5 ms·

Is there even a reason to buy a new smartphone nowadays? They get a bit flatter, get bigger screens, but overall we reached the point where their progress kinda

by drops 10y ago

Is there even a reason to buy a new smartphone nowadays? They get a bit flatter, get bigger screens, but overall we reached the point where their progress kinda flatlined. They have everything an average user could want since early 10s.

maaaats 10y ago
The batteries become crappy after a few years. And since they cannot be replaced..
- culturestate 10y ago
  "Not user serviceable" != "non-replaceable." Apple is happy to replace your iPhone battery for around $80.
  - HeavenBanned 10y ago
    I tried replacing my iPhone 5S battery for 15 bucks from a popular kit off of Amazon. Ended up bricking my iPhone in the process. Just because you can afford to pony up $80+ dollars for voodoo-servicing doesn't mean that I should also subject myself to that bullshit. Apple could have made the replacement of batteries as easy as Blackberries, make no mistake about it. They just chose not too, and no amount of excuses and rationalizing will lead me to believe otherwise. If it's an engineering priority, it can be done. Battery-swapping was little-to-no priority (possibly even sabotaged, but what do I know?) so we are now left with this shitty state of affairs. Speaking of Blackberry-style battery-swapping, are there any smartphones today that afford that kind of flexibility? I'm still using my Bold 9930 and I don't really see any reason to leave it until things shape up in the smartphone market. [I'm going to have to Google it probably depending on how popular this gets.]
- TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
  What do you mean after a few years? Name one smartphone that doesn't have crappy battery life out of the goddamn box! Seriously smartphone manufacturers, stop trying to shave 3 yoctometers off the thickness every 6 months and give me a phone that is thicker but has a battery that lasts a reasonable amount of time and cycles less deeply so it has a longer life.
  - umanwizard 10y ago
    iPhone battery capacity: 4 - 1420 mAh 4s - 1432 mAh 5 - 1440 mAh 5s - 1570 mAh 6 - 1810 mAh 6s - 1715 mAh 7 - 1960 mAh It dipped a bit from 6 to 6s but other than that they have been consistently increasing battery capacity. (Btw, plus models have more; the iPhone 7+ for example has 2900 mAh. On the other hand, they drain more for the screen.)
    - legulere 10y ago
      Also interesting is the SE, that has the same form factor as the 5s: SE - 1624 mAh
      - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
        You're talking about an increase of 54 mAh. I can't see that saving the day.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
      I don't see how this refutes my claim that, in my opinion, there isn't a smartphone that has reasonable mileage on a single charge. Battery capacity increases alone are meaningless when the hardware connected to it drains it just the same.
  - valuearb 10y ago
    Get a battery case. The world has spoken bad rejected thicker heavier longer battery life phones. Thinner, lighter is easier to carry and use.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
      When you find yourself agreeing with everyone in the room it's time to leave. What were these thicker heavier longer life phones of which you speak? I don't recall there being any of those to have rejected. Maybe you mean ye olde feature phones or their predecessors. I don't think that's a fair comparison.
  - 10y ago
johnchristopher 10y ago
There are some nice things that could get standardized or available as an option for every mould: - physical buttons for shooting - physical buttons for volume - back cover should be e-ink for light notification or reading books in the train without killing autonomy - and of course the windows/ubuntu convergence that could - or could not - come one day
- jasonvorhe 10y ago
  If there was any demand for such things, vendors would ship it.
  - thatcat 10y ago
    If current design is in reasonable demand by uninformed consumers and has an high margin / low period for recurrence of purchase; then even if new design is in demand by a similar amount of informed consumers it won't be produced unless the ROI is similar too.
  - throwaway40483 10y ago
    Sometimes you have to tell the user what they they want (iPhone) and sometimes the user will say: "NOPE" (Google Glass)
- jansho 10y ago
  That e-ink back is a nice idea.
  - johnchristopher 10y ago
    There is the https://yotaphone.com/us-en/ https://yotaphone.com/us-en/ but I feel it's not updated fast enough to be considered by consumers when looking to replace their current middle or high-end smartphones. edit: I see http://www.inkcase.com/en.html http://www.inkcase.com/en.html refactors the idea of an e-ink smartphone into a case with an e-ink panel. And http://www.onyx-international.com.cn/index.php/en/boox-products/boox-e-series http://www.onyx-international.com.cn/index.php/en/boox-produ... tried the whole e-ink only screen.
amiga-workbench 10y ago
Yeah, its the only way to get Android security updates.
vbezhenar 10y ago
I bought iPhone 4S few years ago, and now with new iOS it's very slow, so I'm going to buy new smartphone soon. It has some hardware problems, but new software really killed it. Same story with iPad 3. I hope that current smartphone generation will be able to sustain longer, I don't like buying new things every 2-3 years.
- throwanem 10y ago
  Same. The SE is a solid 4S replacement, though; I haven't regretted the change. (Not a bad idea to put a bumper on it, though, because the aluminum is wimpy as hell compared to the proper steel on the 4S - I've already had to take a file to my SE after a drop from waist height onto bathroom tile. Look out for the screen, too; mine chipped in a few places from a foot or two drop onto asphalt. Better hardware and it can run iOS 10 without flinching, but physically less robust, so don't expect you can get away with slinging it around the way you can with a 4S.)
- dukeluke 10y ago
  That's not unintentional, though. It's just a form of planned obsolescence, which can be avoided by getting an Android phone that can have CyanogenMod installed on it. Alternatively, you can get a Nexus phone, which recieves OS updates directly from Google instead of a third party.
  - kec 10y ago
    Progress != planned obsolescence. The iPhone 7 has more than an order of magnitude more compute power compared to the 4s, and app developers are targeting that device as it's actually selling today.
    - dukeluke 10y ago
      That's true, developers can focus on the new platforms, but that doesn't mean new iOS versions should make older phones become much slower.
      - 10y ago
catdog 10y ago
Not really. They are spec'd well enough for some years now to perform most common tasks well and conceptually they are all basically a big touch screen, nothing new here. You may get small improvements, bigger numbers on the spec sheet and flatter models because "look we can". You may buy a new one for whatever specific reason but it's not you miss out sth. substantial with a bit older model.
asafira 10y ago
There is a reason! Most smartphones are not really designed to last many years; as such, many will start seeing issues after 2 years or so. On the software side, carriers are awful at updating Android security beyond a couple of years, for example. On the hardware side, for example, batteries lose capacity pretty over time and it ends up not being worth it to get a new battery. (other parts, too, don't last long enough)

