2001: I have a new phone.
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2001: I have a new phone. How exciting! Perhaps I can access the Internet on it via a Sharp Zaurus. This is so the future!
2002: Ooh! A new PalmOS device! Amazing! HotSync backup and off we go!
2004: Wow! This WindowsMobile device has a keyboard, as is basically a mini laptop. Cool!
...
2026: I must get a new black slab because security updates have run out on my current black slab which, for all other intents and purposes, is absolutely fine. The new black slab does nothing new for me, and all I see is the chore of setting it up.
@neil thanks for the sharp zaurus call out which I still have haha. Electronic hoarding
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@ozzelot I am not convinced that it is?
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This is, of course, a daft mentality.
The new black slab is an incredibly powerful computer, with an all-day battery life, a great camera, and functionality which connects me to a world of friends and knowledge, for less than £500.
It can also make and receive calls.
My last phone was a OnePlus 5T. It was released 9 years ago. It had 8 cores, including 4 high-performance 2.45GHz ones, 8 GiB of RAM, and 128 GB of storage. It is massively overpowered for everything I use it for. Apparently the last LineageOS version to run on it was Android 15. I think that still gets security updates but is no longer the latest release.
I’d still be using it if I hadn’t accidentally put it through the washer-dryer. I replaced it with a 9 Pro, which is now over 5 years old and runs the latest Android via LineageOS.
The 5T stopped getting official updates with the stock firmware around 2020. The 9P Pro’s last official update was in 2023.
The fact that a group of volunteers can maintain updates for years after the vendor stops makes it very obvious that this is an intentional choice by the vendor. I hope that the labelling requirements in the CRA will start to disincentivise this behaviour.
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2001: I have a new phone. How exciting! Perhaps I can access the Internet on it via a Sharp Zaurus. This is so the future!
2002: Ooh! A new PalmOS device! Amazing! HotSync backup and off we go!
2004: Wow! This WindowsMobile device has a keyboard, as is basically a mini laptop. Cool!
...
2026: I must get a new black slab because security updates have run out on my current black slab which, for all other intents and purposes, is absolutely fine. The new black slab does nothing new for me, and all I see is the chore of setting it up.
@neil and it's £900
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I've run GrapheneOS for years.
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2001: I have a new phone. How exciting! Perhaps I can access the Internet on it via a Sharp Zaurus. This is so the future!
2002: Ooh! A new PalmOS device! Amazing! HotSync backup and off we go!
2004: Wow! This WindowsMobile device has a keyboard, as is basically a mini laptop. Cool!
...
2026: I must get a new black slab because security updates have run out on my current black slab which, for all other intents and purposes, is absolutely fine. The new black slab does nothing new for me, and all I see is the chore of setting it up.
@neil 2017: you had to upgrade from a 32-bit iPhone.
Our family still uses an iPhone XR and an 11. Those will be obsolete soon, but dragging it out as long as possible.
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@neil and it's £900
@coldclimate Just less than £500!
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2001: I have a new phone. How exciting! Perhaps I can access the Internet on it via a Sharp Zaurus. This is so the future!
2002: Ooh! A new PalmOS device! Amazing! HotSync backup and off we go!
2004: Wow! This WindowsMobile device has a keyboard, as is basically a mini laptop. Cool!
...
2026: I must get a new black slab because security updates have run out on my current black slab which, for all other intents and purposes, is absolutely fine. The new black slab does nothing new for me, and all I see is the chore of setting it up.
@neil I will soon have to update my pixel 6 (because of the security update running out).
I have already replaced the battery and the camera has a mark on the lens (not sure what)5.5 years, maybe 6 makes me look like a sustainability here when compared to my friends and colleagues
I have the feeling though that the battery life is degrading way faster this time around. Not sure if it is due to enshitification of the OS with stuff I don't sure or something else
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2001: I have a new phone. How exciting! Perhaps I can access the Internet on it via a Sharp Zaurus. This is so the future!
2002: Ooh! A new PalmOS device! Amazing! HotSync backup and off we go!
2004: Wow! This WindowsMobile device has a keyboard, as is basically a mini laptop. Cool!
...
2026: I must get a new black slab because security updates have run out on my current black slab which, for all other intents and purposes, is absolutely fine. The new black slab does nothing new for me, and all I see is the chore of setting it up.
FWIW, I run @GrapheneOS on a Pixel.
This will be my third GrapheneOS device.
A genuinely excellent Android experience, with many years of support and security updates.
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2001: I have a new phone. How exciting! Perhaps I can access the Internet on it via a Sharp Zaurus. This is so the future!
2002: Ooh! A new PalmOS device! Amazing! HotSync backup and off we go!
2004: Wow! This WindowsMobile device has a keyboard, as is basically a mini laptop. Cool!
...
2026: I must get a new black slab because security updates have run out on my current black slab which, for all other intents and purposes, is absolutely fine. The new black slab does nothing new for me, and all I see is the chore of setting it up.
