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Why do none of the good phone options get sold in the US??!? E.g. Sony has one of the few modern smartphones in a reasonable size (xperia 10II (might be the dum

Why do none of the good phone options get sold in the US??!? E.g. Sony has one of the few modern smartphones in a reasonable size (xperia 10II (might be the dumbest name though)), and way too few of the bands work in the American market.

happymellon 4y ago
Didn't the US decide to use different frequencies to everyone else?
- lallysingh 4y ago
  Doesn't 5g fix that? Same radios for everyone.
  - happymellon 4y ago
    Does it? I thought Americans were still using alternative frequencies to everyone else. [Edit] It appears that the US doesn't overlap with the majority of the world for most of the ranges, except for one band at the top which overlaps with Japan/Korea. https://5gobservatory.eu/5g-spectrum/ https://5gobservatory.eu/5g-spectrum/ > Currently, the most used bands are: - Low-band: 700 MHz (except in US); 600 MHz (US) - Mid-band: 3.3 – 3.8 GHz (except US); 2.6 GHz, 3.7 – 4.98 GHz (US) - High-band: 26 GHz (except Japan, South Korea and US); 28 GHz (Japan, South Korea and US)
    - yellowapple 4y ago
      At this point frequency compatibility is purely a firmware setting, no? It seems like every 5G (and even 4G) phone these days supports every frequency on a chipset level and just enables/disables some of them depending on the intended region.
- rglullis 4y ago
  Plenty of models that can work with all frequencies, so I am not sure if that's enough of a justification. Anyway, your point reminds me that the my "dream smartphone" would be one with no cellular connectivity at all. I'm still waiting for some company to start producing a keychain-sized 4G (or 5G) hotspot with an eSIM, which (I hope) would lead to more people asking for the return of the iPod Touch and for something equivalent in the Android/Mobile Linux/Windows world.
  - cesarb 4y ago
    > Anyway, your point reminds me that the my "dream smartphone" would be one with no cellular connectivity at all. You mean a PDA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant)? Modern smartphones are basically a PDA with cellular connectivity (this is more obvious with early smartphones like the Treo 650), so if you take out the cellular connectivity, what you have is once again a PDA.
    - happymellon 4y ago
      Personally what I want is a dumb flip phone which can act as a 4/5G hotspot for my 7" tablet. When I'm on the internet, browing maps, reading books, I find a phone screen too small. But I don't want a massive phone. A dumb flip phone that lasts a week on a charge so that I can camp with it, combined with a 7" tablet that I can throw in my bag, for when I want to read, but doesn't need cellular connectivity so that it lasts without spying on me.
    - rglullis 4y ago
      I don't think this distinction makes any sense nowadays. A "smartphone without cellular connectivity" is a lot more than a "Personal Digital Assistant". Could a Palm Pilot stream music? Did it have an app store? GPS? Microphone? Could it make VoIP calls? Could it connect with an external modem so that it could work as a softphone?
      - yellowapple 4y ago
        If Palm were to create the Pilot in 2023, it would almost certainly be designed to support all those features, yes.
- Klonoar 4y ago
  I feel like I recall reading that getting some certification here is more annoying than it should be, which means some devices are just straight up not brought here - curious if anyone knows if this is true or not.
dmix 4y ago
You can't complain about availability of phones (or any electronics) while being in the US. Try living anywhere else like Canada.
- idonotknowwhy 4y ago
  Or Australia. I end up importing phones here and missing out on some features our shitty telcos don't provide unless you have a white listed phone
  - amaranth 4y ago
    In the US your phone has to be on the whitelist to even get service these days. They're using VoLTE as an excuse to lock the networks down again.
    - Arnavion 4y ago
      Not for T-Mobile, at least not yet.
- ryukafalz 4y ago
  We have decent variety in the US, but I think it's fair to want phones for specific purposes that aren't generally served here. The more repairable phones are hard to come by, and as someone who likes trying alternative OSes the phones that seem best served by e.g. Ubuntu Touch (Volla Phone and Fairphone) aren't available.
  - bionade24 4y ago
    There are plenty devices that work well with UT and are available in the US, e.g Google Pixel 3a/3a XL. Mentioned devices still have an Android Kernel and many limitations. Waydroid on the Volla phone isn't stable, Ubports itself mediocre compared to SailfishOS and suffers from competing for developer time over other Linux on Mobile OSses. You're overestimating the Volla phone and Fairphone, 1st one still doesn't support VoLTE which I heard is essential in the US, 2nd thing isn't even recommended by UT.[1] Either go with an Xperia + SailfishOS [2] if you want more than a toy or Pinephone + PmOs [3] if you love to tinker on your daily driver. Both have VoLTE support. 1. https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/ https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/ 2. https://shop.jolla.com/ https://shop.jolla.com/ 3. https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/PINE64_PinePhone_(pine64-pinephone)#VoLTE https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/PINE64_PinePhone_(pine64-...
Oddskar 4y ago
As someone who works in e-commerce related to phones, I think a big part of the answer is that the US is not a big market when it comes to selling phones without a contract. In the EU it's common practice to buy without a contract, whereas this is very rare in the US. In other words, carriers have way more power in the US.
- yellowapple 4y ago
  > I think a big part of the answer is that the US is not a big market when it comes to selling phones without a contract. If that was true, then Wal-Mart wouldn't bother carrying every pre-paid SIM under the sun in the same section of the store that sells shitbox Motorolas, nor would Amazon bother carrying the same exact Motorola shitboxen - all unlocked, mind you.