by drops 10y ago

maaaats 10y ago

The batteries become crappy after a few years. And since they cannot be replaced..

culturestate 10y ago
"Not user serviceable" != "non-replaceable." Apple is happy to replace your iPhone battery for around $80.
- HeavenBanned 10y ago
  I tried replacing my iPhone 5S battery for 15 bucks from a popular kit off of Amazon. Ended up bricking my iPhone in the process. Just because you can afford to pony up $80+ dollars for voodoo-servicing doesn't mean that I should also subject myself to that bullshit. Apple could have made the replacement of batteries as easy as Blackberries, make no mistake about it. They just chose not too, and no amount of excuses and rationalizing will lead me to believe otherwise. If it's an engineering priority, it can be done. Battery-swapping was little-to-no priority (possibly even sabotaged, but what do I know?) so we are now left with this shitty state of affairs. Speaking of Blackberry-style battery-swapping, are there any smartphones today that afford that kind of flexibility? I'm still using my Bold 9930 and I don't really see any reason to leave it until things shape up in the smartphone market. [I'm going to have to Google it probably depending on how popular this gets.]
TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
What do you mean after a few years? Name one smartphone that doesn't have crappy battery life out of the goddamn box! Seriously smartphone manufacturers, stop trying to shave 3 yoctometers off the thickness every 6 months and give me a phone that is thicker but has a battery that lasts a reasonable amount of time and cycles less deeply so it has a longer life.
- umanwizard 10y ago
  iPhone battery capacity: 4 - 1420 mAh 4s - 1432 mAh 5 - 1440 mAh 5s - 1570 mAh 6 - 1810 mAh 6s - 1715 mAh 7 - 1960 mAh It dipped a bit from 6 to 6s but other than that they have been consistently increasing battery capacity. (Btw, plus models have more; the iPhone 7+ for example has 2900 mAh. On the other hand, they drain more for the screen.)
  - legulere 10y ago
    Also interesting is the SE, that has the same form factor as the 5s: SE - 1624 mAh
    - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
      You're talking about an increase of 54 mAh. I can't see that saving the day.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
    I don't see how this refutes my claim that, in my opinion, there isn't a smartphone that has reasonable mileage on a single charge. Battery capacity increases alone are meaningless when the hardware connected to it drains it just the same.
- valuearb 10y ago
  Get a battery case. The world has spoken bad rejected thicker heavier longer battery life phones. Thinner, lighter is easier to carry and use.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
    When you find yourself agreeing with everyone in the room it's time to leave. What were these thicker heavier longer life phones of which you speak? I don't recall there being any of those to have rejected. Maybe you mean ye olde feature phones or their predecessors. I don't think that's a fair comparison.
- 10y ago

