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Essential Phone, available now

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Re: Essential Phone, available now

#81

Post by icebraining »

ProAm wrote: post #61
agumonkey wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too short IMO, I personally would value having a 5yo device still useful, above that I can accept limitations in terms of new; below it's just pushing for renewal for no reason.

Batteries don't last that long still, last I heard you get about 1000 charges before you need to do serious maintenance to a phone, in which case you'll probably want the latest and greatest anyhow.

in which case you'll probably want the latest and greatest anyhow.

Why, if it still works fine?

//Nexus 7 (2012) user here

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#82

Post by fhood »

astrobase_go wrote: post #26

at a $700 price point for two years of os updates and three years of security updates, it seems runner-up to iphones with four year (or more) timelines on os updates, maybe longer for security updates, for a comparable price point.

and even better, iPhones have a closed ecosystem, although come to think of it, I may not be their target audience.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#83

Post by soperj »

ProAm wrote: post #61
agumonkey wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too short IMO, I personally would value having a 5yo device still useful, above that I can accept limitations in terms of new; below it's just pushing for renewal for no reason.

Batteries don't last that long still, last I heard you get about 1000 charges before you need to do serious maintenance to a phone, in which case you'll probably want the latest and greatest anyhow.

I'm still using a Galaxy S3(2012) with no battery problems. I use it every day, and I don't even plug it in every night.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#85

Post by git-pull »

I admire the gumption of making a new phone.

But controlled obsolescence kills me. The real feature that improves in phones the past few years for me is the software and apps, not the hardware.

My wishlist:

- Give me a lighter, snappier OS. Not something clunkier and slower and uses more ram, gpu/cpu (aka battery life).

- Actually support updates to the things for longer than 2-3 years.

- (Not related to this phone) Use stock android, unless you're removing bloat. Why? Because inevitably there's going to be apps. What I want is a nice flat surface that includes wifi, bluetooth, and nice API's and permissions for those apps to plug into.

- The biggest feature you can give me on a phone? Battery life, Replaceable battery, Data/Cell reception, Speaker/Microphone quality.

- SIM card that's easy to get out.

- Actually, Dual SIM's.

- Support for carriers globally.

- And physical keyboards. Something for SSH'ing with.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#86

Post by ghostly_s »

distances wrote: post #6
ghostly_s wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently so, according to the specs page. I thought the whole thing with this company was that they're developing a competing OS not based on Android?

No, that wasn't their goal, it was stated to be Android from the beginning.

What do they need Andy for, then? The press I've seen with him over the past year seemed to be pushing the narrative that he started this company to 'correct the mistakes' of Android...decided that's too much work?

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#87

Post by Symbiote »

ProAm wrote: post #61
agumonkey wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too short IMO, I personally would value having a 5yo device still useful, above that I can accept limitations in terms of new; below it's just pushing for renewal for no reason.

Batteries don't last that long still, last I heard you get about 1000 charges before you need to do serious maintenance to a phone, in which case you'll probably want the latest and greatest anyhow.

I just paid someone to replace the battery in my Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, which is 3 years old this week.

It still works fine, although I do use Firefox with ad-blocking extensions. I doubt I'll need to replace it for at least another year.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#89

Post by X86BSD »

kreetx wrote: post #63
0xbear wrote: post #46

Now we'll know exactly how many Andy Rubin fanboys there are in the world. Why would anyone else buy a $700+ phone from a startup which might not even be there next year? My prediction: a few tens of thousand units will be sold mostly in the US, darn near zero anywhere else.

I, too, think the price point won't help this phone much. Hopefully there will be enough buyers to keep this phone alive. The specs are good and the attachment camera will probably be very useful.

Genuine question, I am waiting for the soon to be announced iPhone 8, but what I am curious about is what is the selling point of this phone? The camera? Security? Why would I want this phone? I don't follow google or their employees companies much. Personally google makes horrible UI's and services IMO. The latest interaction with them by me has been Google fiber + TV. The fiber is fine and fast but the TV is a tire fire. I'm not impressed with the UI of android. So I really am curious what would compel me to buy this phone?

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#90

Post by melling »

criley2 wrote: post #79
ksk wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see (though don't entirely agree) why companies feel some pain, when the customer paid for the phone, but the public's expectation is free updates for "life" (however you define that). I wonder if having a subscription where they reduce the cost of the phone for the general population, and let others sign up for a paid subscription model for updates, backed up by some kind of SLA type agreement would work. I de…

It's moot. Apple offers ~3 years of software updates included in the price of the phone. Right now, Android companies COMPLETELY FAIL to match Apple's update value. The idea that Android companies should switch to a paid update subscription model, while iDevices retain free updates for most of device life, would be a hilariously incompetent decision. "They're better than us, we know it, so why not subscribe to us and…

Isn't it more like 4 years, at least on the Phones?

I wouldn't mind getting an additional Android device, but two years of upgrades really isn't enough. It's nice to get a new OS upgrade every year.

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