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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

#501

Post by Timothycquinn »

cubefox wrote: post #439

Does anyone notice the irony of it being partly repairable, while offering just three years of security updates, after which you basically have to throw the thing away? The repairability sounds nice, but it is very irrelevant compared to the limited software updates. Imagine buying a Windows laptop and only receiving three years of security updates. (I know, most other phones aren't better.) It would have been better…

I would love for them to announce them to be Graphene OS ready out of the box by contributing a Graphene distro from the get-go. I know this is a vendor lock in nightmare but it would open up a huge market for the security conscious and those young ones interested in getting phones that are just for photos and texts.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#502

Post by userbinator »

I still remember when removable battery, storage, and dual SIMs (at least on some models) was the norm with Androids. For a lot of unbranded/lesser-known low-end Chinese brands based largely on reference designs, that's still true today.

Given that there are underlying standards for many of these components, I wonder if we might see the emergence of industry-standard de-facto form factors, at least for Android phones.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#503

Post by kuschku »

riku_iki wrote: post #384
kuschku wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And require me to throw away headphones that have worked fine for decades. Even this nokia phone has a 3.5mm port, why doesn't Google support it anymore?

there are connectors. > why doesn't Google support it anymore? maybe preserve space for something else inside.

> there are connectors.

Can I still charge my phone at the same time?

Can I also get it with a larger battery?

Should I just hot glue a connector, a powerpack, and a case to my phone to get an actual usable device out of it?

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#504

Post by moffkalast »

lolinder wrote: post #468
moffkalast wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well it's not like desktop OSes are much better, your average LTS Linux distro gets like what, four or five years of updates before they pull the plug?

When I get to year 4 I install the next major version of my distro. My hardware doesn't go to the junkyard. Meanwhile, my mom was just reminding everyone in my family that Android security updates stopping means they have to replace their phone more often than they would otherwise like to.

So what's the actual technical hurdle of doing this on mobile devices too? I mean in practice it's because the manufacturer blocks it, but I don't really understand why (outside maliciously wanting you to buy their new stuff ofc).

The architecture has been arm64 forever, memory and storage slowly increases but not in any way that really matters for an OS. There are specifically optimized apps to get the most out of the camera hardware and such, but if OpenCamera can handle all phone cameras on the market decently there's some level of API standardization and not that much to it. Some kernel drivers or wifi chipsets or something they can't be arsed to keep supporting? I really don't get why one couldn't theoretically just keep updating to the latest Android into perpetuity or why it's even an option not to do so.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#505

Post by paulmd »

heavyset_go wrote: post #496
lolinder wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's really not uncommon to see ROMs with known bugs like "camera doesn't work" "3.5mm port doesn't work". When I was looking for a phone in 2018 I was looking at the Pixel series and that was the bug list for most of the ROMs at the time - and pixel was basically the best-case scenario that everyone was pointing me at as far as support.

It was still in official support at that time but I got burned by my first android phone going EOL within 6 months of when I bought it and I wasn't going to leap again without knowing there were actually ROMs that worked without major feature loss.

It probably would have worked out, being a pixel and all, but I specifically ran into bumps on my previous phone (Moto G Falcon) with features being lost on custom ROMs. Eventually I found one that worked OK but that's just not acceptable to lose official support 6 months after purchase and deal with custom ROMs where random shit is broken.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#507

Post by LoveMortuus »

I must say, I'm quite surprised that just by having a removable back it's suddenly a DIY repairable... My previous phone (Lenovo Note K3) that I replaced last year because it started to blue screen also had a removable back and the battery just slotted in, like it did with the old phones, which I find even easier to replace then what this phone offers.

When I read the title I thought it was going to be a phone that costs Was I expecting too much? I mean any repairability is better then none, but still this feels a bit too little...

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#508

Post by kristopolous »

cubefox wrote: post #439

Does anyone notice the irony of it being partly repairable, while offering just three years of security updates, after which you basically have to throw the thing away? The repairability sounds nice, but it is very irrelevant compared to the limited software updates. Imagine buying a Windows laptop and only receiving three years of security updates. (I know, most other phones aren't better.) It would have been better…

In practice I've been cycling phones about every two years.

I just checked and all resources I've seen puts the typical lifespan around this. I don't know what the distribution looks like though.

I bet the distribution curves change if you bucket the pricing points.

3 years is ok. After you buy it, they've made 100% of the money they're going to make in the transaction. They need money to come in to support such an effort

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#509

Post by nektro »

cubefox wrote: post #439

Does anyone notice the irony of it being partly repairable, while offering just three years of security updates, after which you basically have to throw the thing away? The repairability sounds nice, but it is very irrelevant compared to the limited software updates. Imagine buying a Windows laptop and only receiving three years of security updates. (I know, most other phones aren't better.) It would have been better…

a different OEM can buy these up with better OS support and ppl can install custom ROMs

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#510

Post by timonoko »

Apropos. You can make any kind of new battery simply by dismantling the original battery and reusing the connector and charging electronics and raw unprotected LiOn-cells. This is safer than ordering god-knows-what batteries from Aliexpress.

Size issues can be solved by sawing off protruding areas from back cover and duck tape (or 3D-printer). Thus you can have cellphone with swapable Lion AAA-cells for example.

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