happymellon 4y ago

Didn't the US decide to use different frequencies to everyone else?

lallysingh 4y ago
Doesn't 5g fix that? Same radios for everyone.
- happymellon 4y ago
  Does it? I thought Americans were still using alternative frequencies to everyone else. [Edit] It appears that the US doesn't overlap with the majority of the world for most of the ranges, except for one band at the top which overlaps with Japan/Korea. https://5gobservatory.eu/5g-spectrum/ https://5gobservatory.eu/5g-spectrum/ > Currently, the most used bands are: - Low-band: 700 MHz (except in US); 600 MHz (US) - Mid-band: 3.3 – 3.8 GHz (except US); 2.6 GHz, 3.7 – 4.98 GHz (US) - High-band: 26 GHz (except Japan, South Korea and US); 28 GHz (Japan, South Korea and US)
  - yellowapple 4y ago
    At this point frequency compatibility is purely a firmware setting, no? It seems like every 5G (and even 4G) phone these days supports every frequency on a chipset level and just enables/disables some of them depending on the intended region.
rglullis 4y ago
Plenty of models that can work with all frequencies, so I am not sure if that's enough of a justification. Anyway, your point reminds me that the my "dream smartphone" would be one with no cellular connectivity at all. I'm still waiting for some company to start producing a keychain-sized 4G (or 5G) hotspot with an eSIM, which (I hope) would lead to more people asking for the return of the iPod Touch and for something equivalent in the Android/Mobile Linux/Windows world.
- cesarb 4y ago
  > Anyway, your point reminds me that the my "dream smartphone" would be one with no cellular connectivity at all. You mean a PDA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant)? Modern smartphones are basically a PDA with cellular connectivity (this is more obvious with early smartphones like the Treo 650), so if you take out the cellular connectivity, what you have is once again a PDA.
  - happymellon 4y ago
    Personally what I want is a dumb flip phone which can act as a 4/5G hotspot for my 7" tablet. When I'm on the internet, browing maps, reading books, I find a phone screen too small. But I don't want a massive phone. A dumb flip phone that lasts a week on a charge so that I can camp with it, combined with a 7" tablet that I can throw in my bag, for when I want to read, but doesn't need cellular connectivity so that it lasts without spying on me.
  - rglullis 4y ago
    I don't think this distinction makes any sense nowadays. A "smartphone without cellular connectivity" is a lot more than a "Personal Digital Assistant". Could a Palm Pilot stream music? Did it have an app store? GPS? Microphone? Could it make VoIP calls? Could it connect with an external modem so that it could work as a softphone?
    - yellowapple 4y ago
      If Palm were to create the Pilot in 2023, it would almost certainly be designed to support all those features, yes.
Klonoar 4y ago
I feel like I recall reading that getting some certification here is more annoying than it should be, which means some devices are just straight up not brought here - curious if anyone knows if this is true or not.

dmix 4y ago

You can't complain about availability of phones (or any electronics) while being in the US. Try living anywhere else like Canada.

idonotknowwhy 4y ago
Or Australia. I end up importing phones here and missing out on some features our shitty telcos don't provide unless you have a white listed phone
- amaranth 4y ago
  In the US your phone has to be on the whitelist to even get service these days. They're using VoLTE as an excuse to lock the networks down again.
  - Arnavion 4y ago
    Not for T-Mobile, at least not yet.
ryukafalz 4y ago
We have decent variety in the US, but I think it's fair to want phones for specific purposes that aren't generally served here. The more repairable phones are hard to come by, and as someone who likes trying alternative OSes the phones that seem best served by e.g. Ubuntu Touch (Volla Phone and Fairphone) aren't available.
- bionade24 4y ago
  There are plenty devices that work well with UT and are available in the US, e.g Google Pixel 3a/3a XL. Mentioned devices still have an Android Kernel and many limitations. Waydroid on the Volla phone isn't stable, Ubports itself mediocre compared to SailfishOS and suffers from competing for developer time over other Linux on Mobile OSses. You're overestimating the Volla phone and Fairphone, 1st one still doesn't support VoLTE which I heard is essential in the US, 2nd thing isn't even recommended by UT.[1] Either go with an Xperia + SailfishOS [2] if you want more than a toy or Pinephone + PmOs [3] if you love to tinker on your daily driver. Both have VoLTE support. 1. https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/ https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/ 2. https://shop.jolla.com/ https://shop.jolla.com/ 3. https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/PINE64_PinePhone_(pine64-pinephone)#VoLTE https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/PINE64_PinePhone_(pine64-...

Oddskar 4y ago

As someone who works in e-commerce related to phones, I think a big part of the answer is that the US is not a big market when it comes to selling phones without a contract. In the EU it's common practice to buy without a contract, whereas this is very rare in the US. In other words, carriers have way more power in the US.

yellowapple 4y ago
> I think a big part of the answer is that the US is not a big market when it comes to selling phones without a contract. If that was true, then Wal-Mart wouldn't bother carrying every pre-paid SIM under the sun in the same section of the store that sells shitbox Motorolas, nor would Amazon bother carrying the same exact Motorola shitboxen - all unlocked, mind you.