@rachaelspooky@cyberpunk.lol when someone tells me their phone or laptop is that old, i say "that's amazing!" because it is these days, regardless of the reasons. of course, devices should be kept that long out of choice, not necessity.

@rachaelspooky@cyberpunk.lol people DO THAT?
What should I tell my grandpa, who has an Honor 8a running Android 9 and uses it for paying our bills? As long as our bank apps work, he won't switch to a newer one because he can't be used to another phone

you know what else? the charging port should be an easily replaced standard module.

we dont have to go full modular phone, that hasnt worked the last few times people tried but like, things like charging port and screen should be standard, easily replaced parts by now since those are the parts that break the most

@rachaelspooky I couldn't agree harder.

And I think you identified why security theater bothers me. Capitalism has turned infosec into an agent for pushing guilt and shame. Couldn't put my finger on it before.

@rachaelspooky i still use a galaxy s8 sometimes, especially for older games that simply dont work anymore on latest android

@rachaelspooky the fact that Google's started forcing app devs to increase the minimum target SDK version every year is just rubbing salt in the wound too.

If an app doesn't use features from a new SDK, what is the point of arbitrarily excluding older phones??

edit: this is wrong. I'd misremembered "target" as "minimum", which is my bad. Sorry! Thanks @pixellight for pointing that out.

@rachaelspooky Even if I were to carve out enough funds to replace my phone, every phone *sucks* these days.

It's not like my required features are unreasonable. I want a phone with a large enough developer community that I don't have to rely on the manufacturer for updates. I want a user-replaceable battery, wireless charging, and for the majority of the phone to be held together with screws rather than glue.

Apparently I can only have two of those four requirements.

@rachaelspooky@cyberpunk.lol you probably looked into it, but figured i would mention that lineageos supports pixel 3

graphene os makes an intentional choice not to support old hardware to "not hold back the project"

the good news is that battery replacing is going to return, european union made a law that smartphones need to have replacable batteries from february 18, 2027 on, and i doubt manufacturers will want to design completely different phones for eu market than they release everywhere else

@rachaelspooky@cyberpunk.lol

it's also one of the few Pixel models that cant even be given a new OS, since no one has worked out all the model-specific issues with it.

@rachaelspooky

I have a dumb phone and a relatively new laptop. and yet.

my bank sent me an email explaining that their app will no longer support the Android version for the 9yo smartphone I use as a camera and for the banking app. There is no website with the functionalities of the app (transferring money e.g.)
I replied and said that I am reluctant to buy a device simply so I can do the banking stuff.
Let's see whether they answer at all.

@rachaelspooky yes to all of this!

I’ve had my iPhone XR for over 5 years now, and I am at the point where I am forced to replace it as it is barely functioning. So this time, I am getting a Fairphone 5, in the hopes I can make it last even longer - you can replace the battery, camera, USB port, and expand the memory with a microSD card. And as added bonus - no AI!

So fingers crossed, I get almost a decade out of the next phone 🤞

@rachaelspooky well put. This is why i splurged a lot of money on fairphone, because i want to fix it if it breaks. Never gonna buy a phone where i cant replace battery again.

@rachaelspooky
Amen! Preach!

@rachaelspooky My car is almost 20 years old. My laptop 12 and I held on to my Blackberry until the phone company made me buy something new. Now my friends chant "One of us ..."

@rachaelspooky

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Google_Pixel_3_(google-blueline) pixel 3 sadly isn't supported well by postmarketOS,

Is on lineageos tho

https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/blueline/

@rachaelspooky this all of this. I used to enjoy buying new phones to get a nice upgrade, now I do it angrily buy them just to stay supported

@rachaelspooky 👍

@rachaelspooky people could be part of the solution instead and offer to root your phone and put a custom ROM on it. but then they don't get to scold you for being a stimky poor I guess.

@rachaelspooky my phone is over 7 years old now, it last got updates in 2020. I will be replacing it soon for a number of reasons, but I wish that at least lack of security updates wasn't one of them.

