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Honest question: how long do you generally keep your Android phones? An iPhone XR is $750 retail (I would assume you can get it cheaper) and I would feel comfor

Honest question: how long do you generally keep your Android phones? An iPhone XR is $750 retail (I would assume you can get it cheaper) and I would feel comfortable saying it will last 4-5 years and get all OS and security updates. I’m sure from a TCO it will still end up being more expensive than Android but not quite as much when looking beyond initial purchase price.

squiggleblaz 7y ago
I have a OnePlus 5T, which I got when it was brand new, so that's coming on two years. It replaced my previous phone because it was unusable (apparently a deliberate tactic to stop the battery suddenly running out of juice). I would like one of the Linux phones when they come out later this year, but I guess the this will remain in use after that. I would love a phone with a better, intelligent camera app, but I don't want to replace the phone "just because". My previous phone was an iPhone 6. I'm pretty sure it was around March when I got it, and it was the topend phone at the time, so I guess it was March 2015. So that was perhaps 2.5 years; this jives with my recollection of it being out of contract, but not hugely so. But my wife kept using it till May this year because I accidentally left it near her when her phone broke, and she thought it was fine even though to me it was unusable. Perhaps you can call that about 4 years of use. Before that, I had a Nexus 5. I don't think it lasted particularly wrong. I got it on my birthday, which makes it July 2014. So I presumably replaced it within a year. I think I was unhappy withe the phone for its whole life; in particular, I had been planning to try an iPhone so I don't know why I bought a Nexus. Its battery life was awful. Once the screen broke, and its replacement cost was a massive proportion of its purchase price, I decided to try an iPhone. But my wife used it after hers got stolen till it completely broke apart sometime last year (she used both the iPhone and the Nexus for a time). Before that, I had a G1. It was probably around 2009 or 2010 that I got it, so maybe it was four or five years. At the time, my coworkers laughed at me for having such an old phone, but I didn't think it was weird to keep a phone so long. So I guess the phones I buy get used for about four years, no matter who owns (I mean, wrote the OS) them. But I get itchy feet every other year.
martin_a 7y ago
I bought a used "One Plus 3T" last spring and am still using it. At this point it looks like I can use it for one or two more years. I think this is not bad for a device which came out in 2015. I recently got the update for Android 9 and security patches are from June, so it's not that bad either. On the other hand, One Plus seems to behave somewhat special here. The Samsung phone of my mother might have received one or two minor updates and it's already down to the ground although it's not even two years old, I think.
bfrog 7y ago
I try to keep them about 3-4 years, I'll do a battery replacement myself if needed as thats usually the first thing to really cause problems. Battery is maybe $30 and an hour of my time. This last phone I got was a moto x4 for $150, so if it lasts me 4 years with a battery swap, TCO ~$180 for 4 years, or 60/yr. To get that out of an iphone I'd have to have it for 10 years or more.

squiggleblaz 7y ago

I have a OnePlus 5T, which I got when it was brand new, so that's coming on two years. It replaced my previous phone because it was unusable (apparently a deliberate tactic to stop the battery suddenly running out of juice). I would like one of the Linux phones when they come out later this year, but I guess the this will remain in use after that. I would love a phone with a better, intelligent camera app, but I don't want to replace the phone "just because". My previous phone was an iPhone 6. I'm pretty sure it was around March when I got it, and it was the topend phone at the time, so I guess it was March 2015. So that was perhaps 2.5 years; this jives with my recollection of it being out of contract, but not hugely so. But my wife kept using it till May this year because I accidentally left it near her when her phone broke, and she thought it was fine even though to me it was unusable. Perhaps you can call that about 4 years of use. Before that, I had a Nexus 5. I don't think it lasted particularly wrong. I got it on my birthday, which makes it July 2014. So I presumably replaced it within a year. I think I was unhappy withe the phone for its whole life; in particular, I had been planning to try an iPhone so I don't know why I bought a Nexus. Its battery life was awful. Once the screen broke, and its replacement cost was a massive proportion of its purchase price, I decided to try an iPhone. But my wife used it after hers got stolen till it completely broke apart sometime last year (she used both the iPhone and the Nexus for a time). Before that, I had a G1. It was probably around 2009 or 2010 that I got it, so maybe it was four or five years. At the time, my coworkers laughed at me for having such an old phone, but I didn't think it was weird to keep a phone so long. So I guess the phones I buy get used for about four years, no matter who owns (I mean, wrote the OS) them. But I get itchy feet every other year.

martin_a 7y ago

I bought a used "One Plus 3T" last spring and am still using it. At this point it looks like I can use it for one or two more years. I think this is not bad for a device which came out in 2015. I recently got the update for Android 9 and security patches are from June, so it's not that bad either. On the other hand, One Plus seems to behave somewhat special here. The Samsung phone of my mother might have received one or two minor updates and it's already down to the ground although it's not even two years old, I think.

bfrog 7y ago

I try to keep them about 3-4 years, I'll do a battery replacement myself if needed as thats usually the first thing to really cause problems. Battery is maybe $30 and an hour of my time. This last phone I got was a moto x4 for $150, so if it lasts me 4 years with a battery swap, TCO ~$180 for 4 years, or 60/yr. To get that out of an iphone I'd have to have it for 10 years or more.