This is a nice article but it’s a shame the author neglected to mention postmarketOS which is aiming for a 10 year life-cycle for smartphones by using a non-android Linux stack.
This is really cool. Thanks for informing me of this.
Phones would last much longer if the software was open source.
Yes but it’s not just that. Is it easy to replace the battery? The screen? To replace broken connectors? Is the device itself robust to begin with?
Robust? But what about design™?
I harte the design over funcionality.
I disagree. I already use a custom open-source Android OS that has extended the life of my phone. Open source isn’t enough to make the ‘typical consumer’ interested in using it instead of upgrading, most people default to the simple option.
Android is open source in name only. It depends on tons of closed source firmware from hardware manufacturers. It’s a lot of work to integrate them all, you can’t just download Android from the repo and expect it to work on your phone. The reason updates stop after a few years because manufacturers stop maintaining all these closed source bits.
I agree. My point still stands. How will a 100% FOSS firmware and software make any difference to a normal user? Wouldthey really still be maintained of they were open firmware?
As much as I don’t like Apples’s overall products, their relatively long software update durations shows that even normal people adapt to this. Yes some people still tend to replace their devices regularly, but there is a larger secondary market and more family internal hand-downs of still functional Apple devices compared to cheaper Androids.
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You are missing the point completely… this is not about app compatibility, but OS security (and feature) updates.
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I can use a very old laptop because most Linux distros support old hardware. I assume it would be similar. If the closed source firmware issues are solved, then installing Android into old devices become as easy as installing Linux to a laptop.
I understand that someone can do that. I do something similar.
I’m saying that I think most people won’t. Not because they are unable, but because it’s not something they will even think of doing, or its not the easy option (buying a new phone is more expensive but requires no installation), or its a technical process they aren’t comfortable with.
Maybe this point is more relevant in countries with a strong consumerist culture like the US?
They don’y have to. Once the capability exists, someone can do it for them. (like the vendor that sells the phone to them)
That’s a good point, I hadn’t thought of that.
I think the point was that open source software makes it last much longer. If using open source Android OS has extended the life of your phone then you are proving his point.
Of course it’s not the only thing that can extend the life of the phone, and of course additional measures should be taken to extend it further, but that doesn’t contradict anything the comment said.
Also, if having an open source OS isn’t a “simple option” for “typical consumer”, then we aren’t even there yet. Imho the phones should come with a fully open source OS that is easily upgradable independently of the manufacturer right out from the store.
then you are proving his point.
Not quite. As I said in the other comment chain, my counter-point was that most people aren’t open to installing an operating system. It was nerve-wracking for me the first times, especially for mobile. If most people aren’t even thinking managing their OS, then being open source alone won’t fix it.
I do think there was an interesting rebuttal in that it would be different if switching OSs was easier or more normalized, or if there were phone vendors (or similar) providing that as a service.
Imho the phones should come with a fully open source OS that is easily upgradable independently of the manufacturer right out from the store.
I agree, although I understand that currently manufacturers have monetary motivation to choose not to do this. Exceptions like the Pinephone are super rare, and I wouldn’t expect that to change without force.
my counter-point was that most people aren’t open to installing an operating system
I mean, the original point didn’t say users should be required to install it themselves. It just said that phones should have an open source OS to increase their life span, which is something your “counter-point” is just building up on, not contradicting nor opposing it.
In fact, not every Android phone has open source firmware available that properly supports the hardware, so there are many cases where even if you knew how to install it you wouldn’t be able to.
Exceptions like the Pinephone are super rare, and I wouldn’t expect that to change without force.
I agree. There needs to be either legislation or a consumer driven shift. The real problem is that most users don’t seem to care that much about that and prefer getting a new shiny one with the latest trending features instead of a Pinephone or Fairphone.
It’d be nice if all the code for the firmware, drivers, etc were put in some sort of escrow, and automatically licensed to the public once a vendor drops support for them
Of course, even better than that is being open-by-default from day one
Android is OpenSource, there are several forks without the Google crap. (LinageOS?) El problem are the Phones without Root access which give the ISPs with the contract, not the OS as such.
