161–170 of 339 posts
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That is what EVs are for. Replace the battery every few years and replace your car whenever a new incompatible plug standard comes out.
Silly point when you consider that manufacturers love the fact that an ICE vehicle has to go into the garage for new parts every few months
It's hard to feel positive about upgrading my phone when every new phone seems to remove things I want while adding stuff I don't care about. My S10e is a reasonable size in my pocket. It has a headphone jack. It has an SD card slot. Any new Samsung phone I buy will be missing these things, and I'll be forced to pay hundreds of dollars extra to increase the on-board storage that will still be far less than the 512GB…
Eventually you'll just have to upgrade because the phone is too slow. I had to upgrade from my galaxy S8 earlier this year because it slowed to a crawl, my wife commented on how slow it was every time she used it. I had it for 5 years. I still hate not having a headphone jack, but having 5G and an insanely fast phone made it worth it.
If you're thinking about ditching your smartphone, now is a great time. There are lots of options out there.
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One issue is that your Pixel 5 won't get any more security updates (past October 2023). My wife's Pixel 4A is in the same boat - perfectly fine except no more security updates. Doesn't matter much right now, but will gradually start to matter over time.
And why does that problem roll downhill to me? If Google can't convince me to upgrade they should be supporting devices longer. Obviously I know they won't, because they want me to stay on the upgrade treadmill to generate profits. And realistically, even if it's only a small chance, any security issues could potentially cause unauthorized access to my banks accounts or whatever, so the short term pain of upgrading i…
You own the phone.
Not only will I not be upgrading to another smartphone, I'm two months in on my dumb phone. It's been an incredible and liberating experience. Not only am I not glued to the smartphone anymore, my phone bill is now $15 / month, haha. If you're thinking about ditching your smartphone, now is a great time. There are lots of options out there.
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Curious: outside of people who take lots of high res video, what do people need high-speed USB C for?
The main benefit is that everything else also uses USB-C, so you can standardise on one type of cable.
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How is anything a status symbol that is owned by 60% of the population in the US? You can get an iPhone for $20 a month or less from either Apple or the carrier. Heck even the low cost MVNOs are offering a “free iPhone”.
Cosmetic changes like different colors and materials make it possible to distinguish who has the latest model and who has last year's as well as between the base and the pro models. It may seem pretty subtle, but status signaling is often subtle at the high end.
Apple’s average replacement cycle hasn’t been every year for a decade if ever.
And if most people are upgrading yearly, why would Apple bother releasing security updates back to the iPhone 5s (2013) in the last year
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That chargie device is interesting! The latest versions of Android and iOS have finally built in battery management that does basically the same thing (they will not rapid charge over night, and will sometimes limit charge below 100%). I'm curious to see long term how much these changes will help.
Android, Samsung lower mid-range phone: set to maximum 85% charge thru the OS was a nice find in the menu.
Another key thing for the Chargie is that it will cut power after reaching its requested charge, and only resume charging again if power falls to a certain level. This prevents the "trickle charge to maintain the precise percentage" thing that is a real killer for batteries.
Aside: I absolutely loathe how much stuff these days requires a phone to use.
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Eventually you'll just have to upgrade because the phone is too slow. I had to upgrade from my galaxy S8 earlier this year because it slowed to a crawl, my wife commented on how slow it was every time she used it. I had it for 5 years. I still hate not having a headphone jack, but having 5G and an insanely fast phone made it worth it.
I bought a usbc to barrel adapter. It has a extra cable for power if I want to charge too. Still annoyed they took it away. s5->s22 was my step.