Google Pixel (Verizon and GSM)

Excellent phone. Even in mid 2018 this phone runs like a dream. It takes fantastic pictures all of the time and in good lighting it is very difficult to differentiate them from the newer pixel 2's photos.You also get unlimited photo storage on google photos at original quality for two years with this device which is great since that aligns with most peoples upgrade cycles. You also get security and operating system updates from google directly which means that you don't have to worry about your carrier or manufacturer not giving you updates if you're not connected to their network or if that phone isn't popular enough for them to support it anymore. Speaking of carriers, this thing supports every carrier. What a concept. And it's unlocked. On Cricket wireless I was getting great reception in the places where reception could be good and now that I have switched to Google's Project fi, I have lte everywhere pretty much all the time. The screen is legible enough out in sunlight and they've polarized the screen in a way that it only blacks out with polarized sunglasses at 45 degree angles so both landscape and portrait work flawlessly. Type c and the headphone jack are wonderful and the battery life is amazing. I can easily forget to charge my phone one night, then if it's at 40 percent or above I can just use it normally the next day and not worry about it or I can put it on the charger if it's too low and get up to where I need to be to finish the day quickly. I have the usual micro scratches in the front glass but with a case on it there has been no damage to the back glass or fingerprint scanner. No dents or chips or wearing of the anodized aluminum back which feels great if you like that sandblasted aluminum feel and it looks pretty slick in black too. The fingerprint scanner works wonderfully and quickly and I love the use of it for pulling down the notification tray. Any who enough of my rambling. This is a great phone for the money now and even in 2018 I can still recommend this phone if you either must have a headphone jack or don't want to shell out the extra cash for new flagships but still want the performance and reliability of one.