I don’t want a new phone.
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@akareilly I'd also welcome telcos continuing to provide service to phones that could work with 3G or 4G for different bands. My phone hasn't changed and still works as a WiFi device but NZ telcos have stopped service.
@Kay @akareilly older standards were really inefficient with scarce wireless bandwidth why is why those frequencies are being reformed. They were also grossly insecure due to uncorrectable design flaws. There's a reason why Android gives you the option to block 2G and 3G for security.
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@sticklandtim @akareilly Likewise, my Fairphone 3 is still going strong, on its second battery and screen and still getting updates 5 years after I bought it
You both got here before me!
I'm writing this on a #Fairphone 4 that I got in, I think, January 2022. It still gets security updates and still runs well. It's currently on Android 15. I plan to keep using it until either Fairphone can no longer support it or I manage to drop it down a well.
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the only reason my phone that is over 10 years old doesn’t work is because of the choice to stop updates
@akareilly It is absolutely not too much to ask. My phone is eight years old (a OnePlus 6). The last software update was exactly one week ago. It still works great, it's still updated, the battery is a *bit* of a pain to swap but far from impossible. But this is because I jumped through some hoops to choose this phone and to flash it with LineageOS. But if a small open source project with no discernable income stream can manage it, surely any of these corporations could too.
They say the free market gives us choice...but only if that choice means spending more money for less value -- ie, towards greater profitability for the corporations involved!
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@akareilly With #Android, you can often switch to a different ROM. However, if you don't get updates from the original vendor (via original ROM or alternative ROM which uses the vendor patches which require vendor support), you accumulate all unpatched bugs that are below the OS level. Therefore, it's a risk you're taking here although you've switched to an hopefully up to date OS.
Best bet: only buy HW with vendor security support as long as possible. 5-7 years is good. Furthermore, for #privacy and #security reasons I'd recommend using #GrapheneOS right from the start. So you need to choose models that are supported by that.
HTH
No.
A custom Android firmware like Graphene, Calyx, /e/ etc. will tell you which hardware models are supported and they will update the hardware drivers that allow Android to run on those models. You do not need to receive any updates directly "from the original vendor".
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I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS.
@akareilly
Or even, as well as I, or even we, want to OWN and DECIDE what we want to do with our devices, without any company or anyone else forcing, influencing or limiting down our choices.Like it always has been for a very long time before 'Lock-in Vending' was a near exclusive thing.
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I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS.
@akareilly of course. that is the only sane approach to items made from poison minerals.
any company that did not do that, any company that instead mindlessly pumped out overmanufactured poison item after overmanufactured poison item with the knowledge that all that poison would be dumped in wave after wave into our living environment, without providing infrastructure to recycle those materials aftermarket would need all its members to be summarily executed with absolute urgency.
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While we're at it, can we *please* stop making these stupid distraction rectangles so essential to everyday life that we can't function without them?
I'd love nothing more than to ditch my smartphone and replace it with a dumbphone, a notebook and an mp3 player - my weeks with a broken smartphone were great, barring no messaging friends whilst outside - but too many essential things outside of my control in my life /need/ a smartphone, and I hate that I can't choose what I know makes happier
I dump mine in the kitchen when I'm home haven't touched it all day
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I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS.
@akareilly A Fairphone with e/os?
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@Kay @akareilly older standards were really inefficient with scarce wireless bandwidth why is why those frequencies are being reformed. They were also grossly insecure due to uncorrectable design flaws. There's a reason why Android gives you the option to block 2G and 3G for security.
@fazalmajid @akareilly That issue should be resolved in better ways than by depriving phone users of a service. Too many government and commercial services require people to use digital devices. It's unfair and undemocratic to simply remove s service because it's easier for a telco that way. I'm disabled and needed the accessibility features my phone provided including a physical keyboard. There is no alternative accessible smart phone available in my country. Discrimination isn't justified by easier security.
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I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS.
@akareilly With the exception of AI updates. Pretty happy my "old" iPhone doesn't support those.
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I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS.
@akareilly I’m with you, but assuming this is in response to Apple’s iPhone event today… They already lead the pack on this, no? This year’s OS update literally makes it faster on older phones.
If you’re wanting other companies to do the same: Totally agreed.
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I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS.
@akareilly Fairphone 4 since 2021 here, without any components being replaced at this point, still getting software updates, still working fine.
Had a Fairphone 2 before, it lasted 5 years. I had to replace some components for this one, but it was covered by the warranty. -
I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS.
@akareilly I want a phone (and also a tablet) with modular hardware and an unlocked bootloader so that I can easily install any OS I like. I want to be able to replace burned out flash memory chips and other broken components. I want to be able to override the flash memory on the circuit board completely and boot from a removable memory card. I want exchangeable standardised parts like in a modular PC.
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I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS.
@akareilly This is what the world needs
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I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS.
@akareilly, fully agreed. There are (hardware) options, such as Fairphone, Gigaset, Shift. My assessment - the phone hardware is NOT the main issue.
More critical is the OS. Moving to, for example, LineageOS requires (1) the personal technical readiness to go this way, and (2) to accept that not all apps will work properly. And (2) in my view is the most severe issue. Unfortunately, for many institutions, such as banks, it is more important finding an original Android even old and unsupported rather than a fully up-to-date LineageOS. Not understandable? Yes, not understandable - but reality.
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@akareilly
I'm happy to recommend Fairphone.
https://www.fairphone.com/@sticklandtim @akareilly another Google device? 🥵
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@akareilly It is absolutely not too much to ask. My phone is eight years old (a OnePlus 6). The last software update was exactly one week ago. It still works great, it's still updated, the battery is a *bit* of a pain to swap but far from impossible. But this is because I jumped through some hoops to choose this phone and to flash it with LineageOS. But if a small open source project with no discernable income stream can manage it, surely any of these corporations could too.
They say the free market gives us choice...but only if that choice means spending more money for less value -- ie, towards greater profitability for the corporations involved!
@admin @akareilly The first smartphone I had (so as to be able to run Signal) was used for many years.
Late in its life the USB port was dead and the battery weak, but the back at least could be opened. I got a camera battery with sufficient capacity that would fit in the opening, and soldered leads both to the battery and the phone. Another pair of leads went to a tiny USB standalone charging board glued to the battery.
Finally, I slotted the case back to accomodate the USB charging board. While the phone's battery monitor always read discharging, the LEDs on the charging board let up red when charging or running on AC power and green at full charge.
Note that on "modern" phones with closed backs, limiting battery charge to 80% should double battery life, same as it does for any other lithium battery.
I know you are "supposed" to trade in your phone for a new contract phone tied to you with ID, with tethering restricted and chock full of carrier spyware every year. I refuse to do so. I do not use carrier-provided phones at all, will not have a contract phone, and do not use stock Android any more either.
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@akareilly
Or even, as well as I, or even we, want to OWN and DECIDE what we want to do with our devices, without any company or anyone else forcing, influencing or limiting down our choices.Like it always has been for a very long time before 'Lock-in Vending' was a near exclusive thing.
@Shredd_Tone unfortunately OnePlus is closing for non-Asian markets...
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@akareilly
I'm happy to recommend Fairphone.
https://www.fairphone.com/@sticklandtim @akareilly I'm using a Fairphone 5 and quite happy with it. I hear Fairphone 6 is even better, and it is available in US.
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I don’t want a new phone. I want my perfectly good hardware to keep getting updates until it actually stops working. I want replaceable batteries that get recycled. If a company stops giving updates I want to be able to change the OS.
@akareilly My carrier just announced that next spring they're changing the radio and everyone with older phones needs to buy a new one.
