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Essential Phone, available now

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Re: Essential Phone, available now

#371

Post by wodenokoto »

I never buy phones on contract and I don't live in the states, so it can sometimes be hard to compare prices. But isn't this a fairly similar price to a similar iPhone/Pixel/Galaxy ?

I mean, isn't this the price range for a premium phone and isn't this premium specced?

Except for the silly "Everybody should be able to afford craftsmanship" line, I am having a hard time understanding why people are flipping out about the price.

I for one welcome what looks to be a great premium phone with better software than most flagship phones.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#372

Post by hohghitlblkh »

baddox wrote: post #289
as1mov wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Manufacturers just stopped making phones with PKB because since Apple wasn't making them, they weren't worth it. It hard to estimate the demand for PKB phones when no one is making them. I'd buy one in heartbeat if one launched with low-mid end specs and less than $400. We've constantly chosen form over functionality. Larger sized phones, fragile build materials(glass over plastic), lesser battery just so…

What is the draw of a tiny physical keyboard? I can type much faster on an iPhone than with any similarly-sized physical keyboard. The only advantage I can think of is the ability to touch type without paying attention to the screen as closely, but for a phone that doesn't seem like a very big deal.

I could type faster (and without looking) on the old Nokia style keypads than I can on a touchscreen.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#373

Post by throwaway613834 »

taivokasper wrote: post #349
throwaway613834 wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But your email app will still get updates right? (I guess I'm using Gmail and assuming you are using something like it that gets updates too, but maybe I'm wrong.) Same with SMS - lots of apps that get updates. What's the exact issue?

That's not how things work! If the OS is not secure then app updates are rendered useless.

I think to a large extent (i.e. enough to eliminate the worry in practice) it is how things work, actually. See my reply to the sister comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15040745

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#374

Post by notheguyouthink »

lolsal wrote: post #48

> Your phone is your personal property. It’s a public expression of who you are and what you stand for. No, it's really not. It's literally just a tool I use for communication.

> No, it's really not. It's literally just a tool I use for communication.

I'm curious, wouldn't that imply you're not the demographic they're seeking? So are you basically saying, "I'm not in their demographic"? Or is there another point to your comment that I'm missing. I ask because often I see people get pissy about statements like this, almost as if they think the web page was curated for them.

I could make a webpage targeted at guitarists with something like "Your guitar is something you cherish", and clearly that statement isn't true for someone who neither owns a guitar nor plays. So what purpose is a statement like this?

I don't make snarky comments at bra commercials on TV about how I don't have breasts and therefor am not concerned with support. Do you (assuming you're male, of course haha)?

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#375

Post by throwaway613834 »

r3bl wrote: post #364
throwaway613834 wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of security updates actually worry you though? Not trying to sound snarky, but do you install sketchy apps regularly? What are examples of actual threats are you trying to protect against? If you install untrusted apps regularly I could see why, but if not then what attack vector are you worried about? Are you worried about a WiFi attack in a coffee shop for example?

Not the person who you are replying to, but in my case, yes, connecting to a hostile WiFi and someone physically stealing my phone and having access to my entire life is exactly my fear. Also, being able to fine-tweak app permissions is a huge plus for getting Android 6+ phone. I've switched to Nexus 5x at the beginning of this month. Current price is around 250€, and I basically gained all the features of flagship m…

Regarding hostile Wi-Fi: okay, so that means when such an exploit comes out, you can then decide to buy a new phone if your phone is still not receiving updates and if your phone is vulnerable. And I would expect most such exploits to be specific to the phone brand, not the Android/Linux kernel in general. Out of curiosity, do you know of any actual such exploits that remain unpatched in (say) late versions of Android 4?

Regarding someone stealing your phone: I don't understand what this has to do with OS or hardware updates. You can put a PIN on your phone and encrypt it. Perfectly possible on older versions of Android.

Regarding fine-tweaking app permissions: Privacy Guard and XPrivacy do the same thing. Why necessarily update the OS? And in any case, why constantly keep updating the OS past Android 6 where this feature was introduced?

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#376

Post by Pxtl »

ariofrio wrote: post #286

Give me software updates for 7+ years, then we'll talk about buying your $700 phone. Lasting hardware means nothing without lasting software. In the meanwhile, I'll keep buying $120 phones (Moto G4 with Amazon Ads FTW) and keeping them for ~2 years until they break or software updates stop. Even though as a Catholic (Laudato Si, Rerum Novarum) it kills me to waste all those materials every couple of years and be part…

Hah, catholic guilt and environmentalism work together so well.

yeah, I feel bad for taking a similar lifetime on my phones - I wish there was a company with the kind of reputation for craftsmanship and long-term support that Apple has that would offer stock Google Android devices.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#377

Post by notheguyouthink »

smichel17 wrote: post #111
sidcool wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, my phone should just work, it is not an expression of anything.

Playing devil's advocate, is that not itself a statement of sorts?

I'm curious how to differentiate "public expression" between something you intend, and something you don't - too.

Ie, if OP uses a flip phone from the 90s, s/he may clearly not care about their phone and may not use it as a form of expression. Nevertheless, I'll be damned if it doesn't express something about that person. That person is deviating from the norm, which is always an expression of something - knowingly or otherwise.

So I'd argue that even if they wanted to be needlessly pissy in these comments about how untrue the statement is to their own personal self - I'd argue it's still accurate. It may not be an intended form of personal expression, but it's definitely one of many things that informs the nearby public. Everyone makes external "book cover" readings, after all - to one degree or another.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#378

Post by tinus_hn »

throwaway613834 wrote: post #365
quicklime wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Stagefright" is an Android vulnerability that allows attackers to exploit a device by sending a specially crafted MMS message. No user intervention is required, no dodgy apps need to be installed. You're on Android 4, so your phone is vulnerable. If you use your phone for anything important, I'd suggest getting that new phone ASAP.

Actually I've already mitigated this by disabling automatic MMS download, and from what I read [1] it can be mitigated in other ways as well. It can't be done in every app, but then you can just use an app that lets you do this. So this is a non-issue. Any others you can think of? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagefright_(bug)#Mitigation

Just make sure not to open any videos from the internet. Hardly an issue!

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#379

Post by throwaway613834 »

tinus_hn wrote: post #378
throwaway613834 wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I've already mitigated this by disabling automatic MMS download, and from what I read [1] it can be mitigated in other ways as well. It can't be done in every app, but then you can just use an app that lets you do this. So this is a non-issue. Any others you can think of? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagefright_(bug)#Mitigation

Just make sure not to open any videos from the internet. Hardly an issue!

> Just make sure not to open any videos from the internet. Hardly an issue!

What? Chrome and Firefox protect against it [1]... do you not use either?

[1] https://www.howtogeek.com/225834/stagefright-what-you-need-t...

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#380

Post by scott_karana »

Yetanfou wrote: post #242
filmgirlcw wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Apple moved to using aluminum from titanium in its PowerBooks (the design would later be the basis of the original MacBook Pro), in part, because the softness of of the metal, led to warps and bends in those first-gen TiBook models. I don't know how Essential is using titanium, but history certainly has examples of gadgets that suffered from using that metal over others.

...and if you believe that, I've got a bridge for sale. Titanium is many things but soft it is not. It can also be alloyed with many other metals for specific purposes. One thing it definitely is though is expensive which is most likely the reason for Apple to look for alternatives. That is actually is possible to use titanium to create form-stable notebooks can be seen by e.g. the many Thinkpads which sport titanium…

Thinkpads generally use magnesium frames, not titanium.

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T400-T500-and-newer-T/...

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