My phone lasts more than a week. Here's how to do it:

1. Turn off data.

2. Turn off GPS.

3. Turn off wifi.

4. Only use it for phone calls and SMS. Turn on data/wifi/GPS when you actually need them.

As a bonus you can now switch to a cheap pay-per-MB plan like http://ting.com and save some money too.

(It's a Moto E, 2nd generation - $60 on EBay.)

If you only use the phone for calls and SMS, why do you have a smartphone? A simpler phone will make your battery last much longer

Because sometimes I do need it, to check if an important email arrived, or to do map navigation. So it's nice to have the option.

Yeah, but you can get a not actually that bad smartphone for $60, so dumb phones aren't worth it.

it's nice to have the option available, I guess

Same phone here. Also try to have as much turned of if not needed. Keep screen light at minimum. Also use:

Face slim, Privacy browser, Smarter wifi manager, Dimmer, Materialistic :D (writing the this comment)

All sorts apps, I just try to avoid the ones that keep running on background, or autostart. Unless I really need it.

My realtime communication availability is obviously sms and phone call.

The phone has 1 year. Charged it this morning. It is at 80%. Been on web, facebook, hackernews...

The question was to do with smartphones tbf

Not sure why downvoted: why buy a smartphone in this case? I use my phone for stuff I used to do on my laptop and doing that 1 day is max for most phones. The Oukitel k10000 is the only exception but that is too heavy really. It does go for days with continues internet, 4g, chrome, wechat, whatsapp etc.

I never call; I have bad tinnitus and if there is any sound from the phone or around me I only hear hissing...

It's a reasonable question. For a long time I was using two phones for exactly that reason: a Nokia 6310i for phone calls and an iphone for everything else. Unfortunately 6310i got damaged (the battery was still able to keep the phone running for more than 10 days!) and I bought a smartphone to act like a phone (a popular Android device). It's obviously superior to 6310i in several ways - for example text messages can be typed faster. However, the phone lasts only two days. With Nokia, I charged it once and forgot about it for two weeks. With a smartphone, I need to always remember to make sure the battery is at a reasonable level. If I had a chance to buy a genuine (not refurbished/clone) 6310i, I'd do it straight away.

you realize that this isn't a practical solution for most people right?

We have survived as a species for hundreds thousands of years without being permanently connected to the Internet! A few more hours a day won't kill you.

It's slightly unfair to use this argument in a thread asking about smartphone recommendations, IMO. He/She needs to be connected a few more hours a day.

We also survived thousands of years without fire/pasteurization/hospitals. Doesn't mean life was good.

MOTO Z PLAY

Battery life was the main selling point to me when I bought it half a year ago. With light usage it lasts 6 days (few hours screen time, few minutes of talk). Typically I charge it after 4 days when ~30% energy left. Recharges in an hour. Vanilla Android 7 after recent upgrade from the factory, no bloatware. One could even by an extra akku pack (as a moto mod) that integrates nicely to the back, but I didn't feel the need so far.

Seconded. I don't even bother bringing my charger if I'm going on a weekend trip.

It's too bad this phone doesn't get more notice. No bloatware was one of the main selling points for me too.

I think we have a problem with the apps getting bigger and doing more things. They use more resources and drain the battery faster. We have batteries bigger than ever, but still mobiles don't last for a day.

I would want to go back when the apps only did one thing, nowadays we have a lot of apps and they do a lot of things, even when you are not using them directly. So obviously the battery goes away very quickly. GPS on -> let's track the position, Wifi on -> let's synchronize everything, etc. Permission system should prevent this but it is not working when them we add those functionally to a library that doesn't require those permissions.

So, it doesn't matter which smartphone you will use, the duration of the battery is linked with the apps you have installed. That is why most comments here are about disabling things and uninstalling apps.

I have a 4-year-old Samsung S3 Mini. I keep wi-fi, bluetooth, data, GPS turned off by default, make few calls, don't send or receive many texts, and if I don't use wi-fi or play games the battery will last several days - probably 5-6 days when the battery was new and now a bit less.

However, I do usually turn wi-fi on for 10-20 minutes a day (e.g. look at HN and follow links to a few different news articles - news sites can be quite processor-intensive) and that knocks at least a day off the battery life. If I play a game, even fairly simple puzzle games, I need to charge it that day.

