Other than your carrier give it for free or cheap, I don’t really see the reason why should you buy new phone. I’ve been using Redmi Note 9 for past 3 years and recently got my had on Poco F5. I don’t see the point of my ‘upgrade’. I sold it and come back to my Note 9. Gaming? Most of them are p2w or microtransaction garbage or just gimped version of its PC/Console counterpart. I mean, $400 still get you PS4, TV and Switch if you don’t mind buying used. At least here where I live. Storage? Dude, newer phone wont even let you have SD Card. Features? Well, all I see is newer phones take more features than it adds. Headphone jack, more ads, and repairability are to name a few. Battery? Just replace them. However, my Note 9 still get through day with one 80% charge in the dawn. Which takes 1 hour.
I am genuinely curious why newer phone always selling like hot cakes. Since there’s virtually no difference between 4gb of RAM and 12gb of RAM, or 12mp camera and 100mp camera on phone.
I mean, most of the population isn’t buying a new phone every year, it’s just that there are enough people using phones in general that at any given time there are people buying new models. It’s the same reason why there are people buying cars every year.
I personally use my phones for about 3 years. Sometimes up to 4, but usually year 3-4 is when the battery degradation gets so horribly bad and performance stutters so much that I figure if I’m going to do a full reset and buy a new battery and all that, I might as well get a new phone.
See thats where im with OP.
Lots of people do switch every 1-2 years.
And swapping a battery costs idk 40€ and an afternoon, full reset costs nothing and takes 20 minutes. Why would i generate that much trash and spend a thousand bucks on the latest shit thats 99% the same instead?
Capitalism and Marketing, bro.
I know, thats why it’s so annoying.
Just two more reasons not to do it.
I had a oneplus 2 since 2015 or so until upgrading to a 9 Pro in 2021.
Several important apps had locked me out and battery life slowly became a noticable problem. I would’ve been fine for another 3-5 years if the lineage image had still supplied android security updates.The only reason I had to replace my OP3 was because the buttons and screen broke down after 6 years. Battery was max 1 day but it worked for me.
Yeah everyone I know charges their phone over night every day anyway.
Not charging my old phone to 100%, rather to 85% or 90% has helped with battery longevity immensely. After almost 5 years in use, accubattery still shows 80% battery health, and even if that’s not accurate, it still lasts quite a while. The SD625 that phone had was very sluggish though, so in the end I still replaced it
I used to do that, but it was a chore to keep monitoring my battery life. I wish there were a “charge phone to 80% and stop” option.
There are apps you can install to manage it for you on android, automatically cutting off charging when a given percentage is reached.
…huh, i wish i knew that earlier. I’m gonna search for it now.
Samsung phones let you restrict the battery percentage to 85 percent. I think Apple does the same now.
My samsung has the feature built in, but on that old phone I rooted and installed Advanced Charge Controller. (Not feasible for most people i know)
I don’t know why Google hasn’t put this feature directly into Android. It’s honestly one of the biggest pushes away from Pixel devices for me and it’s absolutely silly.
The only real issue are updates. After just 3 years my previous phone didn’t get any security updates and I had to get new hardware. I actually liked my previous phone more than my current one. But it is how it is.
That’s the reason why I switched to iPhone after many years of Android, security updates are vital nowadays with all the sensitive data and apps we use on our phones, Apple is the only one that guarantees al least 5 years, iPhones are not too expensive if you don’t buy the latest models and I’d rather avoid supporting companies that don’t understand the importance of security.
Apple isn’t the only one that guarantees many years of updates. The fairphone (although currently only sold in the EU, they’re coming soon to the USA) has 5 years of promised support, Google Pixel 6 and later also have 5 years of promised updates, Samsung Galaxy, has 4 years, while one year less than its competitors, still much better than the 1-2 years most phones used to have. Android phones these days aren’t like the wild west back then, Android phones are on par with iPhones, the choice is merely personal preference.
Happy to hear companies are finally getting it.
I have just done the same.
Although Google are now promising 5 years of support for Pixel phones, Pixel phones are not a core business for Google, and as they have shown many times, Google will end projects at the drop of a hat with no regard for their customers.
There are secondary Android companies like Samsung that promise long term security updates, but are always behind the publishing curve compared to Google. This means that malicious actors have the opportunity to study Google’s published updates to reverse engineer cracks that they then exploit.
