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Comment by wyldfire | Hacker News Reader

I often buy a ~one generation old phone for this same reason. It's just so much better value to buy someone else's phone. The folks who keep buying the newest generation tech often seem to take really good care of their gear - perhaps because they plan to resell it later.

I haven't done this as much with laptops because I do tend to keep those for such a long time that I can reasonably amortize a bigger investment over ~5+ years.

Curated marketplaces like "swappa" are a good way to purchase used gear. But anywhere you've got an escrow/guarantee should suffice.

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Went to comment this. A mid-range or high end product from a gen or two ago is often the same price as this year's budget option, and way, way better in every sense.

And in a favourable position on the bathtub curve of reliability.

Right, which is why replacing a laptop after 3 years isn’t that bad, so long as the old one finds a home. Unfortunately it seems like windows machine are much less resealable/reusable after they’re no longer wanted..

I often replace phones because the battery starts holding less charge and I find it annoying to charge all the time.

I tried a battery replacement service once and didn't like the result on my sealed and hard to open by design phone.

Get the battery replaced at an official repair location rather than a middle of the food court business. Apple has a whole setup of gear that will get a perfect result pretty much every time. And they will just give you a new phone if they break it.

I replaced it myself, perfectly happy with results. Cost me $20.

I do wonder how considering the iphone battery on iFixit costs $64AUD which doesn't even include the adhesive to reapply the screen. If you got one of ebay or similar, it's not a new battery, it's one that's been salvaged from a stolen phone and likely preworn.

Not an iphone, Lg G8s thinQ was suprisingly easy to remove the battery cover, just need a blade and a hair dryer. The replacement battery is not original, could not actually find genuine part on sale. But it is a new battery, and they don't need to cost $50

So it was £15 for battery and £5 for adhesive

But the biggest reason (for me) to replace phone is to get security updates; buying used is counter-productive to that end

Because the time to get updates is less on an older phone or that a used phone is less secure because someone could install malware on it?

Just replace it with another one generation old used phone when it stops getting updates. Still better value.

I think that is more of an issue with the manufacturer.

Apple supports their phones for a very long time. They updated iOS 12 this year with security fixes, so that covers iPhone 6 and up.

https://www.macworld.com/article/675021/how-long-does-apple-...

Then buy Apple. The 6s is up to 8 years of updates.

If you buy a two year old phone then there's plenty of support left for apple and samsung devices in that time. At least 3-4 years for apple, 2 for samsung.

what are you talking about? I have an iphone 10 that that is several generations old at this point and it's still getting security updates and will for a couple more years.

Yeah. And since Reddit decided to be mega bitches and forced me to quit from their shenanigans, my battery lasts forever too.

I should have quit when they instituted their very obvious alt-right agenda pushing blocking bullshit, but whatever. Better late than never, and forcing third parties out was also a good boycott reason.

I did not realize how much time I spent in Apollo. Damn man.

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