[HN Gopher] Ask HN: How about a modern phone that actually lasts?
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Ask HN: How about a modern phone that actually lasts?
You probably remember there was a time when we weren't buying new
phones every two years. And when we did, the improvements weren't
as trivial as a fourth camera or falsely promised extended battery
life, partially because we could actually replace the battery. It
would be so nice if there was an old school Nokia approach,
something that lasts a long time and is actually durable because
it's not a glass child's flip flop that needs to be covered in
after market rubber at all costs. A modern phone REALLY doesn't
need that much, Android seems to be a lot more lenient than iOS
with requirements. All these curved, bendable screens do nothing
but adorn our 2007 darling rectangle. Business is business, but I
think there's a market for people concerned with all the waste
these things produce and a well made one could tap into that, even
if it was 30% more.
Author : pipeline_peak
Score : 14 points
Date : 2022-08-12 21:07 UTC (1 hours ago)
| aaaaaaaaata wrote:
| Pixel 3a or higher, GrapheneOS.org
| throwaway019254 wrote:
| What do you mean? My iPhone 7 is still up and running pretty
| well. It's even still supported.
| esel2k wrote:
| Same here, my wife and I bought used iphone 7 and I already to
| replace a screen and two batteries.
|
| I have to admit I miss having a better cam - but I will never
| pay 1000Usd for a phone.
| acranox wrote:
| This is kind of funny to me. I'm on an iPhone 8 from October
| 2017, so it's just a hair shy of 5 years. I haven't had a case or
| screen protector on it for at least the last 4 years. It still
| runs the latest iOS version. As someone who is concerned about
| waste, I just didn't buy a new phone every 2 years, and it's
| working out okay for me.
| sli wrote:
| I'm planning to get a new battery for my iPhone X sometime soon
| but otherwise, yep, I'm gonna run this phone into the ground
| before I replace it and I'll be getting updates the entire way
| there, which is more than many (too many) Android flagships can
| say. I'm past the days of wanting to customize every little
| thing in my phone.
| user00012-ab wrote:
| I'm also using a 5 year old Iphone 8 from 2017, works fine,
| just replaced the battery this year. So I guess buy an Iphone
| and avoid android phones based on what you've found.
| deepdriver wrote:
| iPhones in general and the SE line in particular have excellent
| battery longevity, physical durability and long-term support e.g.
| security patches.
| baq wrote:
| Get iPhone SE, put it in a good armor, 5 years of expected life,
| maybe more. Will probably need to replace the battery once.
| Rackedup wrote:
| I'm still using a Pixel 3 with LineageOS on it. I just wish that
| I never upgraded to Android 12... Android 11 was a bit better.
| The main thing is the drop down icons were not so huge (Wi-Fi,
| Location, etc).
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| My Samsung S9 is chugging along just fine besides a diminished
| battery and screen burnin from reddit.
| WrtCdEvrydy wrote:
| I'm using an iPhone 5S right now and will be upgrading to an
| iPhone SE this week as it's getting kinda difficult to get all
| the apps there.
| OliverM wrote:
| They have those. They're iPhones. I'm using an iPhone 8+. My wife
| is using my old iPhone 5s. I changed the battery on the 5s but
| that's it.
| dymk wrote:
| iPhone, and self control
|
| My iPhone is 4 years old now and works just fine.
| gravitate wrote:
| Fairphone's repairability is the current lead:
| https://www.fairphone.com/fr/2021/02/04/french-repairability...
|
| That said, my main phone is a Nokia 105 that I haven't had to
| replace yet. For 'smart' capability, I own an iPhone 8 that I
| don't bring out in public. I use it as a mini-tablet and do
| online banking etc. This is the trade-off I make. It sucks not
| being able to take a good photo when I'm out and about. As for
| online banking, I do that at home and always make sure I know my
| balance prior to going out so I don't need to check it when I'm
| out.
| pharmakom wrote:
| Why not just use the iPhone everywhere?
| throwaway742 wrote:
| My OnePlus 5T (2017) is still alive and kicking. No unnecessary
| glass, rear fingerprint sensor, 3.5mm jack. It has an unlocked
| bootloader. I am running LineageOS and the last software update
| was three days ago. Honestly this sounds more like a you problem.
| laurencerowe wrote:
| My iPhone XS is still going strong after 4 years. I don't bother
| with a case and it survives being dropped from time to time (one
| drop onto stone steps did crack the glass back). It's still
| plenty fast. Only downside is the weight.
| jon-wood wrote:
| I really wish Apple would stop making the back of their phones
| out of glass. It does feel lovely, but I always end up cracking
| it and having to put a case on to cover the broken glass, I
| could put a case on from day one but then... why make it out of
| glass in the first place if you're expecting all your customers
| to instantly cover it?
| justWells wrote:
| iPhone XR here. Works fine
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| > Android seems to be a lot more lenient than iOS with
| requirements.
|
| I think the reverse is true. The current version, iOS 15, works
| on the iPhone 6S, a seven-year-old phone.
|
| Even if modern versions of Android did work on such old hardware
| (and I don't know, maybe it does), Android phones simply don't
| get those updates because they are deprecated much faster.
|
| So to repeat most of the other comments here, what you're looking
| for is an iPhone.
|
| I don't even think they're that expensive, the iPhone SE starts
| at $429 new, and less if you buy a refurbished model, which still
| comes with a brand new battery.
| nine_k wrote:
| If you are concerned with waste, don't buy a new phone.
|
| Instead of being stuck with a phone from 5-6 years ago, you can
| buy last year's flagman device for half the cost, if you feel
| like it.
