
Not so Essential phone - pacavaca
https://medium.com/@pacavaca/not-so-essential-phone-ddcab1bb1f75
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gumby
From the article:

> My <Android phone> is two years old and, as every Android, becoming slower
> and slower. The battery has degraded too, and now the phone is not holding
> even half a day of moderate usage. {author says other words to same effect
> later}

Although I am an iPhone user myself I hope this is hyperbole. My phones have
lasted a lot longer and when I have replaced them it has been for new features
(original -> 4 -> 6S Plus). I have had my current phone for a couple of years
and don't see a reason to upgrade yet.

I'm not saying this to say "apple good others sux", I'm saying that surely
this kind of planned obsolescence can't be the rule.

On another point: part of the benefit of Android is you don't have to run the
stock apps, right? So as long as the hardware is decent, you can run the
google camera app as the author did and got the best of both worlds.

(BTW I know a bunch of the Essential folks including Andy and the same guy
spec'd/designed the camera hardware for Essential and, before that, Google).

~~~
nxc18
I had windows phone for the longest time. At the expense of apps, it had great
a battery life, great camera, and was always fast.

I switched to the flagship 2014 Moto X in October 2014. I got the material
design update (iirc lollipop) in march 2015 and by then it was slow. The
battery life was terrible. The camera was worse than the old windows phone
despite the superior resolution.

Having a less than one year old unusable flagship sucksss. I got the iPhone 6s
at launch and was blown away by the battery life, and the speed. I'm no Apple
fanboy (as my post history proves), but iPhone is hard to beat. I'm thinking
of getting an iPhone 8, not because there's anything wrong with my phone now,
but because I want a shiny new toy. (and now I'm starting to rethink if its a
wise decision...)

I've been burned by android and I just don't feel like I can trust the device
to still work in a year. Kind of like the worst of Windows devices in the mid
2000s.

~~~
jorgemf
Moto X 2014 user here. I love this phone and sadly I would have to replace it
soon because it is half broken.

I don't have crappy apps like Facebook or Snapchat which drains the life of
any phone. I think the biggest problem of Android is the background process
and how devs use too much this and not for improving the user experience but
for revenue. Facebook tracks everything it can in the background to show you
better ads, this is not possible in iPhones. Android Oreo might solve a little
bit this big problem, so let's see.

~~~
syphilis2
I had an issue where my phone would go from full battery to nearly dead after
a day of idling unused in my desk drawer. The Android Battery app would just
list "Android System, Android OS, etc" without pointing out any culprit app. I
eventually figured out that Google Chrome was to blame and disabling Chrome
(unable to uninstall it) fixed the problem. What was Chrome doing all day
while my phone was sitting idle? I don't know, I never used Chrome as a
brower, it's still a mystery to me.

Hangout was another problem app. Hangouts liked to crash, and after crashing
it would leave something still going that would drain the battery unless I
manually killed the Hangouts process.

These anecdotes are just to say I've found my battery problems are typically
some app doing something bad without my knowledge. I'd like more strict
control over background processes as well.

~~~
pasbesoin
I would experience accelerated battery use after system updates were
installed. Same deal, as I recall: Something buried within the "Android
System" categorization.

For my case, I found that a hard reboot -- turning the phone off and then back
on -- brought resource/battery use back in line. That is, an additional
reboot, after the one initiated by the update process, itself.

I never did encounter an explanation for this.

After my Nexus 5X -- whose battery life was already starting to shrink more
and more -- bootlooped at about 1.3 years old...

Well, I look at my friends with iPhones that "just work" and last until new
features compel them to upgrade their device. And it's increasingly
tempting... (Just, I don't want to drop a grand on a phone, per the reported
upcoming pricing for the iPhone 8.)

------
skrowl
They lost me at no 3.5mm headphone jack. How can you say your phone covers the
essential and leave out an essential port?

~~~
jorgemf
I started using Bluetooth headphones last year without special reason. I am
not coming back to 3.5mm headphones, wires are so annoying when you are doing
something else and they are in the middle.

So you have people like me and a lot of people that never use that connection.
And I guess a lot of people buy the phones based on the feeling when they
catch them, and thinner phones feel better and people are more likely to buy
them. Thus say bye to the 3.5mm connection and loss the hope for bigger
batteries. Buy trends is what matters for business.

~~~
khedoros1
I've got bluetooth headphones. I get tired of keeping them charged, so they
never are. But I've got like 10 pairs of wired headphones around, and the
convenience always wins. Headphone wires have never bothered me.

> Thus say bye to the 3.5mm connection and loss the hope for bigger batteries.

Sounds like a couple of great reasons to stop buying music to listen to on the
phone, stop buying game apps, etc. And to stick with my current phone as long
as possible.

~~~
lathiat
I felt that pain until I got my AirPods. In part because of the two part
charging - they're always charging in the case and then you charge the case
semi randomly - about once a week for me.

~~~
endemic
AirPods seem nice, but the whole "10x cost" thing has me questioning Apple's
"courage." I'll consider a phone without a headphone jack when Bluetooth
earbud prices aren't insane.

------
VladTheImplier
I honestly don't get it. My OnePlus One still holds strong to this day, easily
get through day on one charge with watching Videos and so on. New Roms keep
everything updated and smooth. My Android phone has never been faster. Even
the battery is replaceable, once that day comes.

