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Comment by Retric | Hacker News Reader

With a phone from 5 years ago sure it’s feeling its age, but that number keeps going up as the functional differences between each phone generation shrinks.

Replacing the battery on year 3 makes a huge difference in how long you would want to keep a phone around for.

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I just replace a OnePlus6T from 2018 with a brand new Pixel 8 and I regret it.

The 6T had the latest LineageOS and the P8 has GrapheneOS. Both have the latest Android but there's nothing on the Pixel that's better than the OnePlus.

6 years and no noticeable differences in terms of battery, performance, screen, ergonomy, etc.

I should have stuck with the old one but I was convinced things were still progressing. My bad.

To be fair the OnePlus 6T was an actual flagship of its time while the pixel 8 isn't. It's more of a midrange phone.

It launched at $549. So basically the same price after inflation. If the tier of the Pixel is lower, that's a problem not an excuse.

I'm talking about flagship HW, not price. Price can be whatever it has nothing to do with the HW.

I know. But it's all connected.

It not being a flagship gives them 2 forgiveness points for the lack of performance. But it not being a flagship also gives them 4 demerit points because they're charging as much as a flagship.

Unless the level of "flagship" is higher than it used to be, in which case it's okay that it's not a flagship, but then "not a flagship" stops being an excuse for mediocre performance.

They can't eat the "not a flagship" cake and have it too. Both interpretations are bad for them.

Have you checked recent flagship prices? Google isn't charging anywhere near that for the pixel 8. You're thinking about 2017 OnePlus prices but that ship has long sailed.

I'm not sure what you're arguing here. It sounds like you're saying that flagship tier is a higher tier than it used to be.

But in that case, Pixel 8 is one tier below flagship, so it should be on the same tier as a 2018 flagship. Especially since the price is so close. But if it met the same standard, then a model 6 years newer would be much faster, so it's failing pretty badly.

Unless you're saying I shouldn't expect performance improvements for phones that are only high tier? I don't see why that would be the case.

Or maybe you're saying that flagship tier is the same, but it got far more expensive for no benefit? That option makes Google look the worst of all, and definitely isn't a "to be fair" defense.

I have a Windows Phone and it’s a decade old. Very outside the norm to still use it, but phones can last a long time from a hardware perspective if they’re allowed too.

My 830’s saving grace has been the ease of changing batteries. If the battery was internal I’d have tossed it years ago.

Does it still get software updates? Not just the apps, but also the operating system. If not, you definitely should not use it anymore.

Not only because of security issues in software, but also because of possibly revoked certificates. And newer, safer, web protocols. Also strange if your bank still supports it.

Hardware might be fine when it comes to being speedy enough, but may also have issues.A digital device still working is just not good enough anymore.

It doesn’t get updates, but I’m not overly concerned. It’s running WP10 and security would be a bigger concern if any apps supported it to begin with.

I don’t bank on my phone beyond checking my balance with SMS. If I need to actually move money around I’d rather do it on my computer.

The phone is used for calling, texting, mp3s, the weather, the calendar/reminders, and very occasional maps. I do have my gmail setup via imap with is probably the biggest risk I actually take.

I’ve written half a dozen of my own programs for specific things I need, but otherwise there’s nothing installed.

I know there’s some risk but I’m well aware of it and accept it.

Replacing the battery on a phone would make sense if it was easy to do. But I can't get reasonable phones with a back that comes off intentionally to replace a modular battery. Which means I'm paying someone to unglue the back, replace the battery, and reglue the back. Their time costs money, so I'm thinking ~ $50 for the battery and ~ $50 for their time, plus my time to get there and back and wait, and I'm halfway to a $200 phone that's going to be way better than my 3 year old $200 phone.

I don't like how disposable everything is, but labor costs to repair are huge. I just got rid of a van because of a failed head gasket, because it's too much work to get to the not that expensive part.

I find the time it takes to swap to a new phone is significantly longer than the time it takes to get a new battery. Making a battery swap a net time save.

I really want to figure out compiling GrapheneOS for post-EOL pixels. Yeah yeah firmware insecurity, but by failing to make it available (call it CarbonOS?) the older pixels don't get the OTHER big graphene features that alternatives lack!

I just want to add that security updates do matter.

I agree with everything.

And if the maker offers a free service to replace the battery with the purchase, I'm okay with it. Would it be nice to remove the battery to keep "them" from listening? Probably, but "they" are still listening through the TV, the laptops, and that chip in the back of my mouth so, meh

TV (fixed) the laptops (fixed), and that chip in the back of my mouth so (erm...)

I still failed because some moron gifted an echo 5 to someone who refuses to let it go.

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