|
| I did not buy a brand new phone for last 14 years. Keeping the
| same phone for all that time would be rather limiting.
|
| (I have a working Motorola phone from 2007, it runs Linux and has
| a web browser! It lacks 4G connectivity, GPS, wireless charging,
| and the camera is so-so by modern standards.)
| superb-owl wrote:
| I keep saying I'm going to switch to a feature phone and a
| tablet, and finding excuses not to.
|
| I miss my old Nokia.
| pipeline_peak wrote:
| For me it's transportation, I Uber everywhere. Unfortunately we
| need smartphones. I cannot do my job without logging into a vpn
| thru my phone.
| humbleferret wrote:
| What are your main reasons for not switching?
| bryanlarsen wrote:
| One of the biggest reasons for the limited lifetime of phones is
| battery degradation. Save your battery by only charging to 80 or
| 90% rather than to 100%.
|
| This should be possible via a software setting, but it generally
| isn't. Instead you can use a dongle.
|
| https://chargie.org/
| gruez wrote:
| >This should be possible via a software setting, but it
| generally isn't. Instead you can use a dongle.
|
| on ios it's available natively through the "optimized battery
| charging" option. On android with root you can use
| https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-root-4-0-battery-char...
| bryanlarsen wrote:
| Thanks, I didn't know about optimized battery charging. It's
| new to iOS 13, so wasn't available last time I looked.
|
| It's different than chargie. It's hard to say which is
| better, I think I'll stick with chargie. But it's optimized
| battery charging is close enough that if I didn't already own
| a chargie I wouldn't buy one...
| xboxnolifes wrote:
| I was under the impression that "100%" charge, as displayed on
| the device, is not actually 100% battery charge, but instead
| limited to the ~90% like normally suggested. I've heard back
| and forth advice about this same topic for at least a decade
| now, with some people claiming that it's been built into the
| hardware/software the whole time.
| smileysteve wrote:
| I have a Google Pixel 2 that is my "travel phone", has a very
| decent camera, the "old" processor still handles everything fine.
| Battery lasts all day for normal use and some navigation; but
| longer with battery saver mode.
|
| Current daily is a Samsung s20, my battery will last all day for
| normal usage, though drains quickly with GPS.
| smileysteve wrote:
| The odd thing. I don't use screen protectors on must of my
| devices, use a thin clear silicone case
| polishdude20 wrote:
| Yep pixel 2 here. Still going strong. Original battery still
| works well. No slowdowns occuring either.
| t_mann wrote:
| My current phone is a major brand flagship from 2016 (bought in
| 2016), the one that that one replaced was probably older than
| that at the time.
|
| Your question seems to start from a wrong premise, maybe ask
| yourself why you replace phones every two years for (according to
| you, minor) feature upgrades.
| colinsane wrote:
| the most valid justification in OP's post was (IMO) the non-
| replaceable batteries, since battery capacity decreases
| noticeably over a 6 year timespan.
|
| does your phone have a replaceable battery, or have you just
| not found it to be a deal-breaker?
|
| i upgraded from a 2016 SE to the iphone 13 mini last year, in
| largest part because it would die after like 2 hours of casual
| web browsing (even with ads disabled/etc). one major feature of
| the newer iphones is the clip-on battery packs. not as good as
| replacing the interior battery, but means i can get expect more
| than 5 years of life from this one without hacking it too much.
| t_mann wrote:
| Not easily, unfortunately, and battery performance has
| dropped noticeably over the last year. But it still easily
| goes for a full day with reasonable screen use (reading on
| the commute,...), so my pain for looking into how to replace
| it wasn't high enough yet.
|
| I don't want to be apologetic of practices like glueing in
| batteries, I'm a fan of right-to-repair. I was just taken
| aback by the statement that didn't square with my experience
| (I'm not the only one in my social bubble with a phone older
| than four years, by far).
| barbs wrote:
| I replaced the battery in my first gen iPhone SE myself. It
| wasn't easy, though!
| a-dub wrote:
| honestly iphones seem to last the longest both in terms of
| durability and longevity of security patches. starting with the
| pixel 6, the pixels now see security updates for 5 years (instead
| of 2? 3?) though.
|
| other android phones are a bit scary, even if you're running an
| oss os that gets patches to the userland, are those proprietary
| drivers and kernel bits all getting patched after the official
| support ends?
| gruez wrote:
| >are those proprietary drivers and kernel bits all getting
| patched after the official support ends?
|
| proprietary drivers/blobs: no way in hell
|
| kernel: since the kernel is GPL, you can theoretically patch it
| yourself but it's a massive undertaking.
| dragonmost wrote:
| Like many others have said this is not true. I've had a nexus 4
| (2012-2017) which I had to change due to battery starting to
| swell, also had a custom rom which might have helped. I upgraded
| to a Pixel2 in 2017 which I still have. I'm even considering
| replacing the battery instead of the whole phone since it's still
| doing just fine otherwise. I really don't need a better camera so
| why bother with a new phone that doesn't offer much more than
| what I already have. Both of those phone are/were caseless too,
| just be careful with your stuff and you'll do just fine for a
| couple of years.
|
| In my opinion people choose to change their phone more than they
| have to change their phone.
| flippin wrote:
| Phone manufacturers are offering updates for longer:
| https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_pledges_4_os_updates_5_year...
|
| Alternatively, the FOSS community (e.g. postmarketOS) are working
| on bringing plain old Linux to smartphones. It's not ready yet,
| but they're making good progress.
|
| Many phones now support replaceable battiers: PinePhone Pro,
| Librem 5, Shift6mq.
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(page generated 2022-08-12 23:01 UTC)