5 ms·

Exactly. I made a very good decision this time around; I wanted the cheapest phone that was fingerprint-protected and had USB Type-C, since I wanted it to last

Exactly. I made a very good decision this time around; I wanted the cheapest phone that was fingerprint-protected and had USB Type-C, since I wanted it to last me several years and pin codes are painful. I got my current phone for 160€ (if I'm not mistaken) 1.5 years ago and I couldn't be happier. Browses the web perfectly and runs my few apps great, I'll keep it until it breaks. I'm so happy that I'm even considering buying an extra screen to have reparaibility in the future in case they are hard to find then! It's funny that many of my non-tech friends who spent half a month salary on an iPhone (Spain) are quite confused about me using a cheap android. Edit: also note that my 160€ phone now is way better than those 400€ phones 6-8 years ago. And there's not even that much difference with a current 800-1000€ phone.

hyperbovine 8y ago
Or just lag the smartphone cycle. I upgraded from 5C to a 6S a couple months back by snagging my friend’s used phone. It’s amazing in every way. Could not be happier. I can’t wait to see what the iPhone X has in store in 2022 or so :-)
- christophilus 8y ago
  This is a good strategy for most consumers. I paid $150 for my iPhone 6 on swappa, and couldn’t be happier. Still going strong.
- ChrisSD 8y ago
  This is less possible on the Android side of things. The standard now is three years of security updates from the time of first release. And this often doesn't include device driver and some middleware updates. Obviously people do hold on to phones for longer than the support term but that's far from ideal.
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    Is that in USA? I had to bypass my UK provider to install any updates. I imagine software updates limit hardware updates considerably.
- mch82 8y ago
  If I could buy a new 128GB SE, I’d do it. I waited too long and now they’re only available used or in the 32GB size. I’d still be using my 5S (it still has the latest OS and works well), but I wanted to try the Apple Watch and it required an upgrade.
  - asdff 8y ago
    Why not just go used? I got mine on eBay for under $240 shipped. It was 'B' grade according to the seller, which from what I could determine meant it had literally two scratches on it instead of zero, otherwise the device was flawless. Battery health was 98%.
    - mch82 8y ago
      The real reason is I thought I had 30 days to return the XR, but it turned out to be 14 and so now I have it :-) The theoretical reason is I trust a phone more if I know it’s direct from Apple. Now that I have the XR + Watch combo, I’m seeing if I can get by treating the XR as a “desk phone” and the Watch as a “mobile phone”. So far that’s been working out pretty well. If I get tired of it, I may rethink things and try to get a used SE.
brownbat 8y ago
The oligopoly juiced prices for flagships and is shocked it affected demand. People have substitutes. Even if you want a niche feature like Google Fi support, you have to dig a bit but the Moto Android one entries are fine. Internal memory is tight though. Expandable memory can't support apps or the OS, where sizes are growing... Seems trivial to give these all 256 or 512 gb but they are stubbornly kneecapped on space and hard to expand. Maybe space is how manufacturers are fighting back. We know with the battery scandals they aren't averse to "justifiable" planned obscelesce. When do we get a dozen low cost Shenzhen competitors to diversify the market?
- Tsubasachan 8y ago
  If you have an unlimited no throttling data plan you can just put everything in the cloud.
  - franciscop 8y ago
    I plan to upgrade my phone (unless it breaks first) when I can get either 1TB or unlimited data :) I realize it might take 3-5 years, but that's okay.
  - nicoburns 8y ago
    Almost nobody has these though...
  - asdff 8y ago
    That's certainly not ideal. My connection gets dropped all the time just walking around, not to mention going into a building, and carriers aren't incentivized to upgrade their infrastructure to make it more reliable.
  - brownbat 8y ago
    I have nearly that and put all media I can in the cloud, but it's still complaining about space because I have apps installed, a feature the phone apparently wasn't designed for. Being able to stream an app would be nice. Wait a second... we have those, they are called websites. Maybe apps themselves are the problem.
AznHisoka 8y ago
which phone specifically did you choose? now I am tempted to buy the same model..
- franciscop 8y ago
  Local Spanish brand so not very useful here...
coldtea 8y ago
>I wanted the cheapest phone that was fingerprint-protected Just because it says "fingerprint-protected" on the tin, doesn't mean it has good fingerprint protection.
- flyingpenguin 8y ago
  Depends on the use case of the "fingerprint-protected". For me, the fingerprint sensor is just the fastest way to open my phone. Even with no security/pattern you have to first press the power button, then swipe up. With a fingerprint reader, you tap your finger to the sensor and the screen is not only on, but the lockscreen (swipe) was bypassed.

