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Comment by schmichael | Hacker News Reader

This is what got me to switch to iPhone. Ewaste is a big problem with Google phones. My wife has always bought iPhones and has gone through half as many phones as me.

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On e-waste: I'm not sure if the Pixel 5 has done better in this aspect, but the Pixel 3/3XL's screen is almost impossible to remove without destroying it. There's low-quality hard-to-remove adhesive all over the screen, and you have to handle both the front-facing portion of the phone and the rear-facing portion in order to handle a screen replacement.

IMO iPhones fare a lot better in terms of screen replacement (and therefore preventing e-waste) because lifting the adhesive is more like a fine string around the screen rather than a thick pool of glue. Once the string is pulled, it's easier to mobilize the screen and gain access to the connectors, etc. There's a higher chance of being able to disconnect the screen and still have it be usable, unlike when replacing a screen on the Pixel lineup.

I just attempted a Pixel 3 screen replacement on a dummy phone. Difficult to do it cleanly without breaking things.

I was preparing to replace my Pixel 3a screen and even got the kit from iFixit when I realized that this would never work.

I took it to the local repair affiliate (ubreakifix) and let them break the screen instead. They were apologetic but I wasn't surprised and I got a new screen and glass for next to nothing.

Oh, I have replaced screen for pixel 3a about 3 times with different vendors. Screens were not original as it was difficult to get them in my country. All 3 had the same issue: bright flash when activated (only sometimes), multitouch almost dis not work, and sometimes had ghost touches. I just bought an iphone SE after that, and I’m perfectly happy with it.

I really tried to switch off apple, but no, I cannot handle it.

How do you deal with lack of uBlock Origin? It's Android's killer feature: you can have real browsers with extensions.

iOS allows content blockers now, at least for Safari. While it’s not quite as good, it makes the Internet usable again. Firefox focus’s content blocker has been sufficient for me, as a specific recommendation.

iOS 15 (releasing within the next week or so) adds extension support for mobile safari. I’ve been using Wipr with it on the beta and it’s great

ios 15 has browser extensions, though that won't bring ublock origin to ios, or safari.

I deal with it using a dns profile, and content blocking extensions.

I find Brave's built in ad blocker pretty good. It's the only way I consume YouTube on iOS as it generally is effective as blocking ads and actively works around Google's preventing background playback.

They have supported ad blocking extensions for literally years. Though, these days, I'm 100% Wireguarded to my house when away and everything goes through Pihole anyways.

I fixed the USB port connecting and disconnecting by replacing the USB port.

I fixed the power+volume buttons not working by replacing the entire connector.

The Bluetooth issue remains as I haven't looked into exactly which parts are responsible for it or how to fix it.

I can try to keep at it forever but it's an uphill battle. I can keep replacing parts on the Pixel 3, but one day the motherboard might die. Unfortunately, I don't want to purchase a hot air rework station and handle reflowing those chips as the pitch of the joints is too fine.

Agreed. I was going to post the same thing but I would have expanded beyond phones to all Google and Google related hardware. The amount of ewaste I've generated over the years of buying Google hardware or hardware running Google OSes is appalling. Phones, tablets, media devices, etc... all in the landfill (actually to ewaste facilities).

A few years ago, I finally had enough and switched over to the iphone and haven't looked back. I've had the same phone for the last 3 years and it's still running strong getting the latest updates, performing as well as the day I bought it.

And even if I got rid of it to buy the latest and greatest new version, I would rest easy knowing that it would end up in the hands of someone that would continue to get a lot of use out of it. And even after that, it'll probably end up being used for its parts.

The churn of Google hardware weighs heavier on my conscious than on my wallet, and it hasn't been an inexpensive experience.

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