johnchristopher 10y ago

There are some nice things that could get standardized or available as an option for every mould: - physical buttons for shooting - physical buttons for volume - back cover should be e-ink for light notification or reading books in the train without killing autonomy - and of course the windows/ubuntu convergence that could - or could not - come one day

jasonvorhe 10y ago
If there was any demand for such things, vendors would ship it.
- thatcat 10y ago
  If current design is in reasonable demand by uninformed consumers and has an high margin / low period for recurrence of purchase; then even if new design is in demand by a similar amount of informed consumers it won't be produced unless the ROI is similar too.
- throwaway40483 10y ago
  Sometimes you have to tell the user what they they want (iPhone) and sometimes the user will say: "NOPE" (Google Glass)
jansho 10y ago
That e-ink back is a nice idea.
- johnchristopher 10y ago
  There is the https://yotaphone.com/us-en/ https://yotaphone.com/us-en/ but I feel it's not updated fast enough to be considered by consumers when looking to replace their current middle or high-end smartphones. edit: I see http://www.inkcase.com/en.html http://www.inkcase.com/en.html refactors the idea of an e-ink smartphone into a case with an e-ink panel. And http://www.onyx-international.com.cn/index.php/en/boox-products/boox-e-series http://www.onyx-international.com.cn/index.php/en/boox-produ... tried the whole e-ink only screen.

amiga-workbench 10y ago

Yeah, its the only way to get Android security updates.

vbezhenar 10y ago

I bought iPhone 4S few years ago, and now with new iOS it's very slow, so I'm going to buy new smartphone soon. It has some hardware problems, but new software really killed it. Same story with iPad 3. I hope that current smartphone generation will be able to sustain longer, I don't like buying new things every 2-3 years.

throwanem 10y ago
Same. The SE is a solid 4S replacement, though; I haven't regretted the change. (Not a bad idea to put a bumper on it, though, because the aluminum is wimpy as hell compared to the proper steel on the 4S - I've already had to take a file to my SE after a drop from waist height onto bathroom tile. Look out for the screen, too; mine chipped in a few places from a foot or two drop onto asphalt. Better hardware and it can run iOS 10 without flinching, but physically less robust, so don't expect you can get away with slinging it around the way you can with a 4S.)
dukeluke 10y ago
That's not unintentional, though. It's just a form of planned obsolescence, which can be avoided by getting an Android phone that can have CyanogenMod installed on it. Alternatively, you can get a Nexus phone, which recieves OS updates directly from Google instead of a third party.
- kec 10y ago
  Progress != planned obsolescence. The iPhone 7 has more than an order of magnitude more compute power compared to the 4s, and app developers are targeting that device as it's actually selling today.
  - dukeluke 10y ago
    That's true, developers can focus on the new platforms, but that doesn't mean new iOS versions should make older phones become much slower.
    - 10y ago

catdog 10y ago

Not really. They are spec'd well enough for some years now to perform most common tasks well and conceptually they are all basically a big touch screen, nothing new here. You may get small improvements, bigger numbers on the spec sheet and flatter models because "look we can". You may buy a new one for whatever specific reason but it's not you miss out sth. substantial with a bit older model.

asafira 10y ago

There is a reason! Most smartphones are not really designed to last many years; as such, many will start seeing issues after 2 years or so. On the software side, carriers are awful at updating Android security beyond a couple of years, for example. On the hardware side, for example, batteries lose capacity pretty over time and it ends up not being worth it to get a new battery. (other parts, too, don't last long enough)