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Comment by StudentStuff | Hacker News Reader

Its surprising how good a used, $50 phone is today. You can get something on par with a Note 3 or Note 4 from LG and get two solid years of use out of it, perhaps more with ROMs.

This is part of why I stopped buying the latest flagship, just didn't make sense for me to worry so much when I could avoid that entirely, and get 98% of the same performance and features.

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There's no way I'd buy a used Android phone, unless it was from Google and was less than two years old. Android phone makers are terrible about security updates.

Actually things have improved considerably this year. You may still not have the latest OS version, but the security patches are arriving every 1-2 months.

Oreo is supposed to improve things even further, but for know its just a theory.

im still rocking my nexus6 because i dont see a reason to upgrade. before that i was rocking note line from samsung.

the only thing that im missing in comparasion with current phones is camera.

Nexus 6 isn’t even 3 years old. Many people keep phones that long.

that was not the point, the point was that the phones crossed some threshold in performance/features where cheap phones are good enough or flagships from 3 years ago, that you do not get that much more from current flagship vs older ones/cheap phone in comparison to some years ago

There's still no September update, while other phones got it last week. https://developers.google.com/android/ota#shamu

How's the battery on those used phones? That feels like the main blocker for me.

New battery is about $10, not exactly a blocker, but they do increase the price.

Hmm OK, so I guess you just make sure you buy a phone with an easily replaceable battery then? Or is it that cheap when you have it done too?

You don't even need that. Phones like the LG Fortune, which I own and works totally fine, can be bought for $25 new and out the door, no contract, at mainstream retailers like Best Buy.

I also have a moto e4 which I'm using to type this. I think it cost me about $65. (I also have a variety of iDevices and flagship phones for testing stuff I write)

We are in the age of adequate, super cheap phones that aren't awful. I have the option of, but choose not to place my sim card in one of more expensive and flashy devices I own because I'd rather have the thing I carry with me be a "worthless commodity" that could get lost without my caring at all.

Last time my phone broke I just swapped the sim card that day, not caring in the slightest. This is a liberating experience.

You can also do this with prescription glasses - you can pay under $7 a pair online. Anti-scratch, investment preserving upgrades and the feeling of preciousness are all gone. Not having to emotionally invest in things is wonderful.

True, but avoiding the production of new phones is one of the draws for me, and batteries that quickly run out one of the hurdles :)

It's actually not too bad, even on phones without "easily" replaceable batteries.

Speaking for the OnePlus One and Nexus 5 the procedure is pretty straight forward: pop it open using plastic trim tools (which are often sold with batteries) disconnect the ribbon cable and pry the battery off any adhesive. Drop the new one in, reconnect it and snap it back together and you're done.

Depends on the phone I guess, but the whole thing takes maybe 15 minutes.

And obtaining a battery? That sounds pretty difficult for a years-old phone of which the battery is not meant to be replaced...

eBay is your friend, you can get batteries for ancient phones like the Samsung Intercept for $4 still, brand new. Luckily for us, batteries are a highly commodified component, you can replace the cells yourself with minimal effort if you so choose.

When I'm feeling like an uber-cheapskate I rebuild laptop batteries, recycling the failed cells and replacing them with good cells from other batteries.

> 98% of the same performance and features

You’re talking about phones with hardware from half a decade ago. How exactly are you getting the same performance and features, let alone even support or updates from manufacturers?

In what world is a chip from 2014 a half decade old? Most of the phones in that price bracket will be using a Snapdragon 410 or similar.

Hmm…it looks like the Note 3 is actually only 4 years old.

Got a five years old Jolla which still receives updates every other month

My criticism was mainly aimed at Android, which has a tendency to drop support for devices within 1-2 years.

which is why should use Lineage OS.

And with 8.0 we will start to see commercial roms with even better and longer support

Source: Paul oBrien

Not every device has an unlocked bootloader or support in the Lineage OS device tree.

That's odd, considering their first phone was launched in stores less than 4 years ago.

In any case, I used to have one too until about 2 weeks ago when it finally broke down (tbh, possibly due to moisture). While it's not odd they still release updates for their phone OS for the only phone they've ever sold to regular customers, I can't brush away GP's point entirely. The hardware is definitely sub-par by now (it wasn't that good to begin with), not to mention the trade-offs made in the construction of the phone (loudspeaker issues are rather common, and my phone started later to have problems with the display back-light, too).

Maybe he is using an android converted to Jolla?

Naye, you could get one in late 2013

…that's less than four years.

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