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: 2) by cubancigar11 on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:09PM (2 children)
I have been using MIUI for last 5 years and I think it is better than all the other flavors.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:26PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:40PM
Well, MIUI is just a launcher so it's still stock where it counts.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:11PM (1 child)
N/T
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2018, @01:23PM
Android phones run Android by definition.
PCs can run almost anything, e.g. macOS, GNU, BSD, Windows.
So the question would be:
Should PCs run stock macOS, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, Windows, etc...
or
Should Windows PCs run stock Windows.
(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.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:26PM (2 children)
It certainly isn't AOSP, which is total perfunctory trash.
(Score: 5, Informative) by DannyB on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:35PM (1 child)
Not AOSP.
But rather unmodified Android. Only the bare stock applications that make the device useful. Dialer, Browser, Contacts, Camera, etc. Basically exactly what comes on the Pixel, and formerly Nexus phones from Google.
And . . . the Play Store.
NO BLOATWARE. No special craptacular offers. No free trials. If I'm going to have to suffer through a trial, then you should have to pay me for my suffering.
I can install everything else that I need from the Play Store.
(and as a developer, I can install everything else I need through ADB)
When I got my Nexus 6P, it was joy to have a phone free of crapware. Like an almost blank slate. I could fill it with apps of MY choosing. And avoid offensive apps like FaceTwit, Instagag, etc.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @07:43PM
Wrong. The Nexus 4 shipped without the default browser and mail app. The Pixel devices went even further then that:
1. Mail -> Gmail
2. Browser -> Chrome
2. Dialer -> Pixel Dialer
4. Camera -> Google Camera
5. Launcher - Now / Pixel launcher
Oh, and there was a shit ton of bloatware in the Nexus with all the cloud storage apps, Google Play, Google Music, Notes, Maps, Earth, Sheets and whatnot... Sure, much of it is actually useful stuff that I do end up using and download if missing on new phones. But it's hardly just stock.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:50PM (2 children)
All Android phones should run Replicant. There shouldn't be any proprietary software on my phone.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by bob_super on Tuesday June 19 2018, @06:13PM (1 child)
Feel free to setup all the layers of the ecosystem and open-source it for the rest of us.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @06:21PM
"The rest of us" is too stupid to set up anything that doesn't come from playstore and too cheap to pay for it anyways.