How I Simplified My Phone (2015) | Hacker News Reader

How I Simplified My Phone (2015)

robrhinehart.com

88 pointssygma43 comments

> Iphones, which seem to get bigger, heavier, more expensive, and more complicated with every release, not to mention a complete lack of customization and control, are obviously off the table.

There are excellent reasons to not choose iPhone, but this one warrants a click on the back button.

Other than the iPhone 6 upgrade (the smaller one has a screen size of 4.7", the same as the phone the author ended up picking), they've been getting smaller, lighter, and thinner every release. (At the expense of using the space to increase battery life, which is what I'd really like to see improved.) There has been zero increase in cost since the first release. Complexity could be an open question, but after using iOS and Android, I've found iOS slightly more intuitive than Android, which is still too rough.

Lack of customization and control are good reasons, but the first bit is bafflingly misinformed.

Maybe because I have a bunch of stuff turned off (notifications, email push, no FaceBook etc.), my iPhone 6s plus is about a 3 - 4 day phone easily.

In fact, it's easily the best device of any kind I've ever owned. It is truly spectacular, as you might expect at the cost.

I don't think this is actually true.

The second iPhone model (iPhone 3G) was actually thicker than the original. When iPad mini went retina, it got 1mm thicker. iPhone 6S is slighter thicker and heavier than iPhone 6, which I find noticeable.

Also, maybe cost in the US hasn't changed (but that's disingenuous because iPhone was originally almost completely subsidised by your carrier), but in Australia, the base cost for latest gen iPhone used to be $799. Now, the iPhone 6S 16GB is $1079.

Of course, lots of things have happened for Apple to raise their prices in Australia - consumer protection laws changed (well, Apple started following them differently) significantly increasing the cost of providing a warranty. Also I'm sure the exchange rate has caused prices to change (though I'm not sure in which way - I think it's gotten worst though).

I'm pretty frustrated with Australia's Apple pricing - I wanted to upgrade my macbook air (~$1050 AUD when I purchased), only to be disappointed in the new $1500 AUD pricetag. Used to be the best ultrabook for it's price on the Aus market IMO.

Original unsubsidized price in the US was $400 (after the price drop). Current unsubsidized price is $650 (and that's been the base unsubsidized price since 2011).

That said, the AUD has gotten significantly weaker vs. the USD -- 5 years ago they were basically 1-1. Now $1.00 USD = $1.44 AUD.

You're right, I forgot that the 3G did get thicker, and the iPhone 6s does seem to be slightly thicker and heavier, by a hair. My mistake. I think the general trend still sticks, despite these exceptions, whereas the author argued that the general trend goes the other direction.

I think generally speaking, the major revisions get 'significantly' thinner, and then there's been a few instances of the 'S' revision (or however it works for iPads) of it getting a hair thicker.

A few tips or best practices I've learned along the way. They would probably increase battery life and sanity.

1) Only allow notifications for texts, calls and maybe email.

2) Only allow yourself 1 screen/page for your apps. Extraneous stuff should be in folders. I have my most-used apps and 4 folders on a single iPhone homescreen (Shopping/banking; Food; Extras; Games).

I'm the last of GenX and remember many years without cell phones. But I feel bad for Millenials who never knew anything else and will probably never learn to really get control over these devices.

If I could get a T9 cellphone with voice dictated mapping built-in, I'd dump traditional smartphones altogether. Having your devices work for you rather than work you over is a huge part of the 21st century. So says grandpa.

I've also disabled all notifications except texts and calls. I can look up for messages myself if I have time and I want to. A silent phone means a happy user.

Further, I've used the weirdly named "Wifi/Data Auto Off/On" application¹ to disconnect mobile data and wifi except when the display is on. This helps me get days of battery if I don't do much with the phone. It also makes it easy to ration the battery: when I do something with the phone, I use the battery; when I don't do anything with the phone, the battery drains very, very slowly. Thus, I don't get surprises as the charge will be depleted only when I decide it's all right to use it. And nicely enough I don't get a zillion notifications all the time which would urge me to look at the phone again and again, further consuming the battery.