The current Android security update model is inherently insecure due to this issue. Until manufacturers are forced to update in a timely manner ( by which I mean simultaneously with Google) I won’t buy another Android phone.
Yeah exactly. It’s surprising how many people don’t check or care how long their device is being updated. Apple does a great job of supplying their devices with updates long-term.
If you stand there at the store with this year’s iPhone; take the full price divided by how many years you plan to own/ use it. Then you realize it’s actually relatively cheap.
iPhones have decent residual value as well. You should be able to recoup at least a third of the price after three years, if you look after it.
True, I bought an ipad more than 7 years ago to read because e-readers are too small for my liking.
I don’t use it much anymore since I have an e-writer now, but it still receives updates regularly, whatever comes to my phone comes to it as well, it’s impressive.
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Both Samsung and Google give you 5 years of updates (at least 3 major Android releases + 2 years of Security updates) for a few years now.
Pixel actually guarantees 5 years now and if you put GrapheneOS on it, then you’ll have one of the most private and secure operating systems available
just a side note for graphene: i have the feeling that it’s not for everyone. “too much” security tends to get in the UX way
Chances are if you know how to use an Android, using Graphene isn’t too much harder. You can still download from the play store and run apps like normal. If you’re reading this post then you probably have the technical knowhow to plug your phone into the computer and press the start button.
Fair point with not being for everybody though, I wouldn’t be comfortable giving it to my non-techy family and friends. You do have a fair point.
I’ve been running GrapheneOS on my Pixel 3 for three years and I have few complaints. I still cant figure out how to get automatic updates to work in Android 13 with the Neo or Droidify stores but atleast the stock GOS apps auto update. BTW, to clarify what you said, we have to use the Aurora app to download from Google Play Store.
You’re right it’s not for most people. Not having Google services installed might be a major blow for people who have become accustomed to the conveniences they provide. I just use a separate vanilla Pixel for Google services if I need them, but the phone with my SIM card is the one with GrapheneOS.
Pixel and Samsung also have 5 years of updates promised. And more phones are giving at least 3 years. I don’t think most people nowadays are hanging onto their 5 year old phones. Most everyone switches phones every 2 or 3 years.
I’m a fringe case then lol, I keep them until they actually break, they do last 4-5 years for me, sometimes more, I don’t make intense use of my phone, I much prefer using my PC for basically everything.
This is why we need law to mandate security updates for 5+ years.
If you are using an android phone, you can change the ROM to one that still gets updates, it’s like changing the os in a computer. The process will delete all of the user data inside the phone but you’ve got nothing to lose if it doesn’t get any security updates.
I recommend lineageOS to anyone wanting to go down this route because of its compatibility with every phone, old or new.
How difficult is it to change ROM?
hmmm depends on the phone and what you mean difficult. If you’ve managed to format a computer you’ll be fine. If you’re having trouble downloading chrome or office, maybe think about it again - I’m not saying you shouldn’t try or learn (everybody can learn), Im just saying that it will require an amount of time that I imagine would be uncomfortable to a user that don’t wanna bother downloading a program.
Not all people enjoy computers!
It depends. For Graphene OS, there is a web installer that the people who have used it said it was the easiest custom rom they’ve installed. Unfortunately, it only supports for Google Pixels.
For other custom roms… maybe not as easy…
Graphene OS Web Install: https://grapheneos.org/install/web
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Yes that’s true, but I’ve heard from others that the person involved has since stepped down from Graphene OS development, so it should be safe from now on.
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that “security update” quickly gets irrelevant as the exploits for lineage (or any non-standard rom) sells for pennies compared to a stock exploit. also no one’s paying security researchers to assess lineage - also it would be completely impossible with the amount of updates and devices they release
remember that (unfortunately) security is all about money
But more people using stock roms could potentially mean any exploit is more easily found compared to custom roms. Not saying that’s the case, but it’s a factor to consider.
as more people use a software it’s not easier to find exploits but much more profitable - and you see that propagate, as in:
- More people start to use a software
- Inevitably it gets hacked - by a kid most probably
- The company starts panicking due to bad press
- They start fixing the security bugs
- (some years pass)
- Now its quite difficult to find exploit as many security bugs have been fixed
- Exploit prices skyrocket since it would affect many users and it’s difficult to develop
- Bug bounty skyrockets since the exploits are so pricey
Now the last 2 steps tend to cycle since the security of the product fluctuates
Now the above have nothing to do with “residual” products - such as custom roms. And actually, you have so many deeply specialized people around the main product that finding a bug and developing an exploit on the residual is just a matter of “who the fuck cares”.
