Giving up Lumia Icon – Phone recommendations

<p>I think I recall that the Icon was Verizon's version of the 930, which had a 5" screen. Another one of your basic questions is whether you want to keep the same size or go to a smartphone with a bigger display. Companies that make decent phones are Huawei, OnePlus and HTC. Most would include Samsung in the list, but I'm leery of that company's devices and long term support. Also, at the high end their phones are kind of expensive. </p><p><br></p><p>With Android, you need to ask yourself if you are willing to have Google make use of your metadata to the extent that they do, and on top of that you need to worry about reports that Huawei is an aggressive silent tracker of their users' location and usage data in cooperation with the Chinese government. Huawei devices are now on the US government's no-buy list because of those concerns.</p><p><br></p><p>Since Google's Pixel 3 is about to be released, you could probably expect good deals from now through coming weeks on Pixel 2 models. But not everyone has had a good experience with that phone. See Paul T's articles about his longstanding frustration with this device.</p><p><br></p><p>When I gave up on Windows phones I heaved a big sigh and went with Apple, first with a 6S+ and for the last several months with an 8+. It's not bad enough to dump, but it routinely makes me wish Microsoft had stayed in the phone game.</p><p><br></p><p>As a backup phone I have a now aging Nexus 6P. Good camera, satisfactory in most regards, but it's at the end of its support life and will never move beyond the Oreo release to Pie.</p>