¹) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whueric.da...

Yup, the key is to take back control and make the phone for your convenience. Rather than the convenience of others and apps.

Limiting social media accounts is helpful in this too. I have FB and Twitter but receive no emails or notifications from either and don't even have any FB-related apps on my phone at all. They sit there waiting for me to visit at my convenience. I check FB maybe once every 3 months at my desk. When I do look, I always realize I'm missing out on nothing.

If people need to reach me, I check my email a few times a day on my phone/desktop and can get immediate access through my cellphone number if they have it.

T9 cellphone + voice dictated mapping + anything else?

There's no other feature that I really need. As long as my wife can reach me and I can get directions to some place while we're out and about.

I wouldn't ask for voice if it weren't such a good safety feature. I still swear I could punch out text faster on T9 than I ever could on a touchscreen.

I don't know about faster, but I could do it blindly...

Before iPhones and all the really nice capacitive touch screens, I had a haptic touch LG phone I could text blindly on with surprisingly good accuracy. Now... No way

yes. In a touchscreen keyboard, the only feedback if your keypress registered is to look at the echo back on the screen. In a tactile keyboard, the feedback is via tactile sensation of the key being pressed.

I like to allow notification for email, but no vibration or sound, only the status bar icon. It's rare emails actually need instant attention, and if you really have to, you can set up a custom notification for emails meeting certain rules.

I've only enabled email notifications for short periods of time when I knew something critical was coming in via email that could be time sensitive.

But you're right, email is so great because you can check it when it's convenient.

Xiaomi is now retroactively locking bootloaders: http://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-locks-bootloader-on-rec...

Whoa. Thanks for the comment, I was looking at Xiaomi for my next phone. Guess I'll have to be careful about which one I buy.

Xiaomi has a process to request unlock codes, which takes between 3-21 days, and they say it's to protect against malware from sellers.

And some users say they already recieved unlock codes. So maybe it's reasonable.

But it's new , it still requires followup.

Nova launcher is mentioned in the article and I would like to add my 5 cents about it. Specifically, it is an absolute gem of a launcher and is fast and highly customizable. 100% worth paying for it, though there is a free version with most of the features. I was able to customize it and make it exactly as I wanted it to be, up to details like icon spacing, using custom themes, gestures, unread badges, home screen arrangement and effects, home folders, widgets, app menu arrangement (I prefer it vertical coming from Symbian), etc.

Given the same radio power (it's capped for all cell phones) the faster your wireless data, the less battery it will chew up. Why? Because it consumes the most energy when radio is on, and if you transmit at higher speeds, radio doesn't have to stay on for long.

Assuming the signal processing doesn't take so much more energy to kill the benefit, and the higher speed is equally stable against noise. (Which might actually be true, but I don't think it is obvious that it always is)

How I simplified my phone: I got a windows phone.

While I agree that Nova launcher is impressive, I don't want to have to change the launcher.

On a windows phone, the basics work relatively well. The phone takes good pictures and doesn't get in the way. There are very few apps in the appstore, which is a feature since it means I won't be tempted to tweak it too much (temptation... must resist...).

And it's cheap, so much that I don't care if it falls out of my purse. I'll just get another.

Sounds like he would like a Blackberry (running BBOS 10). My bb Passport has excellent battery-life, no bloat, extensive customization of the messages "hub" and minimal notifications, privacy and per-app per-feature controls, etc.

But instead he pretends that Android and iOS are the only two choices. And while boosting a two-player market, somehow acts entitled to options that are not well provided within that limited competitive space.

His comments about his previous phone, the LG G3, are interesting to me. That happens to be the phone I have, and I think it works great. I'm using a stock-based ROM (rooted, of course, with TWRP), performance is excellent, very little bloat, and the battery easily lasts me the day, even when I play a little GTA:SA, watch some YT/Twitch, do some video calling with Hangouts, and Chromecast some Dora The Explorer for my kid. I use Viper4Android to do DSP on Spotify and get some pretty nice sound out of my $10 earbuds. I'm not on Facebook, and one of my New Year's resolutions was to stop reading the news[1] and using Twitter and Reddit, so that's probably saving me loads of battery.