@rachaelspooky DivestOS runs on a Pixel 3 (they claim). Last update: 22 days ago.

https://divestos.org/pages/devices#device-blueline

@rachaelspooky
PREACH!

@rachaelspooky This this this. My cheapo phone is just 5yo but I see zero reasons to change it, besides the fact that I'm starting seeing apps that do not support my Android version anymore.

@rachaelspooky Yup, and even if your phone can do updates, if don't pay for an app that had a sneaky subscription, apple stops allowing you to update ALL your apps until you deal with that. Holding the security of your phone hostage for them.

@rachaelspooky It should be that the moment the proprietary system stops supporting your device it should be unlocked from that ecosystem and free to be modified open source or however you choose. Actually it should always be free but this would be bare minimum. @eff

@rachaelspooky
My understanding is that the Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3A are among the phones that have the most options for an alternate operating system, particularly calyx OS and /e/. I tried to putting Ubuntu Touch on my Pixel 3a XL and it installed but would not run.

@rachaelspooky and yet all this e-waste does nothing to raise the bar when it comes to hardware capabilities, despite the fact the average phone lives at most 3 years, we have to suffer with (especially graphics) API support anywhere from 3 to 10 year behind desktop platforms, because apparently mobile vendors love to ship garbage SoCs based on 10 year old orphaned IP.

Meanwhile, on PCs, a 12 year old AMD gpu still gets the latest and greatest vulkan features in radv/mesa.

@rachaelspooky I made a small post after reading this about people giving advice that’s sort of “tone deaf”, or at worst just coded ways to say “Why are you poor?”/“Why are you dumb?”

@rachaelspooky

I feel ya, I'm still going with the pixel 3a, at least mine has lineage weekly builds, even if now they're not really stable anymore. I agree with every line of this post.

@rachaelspooky
In my country there is this tradition of keeping up with the Joneses at the national level, it's perhaps as important as sport, which is the other obsession just barely ahead of drinking. So most have the latest device as a fashion accessory, or statement of affluence. It is always funny seeing them unable to do even simple tasks or use it for nothing more than calls, messaging and stupid mindless tetris-clone games

@rachaelspooky I loved my Pixel 3 up too the day 2 years ago when it threw a system error all of a sudden and never turned on again. I was hoping to use it for years more.

@rachaelspooky this. i got the battery replaced in my pixel 4a earlier this year (it was veeery slowly starting to go spicy). i can afford a new phone, but i don't want one.

@rachaelspooky As someone who by choice doesn't have a smart phone and uses an old (2012 vintage) laptop and iPad (2011 I think?) I absolutely get where you are coming from and despair at the lack of functional websites. I hate, hate, hate the idea of getting rid of functional technology due to planned obsolescence, but it gets worse every year for a non-tech person to deal with.

@rachaelspooky my phone was released in 2019, is smol enough for my smol hands, has a headphone jack, USB-C, dual SIM and SD card slot. It's running LineageOS beautifully, I wish it had better cameras and supported eSIMs but otherwise i am missing NOTHING that the new phones have. (It's a Galaxy s10e)
I will only replace it when it dies a final death, and I'm already worried about what to get next 😭

@rachaelspooky@cyberpunk.lol If you're after a newer Android version, LineageOS seems to support the Pixel 3.

https://lineageosroms.com/blueline/

Unfortunately, there's little these ROMs can do when the vendor (Google) stops shipping security updates. This is also why Graphene OS deprecated support for the older Pixels.

@rachaelspooky I can afford a new one and my current one is also six years old and has problems with battery, touchscreen, cameras, microphones, charging connector, etc., so I really should replace it.

But it has an IR blaster and desktop mode, which most phones don't have anymore. Fairphone is nice, but hasn't qi charging and is expensive; there isn't really a marked for cheap, used fairphones.

At least, 2027 kind of replaceable batteries should come back for all models.

@rachaelspooky@cyberpunk.lol If you do convert to GrapheneOS definitely let us know how it goes. I've been looking into it myself as an option for repurposing older phones.

