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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

#701

Post by kernal »

netsharc wrote: post #549
firecall wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you install your own Android versions? How does it work Android in this regard? I guess it’s not like Windows where if my hardware is supported I can install the latest supported version? I suppose it’s somewhat interesting in the industry difference between supporting hardware with updates as if it’s firmware, and supporting software with updates like an OS. (Not advocating for windows for anything at all BTW)

Homebrew ROMs often don't have Google's holywater blessing of being certified, so some things like banking apps might not run on them. So, say your phone has old Android version x. You're fine until a security hole shows up, or your banking app says "Our app needs Android version x+1. Please update your phone.". Oops, not offered by phone. Install a custom ROM. Banking app says "This device is not certified and for y…

To test this out I installed apps from 3 of the largest banks on a Nexus 5 running Lineage OS 20 (Android 13 - yes a 9 year old phone with 2GB of RAM running Android 13 very well) with a minimum install of Google Play Services. 1 app said I was running a modified version of Android, but let me proceed to log in. The other 2 let me log in immediately with no warning message.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#703

Post by happymellon »

rglullis wrote: post #246
happymellon wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't the US decide to use different frequencies to everyone else?

Plenty of models that can work with all frequencies, so I am not sure if that's enough of a justification. Anyway, your point reminds me that the my "dream smartphone" would be one with no cellular connectivity at all. I'm still waiting for some company to start producing a keychain-sized 4G (or 5G) hotspot with an eSIM, which (I hope) would lead to more people asking for the return of the iPod Touch and for somethin…

> Plenty of models that can work with all frequencies, so I am not sure if that's enough of a justification.

Only some chipsets work with all frequencies and when 90% of the population of the planet all use the same settings why spend the cost to cover the other 10% which would double your chipset costs but would unlikely increase sales.

Americans bully each other over the colour of their chat bubbles because apparently not buying iPhone makes you appear poor. There are lots of justifications to avoid increasing costs to try selling to the Americans.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#704

Post by grishka »

dataflow wrote: post #685
cubefox wrote: post #439

Does anyone notice the irony of it being partly repairable, while offering just three years of security updates, after which you basically have to throw the thing away? The repairability sounds nice, but it is very irrelevant compared to the limited software updates. Imagine buying a Windows laptop and only receiving three years of security updates. (I know, most other phones aren't better.) It would have been better…

> while offering just three years of security updates, after which you basically have to throw the thing away Nope, you don't. It's just that somehow techies seem to have gotten this meme into their heads that an unpatched life isn't worth living. Can't update my phone within 1 microsecond of a patch being released? I guess I might as well just die. Much safer than risking the > The repairability sounds nice, but it…

I build Android apps for a living. Let me tell you, the majority of users are on "outdated" OS versions. You have to support 5-7 years of Android releases to cover a substantial part of the Android user base. The app I'm currently working on requires a minimum version of 6.0 — this came out in 2015. I still test my apps on a Nexus 5.

Many people would buy a phone that will never receive a single update. The software it came with is the only software it'll ever run. And they're fine with that. They see software updates as an annoyance and I fully understand them.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#705

Post by happymellon »

cesarb wrote: post #361
rglullis wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of models that can work with all frequencies, so I am not sure if that's enough of a justification. Anyway, your point reminds me that the my "dream smartphone" would be one with no cellular connectivity at all. I'm still waiting for some company to start producing a keychain-sized 4G (or 5G) hotspot with an eSIM, which (I hope) would lead to more people asking for the return of the iPod Touch and for somethin…

> Anyway, your point reminds me that the my "dream smartphone" would be one with no cellular connectivity at all. You mean a PDA ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant )? Modern smartphones are basically a PDA with cellular connectivity (this is more obvious with early smartphones like the Treo 650), so if you take out the cellular connectivity, what you have is once again a PDA.

Personally what I want is a dumb flip phone which can act as a 4/5G hotspot for my 7" tablet.

When I'm on the internet, browing maps, reading books, I find a phone screen too small. But I don't want a massive phone.

