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Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

theguardian.com

631–640 of 1001 posts

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#631

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.

They work excellent for what they are, and are a testament to the ingenuity of the android community, but as an end user product they're just not there yet. I would never flash a custom ROM for someone who isn't capable of flashing something else on it to fix a bug or restore back to factory.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#632
post #598

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple iPhone as the gold standard only provide security updates up to 6-7 years Laughs in Microsoft How about 20 years?! I have a laptop built in 2006, it runs Windows 10 and will be supported untill 2025. It can also run software compiled in 1999! What platform can beat it, an IBM mainframe? Microsoft is the gold standard! Its a shame they never get credit for the one thing they do well.

Yeah, and Linux will probably have an even longer support period. But MS is in a totally different business. HW manufacturers build and sell new devices to customers who then buy software from a different company (MS). One of the selling point of Windows is that it runs on basically all HW. But they can only afford this because they have monopolized the market. The mobile phone business is very different. (But you ma…

Linux is a bit different because you are responsible for supporting yourself really.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#633
post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see a 3-year security update as an irony. In fact, I see that as a great gesture for the budget price point android phone has a 3-year software warranty. Nokia probably have done research on this pricing segment to know that the averaging budget android device lifecycle is about 2.x years and guarantee a 3 year security update to make the device more worthy, comparing to other brands at this price point. By t…

> Apple iPhone as the gold standard only provide security updates up to 6-7 years Laughs in Microsoft How about 20 years?! I have a laptop built in 2006, it runs Windows 10 and will be supported untill 2025. It can also run software compiled in 1999! What platform can beat it, an IBM mainframe? Microsoft is the gold standard! Its a shame they never get credit for the one thing they do well.

Yeah that is pretty good. You're right about MS being the gold standard for backwards compatibility and forward support. Amazon talks about being the best at customer service, I guess that's how MS excelled in customer service, a key differentiator, super-wide compatibility, long lifetimes.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#634

And it comes with a 3mm headphone jack! Hallelujah!! I’m so, so glad someone is stepping up to fill this niche. My only complaint, and it’s kind if a big one, is that the screen is too damn big. I’m tired of phone manufacturers forcing me to carry a television in my pocket. I want something small that I can hold in one hand without a pop socket. I’ll trade performance, camera quality, basically anything for a phone w…

Agree! There should be a couple of different form factors? I got an iPhone 13 mini specifically because I hate the giant phones. My hands aren't small or weak (I do chinups and push ups, practically have to as maintenance to prevent nerve pain, muscle pain, low circulation with all the typing I do), but why do I need to ruin my finger nerves and muscles and wrist carrying and using a GigantoPhone. I find phone use to be way worse for my biomechanical finger-hand-wrist health than typing on a HHKB.

But also...I think this would be hilarious (in a good way) if this (thankfully anachronistic throwback) repairability really took off and in the next 3 years Apple releases a budget / or premium( prolly premium? knowing Apple hehe ) set of products like a framework style repairable moddable laptop, and a "wePhone" that you can swap parts and mod. Truly I think there's a cool cyberfunk future in there somewhere. TikTokking teens showing off their latest phone mods, builds and hacks (and holoscreens). I mean they already "discovered" the flip phone and went mad. I think this is waiting to happen :) ;p

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#635
post #573

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a fair point, but indeed a lot of people will kill their phone in less than 3 years. Either breaking the screen (which, IIUC, will be also replaceable/self servicable) or killing the battery. Most sources say that the battery will keep an acceptable capacity for around 500 cycles, i.e. 1.5 years if fully charged daily. (Now I don't know, because I'm very cautious not to fully charge and to discharge below 25-3…

> Most sources say that the battery will keep an acceptable capacity for around 500 cycles, i.e. 1.5 years if fully charged daily. This is what I see online, but this hasn't been my experience for any of my devices. My current phone is on year 5 with the same battery, and it's still very decent. I charge it every day to 100% and often plug it back in while it's still at 50%, so it's not like I'm being more careful th…

My Nokia 8 (bought April 2019) doesn't last a day anymore. Not even half a day. The battery is so done, I must basically always have my powerbank in my backpack. :) When it's cold outside (let's say around 4 °C) it's not uncommon for the phone to suddenly shut down while using certain apps, even when it thinks the battery is at 50%, it just can't provide enough power in those situations anymore.

When I bought the phone the battery was one downside I thought about but thought "it will probably be OK". I was wrong ^^ And due to its aluminum unibody construction you must remove the display to replace the battery, nothing I would want to risk on my daily driver device.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#636

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…

To be fair the mobile device iteration of the repairability movement has always been laden with irony. It's a user empowerment movement solving a problem users didn't care about or want to deal with, championed mainly by middle and upper income individuals in tandem with politicians looking for easy karma (bonus points if they're European because it makes them look tough against the big corporate Americans plus Samsung), all under the guise of helping users who want to save money (poor people) even though this category lacks the skills and the interest to repair their devices anyway outside of a rare few exceptions. At this point a model being easily repairable is like "GMO Free" labels on food, a thing you advertise because it'll bring in money from the activists while every other consumer ignores it and focuses on a combination of performamce and price. In short, as long as the device can be advertised based on its repairability I don't think the company cares much since the objective is already complete.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#637

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…

To be fair the mobile device iteration of the repairability movement has always been laden with irony. It's a user empowerment movement solving a problem users didn't care about or want to deal with, championed mainly by middle and upper income individuals in tandem with politicians looking for easy karma (bonus points if they're European because it makes them look tough against the big corporate Americans plus Samsu…

> ...helping users who want to save money (poor people) even though this category lacks the skills and the interest to repair their devices anyway...

Sorry, but can you explain this a little more. It's coming off as pretty offensive.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#638

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well a lot of people are looking at Windows 11, which launched in 2021 and required a ~2018 CPU. Especially when Intel's 8th generation chips were barely different from the ones going back years. Chips close to that cutoff are going to have awful support lifetimes from microsoft if you can't get updates past 2025.

I laughed out loud when the Ryzen 7 1700X (8c/16t @ 3.4GHz) in my main desktop didn't meet the minimum system requirements. It's just 5 years old now, and I have a funny feeling it'll be more than powerful enough for a while yet.

They’re ways to get around the restrictions though I don’t know why you’d want to. Windows 11 is a virus

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#639
post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you want a watch (wrist or pocket)

Does a standalone cellular watch exist (as a daily driver for everything you’d expect in that form factor)?

i'm pretty sure the apple watch is standalone as of some years back but i'm not certain

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#640
post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does a standalone cellular watch exist (as a daily driver for everything you’d expect in that form factor)?

I absolutely love my watch and mostly stopped using my phone since getting it, but it’s mind blowing that such an expensive and capable device is forced to piggy back off of a phone. Why can’t my watch be supported by MacOS rather than iOS? I mean, I know why, but it’s crazy. As soon as I find a high quality standalone watch I’ll start to seriously consider not having a phone at all. Or perhaps just not an expensive…

what do you still need the phone for since they added standalone capabilities?
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