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“We’re in the golden age of smartphones,” he said. “Your smartphone from two years ago still works great and will continue to work for a while.” If this is whe

“We’re in the golden age of smartphones,” he said. “Your smartphone from two years ago still works great and will continue to work for a while.” If this is where smartphones peak - usable for two and a bit years - we need to take ourselves out to the car park for a strong conversation.

jotm 7y ago
I still have a HTC One M8, which is almost 5 years old. The processor is fine, storage seems fine, battery is almost dead which is normal... But 2GB of RAM is now not enough for the same apps I've used for years. Open a few tabs in Firefox and it slows down a lot. Before quad core processors, I found the CPU was a serious bottleneck, as well. And fwiw, Windows Mobile phones had full fledged browsers and 3G long before the iPhone.
- pentaxy 7y ago
  I would put all hardware in the same bag - can be good as new after 5+ years - but whatever electronics you want to buy today (be it a phone, "smart" TV, even a car), if you have any experience you know that vendors are now mostly in the business of providing a service, not just a physical product. And that's what you'll want to look up and pay most for. If the stuff becomes incompatible or not secure for everyday use because the vendor stopped (or didn't even intend) to release updates, what's the good?
  - jotm 7y ago
    Thankfully, it's still possible to update software yourself. If that's impossible, well, good bye from me. I'm not going to be forced to buy new stuff because the perfectly good old one is not going to be updated.
    - Scoundreller 7y ago
      I can’t wait for people to start JTAGing their smart TVs.
- imtringued 7y ago
  I'm still using the HTC one M7. The battery is dying and the charging port is wearing out. I bought a magnetic charging cable so I can keep the plug inside permanently. I have dropped it several times and at least twice on the pavement. It has 5 2mm wide indentations in the aluminum frame. The glass is as good as new. It will probably survive another two years.
  - RussianCow 7y ago
    I loved that phone. If not for the lack of OS updates and the small amount of RAM, I'd still be using it. Everything since then by HTC has been considerably worse in terms of hardware quality.
mantas 7y ago
I'm still on iPhone 6. 4.5 years old. I want to upgrade for bling factor, but it just doesn't die. I'll probably try DIY battery replacement once next iPhone is out. Either I get to brag about my battery replacement skills or I have a reason to upgrade.. Win-win!
- pddpro 7y ago
  With people looking forward to upgrade their mobile and hand-held devices for multiple reasons (including the "bling factor") I can't help but think about the current e-waste management policies and mechanisms in place. Especially in third world countries where new electronic devices are pouring in as gifts or imports (thanks to the migrant workers and inflow of remittance) and older devices are just being dumped as normal trash. The environmental impacts of the improperly discarded batteries just pile up becoming severely unmanageable day by day.
  - CogitoCogito 7y ago
    I only recently moved from an iphone 5 to a 6. I actually consider it largely a step down due to the larger form factor. The 5 worked fine except for some applications I needed moving passed 32 bit support. If not for that I never would have upgraded. I'm always amazed at how people just must have the newest phones. Other than my issue with the 32 bit I saw no reason to change.
    - mantas 7y ago
      Why not iPhone SE? It was possible to get it real cheap in clearance sales. Fingers crossed for iPhone SE2 in iPhone5 shape :|
      - CogitoCogito 7y ago
        Well I never bought either phone. Both were from family members that had them left over. Beggars can't be choosers.
  - mantas 7y ago
klingonopera 7y ago
Samsung Galaxy S5+, bought used November 2018, running LineageOS 16.0 (Android 9). I don't know, it's a 4/5 year-old model by now? Enough for browsing, listening to music, texting, I don't play games on my phone (if I ever do, I might consider installing chess, but the need never arose). I've my sights set on a new Fairphone 3 once my current phone gives up. The ease of repair, stock Android, great software support, plus ethical manufacturing have me sold.
- iamnotacrook 7y ago
  You can play chess via the lichess site - no need for an app as it works great on mobile.
  - klingonopera 7y ago
    Nice, I am an absolute amateur though, I was more thinking along the lines of practicing offline against the computer, but it's nice to know where to go, when I'm ready.
    - iamnotacrook 7y ago
      There's an app too. There are a number of lower rated players though, if you want to play a human. There are puzzles for practising tactics which I find very useful.
    - fwn 7y ago
      I'm an amateur as well and just want to add that it's a vastly better experience to start playing against real players as fast as possible. You'll adjust to your current Elo after the first few games and will have enough equally skilled players at any time.