I'm also on my third battery for it as the previous two eventually got to the point where they couldn't hold a charge at all, so I'm very reluctant to upgrade it to a model without replaceable battery, but alas, that leaves few options. I'd also like a new phone to fit in my pocket like the S3 mini does, and as far as I've seen those two criteria knock out every recent-gen phone.

I can only hope that sooner or later a company decides people like me are a big enough market segment to reach out for again, but I suppose people who are happy to keep a phone for 4 years are not good enough customers and need to be forced to buy a new phone every year by the battery dying.

I used to do something similar on my S2. With most things switched off, I frequently got 2 weeks without a charge. Others I know used some 3rd party apps to automatically switch wifi / data on for a few minutes every so often, to allow apps to sync. It's fairly easy to tap things on and off nowadays.

On the other hand, if you absolutely can't live without all the features turned on all the time, there are a variety of power banks and other ways to get a few more hours out of a battery.

> news sites can be quite processor-intensive

Have you compared battery usage with and without adblocker? (A good adblocker on mobile is uBlock Origin on Firefox for Android.)

My OnePlus 3 is great. Decent build quality, up to date and clean version of Android, cheap, and with a bit of care I can make it through two days without charging. Another nice bonus feature is it charges from basically empty to basically full in 30 minutes (or from dead to 20% in 10 minutes) if you use special charger it comes with.

If buying a new Android phone today I would definitely be getting a new OnePlus.

For the last few years I have been a big fan of the Motorola smartphones. I just bought a Moto G5 Plus. Basically has everything you wish for, but the removable battery.

It is nearly stock Android and has a good mix of specs. I have everything on (Wifi, Bluetooth (running a MiBand 2), GPS. I have a moderate usage and plug in the phone in the evening between 50 and 70%. There is Zero Bloatware on the thing. The fingerprint reader actions are just great. I have a work iPhone and caught myself using the same gestures on the iPhone, I even think they are better than the iPhone ones.

Before that I had a Moto G (1st Gen) and even that did last me a whole day without a problem. I just replaced it because my mother broke her phone, so she got the Moto G and I had a reason to buy the beauty Moto G 5 Plus.

I would recommend going for the plus, due to better specs. Runs smoothly and I have currently no point to complain. (Okay maybe missing compass, which makes finding the ISS in the night sky a bit hard. You also can't use augmented reality apps very much, because they use the compass for orientation (like flightradar24 or google googles)

What? They couldn't put in an IMU with a compass? My XPERIA M from 2013 didn't have a compass....such progress. Moto does some real awkward stuff like not having a simple flash LED on the E a while back.

You can have this problem with any smartphone. Usually it's some app that's pegged a CPU, or (worse) the data connection. Don't know about Android, but on iOS you can pretty quickly identify an app that's gone nuts (the last time "60% at 10AM" happened to me, it was Apple's cloud sync), and there are readily available tools if you want to dig deeper.

A few years ago the same thing happened on a Windows phone (a fine phone, oaky? :-) ). Some system process, maybe a driver, was pegging the CPU, making the device hot to touch. With no system updates on the horizon, all AT&T could do was say "We can replace the phone with exact model under warranty."

"But the new phone will have exactly the same software, and that same bug."

"That's all we can do." I'm pretty sure the salestype was foggy on the concept, and frankly I'm not sure what I expected a salestype to say. When you're powerless you're not necessarily rational, on either side of the fence. I wound up with a discount on another brand of phone, the market in action, I guess.

I'm a total phone junkie who has about a dozen phones and enjoys switching around between them. I can very safely tell you that BY FAR the best phones for battery life are the Sony Xperia line. I know they're not all that popular in the U.S. due to lack of marketing and all but boy do they have AMAZING battery lives! Especially the Xperia X Compact. I'm not at all kidding or exaggerating when I say that I can easily get 3-4 days on a single charge. The STAMINA mode doesn't really take away much from the phone's capabilities but extends the life so significantly. Other than the Sony line, the Moto Z play is also quite good but I'm not a fan of Motorola since they completely stopped caring/supporting about their phones. Even the brand new Moto G5 Plus is still on the Jan security patch. So, it's really hard to recommend any Moto phone until Lenovo changes their stance.

Moto Z Play. Multiple reviews confirm the (relatively) extraordinary battery life.

