Android

The Blackberry KeyOne. A tall touchscreen combined with the classic BB physical keyboard and running on Android. It was a great phone and I'd still be using it today if the battery didn't die. I still haven't adapted well to touchscreen keyboards.

Pixel 4a for sure, I love smaller size phones and the 4a is perfect in size.

Why the 2015 cutoff? There were many awesome phones released prior to 2015.

Xperia Compact 1-3 were probably my favorites.

Oneplus 6t. Still use it today, in fact typing this comment on it. Been great with custom Roms, has Android 13 on it with newest security updates installed (November 2023). Cost me $75. People look at me weirdd when i say that.

My OnePlus 7 Pro! I used it for 3 years and I wouldn't have changed phones if the battery was still able to get through the day. I got a Galaxy Fold 4 after it because wanted something without a hole punch camera, but it's been nothing but trouble. It's been mailed out for repair under warranty again for the second time in the year I've had it now, so I'm back to the 7 Pro, and it still holds up! I have Lineage OS on it now though because the last security patch OnePlus officially released is now over a year old.

Note 8. I have the Galaxy 22 Ultra and the camera is defective and makes everything blurry. Plus removing SD card and headphone jack is some bullshit.

Has to be my Xiaomi Mix 2S I bought in 2019. Selfie camera is at the bottom of the phone, which is weird, but at least it's not a notch camera. Custom ROM support was amazing and it's still a great phone.

Edit: Fingerprint reader on the back too. Always reliable unlike the OnePlus 7 Pro that has one in the screen that refuses to work 50% of the time.

I'm still using a Oneplus 7 Pro with no plans to upgrade.

Pixel 6 Pro!!! I love this thing with GrapheneOS on it!

The LG V40. Its this phone that flew under so many people's radar despite offering a lot at the time. Also just getting it was hard because it never was offically sold where I live.

Also the Huawei Mate 10 (not the Pro). Its such a cool device, again not officially sold here. Its this really neat phone from 2017 with really slim bezzels but also a big 6" 16:9 aspect ratio display (which is amazing for watching YT)

Pixel phones. I've had the 2XL, 4a, 6 Pro, 7 Pro, and 8 Pro. Each one was better than the last. I know some people had manufacturing problems and the Pixel 3 had memory issues. But I've been lucky and never had issues. And the software experience is exactly what I want. Call Screening is awesome.

Samsung s8+. Just a gorgeous capable smartphone for its time.

That's only three phones. LG V10, LG V20 and Galaxy XCover 6 Pro

V10. Easily. That was peak-smartphone design as far as I'm concerned. Felt like you could pound nails with it.

Everyone talking about post 2015 phones. You know which ones I thought were legendary for their time of release? LG Voyager 100000, you could watch broadcast TV on that thing. Next runner up was my first android phone, the Motorola Droid slide phone. I miss smart phones that were being creative. Now it's all the same boring gimmicks.

Nokia 9 pureview. It was the last Nokia phone that felt "premium" to me.

Xiaomi Mi max series, big screens with a good ratio. its sad there won't be a max 4.

A lot of modern phones have big screens, but they're made long and thin for handlets.

Droid Turbo. I miss that thing so much.

With a 2015 cutoff I think my Samsung S10+ is my favorite. Its only second to the Nexus 4 which is a few years before 2015. Probably going to upgrade in the new year but going to miss that headphone jack to whatever I replace it with.

lenovo B , that little slow piece of shit was the last phone i could use without my fingers getting sore because it was the perfect size and weight , i read a looot of ebooks on that thing until i lost it one day

OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren Edition.

I would still be using it if I hadn’t taken it into a pool with me and bricked it. 😢

Nexus 6p. Mine self destructed due to a damned chip flaw, but was the first phone to have a camera that literally floored me. Every thing about the phone was the epitome of "more than the sum of it's parts". Bought a refurb cheap just to get another 2 years despite the known flaw.

I'd say that if most of the Nexus line, but 6p was the best. Absolutely treasure my now-useless but mint Nexus One.

Pixel just haven't quite done it for me, and that saddens me so much.

OnePlus had some great hits. I'm very fond of my Bacon, and and 7 pro. The 8pro was great too, but some of the special was.... less.

I can't remember if it's pre or post 2015, but my HTC One Mate will always be near and dear. I honestly would've kept using it for other things if it didn't just stop turning on one day lol.

I want to love the Unihertz Atom, but sadly it just doesn't work for me.
I got it specifically to have a phone to only call, text and message. But those are the exact things that don't reliably function. It often didn't receive messages or even calls unless the app was opened and in the foreground.
I factory reset it, tried activating and deactivating Unihertz's own energy management app, tried the original versions of Signal/Threema/Dialer/Messenger as well as their FOSS forks/alternatives, tried it with and without Google Services installed...

But whenever I thought it works now, after lots of testing, it would then stop getting the notifications again after a few days, without me changing anything. So eventually I gave up.

If it had worked, it would be my favorite phone. But it didn't. Now it's rooted and I just play around with Android on it.
(By the way, if someone knows how to re-enter deleted IMEI numbers on a Mediatek phone from Linux to get rid of the red warning text overlay, please help!)

I thought about this, and I'm not really sure. A lot of the phones I liked using are before 2015. This leaves me with two options.

The Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact:

I'm still using the XZ1C, it's still fast for what I use it for, and does everything I need. The modem bug annoys me though, and keeps it from greatness. The battery is still really good, even after replacing it with a Chinese battery and 80% charge limit. It's almost the perfect phone. Make it 18:9 and have modern specs with stable software and it would be awesome.

Runner up (The only other post 2015 phone I've used enough and is good enough to like):

I really liked the S7 (Exynos), the last semi good Samsung (until you get to S10e) Although it's kinda slow and didn't work well for cell in the US.

Galaxy Note 9. It was the last fully featured phone Samsung made with a headphone jack, an S-Pen, and no display cutout. The only phones that have come out since that are even close to as fully featured are the Sony Xperia phones.

I bought one brand new a few months ago because my S7 died and I couldn't justify dropping $1000 on an Xperia phone. It's an EU model bought from US Amazon so I definitely overpaid, but it's been worth it so far. Definitely holds up imo.

It's obviously not flagship level, but it's still a solid mid-ranger. It doesn't get software updates anymore so officially, I'm stuck on Android 10 and an old security patch. However, I can upgrade to One UI Android 12/13, or whatever the latest AOSP is through the magic of custom ROMs if it ever starts to bother me.

Edit: The only issue I have is that the fingerprint reader isn't as fast as I'd like it to be. I'm not sure if it's common or just a me issue despite searching a bunch so any help would be appreciated :)