Author Topic: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!  (Read 23256 times)

Dee18

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #100 on: September 25, 2017, 12:22:02 PM »
+1 dragoncar re "the best camera is the one you have in your hand"

I am about to get my first iPhone (and first phone that costs more than $90) for the camera, and for the easy compatibility with my daughter who is several states away at college. 

LennStar

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #101 on: September 27, 2017, 07:35:08 AM »
Iphone 3G: purchased in July 2008
Iphone 4S: purchased in 2011 (don't remember the month, but I'm pretty sure it was May or later)
Iphone 6S: purchased in Dec. 2014 (and still using).

It's been pretty easy for me to average 3 years with these things. They are durable.

Durable things get used for decades and then passed down to your kids.  You've 'needed' to purchase three phones in 9 years, do you really want to stick with the term 'durable'?

Idk, there are plenty of "durable" shoes that last less than 5 years if you are actually hard on them. Durable is a relative term. If you want to wait to use a phone until they last 200 years like a cast iron pan, good luck. I'd consider the average bicycle to be durable, but don't know of many that have been passed down from people's grandparents.

With how small a phone is, I think it's probably better for the environment to replace a phone every 3 years than it is to replace a computer every 15, or a car every 30.

Actually I am not sure about this. Car maybe, but Computer?
The most material on your dektop is cheap aluminium and similar.
The thing that makes computers so environmentally damaging is the gold and even more the very scarce other stuff. You also have that in your phone, maybe less, but 5 times less? I doubt.

Of course that is purely academical because there are very few computers that survive 15 years ;)
Only the hand full anecotical Linux mail server that stop working after years and years and nobody can find it because the building it is supposed to be standing in was demolished 3 years ago.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #102 on: September 27, 2017, 08:29:56 AM »
Iphone 3G: purchased in July 2008
Iphone 4S: purchased in 2011 (don't remember the month, but I'm pretty sure it was May or later)
Iphone 6S: purchased in Dec. 2014 (and still using).

It's been pretty easy for me to average 3 years with these things. They are durable.

Durable things get used for decades and then passed down to your kids.  You've 'needed' to purchase three phones in 9 years, do you really want to stick with the term 'durable'?

Idk, there are plenty of "durable" shoes that last less than 5 years if you are actually hard on them. Durable is a relative term. If you want to wait to use a phone until they last 200 years like a cast iron pan, good luck. I'd consider the average bicycle to be durable, but don't know of many that have been passed down from people's grandparents.

With how small a phone is, I think it's probably better for the environment to replace a phone every 3 years than it is to replace a computer every 15, or a car every 30.

Actually I am not sure about this. Car maybe, but Computer?
The most material on your dektop is cheap aluminium and similar.
The thing that makes computers so environmentally damaging is the gold and even more the very scarce other stuff. You also have that in your phone, maybe less, but 5 times less? I doubt.

Of course that is purely academical because there are very few computers that survive 15 years ;)
Only the hand full anecotical Linux mail server that stop working after years and years and nobody can find it because the building it is supposed to be standing in was demolished 3 years ago.

I routinely have desktop computers run for 5 years of daily use, but then again I'm selective about manufacturers and chipsets. Laptops seem to be more fragile; that could be because they're taken around and knocked about a lot more.

The same cannot be said of Smart phones; my 17-year-old daughter has yet to have one last six months without being smashed, drowned, lost, stolen, or otherwise trashed to the point where it can't be used. This occurs regardless of whether it's got a screen protector or a whizbang case. It's at the point where the company that insures the cell phones won't allow any more trade-ins.

Part of the problem may be due to the fact that new technology is often buggy. I'm a fan of buying products that have been on the market for a while so that someone else pays for the learning curve and all the fixes and frustration. My first Smart phone, a Samsung Galaxy Light, is something I've had for a little over three months. So far it hasn't had any of the problems my daughter's more recent and more advanced phones have had.

talltexan

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #103 on: September 29, 2017, 12:40:02 PM »
I should have known better than to show up at the MMM forum and expect plaudits for swapping out smart phones every three years. You guys bring a tear to my eye. Will see if I can push this sucker deep into 2018.

