I chose the 10 over all of these got it on Swappa , 1 week old and basically unused for under $ 500 . I realized I ' d have to pay tax even if it dropped to $ 500 on the website , so I jumped on the Swappa listing about a month ago . It was worth it for my needs . I ' m a small phone fan and was coming from a Z 3 compact , so that definitely affected my choices . I also need root accessbootloader unlock , at least one frontfacing speaker , and a nearstock UI . Your needs may differ from mine . Here are the other phones I considered and why I ruled them out Axon 7 too big , concerned about software and updates with ZTE , also not sure about bootloader unlock and ROMXposed support although it appears to be well supported based on another comment here OP 3 T too big , no frontfacing speaker , no SD slot Moto Z Play WAY too big it ' s the size of the 6 P ! , unsure of Moto ' s updates under Lenovo . But if this were smaller , this would have been my phone . It ' s a battery beast . Galaxy S 7 no frontfacing speaker , Samsung software , capacitive buttons in the wrong places , bootloader unlocking causes loss of features e . g . Samsung Pay Honor 8 EMUI , unsure about future updates , no frontfacing speaker X compact Bootloader unlocking causes loss of features camera quality , too similar to my Z 3 c to upgrade , speakers are stereo but mediocre Pixel lost me at the price . Also I really dislike the design huge bezels and weird half glass back and lack of frontfacing speakers and SD support . Ultimately I went to a Verizon store to check out the Pixel , 10 , S 7 , and Moto Z series , and I was won over by the design and speakers of the 10 . The speakers may not be up to M 7 M 9 standards but beat out any of the others except the Moto Z series when I listened to them in person . Except I didn ' t have the chance to listen to the Axon , so they could be just as good or better .