jotm 7y ago

I still have a HTC One M8, which is almost 5 years old. The processor is fine, storage seems fine, battery is almost dead which is normal... But 2GB of RAM is now not enough for the same apps I've used for years. Open a few tabs in Firefox and it slows down a lot. Before quad core processors, I found the CPU was a serious bottleneck, as well. And fwiw, Windows Mobile phones had full fledged browsers and 3G long before the iPhone.

pentaxy 7y ago
I would put all hardware in the same bag - can be good as new after 5+ years - but whatever electronics you want to buy today (be it a phone, "smart" TV, even a car), if you have any experience you know that vendors are now mostly in the business of providing a service, not just a physical product. And that's what you'll want to look up and pay most for. If the stuff becomes incompatible or not secure for everyday use because the vendor stopped (or didn't even intend) to release updates, what's the good?
- jotm 7y ago
  Thankfully, it's still possible to update software yourself. If that's impossible, well, good bye from me. I'm not going to be forced to buy new stuff because the perfectly good old one is not going to be updated.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    I can’t wait for people to start JTAGing their smart TVs.
imtringued 7y ago
I'm still using the HTC one M7. The battery is dying and the charging port is wearing out. I bought a magnetic charging cable so I can keep the plug inside permanently. I have dropped it several times and at least twice on the pavement. It has 5 2mm wide indentations in the aluminum frame. The glass is as good as new. It will probably survive another two years.
- RussianCow 7y ago
  I loved that phone. If not for the lack of OS updates and the small amount of RAM, I'd still be using it. Everything since then by HTC has been considerably worse in terms of hardware quality.

mantas 7y ago

I'm still on iPhone 6. 4.5 years old. I want to upgrade for bling factor, but it just doesn't die. I'll probably try DIY battery replacement once next iPhone is out. Either I get to brag about my battery replacement skills or I have a reason to upgrade.. Win-win!

pddpro 7y ago
With people looking forward to upgrade their mobile and hand-held devices for multiple reasons (including the "bling factor") I can't help but think about the current e-waste management policies and mechanisms in place. Especially in third world countries where new electronic devices are pouring in as gifts or imports (thanks to the migrant workers and inflow of remittance) and older devices are just being dumped as normal trash. The environmental impacts of the improperly discarded batteries just pile up becoming severely unmanageable day by day.
- CogitoCogito 7y ago
  I only recently moved from an iphone 5 to a 6. I actually consider it largely a step down due to the larger form factor. The 5 worked fine except for some applications I needed moving passed 32 bit support. If not for that I never would have upgraded. I'm always amazed at how people just must have the newest phones. Other than my issue with the 32 bit I saw no reason to change.
  - mantas 7y ago
    Why not iPhone SE? It was possible to get it real cheap in clearance sales. Fingers crossed for iPhone SE2 in iPhone5 shape :|
    - CogitoCogito 7y ago
      Well I never bought either phone. Both were from family members that had them left over. Beggars can't be choosers.
- mantas 7y ago

klingonopera 7y ago

Samsung Galaxy S5+, bought used November 2018, running LineageOS 16.0 (Android 9). I don't know, it's a 4/5 year-old model by now? Enough for browsing, listening to music, texting, I don't play games on my phone (if I ever do, I might consider installing chess, but the need never arose). I've my sights set on a new Fairphone 3 once my current phone gives up. The ease of repair, stock Android, great software support, plus ethical manufacturing have me sold.

iamnotacrook 7y ago
You can play chess via the lichess site - no need for an app as it works great on mobile.
- klingonopera 7y ago
  Nice, I am an absolute amateur though, I was more thinking along the lines of practicing offline against the computer, but it's nice to know where to go, when I'm ready.
  - iamnotacrook 7y ago
    There's an app too. There are a number of lower rated players though, if you want to play a human. There are puzzles for practising tactics which I find very useful.
  - fwn 7y ago
    I'm an amateur as well and just want to add that it's a vastly better experience to start playing against real players as fast as possible. You'll adjust to your current Elo after the first few games and will have enough equally skilled players at any time.