 25W, but if you want to charge quickly you should plug in anyways.

I use one of those stickers on my phone and the Anker qi2 battery packs work perfectly fine (albeit a little slow)

Yes.

Pixel 9 Pro XL here, bought it the day it released. Rooted on Day 0 and ran that way until last week when I decided to install Graphene OS. I have no reason to "upgrade". I also never use wireless charging, so that isn't a factor in my purchases, but if you're curious - the 9 Pro can do 23W wireless charging.

FYI - The 9 Pro devices have a periscopic zoom lens.

Pixel 7a with GOS. Perfect but for size -- too small.

I got a 7 second hand (only way I buy electronics now) and loaded GrapheneOS on it and I'm happy. Can't think of anything I'd want to do that this one doesn't

IMO no, even if you're on the Pixel 8 the upgrade to 9/10 isn't giving you much and isn't worth the high cost. The Pixel 11 is a straight up downgrade with less RAM and less solid support by google.

If it's more camera zoom you want the Pro editions all have that.

I'm still using my pixel 9 pro with no plans of upgrading. It's still perfectly fine and the new ones don't look worth the upgrade

Plus, the 9 pro starts with more RAM than the 11 pro. Go figure.

I upgraded from the 8 and it's barely noticeable. But I had severe water damage on my phone but the screen still worked so it was worth trading in.

I went up from the 9 pro to the 11 pro this year. It feels like an incremental upgrade. It's newer and faster but it's not wildly different from my last phone. I probably could've held out another year but with RAM prices affecting phones I wanted to upgrade before AI gets even crazier.

Top shelf phone I hope it holds on for awhile. I mainly love having an answering robot, but let me put my phone number on the internet for free!!! That way there's no point in buying my phone number from a data leak.. frankly the whole concept of phone numbers and gives me the ick for a lot of reasons.