@neil this was my primary reason for getting a fairphone
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@neil I will soon have to update my pixel 6 (because of the security update running out).
I have already replaced the battery and the camera has a mark on the lens (not sure what)5.5 years, maybe 6 makes me look like a sustainability here when compared to my friends and colleagues
I have the feeling though that the battery life is degrading way faster this time around. Not sure if it is due to enshitification of the OS with stuff I don't sure or something else
@jfparis Yes, this is a replacement for my Pixel 6.
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2001: I have a new phone. How exciting! Perhaps I can access the Internet on it via a Sharp Zaurus. This is so the future!
2002: Ooh! A new PalmOS device! Amazing! HotSync backup and off we go!
2004: Wow! This WindowsMobile device has a keyboard, as is basically a mini laptop. Cool!
...
2026: I must get a new black slab because security updates have run out on my current black slab which, for all other intents and purposes, is absolutely fine. The new black slab does nothing new for me, and all I see is the chore of setting it up.
@neil My similarly caused upgrade turned out to have a few things I did care about in the experience,
- phone gets less hot on video calls especially when also having to do them over cellular
- 90hz screen refresh causes less visual strain due to jerky motion, so I get fewer headaches from using it
- memory tagging catches app bugs, giving me reliable crashes instead of unreliable behaviors
- backlight is way more consistent across the screen
Unfortunately, upstream software quality has gone down (not graphene's fault, all google bugs!), and along with it battery life and reliability, but that was going to happen anyway.
If someone releases a (grapheneos compatible) model without pulse width modulation backlight, or even better that is eink, I'll be in line the first day!
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FWIW, I run @GrapheneOS on a Pixel.
This will be my third GrapheneOS device.
A genuinely excellent Android experience, with many years of support and security updates.
@neil @GrapheneOS I believe that yoh have the best expertise
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I've run GrapheneOS for years.
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2001: I have a new phone. How exciting! Perhaps I can access the Internet on it via a Sharp Zaurus. This is so the future!
2002: Ooh! A new PalmOS device! Amazing! HotSync backup and off we go!
2004: Wow! This WindowsMobile device has a keyboard, as is basically a mini laptop. Cool!
...
2026: I must get a new black slab because security updates have run out on my current black slab which, for all other intents and purposes, is absolutely fine. The new black slab does nothing new for me, and all I see is the chore of setting it up.
@neil fwiw, fairphone offers a five year warranty, eight years of software updates, and user-replaceable parts for most of the components
they're the one and only that does it, so the exception that proves your [very valid] complaint. i usually get no-overlay phones that are on some version of handset alliance / pure android / whatever, but those have only lasted three to four years because of security updates. alt OSes are nice, but they don't support corp/auth apps, so they're useless to me
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@neil fwiw, fairphone offers a five year warranty, eight years of software updates, and user-replaceable parts for most of the components
they're the one and only that does it, so the exception that proves your [very valid] complaint. i usually get no-overlay phones that are on some version of handset alliance / pure android / whatever, but those have only lasted three to four years because of security updates. alt OSes are nice, but they don't support corp/auth apps, so they're useless to me
@dank If one could run GrapheneOS on a FairPhone, I'd have definitely considered one. But I can't, so I didn't
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FWIW, I run @GrapheneOS on a Pixel.
This will be my third GrapheneOS device.
A genuinely excellent Android experience, with many years of support and security updates.
@neil Out of interest, do you manage to do everything you need to without running Google Play Services?
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2001: I have a new phone. How exciting! Perhaps I can access the Internet on it via a Sharp Zaurus. This is so the future!
2002: Ooh! A new PalmOS device! Amazing! HotSync backup and off we go!
2004: Wow! This WindowsMobile device has a keyboard, as is basically a mini laptop. Cool!
...
2026: I must get a new black slab because security updates have run out on my current black slab which, for all other intents and purposes, is absolutely fine. The new black slab does nothing new for me, and all I see is the chore of setting it up.
@neil 2026: I don't want a new black slab but the battery in my old black slab only lasts a few hours and it's not replaceable. All the new black slabs are the size of Wales.
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> so you find that the compute is still locked out
No - not me.
I think that was someone else's comment.
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2001: I have a new phone. How exciting! Perhaps I can access the Internet on it via a Sharp Zaurus. This is so the future!
2002: Ooh! A new PalmOS device! Amazing! HotSync backup and off we go!
2004: Wow! This WindowsMobile device has a keyboard, as is basically a mini laptop. Cool!
...
2026: I must get a new black slab because security updates have run out on my current black slab which, for all other intents and purposes, is absolutely fine. The new black slab does nothing new for me, and all I see is the chore of setting it up.
@neil and that is where buying a black slab that is compatible with an open-source non-corporate and non-enshittified OS like GrapheneOS pays dividends.
