5 ms·

Hmm. I can't say I can see the utility of doing that. But if they're enjoying themselves doing it, that's utility, in a way, all on it's own - I guess.

by opless 8y ago

em3rgent0rdr 8y ago
The utility is that instead of throwing away your old phone every two years, you can reconfigure it into become something else useful.
- opless 8y ago
  Usually by the time two years are up, my phone is usually not holding much of a charge and the mechanical bits are starting to fail. I'm pretty sure iPhones are not alone in being designed to last around 18-30 months
pantalaimon 8y ago
You could turn your old smartphone into wireless speaker where you can stream e.g. AirPlay to.
- bunderbunder 8y ago
  I keep trying to do things like that with old hardware, and find that it's really just a source of clutter, because the hardware device itself is still redundant with the new one. As well as my old phone can play music, my new phone can play music even better, and is also more likely to be in the same room as me when I decide to play some music. Besides, on any time scale that matters from a big picture perspective, it's not the life span of the individual pieces of electronics that determines the rate at which waste is being produced, it's the rate at which they're being manufactured in the first place. Where postmarket starts being able to make a meaningful dent in the world is when it can help me avoid ever having to buy the new device.
  - naraic0o 8y ago
    They're only manufactured at the rate of obsolescence though. If people don't feel the need to upgrade due to a lack of software updates or their current device slowing due to increased requirements of newer versions of their OS, why would the rate of manufacturing continue? The demand drives the supply, surely? In saying that, the external hardware also degrades over time, I imagine a phone with entirely replaceable parts would be important in life extension also - à la Fairphone [0]. [0]https://www.fairphone.com/en/ https://www.fairphone.com/en/
opless 8y ago
Yay for the constant downvoting. If you must disagree with my subjective opinion, reply rather than cowardly downvoting.

Hmm. I can't say I can see the utility of doing that. But if they're enjoying themselves doing it, that's utility, in a way, all on it's own - I guess.

by opless 8y ago

Hmm. I can't say I can see the utility of doing that. But if they're enjoying themselves doing it, that's utility, in a way, all on it's own - I guess.

em3rgent0rdr 8y ago

The utility is that instead of throwing away your old phone every two years, you can reconfigure it into become something else useful.

opless 8y ago
Usually by the time two years are up, my phone is usually not holding much of a charge and the mechanical bits are starting to fail. I'm pretty sure iPhones are not alone in being designed to last around 18-30 months

pantalaimon 8y ago

You could turn your old smartphone into wireless speaker where you can stream e.g. AirPlay to.

bunderbunder 8y ago
I keep trying to do things like that with old hardware, and find that it's really just a source of clutter, because the hardware device itself is still redundant with the new one. As well as my old phone can play music, my new phone can play music even better, and is also more likely to be in the same room as me when I decide to play some music. Besides, on any time scale that matters from a big picture perspective, it's not the life span of the individual pieces of electronics that determines the rate at which waste is being produced, it's the rate at which they're being manufactured in the first place. Where postmarket starts being able to make a meaningful dent in the world is when it can help me avoid ever having to buy the new device.
- naraic0o 8y ago
  They're only manufactured at the rate of obsolescence though. If people don't feel the need to upgrade due to a lack of software updates or their current device slowing due to increased requirements of newer versions of their OS, why would the rate of manufacturing continue? The demand drives the supply, surely? In saying that, the external hardware also degrades over time, I imagine a phone with entirely replaceable parts would be important in life extension also - à la Fairphone [0]. [0]https://www.fairphone.com/en/ https://www.fairphone.com/en/

opless 8y ago

Yay for the constant downvoting. If you must disagree with my subjective opinion, reply rather than cowardly downvoting.