HMD Skyline 5G | Android 14 | Unlocked Smartphone | Dual SIM | US Version | 8/256GB | 6.55" 144Hz pOLED Screen | 108MP Triple Camera | 50MP Selfie Camera | Blue Topaz

When my s23 ultra dies, I'm now an HMD customer. You should all be SERIOUSLY considering the HMD skyline. It doesn't put a foot wrong and does all the premium phone things perfectly at a third or less the price, all while being completely user-serviceable with parts and guides cheaply available on the reliable ifixit site. You can literally open the phone and replace the screen with ONE SINGLE SCREW. FOR UNDER A HUNDRED BUCKS. I got this because my little sister in law's samsung s20 was finally dying. Saw the jerryrigeverything video and thought "wow, I like the design philosophy, the price, the fact that you can repair it, parts are on ifixit for insanely reasonable prices, and that it has real quality components." Ordered it, and while setting it up, compared it to my S23 ultra. The screens, even with HDR content, are both phenomenal. I would say the HMD is just as good. You'd never tell without them side by side. High refresh rate, smooth, bright as heck, perfect OLED blacks, identical color accuracy. The cameras? Again, wow. Totally fine. I'd say it's easily as good as the more budget samsung, google and apple phones. I wouldn't get it if your goal is to be a photographer, but if it's an iphone 15 pro max whatever or this and putting $800 into a nice used DSLR, the latter option DEMOLISHES any phone. Speakers? great. They're phone speakers, so you really shouldn't be using them a ton, and I do wish it had a headphone jack. That is literally the only change I'd make to it hardware wise (there's one other change I'd make that HMD can do, and I hope they do) Performance? Also great. I challenged it by putting some playstation 2 emulation on it, downloading genshin and zenless zone zero and pushing them to the max and no problems at all. It's a second tier snapdragon 7 vs the 8gen2 in my s23 ultra, but with even the most taxing jobs you can reasonably ask of a phone right now, it doesn't blink twice. Maybe if you're trying to switch emulate, sure, but as a phone? You won't ever find a struggle. And since it's a snapdragon chip and not a Mali, it's just natively going to work with every app. Software? Standard android, zero issues. With a few months of use, my sister-in-law says that every once in a while it'll glitch for a few seconds and the buttons will stop working for just a moment or the screen will hang once in a while for just a second, but compared to my completely babied S23 ultra, which just due to a bug with samsung's android version and youtube, it will just arbitrarily get SCREAMING hot for no reason whatsoever within about 90 seconds, about 70% of the time I watch youtube, and stay screaming hot no matter what I do until I turn off the phone and literally let it cool down for a few minutes, I'd take the latter. And even iOS is getting buggy now (honestly moreso than this), so I'd say it's a complete non-issue. Battery life is great. Nothing insane, but not at all deficient. And the biggest, HUGEST deal for me is that when your battery does start to degrade with time and use... YOU CAN REPLACE IT YOURSELF. CHEAPLY. Your iphone will literally try to brick itself if you don't spend the entire cost of the phone to do anything to it at the apple store. It is slightly lower IPX rated. Not full submersion I believe. So you aren't gonna be doing underwater camera work, but I honestly just have never been tempted to risk any phone in that way. Not worth it. But the flipside is that if this phone does take a dunk in the toilet or bath, YOU CAN FIX IT YOURSELF. CHEAPLY. A screen replacement alone on my s23 ultra is more than this whole phone. You can open the phone with no heat. JUST ONE SCREW. The cam design is genius. And every part being on ifixit? for ridiculously fair prices? You should be losing your mind at that. Even the fit and finish just feel fantastic. Very premium. And the coolest part is because you can fix anything on it yourself, WITHOUT VOIDING YOUR WARRANTY (HMD says that user performed repairs are considered authorized repairs) you don't need a big ugly case or screen protector, because dropping your phone and cracking the glass isn't a $600 mistake! The only other thing I'd like to see other than a return of the headphone jack with a decent DAC/AMP in it, is for HMD to support at least four full android version updates. Fairphone does that (but it's not even a contest I'd take this over fairphone any day) but HMD only promises two. The means you may need to upgrade in 2-4 years (depending on android's schedule), even if your phone is still working fine, because it's no longer secure. I still wouldn't call it anywhere near a dealbreaker seeing as most phones only last 2 years tops now anyways because something breaks and it's too expensive to repair. I've been a top tier samsung phone user since the note 2. But I'm so fed up with the typical phone experience of unserviceable phones. And the HMD shows you can have just as premium a feel in the hand, just as good a screen, speakers, great camera, and performance and battery life that doesn't leave you wanting for anything, for a third the price and also be completely and cheaply user repaired. I'm switching too.

