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Comment by hkmurakami | Hacker News Reader

I think they could have deluded themselves into thinking that a $650 phone would work much more easily 2 years ago than today, for instance.

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I can see how that could be the case. They wouldn't have had my $650 even two years ago, but its possible they would have had a better result than they did in 2014.

In the future, I think Amazon still may have a shot at producing a decent phone at a reasonable price.

Hell, I just bought a Galaxy Nexus (from Amazon) to replace the LG G2 that I broke (didn't feel like spending $600). In spite of its age, its hands-down a better phone than the G2. If they get the form-factor and the software right, there are lots of people who won't even care if the CPU isn't the latest and greatest iteration.

One thing that's great about the GN phone is that you can swap out the batteries to obviate the need to carry around a portable battery. You can't do this with the N4 (can't take off backplate) or the N5 (you can take off the backplate, but there's a metal brace holding the battery in place).

My friend still has his GN phone from its original launch and carries 2 extra batteries with him at all times (he's a real estate broker so he needs to always be available via phone)

Just curious: what does a real estate broker do where he needs to be away from electricity for the time it takes to replace his batteries twice? Maybe he works in a big city and uses public transit?

Many people who own and use smartphones don't know they can charge them while driving by attaching them to the car's power by way of a cigarette lighter power adaptor.

The irony of the cigarette lighter outlet in a modern car is that it's not likely to be used for its original purpose, but it won't disappear from cars because it's a convenient way to charge a small electronic device.

> The irony of the cigarette lighter outlet in a modern car is that it's not likely to be used for its original purpose, but it won't disappear from cars because it's a convenient way to charge a small electronic device.

I subscribe to a car-sharing service that uses exclusively Volvos and they all have USB ports. And the cigarette lighters are marked "12V" instead of "cigarette lighter". I can see the 12V ports disappearing in favor of USB in a couple years.

That would be a major shame since there are AC power inverters that run off of 12V ports in cars. Some people rely on those for different reasons. For example, it's a really nice way to recharge a laptop while traveling.

I drive a Jeep Wrangler. 2012+ they have a 120v AC outlet, cigarette lighters (one in the front, and one in the back where you can connect refrigerators and such), and multiple USB ports. Including a USB port inside the center console which locks, allowing you to charge your phone securely while away from your vehicle with the top off.

It's also worth noting that an adapter that connects the 12v in any car to a USB outlet can be had for less than $10 on Amazon.

In my last rental car they skipped the middleman; there was no 12v port, but there was a 120V AC socket, as well as the usb.

With USB PD, you can recharge your laptop through USB, which will now provide up to 100W. No doubt there will be USB PD - AC power inverters for other use cases when 12V ports are obsoleted.

It will disappear. A lot of new cars in Europe already have a USB port built into the dashboard.

A lot of new cars in Europe also have front, rear and trunk 12V sockets.

I wouldn't buy one without at least two of those.

That sounds more practical. A lot of equipment exists that assumes the presence of a cigarette lighter socket, but I wouldn't be surprised if they declined over time because the USB socket is cheaper and more versatile.

It'll be fun when people start buying USB-powered cigarette lighters because they've been obsoleted from cars :)

The joke going around is "can you unplug your book, I need to charge my cigarette": the lighter will be obsoleted too in favour of e-cigs. Generally it's better for things not to be on fire.

> Generally it's better for things not to be on fire.

Maybe in your bubble.

When gas stations are selling e-cigs, how is that a techie-bubble at all?

My 2009 BMW has a USB. Works great as a charger.

If the only reason for not getting the Nexus is the ability to change batteries, he could just carry around one of those portable phone charger batteries, and then he could enjoy a Nexus and be always charged.

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/portable-devices/other-devi...

Grandparent post: One thing that's great about the GN phone is that you can swap out the batteries to obviate the need to carry around a portable battery.

I do the same thing, deliberately have a phone that has user-swappable batteries. Why? I can insert a second battery that is fully charged instead of having to plug in the external battery (along with keeping track of the charging cable) and let it charge the internal battery. As a nice side bonus, I can also buy batteries which are larger than the stock battery. My Galaxy S4 GPE has aftermarket batteries available (mine is from Anker) that are essentially two stock batteries strapped together, or 5200mAh of capacity versus 2600mAh stock. Yes, the phone gets one "battery height" thicker but having two solid days of my normal use is outstanding.

If his need is the actual PHONE (as in, the part you make calls with), I think he'd be better off with an old RAZR or other flip-phone - those things are a dime a dozen and last days if not the better part of a week on a charge, while making tons of calls.

(So, I'm old - can you even get these anymore?)

Im not sure about the old RAZR specifically, but there are still a number of feature phones available that not only will provide similar battery life you are talking about, but also require a much cheaper plan.

But as a real estate agent, he is probably leveraging other uses from his smartphone that would make this an unattractive option. I guess it would either be carry a smartphone and a feature phone, or a smartphone with some spare batteries.

I bought a Samsung E2370 as a hiking phone for 70USD. The usual one-day battery time is no good if you plan to hike for weeks. According to the specs it has 90 day standby. According to the web site its only 65 (not sure why it differs).When I had it idling on my desk I had to charge it after 70 days. I guess this is what you get with a modern bulky battery if you just scale down on features.

The G2 was one of the best Android phones I ever used (and I used a lot - GS2, GS3, GS4, Note, Nexus One, Nexus 4, Nexus 5). The G2 has outstanding battery-life, great UI tweaks, great size, minimal bezels, great audio, etc.

The G2 is definitely a nice phone. I was rather sad when I dropped it and smashed the screen. I just happen to think that the Galaxy Nexus is the best Android phone ever made.

Stock Android really is the best experience. You can tell it was designed with a sort of consistency and fluidity that all of the manufacturer skins lack. I would also take a Galaxy Nexus over any skinned Android device; with the exception of HTC Sense, which has really improved since the disastrous Gingerbread days.

I generally refer to the OEM software as "value subtracted software"; it's only there as a weak effort at de-commoditising the hardware.

I just install Aviate or some other thing on top of TouchWiz on my Galaxy 5. Who cares what the default UI is like, you can replace it is enough on Android. I think you can get any kind of Android UI you like, you're not stuck with what you get from the manufacturer.

Not all of it. In one of the recent HTC updates they pushed some incredinly inane "features", for instance a "volume warning" that forces you to click ok to move the volume past about the halfway point - even if it's the BLUETOOTH volume.

Volume warning is actually from stock Android.

I've got a HTC One GPE, keep it bone-stock, never seen any volume warnings.

N4 running stock here. I've never seen that.

I'm pretty fond of Sony's (generally mild) changes from stock from the 4.0 era on. These days they seem to put most of their efforts into apps (where it belongs) to differentiate the camera, media players and so on.

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