There's no excuse: All Android phones (even Samsung's) should run stock Android
When [Google's Android One] platform was unveiled at I/O in 2014, it was squarely targeted at emerging markets. With a mission to "bring high-quality smartphones to as many people as possible," Android One was meant to bring a clean, unadulterated KitKit[sic] experience (the current version at the time), to handsets short on specs and storage.
Nokia has taken a different approach with Android One. Earlier this year parent company HMD made the bold decision to switch to Android One for its entire family of phones, from the budget-minded Nokia 3.1 to the Snapdragon 835-powered Nokia 8 Sirocco. That means when you buy a Nokia phone you're getting the peace of mind that you'll get updates, and timely ones at that, for at least two years, and security patches for three years.
Or, as Juho Sarvikas, chief product officer at parent company HMD Global puts it, "pure and secure and up to date." That's something that can't be said for for than 90 percent of Android phones, based on the latest Oreo adoption numbers. And it's time the leading Android phone makers start closing the gap.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:25PM (10 children)
What a disgrace. Try 5-8 years. Much closer to the real life expectancy of the hardware.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:36PM (9 children)
The purpose of a non-replaceable battery is to limit that 5-8 year hardware life to the 2 year life of the battery.
People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:45PM
Which has only managed to make me use my phone less and be more power conscious!
Feature not a bug?
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @06:21PM (7 children)
You are talking about exceptions here, most androids have replaceable batteries.
(Score: 5, Informative) by frojack on Tuesday June 19 2018, @06:40PM (6 children)
Not really. Not any more.
If you see a lot of replaceable battery andorid phones among your friends it is precisely because they bought and still use older phones with new batteries.
Most high end phones don't provide any way to change batteries without extensive tear down, requiring glue melting, peeling foil, and major disassembly.
Risky, or costly, or both.
Some of these are worse than German cars (remove the entire front clip to change a light bulb, jack engine to change oil filter, etc).
Visit https://www.ifixit.com/smartphone-repairability [ifixit.com] to see which phones can be repaired easily. Anything with a score less than 7 is essentially not repairable by 99.999% of the users. Even those that score 7 are problematic for battery replacement. You have to shop 8 or above to get an easily replaceable battery.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday June 19 2018, @06:50PM (1 child)
Oh, forgot to mention...
Look at the release dates on those High scoring repair-ability devices, compared to the very low scoring ones. Old phones repairable. New phones not.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @09:57AM
Maybe the site has run low on funding? Or buying one iPhone X means you can't buy 5 other phones to open up ;).
Compare Mi A1 (not rated/listed, released Sep 2017):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6M-WBbPAZM [youtube.com]
With the Redmi Note 3 (rated as 8 ):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9s8Ih_nkIg [youtube.com]
Changing the screen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmyy2pOCG54 [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR91oAqUWOo [youtube.com]
The difficulty seems similar based on the videos.
See also: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Xiaomi+Redmi+Note+3+Repairability+Assessment/79119 [ifixit.com]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday June 19 2018, @11:01PM (2 children)
Bugger.
I accidently* purchased a second hand Google Nexus 6P which has updated itself to v8.1, which is nice. It is a pretty fast phone and actually works really well, but I am going to have to install a new battery.
I have checked it against your ifixit link, and it scores:
.
2
Nexus 6P
2015
Solid external construction improves durability.
Very difficult to open without damaging the phone.
Tough adhesive on access panels and the battery.
I will need to be very careful I suppose.
* It was an online auction and I really didn't think I would get it for $50 but I did. So there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @09:59AM (1 child)
Looks tricky, good luck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEQbQPAU9Ss [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6_HrOsQaSQ [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @10:02AM
See comments on videos too:
(Score: 1) by dr_barnowl on Thursday June 21 2018, @10:43AM
Plus custom battery modules mean that even if you can replace it, all the replacements were manufactured the same time as your phone - and are equally old and stale.
Nokia had the right idea in the day. Standardized batteries across multiple phone lines.