Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by talldatethrow | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

talldatethrow

You swore to never buy Samsung. I swore to never buy a pixel again. My gf swore to never buy an apple again.

I'm using a Motorola to type this and I wonder when it'll let me down in unforseen ways.

View on HN

I’m concerned that you’ll soon run out of otherwise reputable phone manufacturers.

I sport an iPhone, but sometimes I think it’s a shame Microsoft so deeply lost focus on and then abandoned mobile.

Soon we will all be making our own phones from raspberries pi or other single board computers and hacked together parts (cell network dongles and whatnot). They will break more often but at least we will only have to ban one component manufacturer at a time.

Although my current phone is an iPhone (a 12 mini) I had used Motorola "Moto G" phones prior to that and never had any issues when them other than Android updates eventually ending despite the phone being physically in working order.

The iPhone was a gift, and I still prefer the Android UX but so far it's had no issues either.

I'll probably go back to Android next time I need a phone; all the iPhones except the SE are too big for my taste. But it's hard to find a small Android phone from a reputable manufacturer as well.

> other than Android updates eventually ending despite the phone being physically in working order.

That is when you put LineageOS [1] on the phone and never look back. A clean Android experience with OTA updates - I still get these on a Samsung SIIIneo from 2014 - so I'd suggest pulling that 'old' phone out of the drawer and giving it a try as you have nothing to loose.

[1] https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#motorola

I've bought nothing but mid-range Nokias and Motorolas for the past 10 years or so and they've been great. Always stock or near stock android and security updates for 3+ years.

I have a habit of doing stupid things with my phones (mostly accidentally submerging them in seawater) and haven't attempted fixing them after that though.

I've been using LineageOS for years, and recently got a Motorola G 5G 2024 as a temporary phone while I addressed some issues with my main phone. I was blown away by the amount of custom bloatware on the thing. It nagged me at least 30 times about various features it wanted to introduce me to. If that's "near stock", then I'm staying away.

That's a shame to hear. Can that be right?

I diverted recently, but I used budget Moto G's for a decade and couldn't have been happier with the stock OS.

Maybe they finally succombed in 2024.

I think it was whenever they stopped giving the Moto G series numbers (G5, G7, etc), and just started making them "Moto G (Year)". Official LineageOS support has gotten worse since then, but I don't know if it's because they can't find maintainers or what.

>I swore to never buy a pixel again.

The only reason I can think of to buy pixels is to run GrapheneOS. From that perspective, I am somewhat difficult to disappoint.

I mean, it's a phone, and it's not samsung. That's a reason, right? Why not buy a pixel?

The 4xl had a totally faulty battery ribbon. I had to replace the battery yearly, which was semi ok because of cheap Amazon parts. Then eventually the motherboard freaked out and it just died. But I guess at least it lasted 3.5 years.

My next phone will be a Fairphone.

I've had Fairphone 3 for a few years. The camera isn't fancy but I don't care. The original battery died at some point. Replacing it was very easy; no tool needed. Just like it was in the '90s with most phones. The repairability promise is kept, IMO. The only issue I had with this phone is that after some system update the fingerprint sensor was regarded as not meeting some security level and stopped being usable by sensitive apps (banking).

FYI the fingerprint sensor problem has since been fixed and I can now use it again without trouble for banking apps and the like. (Although I'm on a Fairphone 3+) Still holding up fairly well in 2024, even if it's a bit slow at times.

I hated my 2021 Edge+ with such a burning fury that I'm typing this on my old OnePlus 9 (with LineageOS, which I couldn't do on the moto). I can't remember all the reasons (there were many), but stability was one of them.

The OnePlus 9 is supposedly the last good phone from them, so I'm thinking of using my wife's Pixel with a re-locked ROM once she upgrades. Pixels, for all their flaws, have historically been the most consistent for me (apart from OnePlus).

I'm on a OnePlus 11 (upgraded from a OnePlus 6T) and it's great. My only issue is that there's a small selection of cases for it, especially if you want one that's magsafe compatible.

Wait, what do you mean magsafe? I have a oneplus 11 5g and I didn't even think this phone had wireless charging.

I purchased an olixar wireless adapter and an olixar sentinel case, they work well but the adapter takes up my USB C so I always have to remove the case, unplug, and put it back on.

Magsafe is used for things other than wireless charging. Tons of accessories that mount to the magsafe "ring"

Motorola has been a good long-term value for me, but in 2 out of 3 the charging port has gone bad or close to bad eventually. If spending $500 a year on phones didn't morally offend me I'd just buy Apple or Samsung and dispose of them when they go bad.

Writing this from my Nothing Phone.

The list of companies I wouldn't trust ever again is just to long. My Xiaomi was literally bricked trough an official update.

Just buy an Ulefone or Doogee for $200, shock, water and kid-proof.

If it breaks two years later, well it was just $8/mo.

An update bricked my Ulephone after 3 months. Not going there again.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com