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I wish I could have a phone just like the one I have but with easy to replace pieces and open source. But it’s going to be quite a long time until that’s possible. If my phone breaks I’ll just have to buy the same.
Well there was phoneblocs that inspired Google PRoject Ara that actually made a phone with swappable modules but they promptly killed it like all things Google does. I was beyond excited for these during the time, such disappointment.
https://www.onearmy.earth//project/phonebloks
That site mentions shiftphone and fairphone both of which use screws instead of glue and are easily repaired.
cmon, it’s current year
It is indeed
It’s not 2021 any more guys
My phone is almost 9year old and I spend 170€ on it. It’s a middle end phone from that generation, has 1gig of ram, 8gig of storage.
It ran on Android 4.4 or 5. After 2 or 3 years I stopped receiving updates.
So I installed lineage os. Then a few month later I removed gapps. Lineage + microG made that phone snappier than ever, and battery life went from 1-2 days to 2-3days.
But after a while even lineage os stopped pushing updates, I think that was 2-3 years ago.
Using a phone “that” old is fine. The ram is the biggest limitations. Nowadays app requires a ludicrous amount of memory and websites too.
I changed the screen 3 times and the battery once. The process wasn’t super easy nor really hard but it’s not noob friendly :(
I don’t think I will buy another phone unless this one break but sometime I wish osmAnd would load a bit faster…
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I wish! A moto G 1st gen.
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I go for “more”. Any device manufactured today should be under legal warranty for 20+ years, and should be reparable for at least another 20 after that. That’s the only way to combat the current electronic waste problem (and it’s a HUUUUUUUGE problem).
I’m not sure how usable a device truly is after 40+ years. I have a toaster that is from the 50’s that still works well. Toast has more or less not changed. Not so much with a computer where it’s aging at 5 years, elderly at 10, and a barely usable potato at 20. Take an older laptop I was setting up for my husband’s grandfather a while ago. I think it was early 00’s. I installed a lightweight Linux distro, but it just wasn’t enough even for that lightweight work.
While you might be able to upgrade piece-by-piece, that’s going to be a tough sell. Manufacturers will have to somehow predict all needs 40 years in the future, down to the holes for the ports. 40 years ago, keyboards and mice were connected not by PS/2 (hadn’t been invented yet) but by DIN and D-sub connectors.
I think part of this needs to lie with software developers. The trend has been more and more towards taking performance shortcuts to cut down on development. I’d like to see more high performance languages get used to stretch the usefulness of hardware.
https://www.fairphone.com/</br> https://myteracube.com/</br> As you can see some people already do: if we all, as consumers, buy them, the market will inevitably move in that direction.
Also shiftphones.com/
In the beginning, I didn’t read the “f” and I was like “I’m not clicking that link”…<br> But thanks for pointing that out, I didn’t know it.
Alright, but unfortunately I don’t think many consumers will buy them. The market almost always favors price and features, and the market leaders have an active motivation not to make people buy less phones. I don’t think the solution lies in the market, unless a massive cultural shift suddenly occurs.
Nonetheless, I think what Fairphone is doing is great (I don’t know much about that other one) and I personally use a 5+ year phone supported by a custom ROM OS (no commercial spyware, thanks!). The tools are nice, I just don’t see them becoming popular here.
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Agreed. My phone is about to stop getting security updates and now I have to decide whether or not I should buy a new model even though my current phone works just fine.
[redacted: I missed the word ‘security’]
I use an old cheap Alcatel 1C since 4 years and I’m not going to buy another one until this one stops working. I see no reason to replace a mobile that works perfectly for me
5 years is way too short.
Why isn’t Android doing updates the same way that Linux, MacOS and Windows are doing on PC?
Because you can make more money when you sell new hardware every other year. And there’s no standardisation.
Good old days when we were kings with a Nokia 3310 (mine is still working in case I need it, safe, private, eternal battery, better coverage than today’s sneaks and no planned obsolescence)