So you’re basing your security of your phone on “care”, also known as security through obscurity (some times at least).
Another example of “who cares” security is libreoffice. When I started as a security engineer the veteran (and boss) referred to it as training material to find security bugs. I found some, but who cares? Ain’t nobody gonna pay for them as “nobody” uses the software (keep in mind that we’re referring to millions of daily users rather than thousands per month)
Sorry for sheet! ❤️ Be safe and use a password manager
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Hey there! Have you checked xda for unofficial ports or other ROMs? Might still be better than vanilla
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That’s why I installed custom ROM on my Redmi Note 3 and used it for 4.5y until the battery swole.
Switch to iPhone. Or pixel. Longer security updates. Guaranteed
I hope I dont jinx myself with this but I dont think security updates at the OS level are that important nowadays.
There is a HUGE difference in 4 and 12 GB of ram if you’re using 20 different apps at once that are all running background tasks.
The camera raw megapixel are of little significance these days but things like optical zoom or a larger sensor and aperture make a lot of difference.
The main reason to upgrade otherwise is unsupported OS versions. you’ll stop getting security updates leaving your phone vulnerable to attack.
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I feel like when I was younger and phone tech was changing a lot in the early days of the iOS and Android the difference even 1 year made was sometimes huge. Nowadays it’s much more incremental. A slight processor boost here, a couple GB of Ram there. I think a large part as to why that is is two things.
One, the tech has stagnated to some degree. Innovation doesn’t exactly sell a phone to regular non tech folks, a stable “don’t have to think about it” experience is what most people are after.
Two, a lot more issues with the cell phone platform are solved with software rather than throwing around more powerful hardware.
All that being said when I was younger I loved the idea of bleeding edge tech in my pocket, I upgraded all the time. The appeal was more customization at a lesser cost to performance, I wanted all the bells and whistles and less of the jank that came with it. I’m a little older now and lean much more towards the “give me something that works and doesn’t crash for the 10 minutes I have to look at my phone” club.
For those that upgrade to the latest iPhone/Pixel every year no matter what, I chalk that up to lots of expendable funds. It doesn’t appeal to me any more but I can also recognize that there are probably plenty of people out there now, like I was 10 years ago, so it could also be a general interest in the tech and how the bleeding edge keeps pushing for faster, more efficient technology.
I’ll pile on with a “Yup!”
While I fell into a pattern where I intend to upgrade every 2 years maybe 5 or 6 years ago, I’ve noticed in that same time frame that both the cost of new devices has gone up significantly and the durability of those devices has dropped.
I’m very easy on my phones. They spend a vast majority of their time on my desk, or plugged into my car. I’m old and boring enough that “going out” involves sitting down at a table at a nice dinner with friends and then going home. That said, the battery life on my phones starts to degrade after about a year. Various flaws start to creep up in the device. I’ve already had to replace the screen on my Pixel 7 Pro once – though, to be fair, it took a tumble from the couch onto a hardwood floor, but even that, really, shouldn’t turn the screen non-functional.
It’s disappointing to see that planned obsolescence rearing its head.
See, I am not easy on my phones and I wish they were more durable/glove friendly.
Pixels have extremely thin screens, apparently. I tried to get the battery replaced on an otherwise perfectly functioning Pixel a few years ago, but it ended up being cost prohibitive because replacing the battery also required replacing the screen which was “potato chip thin” according to the repair guy, and it was almost impossible to swap the battery without breaking it.
Vanity, marketing and buying shit unnecessarily.
I have a Fairphone 3 that I got in January 2020. Its a great device. I want to using it daily for between 5 to 10 years. And I have no doubt it will do that.
Meanwhile my brother has bought 3 Samsung devices in that time. And each one still works fine. He doesn’t need a new phone each time but he will still insist on it.
