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Essential Phone, available now

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Re: Essential Phone, available now

#461

Post by x0x0 »

bmelton wrote: post #313
dforrestwilson wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

^ Same question! I love Google Fi, but am considering rolling off if I can't get a decent phone on-network (without doing the iPhone hack).

What do you find problematic with the Pixel?

1 - a lack of waterproofing from an iphone priced device. I bring my phone skiing; I kind of think that's table stakes for a $750 base price phone.

2 - I used a friend's phone; I didn't like the fingerprint scanner on the back. ymmv.

These are obviously nitpicks, but the Pixel is $900 out the door (128g, tax, case, etc.)

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#463

Post by remir »

microcolonel wrote: post #453

I think this company gets a lot of things right. Frankly, some of their marketing really speaks to me, like this bit from the home page[0]. Your phone is your personal property. It’s a public expression of who you are and what you stand for. Just because we played a part in making it doesn’t mean you should be forced to advertise that fact to everyone in your life. Now you know why we don't have any logos on the phon…

The only problem I see with the Essential Phone is that you'll only receive 2 years of OS updates. For a $700 phone, that's a bit insulting.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#464

Post by majani »

git-pull wrote: post #85

I admire the gumption of making a new phone. But controlled obsolescence kills me. The real feature that improves in phones the past few years for me is the software and apps, not the hardware . My wishlist: - Give me a lighter, snappier OS. Not something clunkier and slower and uses more ram, gpu/cpu (aka battery life). - Actually support updates to the things for longer than 2-3 years. - (Not related to this phone)…

That phone already exists and I'm using it right now: the Gionee M6 Lite. Everything in your wishlist except the physical keyboard, for $130. Since it's a Chinese phone it doesn't get much hype.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#465

Post by zifnab06 »

aeorgnoieang wrote: post #367
maxaf wrote: post #25

Why would I spend $700+ on a phone with a dubious fate when I can spend $230 on a Moto G5 Plus and have Lineage OS running on it in no time, for a long time?

What exactly is Lineage OS? Their website is pretty hostile towards anyone trying to answer that question easily. The about page consists solely of two definitions of 'lineage', neither of which is a cutesy reference to the project.

...I've been meaning to fix that.

LineageOS is the continuation of CyanogenMod after Cyanogen Inc decided to close their Seattle office and pivot away from Android. The best way I can put it is "easily buildable Android for unlocked devices" (that is, assuming your device is supported - if it isn't, it's a bit more work). There are a handful of modifications but overall it's close to stock.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#466

Post by givinguflac »

incompatible wrote: post #437
the_common_man wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you are no longer required to have a developer account in order to test your apps on your Mac and/or iOS device. to publish apps you still need the account.

Wait, you are saying you can now install arbitrary software on an IOS device, you don't need to use the app store?

Correct. The iOS 9 and 10 jailbreaks used this method to utilize app based exploit vectors. Unfortunately the app are limited to 7 days before signing again.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#467

Post by deaddodo »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #160
mc32 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When mac books needed some pep in marketing, as sales floundered, Jobs also diverged into Titanium in lieu of faster uPs. After that wore off he went to the unwieldy 17" Mac Books. Often times Titanium is just a marketing ploy. Like titanium cards. Titanium bracelets. Etc.

And Apple moved to using aluminum from titanium in its PowerBooks (the design would later be the basis of the original MacBook Pro), in part, because the softness of of the metal, led to warps and bends in those first-gen TiBook models. I don't know how Essential is using titanium, but history certainly has examples of gadgets that suffered from using that metal over others.

Ti is about 3x as hard as Al:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardnesses_of_the_elements_(da...

Not to mention, very few use pure titanium. Most use an alloy like 6al4v, which gives it the best of both worlds.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#468

Post by ryanwaggoner »

tomc1985 wrote: post #456
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the manual transmission is also almost dead, at least in the US. And soon self driving cars and electrics will make the whole question moot, just like voice and gestures and mental control will make keyboard preference obsolete.

> at least in the US They are alive and kicking everywhere else.

Not for long :)

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#470

Post by remir »

abawany wrote: post #73
agumonkey wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too short IMO, I personally would value having a 5yo device still useful, above that I can accept limitations in terms of new; below it's just pushing for renewal for no reason.

I agree. I am currently using my 2011/12 vintage Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (albeit as a play phone) with Lineage OS (Android 7.x) and it works pretty good. Batteries are getting harder to find but still available. It works great.

The simple fact that we have to rely on volunteers to have a recent OS on our phone shows how problematic updates are on Android. Hopefully Project Treble will make the lives of Lineage devs easier.
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