Out of curiosity, which exact brands and models are we talking about?

I've recently used Nokia 1520 for about 3 years. No such problems. Would still be using it today had I not thrown it on a rock with the screen and shattered it to bits. (By accident.)

Samsung Galaxy Xcover 1 was my previous smartphone for last 4-5 years.

I changed at least 2-3 batteries with it.

How do they look? I thought nowadays all smartphones look pretty much the same, at least the one's I've seen (Samsung, Huawei, LG etc.). The ónly real differences are how big they are, and where exactly the buttons are (e.g. on LG they are mostly at the back of the device).

Hmm, I've never heard of this phone, but from what Google showed me, it appears to be on a lower end of the spectrum. I imagine that high end models have better batteries, which causes them to not have this problem. Also, I wonder if buying a cheap phone even makes sense if you are then forced to replace a battery 3 times.

My laptop, andyroid and bluestacks. Many apps work. Some apps work on neither. Some apps work on either. That's my "smartphone" anyway, lol! It even emulates time and place!

Really? At least the phones I've bought (for relatives or myself), they all have had exchangeable batteries. Mostly I've been buying Samsungs, but also one LG.

A seller in one phone store claimed the same, saying that nowadays it is starting to be quite rare that a phone has an exchangeable battery. Yet, for some reason the phones I happen to buy have them. Like my current Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016 version).

Then again, at least here it isn't always that easy to find replacement batteries for aging phones. I remember when I tried to find a replacement battery for my old Huawei Ideos phone, I had to search quite some time, but finally found one online. And when the battery in my earlier Samsung Galaxy Trend + went kaputt, after lots of searching I found one store which was selling a suitable replacement battery for it.

It appears there aren't really any standards for the batteries, they are all over the place and there are gazillion different incompatible variants for them. I guess the best bet is to buy some popular phone, increasing the chances of finding replacement batteries for it later. (Hence, Samsung.)

I got a Xperia Z1 Compact with Cyanogen installed, works really good.

I recently picked up the Google Pixel since my old LG G2's battery was giving up the ghost and giving me a list of other issues. Thus far, I've been incredibly happy with the Pixel. The fingerprint scanner unlocks my phone quickly, battery life is strong, even while playing on it all day, sound quality during calls is quite good, and I'm a huge fan of the new C-type USB port.

Can't think of anything in particular to gush about it... More or less I'm just a satisfied customer. Bought it directly from Google, so it didn't come with all the bloatware I would have gotten if I got it from Verizon, who is my current carrier.

If you've got questions for me about it, just let me know.

/highfive

I've ordered mine a few days ago from the Google Fi store. They are saying it will ship in a few weeks. Will replace my Nexus 6P.

Yes, they all share the same structure, but they are not equal. We just focus in the little details.

In Samsung's design I don't like the very rounded corners, the metal framing in some models, the button at the button.

I think Sony has better design, for example, but I'm not buying anything from them, either.

I'm looking at the Xiaomi Mi Mix. Maybe in two years all smartphones will look like that.

I guess I am quite pragmatic with my needs. The smartphone is merely a "screen" to me so I don't care how its design is anymore than what kind of design my PC monitor or my TV has. The technical details are more important, in those things that matter to me (e.g. for the phone, how much internal storage it has, or for the TV that it has a "PC mode" for non-laggy picture).

So for example for my cheapo Samsung Galaxy J5, what I e.g. like is that the volume +/- buttons are separate (so it is easier to feel which I am pressing), but on the other hand it is stupid that the power button is exactly at the opposite side of the phone, so quite often when I grap the phone in order to push one of the volume buttons, my other fingers accidentally push the power button, which shuts off the screen. I keep doing that and I'm getting tired of it. I wish they would have put the power button either in the middle (of the right side), or even on the top of the phone.

That's certainly odd. I've bought two J5 phones (one older (8GB) model for a relative over a year ago, and the newer 2016 model (16GB) for myself recently), and at least they both came with a detachable battery.

Is this some regional thing, or was I just lucky?

I'm stuck with an LG G3. I've had it for two years now, and hope like hell it lasts until I can afford a new phone (which might take me another two years).