How’s the camera on this phone? Really the only thing I care about, next to battery life
The camera on the Fairphone 3 is only okay. But there is an upgraded camera module you can buy from Fairphone.
I’m not much of a photographer so it doesn’t bother me. But if you take a lot of pictures, it’s something to keep in mind.
Planned obsolescence wiki link
The world around you uses Instagram daily. They do need a better camera and all the AI photo enhancement filters. Plus, consumerism, you know.
Other than that, there’s no technical reason to buy anything better than what flafhsips were a few years back. I have one and it’s constantly underutilized.
I mean, maybe 5G or wifi 6 could be a reason to migrate.
maybe 5G or wifi 6
This is why we need phones with swappable modules. I’m pretty sure my current phone could last for decades if I could replace it’s radio equipment to keep up with modern standards.
Framework Phone When
Or – Christ it’s 2023 – Apple’s first fucking USB-C phone. Holy mother of god, having one stupid cable for the devices I want was a siren song of a mad god, but we’re finally here.
In 2023
Status symbol. That, and many people are horrible with their devices. They drop them and scratch them, crack the screen, chip them.
They abuse them and load them with tons of apps. Fill up the phone with videos and photos. The battery holds less of a charge because many people use their phones as computers and will constantly be cycling it dead 3 times a day or more.
Apps update and use more resources and space. They could just clean up their phone, do a reset, and have a case for protection but choose not to and just buy a new one.
It’s stupid I agree
I totally agree :) I’m S10 until the thing melts, I managed to replace the battery under warranty and plan to rock it as long as humanly possible.
Headphone jack is a huge factor in that as I would not want to lose something I use every day, but also like you say, performance is fine! On top of that is the fact that I’m paying £8 a month for unlimited everything without a contract! :)
I guess there used to be a night and day change, and people kind of still expect that from the next flagship each time they’re offered an upgrade?
That said, these days the trends tend to steer into things I don’t use much, or improving what’s already good enough - its a good time to be on a budget I guess! :)
Because my simple or brain likes shiny new things.
Yeah it’s really not that deep. A lot of people simply like the idea of having the latest and greatest.
I agree. I only replace my phone when it stops working.
Battery life is decent for 3-4+ years nowadays.
I can’t see why you can’t see the difference. I’ve been swapping every few years from the lowest tier phone that’s recently come out and each change feels like night and day each and every time. Perhaps you should stop buying overpriced phones?
My number one reason: battery life
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That’s why I support the “right to repair”
Sadly a lot of devices are losing that ability by design
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Its less of a belief and more of a fact at this point.
Its still really sad either which way
Selling the thinnest phone, but ship it with a silicone case because the thin-ness makes it too fragile. And also one bit of the phone will just be thicker anyway.
It seems almost like parody. Phones are literally too thin for their own components. If anybody knows of a decent line of phones that aren’t overly skinny, please let me know for when I need a new phone.
I was at work last week and two colleagues loaded on an apple update to their phones. Their phones slowed to a crawl and lost battery charge quickly through the day. The next thing I saw was one of them with the internet browser open putting his credit card details in to buy a new iPhone £650 gone just like that. iPhone users wouldn’t balk at expensive contracts or spending £600 quid on a new iPhone. It seems to me apple deliberately trash their phones and users accept it and upgrade to a newer model. I could understand if it was a cheap phone but jeeze crazy money for something with such a short lifespan. Would you buy a ln expensive TV if you thought it wouldn’t last you any more than a couple of years?
The only time I ever “upgrade” is when I break a phone beyond reasonable repair. If batteries were easier / more cost effective to replace, I would keep this Pixel 4a a few more years. The battery is starting to lose capacity now, I’ll have to check on the cost of battery replacement before too long.
Considering a Fairphone next time I do upgrade.
As someone who is currently using a fairphone 3, I cannot recommend it.
The idea is good, but let down by very cheap hardware. The fact is that, when you get the phone brand new, it’s already a very low end phone. Still having it 3 years later just means that it’ll be even worse. The fact that you can repair/replace most of it (but not upgrade) doesn’t change that fact.
I have been so disappointed with the experience on mine and would’ve replaced it ages ago if I could afford to.
Have to say, though, security updates are good.
Same. My next phone will be fairphone.
Batteries are cheap to replace.
