LG is getting out of the mobile phone business • Hacker News Board

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#391

Post by eptcyka » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 11:39 AM UTC

mcny wrote: post #302

eptcyka wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that feasible when the device is only supported for 3 years max? This is a serious question. Just bought a new pixel 5, because the pixel 3 I had bought refurbished 2 years ago will lose support in October. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the pixel 3, it's literally the same phone with slightly older innards and no wide angle camera.

My guess is it is a self fulfilling prophecy. If a lot of people have older devices, application developers have to support the older API levels. For example, a store called Safeway decided to cut out an older version of Android. However, they reversed less than a month later. Speaking of marketing, I think LG does market quite a bit inside the Republic of Korea. I saw a show called oh my ghost and everyone had an LG…

I really don't care about apps, I've barely ever ran into app compatibility issues on older devices. What I care about is security updates.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#392

Post by literallycancer » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 11:39 AM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #296

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you mean way out of Google Play Store due API 29? As that's why I mentioned f-droid and f-droid doesn't require API-target restrictions. Termux is being updated only on f-droid because of those changes. If you meant Termux on Android 11, Here's the quote from the developer- >"Most of things work on Android 11. Only few packages have issues (including zsh) and restricted /proc/net which renders network information…

Yes, standard Android, I don't care about deviations like f-droid. Some of those issues are manageable when making use of Java APIs, naturally not all of them, and even less if one refuses to touch Java.

With the governments waking up on big tech, it is very possible that you won't even have to root to have the Google Play UX with fdroid, like automatic background updates.

Used to be you had to jump through hoops to get other stores at all and now it's just a few clicks away.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#393

Post by AnssiH » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 11:43 AM UTC

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #177

ehsankia wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't even need to go that far. - ASUS is on it's 5th? gaming focused phone (with attachable fan and all) [1] - You have folding, flipping and stretching [2] phones - You still have plenty of great niche hardware keyboard phones [3] The issue is that these mostly fill niches, as the majority of people are happy enough having the a clean simple phone. [1] https://rog.asus.com/phones/rog-phone-model/ [2] https://ww…

> plenty of great niche hardware keyboard phones Plenty? In what way? There seems to be one company that makes a keyboard phone with outdated CPUs and other hardware, to make ends meet and be able to produce such a phone economically.

I would not say plenty, but there are at least three companies (Fxtec, Planet Computers, BlackBerry/OnwardMobility):

https://www.fxtec.com/pro1x

https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk/cosmo-communicator

https://www.techradar.com/news/new-blackberry-5g-phone-with-...

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#394

Post by mjgs » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 11:43 AM UTC

I don’t know that much about mobile development aside from as a user, but I guess the disappearance of a manufacturer is somewhat similar to the disappearance of a web browser, but probably worse because you also loose all the hardware possibilities, and I always thought that LG had some interesting phone designs, especially the dual screen devices, a bit experimental, but it seemed though at some stage one of them would lead to something really novel.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#395

Post by deergomoo » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 11:44 AM UTC

rtkwe wrote: post #67

klondike_ wrote: post #5

What happened to the Android phone ecosystem? Android phones used to offer unique and useful features like removable batteries, headphone jacks, IR blasters, SD cards, etc. Now it seems that Samsung and Google are obsessed with copying whatever Apple does, even their controversial decisions like removing the headphone jack, even after making fun of Apple for doing it. No thanks, why would I buy a shittier iPhone with…

There's decent reasons behind most of those, or at least consistent ones, a lot is around slimness which drives strength and material decisions. > removable batteries Those usually require relatively flimsy backs that slide fit onto the phone. This has problems with water proofing and it's a part that can wear and eventually fit poorly or fall off. It's a lot easier to waterproof/resist a phone when you can seal the…

> If you include SD card expansion storage it's harder to upsell people on the larger more expensive storage options because usually SD cards are cheaper than the equivalent sized storage in a phone

Another argument against SD cards is that a lot of stuff people do on their phones requires a certain baseline performance, e.g. 4K60 video recording, burst photography etc.

