This "paper" doesn't really have anything in it, it's just a proposal with some unhelpful graphs. I wonder what they think is the novelty here. People with small budgets have been building compute clusters out of second-hand upcycled hardware for a long time.
A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones
151–160 of 177 posts
Re: A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones
#152This is ignoring the fact that the main reason retired phones are e-waste is proprietary firmware blobs and locked-down systems preventing users from maintaining their phone with security updates, and very limited support length from OEM's leads to VERY insecure devices after they drop out of support. You should not be connecting these old devices to an internet accessible network. Google notably does well here with…
Just ask Mythos to jailbreak the phone OS for you ;-)
Re: A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones
#153Re: A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones
#154Is it still easy and cheap to get old, unwanted corporate laptops by the dozens? That seems a better way to go than locked-down-firmware phones
Re: A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones
#155This is ignoring the fact that the main reason retired phones are e-waste is proprietary firmware blobs and locked-down systems preventing users from maintaining their phone with security updates, and very limited support length from OEM's leads to VERY insecure devices after they drop out of support. You should not be connecting these old devices to an internet accessible network. Google notably does well here with…
Agreed. All parts of a device that we buy must be user replaceable. Phones can have decades of life. After their initial use as a first phone, they become a hand me down for their children, and they can become further hand me downs for people in third world countries or continue to live on as computers that can take on a variety of other roles. The OS must be user replaceable so we can run what we like. If this is no…
Back before I got used to Google cancelling all of their projects, I was immensely excited, then disappointed by this:
Re: A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Phones don't actually get slower, or, they shouldn't, if they are reasonably well maintained. A battery swap might be necessary to preserve battery life under load. A NAND might start going bad. Apple just shipped iOS 27, which has support for 2019's iPhone 11. So we are around 7 years there. It's probably fine for many people's use! For a task like openclaw or hermes, or even something more aggressively graphical &…
> Phones don't actually get slower, or, they shouldn't, if they are reasonably well maintained. Relative to ever rising hw requirements of apps they obviously get slower. That is why I personally buy new phones.
I think you're right, if you're referring to the hardware.
But there are also ever rising hardware requires for the built in apps and the rest of the operating system.
An iPad which we bought around 5 years ago, which was still on sale just over 2 years ago, is now painfully slow compared to when purchased (thanks to iOS 26) when using the the Settings app, the App Store, Safari, etc.
This is very important for devices with only one choice for operating system, like Apple iPads and iPhones.
It's true that the device only feels slower because the apps are have had feature updates, but there isn't a way to only choose security updates (except sometimes briefly after Apple release a really bloated new iOS version).
A similar situation applies for Android devices. While you can usually install something like LineageOS or GrapheneOS , if you also switch to a newer Android version to keep receiving security patches, the phone will feel considerably slower. If you stay on an older version, the OS will stop receiving updates sooner.*
*I haven't kept up with this lately, so I'd be happy to find out this isn't the case. If, for example, you could stay on a version of LineageOS or GrapheneOS based on Android 13, and still receive security updates.
Re: A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones
#157This is ignoring the fact that the main reason retired phones are e-waste is proprietary firmware blobs and locked-down systems preventing users from maintaining their phone with security updates, and very limited support length from OEM's leads to VERY insecure devices after they drop out of support. You should not be connecting these old devices to an internet accessible network. Google notably does well here with…
>This is ignoring the fact that the main reason retired phones are e-waste is proprietary firmware blobs and locked-down systems preventing users from maintaining their phone with security updates, and very limited support length from OEM's leads to VERY insecure devices after they drop out of support. Approximately nobody is throwing away phones because the OEM stopped providing security patches. They're doing it fo…
I’ve got a Pixel 4a as a second phone just for work… it’s a perfectly fine phone
I’ve stopped using it because Google abandoned it after 18 months
There are plenty of Android phones out there that are usable but get abandoned by the makers
Re: A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
>This is ignoring the fact that the main reason retired phones are e-waste is proprietary firmware blobs and locked-down systems preventing users from maintaining their phone with security updates, and very limited support length from OEM's leads to VERY insecure devices after they drop out of support. Approximately nobody is throwing away phones because the OEM stopped providing security patches. They're doing it fo…
Phones don't get "slow" on their own. It's usually due to bloatware from upgrades. Many phone cameras are already quite good. The only remaining reason to upgrade is possible security vulnerabilities, but even that doesn't require heavy software. Supporting larger apps is the main reason the system requirements continue to increase, since Niklaus Wirth wrote, "A Plea For Lean Software" in 1995. But even if people cou…
> Many phone cameras are already quite good.
Of course, you and I know that. But most people just listen to the marketing material.
My mother's most used feature on her phone is the camera.
She asked me about getting a new phone when she has a perfectly working Samsung flagship phone from 3 years ago. The marketing says "The S26 camera is _SOOOO_ much better". But, really, it's exactly the same sensors as the S23.
Re: A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't the story that some gaming consoles were sold at or under cost price and the markup was on the game sales? I don't know if it's fair to require that needs to be unlocked Yet I 100% agree on a generic computing device and they're not really that different in the end. Maybe that it needs to be unlockable after it has been on the market for 4 years or so (all units, no matter when they were sold, no matter if supp…
Consoles haven't been sold with a loss for generations, please stop repeating that to support DRM.
Didn't know that, thanks for the correction!
Re: A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't the story that some gaming consoles were sold at or under cost price and the markup was on the game sales? I don't know if it's fair to require that needs to be unlocked Yet I 100% agree on a generic computing device and they're not really that different in the end. Maybe that it needs to be unlockable after it has been on the market for 4 years or so (all units, no matter when they were sold, no matter if supp…
> Isn't the story that some gaming consoles were sold at or under cost price and the markup was on the game sales? Yes, but I'm confident Android smartphones aren't. Maybe Google is an exception here, but all the other manufacturers profit mostly from the hardware and not from the Apps. Samsung has its own app store, but I think only a tiny minority of users spend money there.
True, though any regulation would (at least ideally) be generic about computing devices