I got a Samsung Galaxy S7 last Thanksgiving because of a Black Friday promotion, but I wish I had ignored it and just gotten the Play anyway (for the battery life).

The battery life is excellent by all accounts, and keep in mind also that most of the reviews you find will be without the extended battery 'mod' that fits fairly well with the phone and often runs as a deal.

http://www.mi.com/in/redmi3s/ Do not know if we can get it outside India.

I'm Xiaomi user also (Mi4C). Battery lasts 2 days (day + night + day), with 2 sim cards active and 4G and wifi enabled also. All automatic refresh (mail for example) is disabled, Facebook app deleted etc. However, I think good battery life is due to xiomi.eu rom.

I have a Nexus 6P, and, with Doze and all the new stuff, your battery shouldn't be dropping more than ~2% overnight (since you aren't using the phone). If it does, it means some app is waking the phone up constantly.

I use Greenify to kill unnecessary apps running in the background, but the MIUI flavor has that built-in.

I got a Huawei Y6 about half a year ago. It's got its share of crapware preinstalled, but it's very little and unobtrusive compared to what Samsung puts out there.

I usually keep Wifi, Mobile data, Bluetooth, and GPS turned on 24/7, and listen to music via Bluetooth headphones when commuting to and from work.

I haven't tried how long the battery will last when pushed, but when used lightly (i.e. music and the occasional text message) it will last at least 48 hours, probably more like 72. I usually charge it over night, but I forgot a few times, and on the next evening the phone was still at ~60% charge.

The specs are not overly impressive - 2GB RAM, 4GB internal storage (it has a MicroSD slot, though), I don't remember what CPU. But for my lowly needs, performance is satisfactory. Plus, it was pretty cheap, I got mine for about €140,- off of Amazon. The battery is removable.

There are two drawbacks, first of all this model is on a version of Android 5.x and won't get updates, secondly 4GB internal storage is not that much. There are other models by Huawei, though, that come with more recent versions of Android and are still quite affordable.

I don't know how long this phone will last. I usually use my phones until they just won't work any more, so six months is not a long time in my book. But I have no serious complaints so far.

I had a Huawei Ascend P7, and while its performance was a little worse than advertised (not really flagship power, more like a midrange phone), I was extremely impressed by its battery management (and the build quality was pretty good). It lasts up to 2 days without any special care, it has an app that aggresively monitors and throttles background tasks though.

Huawei huh, kinda turned me off when I bought their premium Ascend P6 and while it was well built, it had weird issues with the GPS (not working at all while driving), screen artifacts and micro SD card being constantly removed.

Oh and everything was seriously underclocked, CPU, GPU and RAM. It only went to maximum clocks after being over 99% load for a few seconds, so pretty much never, OR when it ran a benchmark app. Smartasses.

Fortunately it was really easy to undervolt and over clock (well, clock to advertised specs, at which it got hot as hell and ate through the battery faster than it would charge).

Really liked the hackability of that SOC, but Huawei pretty much lied about its performance.

Yeah they definitely lied through their teeth about performance.

I probably won't buy again. But it did have great battery performance.

I switched to an LG G3 and it's battery duration is awful (it has way too much screen I guess), and it still has stupid lags and freezes.

Every single phone I've had I've installed clean ROMs without any extras, and with multiple governors to choose from. Undervolting was useful every single time, too. But that's just optimizing your phone.

Sadly I don't know any phone that will last more than 5 hours of total screen on time (web browser, emails, notes app, messages, with 3G/wifi/Bluetooth on).

Every generation has some ridiculous additions (4K displays, LTE, more RAM and Ghz) that make battery life the same as a good old Droid.

Ive been using a HTC One M8 and can squeeze 5 hours of screen on (screen+3G/Wifi+BT, never LTE) time even with adaptive brightness on (which runs it at 100% a lot of times), on CyanogenMod (Android 5.1) with no extra crap. That's enough for a good day of use - charge at night, use during the day, it's at about 30% in the evening. GPS use can kill it though.

I would love a phone that can last 12 hours straight like that :)

It seems like a software issue not a battery problem. Apps get automatically shut down on iOS for example when they drain your battery in the background.

Android should improve it's background management mechanism. I don't use android so I don't know if it shows a list of apps ordered by consumption. So you know which apps to remove. iOS provides that. Problem, iPhones do have a serious battery problem so I wouldn't necessaraly go with apple in your case.

