been there, done that. i’ve been using iphones since the first one. by the time they get that bogged down, it’s time for a new one anyway.
Unlike in the Android world, where you can’t install the new version of Android because Samsung abandoned future software updates on your device two months after you bought it.
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I’m not sure how people manage to keep using a phone for so long, I only had an iPhone 4 for a couple of years as a work phone, but it went from lasting almost two days on a charge, to lasting less than one, and that’s true for pretty much every smart phone I’ve had. (this is where easy to replace batteries come in handy).
And another vote for the old Moto G, about 20% of the price of a top end phone, and about 90% as good.
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I have just recently purchased my first smartphone. A low range Huawei G620s. I got it on contract that I have to use anyway.
It has all features and parameters that Samsung Galaxy S III had a couple of years ago for about 800Euro.
So far I am extremely happy with the performance and the price/value ratio.
No all generic phones that cost small fracion of iPhone price are shitphones. Some of them actually work great 
Oh … by the way … for actual phone-calls I use a 5-year old Nokia feature phone that needs to be charged once a week.
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Hardly extremely expensive, unless you mean ‘the latest model’. I recently bought a new S3 mini for about 120 Euros (I actually like having a smaller screen, and it’s only slightly smaller than the S2 screen anyway). It’s an updated version of a 2 year old phone, but it does anything I want a smartphone for. The jump from a dumb phone to an S3 is huge; from S3 to S5, not that much.
Just because the batteries in an iPhone aren’t swappable doesn’t mean they aren’t replaceable. For a $700 device, it’s not a major investment.
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The battery in my Moto G isn’t supposed to be replaceable either, but it looks to only be held in by a few screws, it still lasting a few days at the moment.
I forgot, the other benefit of going for a more widely used phone is that you’ll get better support for third party ROMs such as Cyanogenmod, so you don’t have to wait for your carrier to upgrade the OS.
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Have you had any luck with the tools for running a debian userland on an Android device? You need root, obviously, and an obnoxious percentage of mobile graphics chips have effectively zero support for anything except Android’s somewhat deviant graphics system; but bringing over the bulk of Debian ARM is pretty doable.
You should try some skin cream. Works wonders, in this weather.
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Well, that and the fact that Motorola (while under Google control, at least) offered a vanilla Android, an unlocked bootloader, and promised upgrades even for those not willing or inclined to futz with them.
While I’ve moved away from the big smartphone makers (currently rocking an Elephone p3000s, which I love, and it only cost me $150), I have to say - wtf was this guy doing to his iPhones? I’ve got an iPhone 5 for work which I’ve had for 2 years, and it is perfectly usable still.
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Does 8.2 not run on the 4? I got the update on my 4S a couple of days ago.
Evidently not. I think it had 6.x when I bought it and it’s been at 7.1.2 for a while now. (EDIT: Software update says “up to date.”)
I dunno, but apparently he has the only iPhone in existence with glue holding it together, based on his claims.
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Can anyone point me towards a similar phone that will work on Verizon’s network. I’m not very phone-literate but I’m told it has to be LTE or CDMA compatible. Suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
Actually, the glass is glued on. I’ve never seen it loosen without the aid of a hairdryer or heat gun though. And there are a couple of screws you have to take out first to even to do that.
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The glass and digitizer are bonded to the display, and you have to replace them as a single unit.
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That unit is what’s glued to the case. I was using “glass” as shorthand for that whole assembly. A synecdoche!
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Nope, it doesn’t on my wife’s.
Here’s one that should work on Verizon (truly it is a shitphone, since it’s Windows)
Here’s another, cheaper Verizon compatible phone that runs Android
