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The Android ecosystem is great for low cost devices. I have a 5 year old Samsung that still serves me great for what I need it: quick web searches, mapping and

by yholio 6y ago

The Android ecosystem is great for low cost devices. I have a 5 year old Samsung that still serves me great for what I need it: quick web searches, mapping and Waze, communication etc. The screen is cracked in 200 pieces, I literally stepped on it on multiple occasions, the power button has fallen off but I figured I don't really need it anyway except the rare cases where I leave it to discharge completely. Otherwise the phone is still going strong and has acceptable battery life. Best 150$ I ever spent, I was going to replace it this year for sheer embarrassment of using such a piece of junk, and then the coronavirus happened and I don't need to physically meet any of my tech-judgmental peers.

stransky 6y ago
My experience has been the complete opposite of yours and I’ve discovered cheap Android phones are torture to use. I would prefer to have my testicles removed via Slap Chop than use a 5 year old trash-droid or simply use a five year old iOS device.
maccard 6y ago
Does your 5 year old samsung still get security updates? Based on my experience using one of those for development, I'd rather not have a phone than rely on one of those daily.
tim333 6y ago
The Apple ecosystem is great in my experience for used devices if you don't mind that. My like now iPhoneSE (old model) was £100 off eBay, works great. The macbook is 7 years old, pretty good - some plastic iffy. Both still run the latest software, are fast etc.
antisthenes 6y ago
My experience mirrors your somewhat. I bought a refurb Galaxy S5 back in 2015, and have been using it since. Today, when shopping for devices at a comparable price, their specs are usually worse than S5, a phone that's 6 years old at this point. Many of the new budget phones today come with 2GB RAM (Laughable), and a less than 1080p screen (Usually some weird resolution like 1520x720?). For me to get the same performance/screen quality as the S5, I would now have to spend around $400-500, not $225 like I did 5 years ago. Mid range now seems to mean $500-700 phones, an amount that wouldn't be out of place for a desktop PC, and way more than I'm willing to spend on a phone. What was it about tech getting cheaper again? Doesn't hold in my experience.

by yholio 6y ago

stransky 6y ago

My experience has been the complete opposite of yours and I’ve discovered cheap Android phones are torture to use. I would prefer to have my testicles removed via Slap Chop than use a 5 year old trash-droid or simply use a five year old iOS device.

maccard 6y ago

Does your 5 year old samsung still get security updates? Based on my experience using one of those for development, I'd rather not have a phone than rely on one of those daily.

tim333 6y ago

The Apple ecosystem is great in my experience for used devices if you don't mind that. My like now iPhoneSE (old model) was £100 off eBay, works great. The macbook is 7 years old, pretty good - some plastic iffy. Both still run the latest software, are fast etc.

antisthenes 6y ago

My experience mirrors your somewhat. I bought a refurb Galaxy S5 back in 2015, and have been using it since. Today, when shopping for devices at a comparable price, their specs are usually worse than S5, a phone that's 6 years old at this point. Many of the new budget phones today come with 2GB RAM (Laughable), and a less than 1080p screen (Usually some weird resolution like 1520x720?). For me to get the same performance/screen quality as the S5, I would now have to spend around $400-500, not $225 like I did 5 years ago. Mid range now seems to mean $500-700 phones, an amount that wouldn't be out of place for a desktop PC, and way more than I'm willing to spend on a phone. What was it about tech getting cheaper again? Doesn't hold in my experience.