My Samsung galaxy S7 easily lasts a day. With full sync for my gmail and Outlook.

Maybe look into battery usage and see what is consuming so much battery.

My OnePlus 3T is new and I mostly charge it at night, but when I forget it still ends up lasting about a day and a half. That's not heavy use, but it still lasts. It also really does charge fully in about half an hour with the included charger.

There's no microSD, but the internal storage is pretty big, and there's pretty much no bloatware.

Hm, interesting thing is, i got a Galaxy Note, and it lasts for a week on one charge after all the software garbage was removed.

Battery life might be more of a question of software than hardware these days, so getting familiar with Android hacking would the best bet - there is no such thing as "irremovable" bloat.

Moto Z Play. 3600mAh battery, lasts even heavy use for 36hr+. Also has quick charge so charges really quickly.

Among the iPhones, the SE has a very usable battery capacity.

Yup. Mine regularly makes it home at the end of the day with >70% left. Rarely have to charge it other than overnight.

Anything supported by ZeroLemon, Hyperion or similar extended battery brand.

I'm still carrying a Galaxy S3 because of it. Lasts 3-6 days depending on use. Only phone that has caught my eye since then is the V20, my only problem being that it's humongous and the extended battery makes it thicker.

The problem is current Android OS allows app to creep in and stays in the background doing all sort crazy things.

This is a key reason Apple sells. Google's new Android One (or whatever its called) is aimed to change just that. Until then, your hope of an energy efficient Android phone is next to none.

At current stage of mobile technology, mobile OS needs to be resourceful, power efficient which must be a higher priority than any fancy features demanded by consumer. Android community in their urge of competing for market share, has pushed it too far to the extent Apple has to be careful not fall far behind on the features, yet who lost in this race? You.

> This is a key reason Apple sells.

I doubt it. Not once have I heard of people buying iPhones due to the battery[-difference with Android phones].

In fact, I regularly see people killing their apps on iPhones because they think they are running in the background. Something they (usually) doesn't do.

The Sony Xperia line, especially the Compact models, is known for good battery life. My wife and I routinely get 48 hours on a charge on the Z3 Compact and X Compact models and that's without disabling any features such as Bluetooth or GPS, etc.

As for the bloatware, that could be the fault of your carrier rather than Samsung. Android has a "Disable" option in the App Info dialogue that allowed me to disable almost all the pre-installed apps on my phone. Those apps are effectively removed in that they're not running or available in the app drawer. They still exist on disk, but that's a relatively minor burden.

Same for me with my S3 compact. Battery can last 48 hours, sometimes more.

I kept Wifi and NFC on, but I disabled useless notifications and email sync (When I want to check my email, I go into the app + I get a text from my provider when selected contacts send an email).

I also disabled useless crapware

A few people here have said the Moto Z Play. If you're in EU / CAN, the Moto X Play is (was?) available, which has even better battery life... and no bloatware to boot.

However, you forfeit a gyroscope, so no VR with this one.

I use a Huawei G7 for exactly this reason. It will always last two days, and treated gently, will go to three. I think the key is a large'ish battery, and relatively low resolution display.

Samsung is all hype!

I have a Sony Xperia Compact Z3. It's not the latest model anymore, but I get around 3 to 4 1/2 days with light to medium use and up to 10 1/2 days (record) in pure stand-by.

I have the same phone, but battery life has significantly dropped in the past 6 months. What version of Android are you running on yours?

Sorry for late reply. I am on Android 5, which still has Sony Stamina.

Maybe you should consider buying a good battery pack instead. That would free you to consider phones' other merits.

Keeping a battery pack charged is useful when you forget charging it, but it really shouldn't be something that you are required to use on a regular basis just to make it last throughout the day.

It makes little sense to make a phone as thin as possible and then expecting you to carry an additional cable and battery pack, it's just bad design IMHO.

I'm quite happy with my Moto G4 plus, it lasts me easily a couple of days, with a light/medium usage.

Moto Z Play. Makes my Note 4 looks silly wrt battery life. Plus, you can shove a $60 battery moto mod on there for more battery. I get 7-8 hours screen on time from the stock battery though.

I bought mine outright from best Buy for $449, I believe they are $400 now.

As a bonus, you get very little cruft, very clean Android.

