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Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

theguardian.com

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Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

while offering just three years of security updates, after which you basically have to throw the thing away? "security" is just used as an excuse, in practice there's very little in the way of remotely exploitable vulnerabilities. In fact the "security" of newer devices seems to be squarely aimed against the user, so make of that what you will...

Remotely exploitable does not require it can be hacked without user action (although there have been many exploits which have achieved that too, e.g. Pegasus) but typically involves visiting a web page, opening an attachment, or installing an app with a vulnerability. Chrome updates and app scanning will protect against some problems, but advances are often tied to platform security features. So really, you've made a…

Otherwise there will be a pool of devices which are still in use and easily targetted.

There already are, and the world hasn't ended yet...

It's your paranoia that's absurd (and what these companies are relying on to keep the masses under their control, so keep drinking the kool-aid...)

The fact that so many here are going on about updates and support, when in fact there's plenty of people who don't give a shit and the world works fine for them, just shows what a corporate-authoritarian shitshow this cursed industry has become.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tradeoff is "back cover that comes off in an instant, whenever you want it to" versus "back cover that comes off in an instant, even when you don't want it to."

Why can't the back cover just screw on and off? How often do you need to replace your battery? Maybe twice in 4 years? What percentage of people keep a phone for more than 4 years? 5%?

Nowadays? Never, obviously. The odds of me breaking the phone are so large, and the tools I need specialized enough, that I need a new phone on stand-by anyway. No point replacing the battery if I already bought a new one just in case I break the old one by trying to do something as weird as replacing a wear-heavy part.

So it has fallen out of style. There is no market for spare batteries and using them as range extenders is not common use. It seems like an outlandish thing to do now.

I think I went through three batteries on my Galaxy Note 2 (first Android phone) before upgrading. Apps dropping support became a problem... nothing wrong with the hardware at the time where I felt forced to trash it. Anyway, carrying an extra battery for long travel days was not a weird thing to do. I also remember non-tech people having spare batteries for Nokias (when they became more capable; not when the only use was calling your mom to say you were going to a friend's after school).

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Custom rom support would be helpful for a very niche audience, but it's not something that's going to make a dent in e-waste at all. I'm a pretty tech savvy user who runs Linux on my desktop and I'm too intimidated to try a custom ROM on my phone. The average Nokia customer isn't going to even know it's an option, much less be willing to take the plunge. If Nokia is serious about fighting e-waste they need to provide…

If the average user can't handle flashing a custom ROM (which is probably true), they can take it to one of the million phone repair shops and give them $10.

It's not just a question of flashing it, it's a question of living with it. By all accounts I've read the custom ROM experience is far from seamless: it sounds worse than the Linux desktop currently is, and I wouldn't recommend running Linux to just anyone.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#495
post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

while offering just three years of security updates, after which you basically have to throw the thing away? "security" is just used as an excuse, in practice there's very little in the way of remotely exploitable vulnerabilities. In fact the "security" of newer devices seems to be squarely aimed against the user, so make of that what you will...

In 2017, there was a remote exploit via the browser: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-5116 Fortunately, this was patched. Not sure if there are newer ones

in V8 in Google Chrome

Not surprisingly, it's another JS one.

I use JS whitelisting not only on my PCs for that reason.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the average user can't handle flashing a custom ROM (which is probably true), they can take it to one of the million phone repair shops and give them $10.

It's not just a question of flashing it, it's a question of living with it. By all accounts I've read the custom ROM experience is far from seamless: it sounds worse than the Linux desktop currently is, and I wouldn't recommend running Linux to just anyone.

Custom ROMs work just as well as the ROMs phones are shipped with.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#497
post #99
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was using an iPhone 10 with the latest iOS versions until last week and didn’t have any issues

Now try the same with an iPhone 5.

If we are going back to 2012, how are the Nexus 4 and Samsung Galaxy S3 holding up compared to current Android phones?

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#498
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tradeoff is "back cover that comes off in an instant, whenever you want it to" versus "back cover that comes off in an instant, even when you don't want it to."

My decades of experience with easily removable back covers tells me this is a complete non-issue. The back cover coming off accidentally has never happened to me.

It has for me, and that was a Caterpillar ruggedized phone.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, though they can always make it easy to run a custom rom and rely on the community for (security) updates

Android manufacturers pick a LTS kernel when developing their phone. By the time it is on the market, that kernel version only has 3-4 years left of security updates. Custom roms never upgrade the kernel so you are still vulnerable to bugs that were never backported to your kernel

Depends on the manufacturer, there are plenty of phones with community updated kernels. Some manufacturers choose to implement hardware support by poorly forking the Linux kernel in ways that make porting those changes to recent kernels hard.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, though they can always make it easy to run a custom rom and rely on the community for (security) updates

Android manufacturers pick a LTS kernel when developing their phone. By the time it is on the market, that kernel version only has 3-4 years left of security updates. Custom roms never upgrade the kernel so you are still vulnerable to bugs that were never backported to your kernel

> Custom roms never upgrade the kernel

That's not entirely true. There's plenty that bundle a custom kernel.

Browse some device-specific development topics on XDA developers for examples.

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