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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

#281
post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone cares about security updates.

Not everyone cares about using condoms for one night stands. Would you apply the same approach to Windows workstations?

I, personally, do care. But I saw lots of computers with old Windows, like XP, 2003 and so on. On my current work we have dozens of customers with Windows Vista which causes lots of headache and significantly limiting us with development tools. Well, it works for them, so who am I to judge. All I can see is that not everyone cares about security updates, including Windows workstations which handle quite important data.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#282

How about a high end phone now? I want a top tier device with sd slot and headphone jack and not a pain in the ass glued in everything

The Librem 5 is still on backorder as of today but is likely to reach shipping parity later this year.

Not exactly top-tier hardware-wise. But the Librem is running a mainline Linux kernel, so it will have a decade or more of software support and security updates.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#283

Wow HN. I really interesting new product comes out, a really interesting turn in the right to repair debate, and a return of a famous brand. And instead of talking about that, there are a series of threads about how an iphone costing 5 times as much and is famously difficult to repair is a better phone than this. Get a grip! Can we not have a least one conversation without Apple fanbois wading in?

So just to be clear: you want to discuss a smartphone, in a vacuum, completely ignoring what - barring a few select Android phones - effectively sets the bar for the industry. It’s not “fanbois”, it’s just reality. HN isn’t the one that needs to get a grip here.

The iPhone does not set any bar for budget phones. Irrelevant.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#284
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was very much the case a decade ago, when using an iPhone 3GS was a real slog by year 3 or 4, but is anyone still having those problems today? My daily driver is a 2018 iPhone XS, and it’s about as snappy with iOS 16 as I remember it being straight out of the box.

My dad uses a 5yr old iPhone X and it runs perfectly fine with the latest software updates. The baseline CPU (and RAM) quality has improved dramatically since around then where it's not a big deal to upgrade. Or maybe the software has matured enough. My mom had a 3yr old mid-teir Samsung phone and tablet (combo deals they always sell) they both became unusable when it upgraded to the latest version of Samsung basterd…

Don't worry, pure android versions also made my phone slow.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#285

I'm happy about this! But, while repairability is always great, a major (maybe the biggest) part of phone obsolescence is due to software. 2 or 3 years of updates are a joke, Apple does up to 8. The best hope here is that this phone's repairability will attract a software hacking community to provide inofficial updates, but what a terrible thing to have to rely on. Besides: Phones by other brands like Pocophone are p…

Psh 5 years? What kind of standard of quality is that?

We should have several decades of support for all cheap electronics at least…

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#286
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The positive (and there's plenty of criticism; search and read) point being made about iphone is that it has a longer support duration. This seems highly complementary to repairability -- both seem important to maximize useful life -- and thus an entirely fair point, no? I'm recently on my 4th Android smartphone in 12 years (Galaxy S, Moto G, Pixel 2, Pixel 7) and would be still on the Pixel 2 if not for lack of upda…

FYI you can get LineageOS 20 (Android 13) for your Pixel 2 with the latest updates: https://www.xda-developers.com/lineageos-20-google-pixel-2-a...

That's defnitely a big benefit. I used LineageOS (whatever it was called then) to extend the life of my Galaxy S, but at that time not having a working phone for awhile was a lot less disruptive to life and work, so I didn't attempt this time. But once I'm 100% migrated to my new Pixel 7, I'll certainly put an alternative ROM on the Pixel 2 to extend its non-phone life!

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The positive (and there's plenty of criticism; search and read) point being made about iphone is that it has a longer support duration. This seems highly complementary to repairability -- both seem important to maximize useful life -- and thus an entirely fair point, no? I'm recently on my 4th Android smartphone in 12 years (Galaxy S, Moto G, Pixel 2, Pixel 7) and would be still on the Pixel 2 if not for lack of upda…

Does that compete much against a $150-ish phone with 3 years of software support and super cheap, user replacable parts? I think it's making excuses that the iPhone isn't just a giant burning money pit for customers. Why are folks in a completely different market segment comparing the two?

Depends how likely either one is to break. I haven’t had case on my latest iPhones for 4 years and never seen break it at all. Also - how waterproof is this Nokia?

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#288
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

android is open source, nobody can answer me why the pinephone doesn't use android instead android doesn't require google services to work

In fact there are versions of Android that run on the PinePhone like GloDroid, but it's really not the goal. The goal behind efforts like the Librem 5 or PinePhone is not to create yet another Android phone, which Open Source or not will strengthen the Duopoly of Google and Apple in the Mobile Phone Operating System market. The goal is to create hardware that can jump-start the development of a true GNU/Linux Mobile…

>of a true GNU/Linux Mobile Operating System.

Why is GNU important? toybox's coreutils is a good enough replacement. If you really wanted you could install GNU's core utils. 99% of users don't want to be messing with command line tools anyways.

Android already brought Linux as a mobile operating system to the mainstream.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So just to be clear: you want to discuss a smartphone, in a vacuum, completely ignoring what - barring a few select Android phones - effectively sets the bar for the industry. It’s not “fanbois”, it’s just reality. HN isn’t the one that needs to get a grip here.

The iPhone does not set any bar for budget phones. Irrelevant.

It's not irrelevant. :)

Buying a "budget" phone that has no guarantee of long term parts availability, OS upgrades, etc is certainly worth comparing to Apple's lowest cost devices factored out over the sheer number of years they offer support/service for. I appreciate the aspect of right-to-repair on this device and I'm not saying the device shouldn't exist, but it's the height of absurdity to think it wouldn't get compared to Apple's devices at some point in the conversation.

Hell, even conversations about the Fairphone end up drawing these same comparisons since Apple's recycling program is pretty good.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The positive (and there's plenty of criticism; search and read) point being made about iphone is that it has a longer support duration. This seems highly complementary to repairability -- both seem important to maximize useful life -- and thus an entirely fair point, no? I'm recently on my 4th Android smartphone in 12 years (Galaxy S, Moto G, Pixel 2, Pixel 7) and would be still on the Pixel 2 if not for lack of upda…

I had an iPhone 4 many years ago, and Apple nerfed it with software updates when the iPhone 6 came out. These updates significantly slowed down the phone, pretty much forcing me to get a new one after only two years. So I bought an Android and never looked back.

Wouldn't that be 4 years? I also had an iPhone 4 ruined by the last iOS updates, but because of the S years it was: 4->4S->5->5S->6, so 4 years before battery life and performance went bad.
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