My Moto Razr Maxx is a bit on the large side, and it's no longer state of the art, but it does pretty well for battery life. Even with wifi and mobile data and GPS and bluetooth all turned on, and in active use, it will still last a day and a half. That's not as long as I'd like, but it's better than the barely-a-day that I get with my work-issued Samsung G6 used more lightly with only one of wifi or mobile data turned on at a time (both on concurrently will cut that by half because Samsung royally FUBARed the radio design). You can probably find a reconditioned one for low $$$ and it's a decent choice.

Nokia 3210. Battery charge lasts a week or two.

"What SMARTPHONE would you recommend".

The 3210 it's a fantastic phone, that you would definitely be able to keep using if all you want is voice calls and SMS, but by no stretch of imagination could be classified as a smartphone.

I'm using a Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro. I have to recharge my phone every 2-3 days. Although I turn the internet off overnight and I barely use my phone (other than stuff like whatsapp and FB messenger being constantly on).

My current new iPhone SE is pretty good, as smartphones go - until the recent release of the 7, it had the longest battery life of any Apple phone, and still hangs right with it.

I really miss my old Palm Treo 755P, though - it ran a solid three days or more on a charge. I didn't even pack the charger unless I was gone longer than that. (It also had better contact and calendar capabilities than any modern smartphone/app combo I'm aware of...)

Sadly, smartphone mfrs don't think battery life is important (partly b/c they're expensive), so we keep getting the minimum they can get away with.

BTW, my iPhone battery life is much longer than many of my friends, and the only substantial difference is that I have every part of iCloud disabled. (Well, that, and I don't do Facebook...)

I've had good luck with my Pixel XL. I basically only charge it on my commute (half hour each way). Usage details: lots of screen on time, but not a lot of data usage (mostly ebooks and saved podcasts/music).

Friend solved her power issues with a Samsung S6 (not Edge) by purchasing a battery case. One of the good ones -- support-wise, at least; her case happened to go wanky, and their lifetime warranty replaced it. Don't remember the name of it: Mo... something or other?

She's on her phone all the time -- the cause of her needing more juice.

I looked for such a case for my Nexus 5x; none to be had. A consideration, the next time I buy a new phone. Wonder whether, with its attempt to be more mainstream, there are such battery cases for the Pixel (and upcoming Pixel2).

I have a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4. I usually get 2 days off a single charge unless I use it very heavily. It's also a budget priced phone, even though it has impressive specs. Can recommend!

Just two days? I'd have expected more from the 4100 mAh battery. My dad's 5S lasts more than that, and it's got a 3000ish battery. Of course, he only uses it for calling, so YMMV.

It wasn't dead by the end of the second day. It could probably go 2.5 days. I reckon if I had a few quiet days it would go for 4.

The 5S has a 4" screen, the Redmi has a 5.5" screen. That's almost double the screen area, which needs more power. Plus it has an higher DPI.

It has a 5.15" screen.

I have the LG G5 and love the ability to swap batteries when necessary. As an illustrative example, it proved invaluable during the Pokemon GO craze where I could swap batteries on the go, without the need for a charger...

I also have a 200GB microSD card in it that has not worked much (storing photos I take with the phone's camera) since I bought it. I'm not sure why but it does work with files already on it.

You could always buy more batteries and charging cradles so that when you're on the go, you won't run out.

iPhone 6s lasts me all day. Charged overnight, 5am (100%) - 10pm (30%) at weekends I don't charge overnight.

Its always in battery saving mode I don't need any background processes. Only whatsapp, emails, slack and sms notifications. wifi only on when at home. Bluetooth only on during commute (about 4/5hrs a day).

I've had it a year, it used to do two days but I relented and enabled email notifications.

If you want to use Android, pick a brand that at least lets you freeze the bloatware. I use a Sony Z5C at the moment and I'm tolerably happy. I keep WLAN/GPS/Bluetooth on and charge it when I need to. I charged it yesterday sometime during the day and it was at 77% this morning.

The key on Android: Go into settings right away. Freeze apps. Freeze more apps.

I'm on the same Samsung boat, have an S5 mini (3 years now) and want to move away from it.

Battery-wise, the "best" one I've found is the Lenovo P2 which has 5100mAh (S8 Plus has 3500) but not sure if its hardware is any good. I'm planning however to get OnePlus 3t which has 3400mAh and seems like a better long-term choice.