I had wanted to get away from the duopoly and actually have control over my mobile computer I bought. HMD annoyingly has locked down the bootloader on these phones and will not allow them to be unlocked. The "repairable" phone will be unrepairable within a few years due to lack of software updates and you can change your battery all you want in a device that will be software locked out of things with no way for the user to solve. I would look elsewhere if you want a repairable phone. Returned mine after discovering that it could not be unlocked and HMD changed their bootloader unlocking policy for this phone.

After seeing a tear down video. I chose to spend more than normal to get the skyline as my new phone. (Didn't NEED it but my moto stylus was starting to show its age) TLDR: really good phone for your average android user and fantastic self repairability For reference i usually stuck to last model moto phones cause they were cheap and pretty solid specs for day to day. But i watch a LOT of content on my phone (no tv at the moment) so a cracked screen is an absolute no go. But because of cost it was more economical to just buy the next moto phone instead of replacing the screen. With this i can just fix it myself for a reasonable price? And keep warranty? Absolutely I'm taking that. And now I'll have no real reason to upgrade until the software itself dies which even with a couple year update commitment it'll probably take a bit longer to actually become unusable. Maybe by that time they'll take a page from framework and sell upgrade boards even. As for the phone itself. A little different android launcher than i was used to but really just layout and widget design. Very responsive and more than enough for what i need. I do have some specific lag issues/ bug with YouTube but its ONLY when playing a video on the YouTube app so it could just be the app problem. Lastly the detox mode they advertise? Honestly fantastic. Its basically "do not disturb" and app pausing on steroids. You can choose individual apps and leave on needed notifications. And it will completely lock them from access until the set time runs out or you turn off detox. It even has a "Hard lock" detox mode where it will not let you turn it off until the time is up or you completely shutdown the phone.

Came with a beat up box with a broken seal. Not sure if it just was rattled and smashed in amazon centers, or if it was sold used and was just taped shut by Amazon. Its responsive. Feels OK, but weird shaped at the corners. Interface is not great, buttons are huge and dumb looking, no way to change so far. No custom roms available, and HMD / Nokia hasnt released a bootloader unlock so you cant roll your own. Its been some time since I bought an android device, and don't recall any of the others being so full of bloat and advertisements. Disgusting on a machine that I bought, not rented from a carrier. My first choice was a nothing phone 2A, but this was available new, and it was not. At least I can change the battery on this phone, if I keep it that long.

Summary: I'll use it for a few months, then sell it to my nephew for half the price and get a higher-quality phone from a known brand like Samsung. Update: I ended up settling on 3 stars for this reason: The quality of the phone is solid, but the hassle in setting it up is INSANE. I had to have a TracFone agent get every part of my plan working one-by one with the phone, and fiddle with which sim to use and in which tray. Pros: The phone runs smoothly with several apps going at once, and can play various games at a quality that looks good on the screen. The speakers are VERY good, with no crackling at high volumes and excellent bass for the price (not TOP TIER, but better than I've had on a 400 dollar phone before). Cons: Occasional glitches and needing to reboot in order to get apps to work. Have yet to get any bluetooth or service drops, but am concerned that it's going to brick while out and about. Old Text: This does NOT come with any kind of SIM! You'll have to stop by WalMart or somewhere to buy a Bring-Your-Own-Phone SIM Kit, which are like 5 bucks (not too bad). So far it seems to work much better than my old TCL 30XL. Looking forward to using it once I do have it set up! TracFone DID confirm that it is compatible, but that I need to get my own SIM, and can't just move one from my old phone.