hyperbovine 8y ago

Or just lag the smartphone cycle. I upgraded from 5C to a 6S a couple months back by snagging my friend’s used phone. It’s amazing in every way. Could not be happier. I can’t wait to see what the iPhone X has in store in 2022 or so :-)

christophilus 8y ago
This is a good strategy for most consumers. I paid $150 for my iPhone 6 on swappa, and couldn’t be happier. Still going strong.
ChrisSD 8y ago
This is less possible on the Android side of things. The standard now is three years of security updates from the time of first release. And this often doesn't include device driver and some middleware updates. Obviously people do hold on to phones for longer than the support term but that's far from ideal.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  Is that in USA? I had to bypass my UK provider to install any updates. I imagine software updates limit hardware updates considerably.
mch82 8y ago
If I could buy a new 128GB SE, I’d do it. I waited too long and now they’re only available used or in the 32GB size. I’d still be using my 5S (it still has the latest OS and works well), but I wanted to try the Apple Watch and it required an upgrade.
- asdff 8y ago
  Why not just go used? I got mine on eBay for under $240 shipped. It was 'B' grade according to the seller, which from what I could determine meant it had literally two scratches on it instead of zero, otherwise the device was flawless. Battery health was 98%.
  - mch82 8y ago
    The real reason is I thought I had 30 days to return the XR, but it turned out to be 14 and so now I have it :-) The theoretical reason is I trust a phone more if I know it’s direct from Apple. Now that I have the XR + Watch combo, I’m seeing if I can get by treating the XR as a “desk phone” and the Watch as a “mobile phone”. So far that’s been working out pretty well. If I get tired of it, I may rethink things and try to get a used SE.

brownbat 8y ago

The oligopoly juiced prices for flagships and is shocked it affected demand. People have substitutes. Even if you want a niche feature like Google Fi support, you have to dig a bit but the Moto Android one entries are fine. Internal memory is tight though. Expandable memory can't support apps or the OS, where sizes are growing... Seems trivial to give these all 256 or 512 gb but they are stubbornly kneecapped on space and hard to expand. Maybe space is how manufacturers are fighting back. We know with the battery scandals they aren't averse to "justifiable" planned obscelesce. When do we get a dozen low cost Shenzhen competitors to diversify the market?

Tsubasachan 8y ago
If you have an unlimited no throttling data plan you can just put everything in the cloud.
- franciscop 8y ago
  I plan to upgrade my phone (unless it breaks first) when I can get either 1TB or unlimited data :) I realize it might take 3-5 years, but that's okay.
- nicoburns 8y ago
  Almost nobody has these though...
- asdff 8y ago
  That's certainly not ideal. My connection gets dropped all the time just walking around, not to mention going into a building, and carriers aren't incentivized to upgrade their infrastructure to make it more reliable.
- brownbat 8y ago
  I have nearly that and put all media I can in the cloud, but it's still complaining about space because I have apps installed, a feature the phone apparently wasn't designed for. Being able to stream an app would be nice. Wait a second... we have those, they are called websites. Maybe apps themselves are the problem.

AznHisoka 8y ago

which phone specifically did you choose? now I am tempted to buy the same model..

franciscop 8y ago
Local Spanish brand so not very useful here...

coldtea 8y ago

>I wanted the cheapest phone that was fingerprint-protected Just because it says "fingerprint-protected" on the tin, doesn't mean it has good fingerprint protection.

flyingpenguin 8y ago
Depends on the use case of the "fingerprint-protected". For me, the fingerprint sensor is just the fastest way to open my phone. Even with no security/pattern you have to first press the power button, then swipe up. With a fingerprint reader, you tap your finger to the sensor and the screen is not only on, but the lockscreen (swipe) was bypassed.