A dumb flip phone that lasts a week on a charge so that I can camp with it, combined with a 7" tablet that I can throw in my bag, for when I want to read, but doesn't need cellular connectivity so that it lasts without spying on me.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#706

Post by happymellon »

lallysingh wrote: post #240
happymellon wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't the US decide to use different frequencies to everyone else?

Doesn't 5g fix that? Same radios for everyone.

Does it? I thought Americans were still using alternative frequencies to everyone else.

[Edit]

It appears that the US doesn't overlap with the majority of the world for most of the ranges, except for one band at the top which overlaps with Japan/Korea.

https://5gobservatory.eu/5g-spectrum/

> Currently, the most used bands are:

- Low-band: 700 MHz (except in US); 600 MHz (US)

- Mid-band: 3.3 – 3.8 GHz (except US); 2.6 GHz, 3.7 – 4.98 GHz (US)

- High-band: 26 GHz (except Japan, South Korea and US); 28 GHz (Japan, South Korea and US)

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#707

Post by hackernewds »

squarefoot wrote: post #355

Close, but no cigar. After 3 years or 2 major Android versions it still becomes an unsupported doorstop doomed to rot in a drawer until the owner throws it into a landfill. I totally understand not wanting to put resources into supporting old products, so the punchline should have been "...and after support is ceased, we unlock the bootloader". Now that would have made it interesting.

additionally

> available for five years through ifixit

this is not the win-win it's touted to being vs a high quality phone that just works for 5 years.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#708

Post by shp0ngle »

b1ue64 wrote: post #446
shp0ngle wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nokia nowadays has nothing to do with the original company. The name was moved around, first to Microsoft, now it’s some Chinese company I think?

HMD Global, a Finnish company, currently runs Nokia's phone business.

Oh. For some reason I thought they are Chinese… I guess I confused it with BlackBerry ownership, that’s now… Chinese? I think? I don’t know.

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#709

Post by AnthonyMouse »

scarface74 wrote: post #679
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple iPhone as the gold standard only provide security updates up to 6-7 years Laughs in Microsoft How about 20 years?! I have a laptop built in 2006, it runs Windows 10 and will be supported untill 2025. It can also run software compiled in 1999! What platform can beat it, an IBM mainframe? Microsoft is the gold standard! Its a shame they never get credit for the one thing they do well.

This comparison isn’t really relevant. Could you run the then current operating system in 2006 on a computer that you bought in 1986? A 2010 iPhone 4s can’t connect to any network in the US let alone a 2007 iPhone. Computers changed leaps and bounds in the first 20 years just like smartphones have. Sure my 2010 Dell Core 2 Duo with 8GB of RAM can run Windows 10. But a computer bought in 1997 couldn’t run the then cur…

> This comparison isn’t really relevant. Could you run the then current operating system in 2006 on a computer that you bought in 1986?

The processor available in 1986 was the i386, which was supported by Linux until 2012. i486 support is on its way out just now, more than 33 years later.

> A 2010 iPhone 4s can’t connect to any network in the US let alone a 2007 iPhone.

It's not expected to do what modern phones can do. But it could still connect to WiFi, so why shouldn't it be usable for reading text or listening to music?

Why not connect the USB and turn it into a NAS or a doorbell camera or any of the things anybody would do with a Raspberry Pi?

Re: Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

#710

Post by grujicd »

toastal wrote: post #657
peterlk wrote: post #391

And it comes with a 3mm headphone jack! Hallelujah!! I’m so, so glad someone is stepping up to fill this niche. My only complaint, and it’s kind if a big one, is that the screen is too damn big. I’m tired of phone manufacturers forcing me to carry a television in my pocket. I want something small that I can hold in one hand without a pop socket. I’ll trade performance, camera quality, basically anything for a phone w…

Headphone jack and OLED display are my only two musts on a new smart phone. Wireless earbuds are scam solution by the problem created by removing the jack. But I really can't go back to IPS on any display in my life where the experience and color matter.

I hate removal of 3.5mm port same as you, but wireless earbuds are not a scam per se. I have some Sony buds which have great sound and there's no more a minute of untangling cable whenever I take them from the bag. However, that's not the reason to not have headphone jack since it has other uses and can perfectly coexist with bluetooth devices.
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