Other stuff like fast loading of apps from disk isn’t necessarily required, but reflects poorly on the phone if it’s slow. It could also cause issues for games which might expect to be able to stream a lot of data from disk.

Of course, it’s perfectly possible to buy SD cards which are plenty fast enough to support this stuff but:

a. SD card speed classes are a bit of a nightmare even for techy people

b. 99% of people will just buy the cheapest card they can find on eBay, which is likely to be some knock-off crap

Throw in the fact that no expandable storage forces people into a purchase-time upgrade with a hefty markup applied and it’s not hard to imagine why it’s all but disappeared.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#396

Post by totalZero » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 11:48 AM UTC

perryizgr8 wrote: post #339

iainmerrick wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s optional, and opt-in -- it asks you during phone setup whether to enable Siri. It does try to nudge you into enabling it, but if someone kept pressing that button and invoking Siri accidentally, they could open Settings and search for “siri” to disable it, which I think is reasonably discoverable.

Bixby is also optional. You can disable the key trigger from the settings, exactly like iphone.

Depends what phone. S8 for example had a Bixby button that could not be disabled.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#397

Post by deergomoo » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 11:49 AM UTC

Stratoscope wrote: post #176

villgax wrote: post #29

Can manufacturers do a wedge like design with a thicker top & tapered bottom edge? That way there is no camera bump & the device sits flat on a desk & a bit raised towards you as well. Bonus camera points coz the lenses are along the same axis horizontally & closer to the centre of the device than in one corner, likewise for the front facing camera too, which could just be shoved into one corner without leaving a hol…

I don't mind a camera bump if it is symmetric horizontally. But most of the ones I've seen have the bump on one corner, which ruins the use case you mentioned of setting the device flat on a desk or table. My Note 8 and a friend's Note 9 don't really have a camera bump at all, other than a barely raised ridge around the camera section. But unlike many other phones, this ridge is symmetric: it extends equally to the l…

> But most of the ones I've seen have the bump on one corner, which ruins the use case you mentioned of setting the device flat on a desk or table.

Unfortunately I don’t think this is a high priority because most people use a case, which means the camera is either flush or even slightly recessed depending on thickness.

I don’t use a case on my phone so this annoys me just as much as it does you, but for 99% of people I doubt they even think about it.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#398

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 11:50 AM UTC

Server6 wrote: post #122

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #110

At this point there are basically no non-Chinese mobile phone makers aside from Samsung and Apple. And even those devices are still manufactured in China, right?

Here's a list: Apple – American Samsung Mobile – South Korean Nokia Mobile – Finnish Google Pixel – American Sony Mobile – Japanese LG – South Korean BLU Products – American Lava – Indian Sharp – Japanese Fairphone – Dutch Philips Mobile – Dutch Yotaphone – Russian BQ – Spanish Acer – Taiwanese Asus – Taiwanese HTC – Taiwanese Essential Products – American Cherry Mobile – Philippino DoCoMo – Japanese Panasonic Mobile…

[deleted]

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#399

Post by totalZero » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 11:52 AM UTC

scaladev wrote: post #167

blackoil wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With fast charging, removable batteries aren't that important now. IR blaster is too niche. SD card, headphone jack are still available in lot of phones, but again aren't deciding factor for most people. IPhone is an aspirational brand with awesome marketing, so things like notch which don't make much sense are copied by everyone.

>removable batteries aren't that important now If you like throwing out your phones every two to three years, then sure.

Seems a bit dramatic considering that you can simply replace the battery once every three years.

I like having a waterproof phone.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#400

Post by LockAndLol » Mon, Apr 05, 2021, 12:00 PM UTC

I doubt they'll opensource anything even after exiting the market, which is unfortunate. Millions of devices will stop getting updates in a few years.