So, long story short: AT&T is raising the price of its grandfathered in unlimited data plans, to the point where my wife and I had to really question whether we should move to a metered plan. We were going to stick it out, but the two-year agreement phone has now been dropped by AT&T as well. I got on the phone and asked if our rates would come down once our current phones had been paid off (used to be that your plan price went down after the contract ended and your phone was paid off), and was told that no, they would not do that this time. The rep stopped just short of admitting that AT&T is going to great lengths to get rid of everyone who has an unlimited plan and/or actually knows what they're doing with a phone, and instead shoehorn people into that idiotic "pay $10/mo for the privilege of renting your phone at full retail price" garbage.

 

So since we're against the idea of paying AT&T full retail price (plus $200+ in "Next" fees) for a phone we don't get to keep, we're going to go the unlocked route and bring our own devices to Verizon. AT&T was nice enough to grant all unlimited data users a 60-day grace period to cancel without ETFs, and Verizon's network and speed are so much better that it's well past time. I'd been really looking forward to getting a Nexus phone, but the 5X has subpar reviews, and the 6P is the size of a freaking tablet. I'm kind of over carrying a brick around, and want my next phone to be somewhere between a 4.5" and 5.2" display. It doesn't have to be the hot new model--in fact, I'd rather it wasn't, since my first stop will be XDA to get it rooted and have a customized OS installed. Likewise, doesn't need to be a flagship, as I'm thinking cheaper. That said, I don't want to go older than the previous generation, or hardware limitations will really start to become an issue.

 

I've looked at the Nexus 5X, obviously, a couple of Huawei phones (including the 6P), the Moto X Play, the Sony Experia Z3 Compact (and other Z phones), the LG G4 and the OnePlus Two. If the OnePlus worked on Verizon's network, I'd have a phone ordered already...but it doesn't. The G4 is a perfect fit but, imo, too big.

 

Are there any solid Android phones out there that I'm overlooking?

 

Also, no fruit.

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