As far as expense, yes, it's more than $129, but it's currently being pushed heavily by MVNOs where I live as a $0 budget phone ($400 in subsidy). Currently flagships from Apple, Samsung, etc are in the $850-1100 range. IMHO the G3 is a perfectly serviceable mid-range phone.

[1] http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews

That article is interesting because in the end, the news did involve him.

There's a way simpler option: https://github.com/paulfertser/fso-el/wiki ;)

TL/DR iOS is crap cause it is not customizable and because some of iPhone specs are getting worst (while still better on average). So he search and found the holy grail of specs and install a stripped down alternative version of Android overly customized to remove feature from UI. And this is supposed to be simple and make your brain cringe less...

It was an interesting and well researched article that added value to my day. Your condescending comment hasn't added nearly as much.

His "Endurance rating per mAh" is a really curious measurement to use. Particularly as, despite it casting Apple's performance as degrading year-to-year, it still ended up higher than that of every other manufacturer in the graph.

He also claims that iPhones have been getting "bigger [and] heavier" then bought a phone almost the exact same size and weight as the iPhone 6s (the Redmi 2 is 4mm shorter, 2mm thicker, and 10g lighter).

The "customization and control" stuff is right on, of course; what he's done with Android certainly wouldn't be possible with iOS, even jailbroken. It'd have made more sense to leave it at that (and price, as the cheapest current-generation iPhone still costs five times the Redmi 2).

He'll be crawling back to iOS when he sees the standby time of Android eat massive chunks of battery. From the mobile radio active bug to the play store deciding it needs to be active for some unknown reason.

Don't get me wrong, I love android, I love it more than iOS, but damn does it eat battery for no reason. I only switched sides because I couldn't take it any more. Sure iOS devices have started a downward trend of capacity, but at least when I go to bed at night with 80% I wake up in the morning with 79-78% instead of 65% at best.

Might be worth giving it another shot. Doze in Android Marshmallow drastically improved my standby battery life[0]. Doze handles wake locks much like iOS--not quite as well but it's night and day from my previous Android phones.

Here's more detail on how it works[1].

[0] http://i.imgur.com/tQyNJXD.png [1] http://developer.android.com/training/monitoring-device-stat...

I've been following Doze closely, there are still a bunch of quirks where Doze either doesn't force hibernate or other apps just keep polling. Also it helps that you had full bars the whole time. Low signal murders battery.

I heard xiaomi , in their newer OS versions have a very good standby management so it's very power efficient.That ,plus the new redmi 3 with a large battery in a thin device gives phenomenal battery life.

> To my surprise it came not just unlocked but rooted.

This rings alarm bells for me. What are the chances that it comes with a pre-installed Android rootkit? How would you know?

I would be just as concerned if it was unlocked and unrooted. Nothing stopping a malicious party from rerooting the device after they install their rootkit.

In my experience you can only relock the device if you have flashed a manufacturer-signed system image. (That might not be the case for every phone)

My first thought as well. Maybe rootkits, maybe cruft, maybe spyware. On the bright side if you can find a mfgr system image, you can probably reflash it and be safe.

How is a chance of having a rootkit worse than definitely having a rootkit?

People should know about adb and dig into android 'shell' and tools. You can trim things a lot and make a focused 'distribution'. That requires root though.

ps: almost unrelated but you can also drive the UI through input events like swipe and drag. I had fun caressing my old HP TouchPad through emacs.

> Other than these I use Lyft, Spotify, Dropbox, Drive, Amazon Underground, Phone, SMS, and Calendar. Instagram is my only social media app, mostly because I think the @soylent account is awesome.

Signal, phone, google maps, firefox/chrome.

I like how "phone" falls under the "other" category for this person

I have seen many posts where people are turning off notifications and stop using sync go save battery. Are'nt modern phones give good battery life and allow to use all apps ?? I have all notifications turned on + Greenify + amplify + powernap to save battery. I get 7 hours SOT on nexus 6p

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