@rachaelspooky If you’re not like running a doctor’s clinic out of your phone or some shit there’s no reason other than personal preference to change.

Should you if you can? Sure, it’s a good idea. Should you expect people to always be able to change? Absolutely not.

@rachaelspooky@cyberpunk.lol lol the pixel 3 is still great. I used it as my main for ages. Got it secondhand and it worked great for ages and probably would have kept it if it weren't for battery issues. It still is great for a MFA backup device.

Also I think if you want I hear it's possible to unlock it and get the security updates as well as other updates... Maybe on graphine os?

@rachaelspooky THANK YOU. I'm so goddamn tired of being coerced into buying "new" phones that are essentially the same shit, but with slightly bigger numbers. I do not care.

@rachaelspooky

lot of shit isn't available via laptops anymore; they require you to use the app for all the features.

which sucks for accessibility for those of us who have issues with large hands and smol screens, too.

@rachaelspooky I currently drive a Moto 5 5g, 2023 series.

It's a completely capable smart phone for a fraction of the cost of any flagship phone. I paid $50 for mine on a six month contract. I'll run this phone into the ground.

I'm not saying go buy one, pretty awesome to see people pushing back against mass consumerism. Just wanted to point out that there is a midground between cheap clamshell and $800 Pixel or Galaxy.

@rachaelspooky and also tbh most of the users who download malware or fail to have safe online habits use edge tech so, security is a poor reason to feel like a "better user" in this case imo.

Even if you can't get the last updates that doesn't necessarily mean you are doing worse. They can stfu

@rachaelspooky Looks like /e/OS still supports this device. I installed it on my old OnePlus 2, and it's surprisingly usable! And gets regular updates.

https://doc.e.foundation/devices/blueline/community

@rachaelspooky
I will be updating the OS of my phone over the weekend to an "Open source OS" (#LineageOS).

My #phone may be a 2018 model, but there's not a damn thing wrong with it (better than many NEW phones in fact) other than the fact I can't upgrade #Android past v8.0 and most apps have starting dropping support for it. 🤬 #eWaste

@rachaelspooky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpQQohcHk9Q

@rachaelspooky when it does come time to replace it, I think you'd really like the FairPhone: https://fairphone.com/

Repairable, replaceable parts, replaceable battery, very long support life and ethical sourcing of materials. They're just all around an awesome company.

@rachaelspooky i feel your angst- i'm peeved with microsft telling me maybe i should buy a new pc because their windows 11 won't work on it. as far as i know this is because they want to cut their costs by not sending security updates so i must buy a new pc to save their time, as if i can afford one, my £20 nokia works fine too but will revert to 2g soon and yes pls bring back battery replacement.

@rachaelspooky To those who don't know (not including OP ofc), as someone who TRIED to get a non-smartphone, most of them don't even call/text consistently and without taking forever, and the ones that do aren't "cheap" the way phones used to be (as in "affordable for people on a tight budget without a payment plan") anymore. Don't judge people for their tech if the only thing you'll do about it is flap your jaw.

@rachaelspooky oh 100% here

@rachaelspooky I honestly don't understand* how Google can just get away with making an OS that ships on millions of products that just end up not having any kind of security updates. Should've been regulated a long time ago.

* Yes I understand that the reason is Capitalism ™️

@rachaelspooky
It's pretty annoying the otherwise "well" hardware is "just not longer supported".

Sorry, but I not need the most new (and also often "super large") phone.
Yes, better hardware - but I was ok with the old, too.
And expensive.
And the old? Trash.

I sooo much agree with the posting!

I want to update my old mobile. Maybe also fix or replace stuff easy.
And ... if it really becomes to slow, to broken, to "whatever", THEN I might buy a new one.

@rachaelspooky I did cave and upgrade after only 2 years this last round but my last couple phones I had for 5 years each.
I just don’t care to use them that much and the security thing isn’t much of a concern since I don’t use it for work.
Posting on mastodon and watching YouTube videos doesn’t need the latest or greatest tech.