Sounds like you'd prefer an Android device, I've seen great numbers from Moto there and they tend to have relatively stock Android builds compared to Samsung Touch-Wiz. Otherwise it's hard to go wrong with an iPhone, especially the 6/6s/7 Plus in most any regard.

Xiaomi is the brand you're looking for. They don't have removable battery though.

I don't understand why brands (except some chinese brands like Xiaomi) continue to make phones slimmer instead of adding a bigger battery. Does it sell better ?

ASUS ZenFone models are pretty solid, I own ZC550KL with 5000 mAh (sic!) battery and it works like a charm, up to 3-4 days without plugging.

But beware: speaker on my model sucks donkey balls, sometimes I can't even hear a call from my pocket.

It's a little old now but the Motorola Droid Turbo has served me well. Even though the phone is over three years old it holds a charge for the entire day (17 hours) and still has a 30-35% remaining at the end of the day.

OnePlus 3T.

This phone is amazing with battery life! First phone I can use two days without charging overnight

Seconded (though I have the OnePlus 3, not the 'T'). I get ~5.5 hours of screen-on time since the last update. Given my usage, I charge the phone every two days quite often.

Nexus 6 owner, with the wifi, the Bluetooth, and the high precision GPS always enabled I usually last from 8am to midnight without charge. I mostly use it to browse Reddit and HN, text + phone calls and music.

Buy a phone with a removable battery. LG G5 has a great camera, a removable battery, and an SD card slot. The G6 just came out, so prices should be low.

Not caring about your battery life is wonderful. Just pop in a new one.

I have previously had a great experience with the LG G3. Its battery would last me at least 2 days with basic use and definitely an entire day even with quite considerable use.

I have no idea what the G5 or G6 will be like.

Lenovo P780. Calls/messaging/occasional games and cartoons for kids - lasts 14 days even after 3 years of use. As far as I can see the battery occupies about 80% of it's internal volume :)

The answer to this question is really dependant on your usage pattern. One person might get a day of battery from one device, while the same phone will give you 3/4 of a day.

I normally come home from a day of work with my battery in the 60-70% range. I take it off the charger at 6:30am and arrive home by 5:30pm, so 11 hours.

If I'm busy and working, and not playing around on my phone, I might have 80% off. I have a couple phone calls and am using my phone a lot for email in meetings, etc, I might be down to 40%.

The other big factor is where I sit in the building. If I'm in another part of the building with worse reception, I'll be 20% lower than usual.

I have a charger at my desk but I only use it if I forget to charge the night before.

For the type of usage you mentioned, a Windows Phone is a good fit. They are pretty well known for their performance and battery life even on low-end phones.

I have a oneplus 3 which lasts for more than 24 hours of moderate use. Plus it charges very quickly, and that's a huge plus. I suggest you go for the 3T

i would recommend the xiaomi3, 5000mph battery make it one of the best, very happy with it

Check out the lenovo phone, it has by far the biggest battery and would last 3 days.

checkout the lenovo phone, it has a big battery that should last 3 to 4 days

iPhone SE, if you are ok with smaller screen. Got one from work and it's perfect for me -- small, battery lasts more than a day.

LG V20. Lasts me a day and a half without fail.

read some reviews on ulefone power 2, it might be enough of an android, and has 6Ah battery

One Plus 3T or the SE.

iPhone is the best. I've heard Pixel is also decent.

iPhone, hands down. Nothing comes close in my opinion.

I recommend going backwards one generation, to the Samsung Galaxy S5. This is the phone I have, and I love it. The battery life is fantastic: I can easily go two full days on a single charge. I'm still using the OEM firmware too (Sprint version), which does have its share of bloat, but I have a bunch of the built-in bloat disabled. If you haven't done that yet, you need to.

Moreover, if my battery does die early because I was doing too much with it, I have a spare battery in my backpack I got on Ebay for less than $10. I can easily pop that in and have a full charge again, without messing with some stupid USB-attached battery pack.

On top of that, the S5 has two other very important features that the S6 lacks: a microSD card slot, and being water-resistant (IP67 I think).

The S6 was a massive step backwards. Why on earth did you even buy it, when the previous generation was so obviously superior in every way?

Anyway, my recommendations in a nutshell: buy a Sprint S5 on Ebay for $100-150, and sign up for service with Ting or another Sprint MVNO.