My apple desktop (iMac) is still going strong nine years after I bought it. That company makes (relatively) durable products.

ketchup

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #104 on: September 29, 2017, 12:48:59 PM »
My apple desktop (iMac) is still going strong nine years after I bought it. That company makes (relatively) durable products.
Durable maybe, but not always conducive to being long-lasting.  Soldered-in RAM in laptops (and their current top of the line laptop maxes at 16GB, really?) and non-user-replaceable iPhone batteries are not the path to long-lasting electronics, regardless of whether or not they end up "breaking."

ooeei

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #105 on: September 29, 2017, 02:35:44 PM »
Actually I am not sure about this. Car maybe, but Computer?
The most material on your dektop is cheap aluminium and similar.
The thing that makes computers so environmentally damaging is the gold and even more the very scarce other stuff. You also have that in your phone, maybe less, but 5 times less? I doubt.

Of course that is purely academical because there are very few computers that survive 15 years ;)
Only the hand full anecotical Linux mail server that stop working after years and years and nobody can find it because the building it is supposed to be standing in was demolished 3 years ago.

It certainly depends on the specifics of the computer, but I'd wager that a computer does have around 5x more waste products than a cell phone. Cell phones are mostly battery and glass/aluminum.  Now if we're comparing a super high end phablet phone to a really compact chromebook, you're probably right and there's not a huge difference. High end phablet to high end desktop (or even laptop), I suspect the ratio is near 5. Don't forget about the monitor and cables to go along with that desktop.

And yes it's academic, my point was that the typical person probably creates considerably more waste with computers or cars than with cell phones, even though they're replaced more often.

GuitarStv

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #106 on: September 29, 2017, 03:22:33 PM »
Actually I am not sure about this. Car maybe, but Computer?
The most material on your dektop is cheap aluminium and similar.
The thing that makes computers so environmentally damaging is the gold and even more the very scarce other stuff. You also have that in your phone, maybe less, but 5 times less? I doubt.

Of course that is purely academical because there are very few computers that survive 15 years ;)
Only the hand full anecotical Linux mail server that stop working after years and years and nobody can find it because the building it is supposed to be standing in was demolished 3 years ago.

It certainly depends on the specifics of the computer, but I'd wager that a computer does have around 5x more waste products than a cell phone. Cell phones are mostly battery and glass/aluminum.  Now if we're comparing a super high end phablet phone to a really compact chromebook, you're probably right and there's not a huge difference. High end phablet to high end desktop (or even laptop), I suspect the ratio is near 5. Don't forget about the monitor and cables to go along with that desktop.

And yes it's academic, my point was that the typical person probably creates considerably more waste with computers or cars than with cell phones, even though they're replaced more often.

Meh.  I've got several 10+ year old computer monitors that still work great and see daily use.  I've got some 20+ year old keyboards/mice doing the same.  Desktop computers are designed to be upgraded when they start showing age . . . even someone with no idea what they're doing can easily add RAM, swap out a processor, add another disk drive, change graphics card, etc.  Even if you have to replace the whole board, CPU, and RAM . . . you still end up with a reusable case, a reusable PSU, reusable fans, reusable optical disks, reusable HDDs.  Power cables are standardized, SATA cables are standardized, IDE cables are standardized, USB cables are standardized, VGA and DVI cables are standardized.  None of them need to be tossed if a computer goes bad.

Phones are designed to be disposable in their entirety every couple years.

PizzaSteve

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #107 on: October 01, 2017, 11:06:27 AM »
Actually I am not sure about this. Car maybe, but Computer?
The most material on your dektop is cheap aluminium and similar.
The thing that makes computers so environmentally damaging is the gold and even more the very scarce other stuff. You also have that in your phone, maybe less, but 5 times less? I doubt.

Of course that is purely academical because there are very few computers that survive 15 years ;)
Only the hand full anecotical Linux mail server that stop working after years and years and nobody can find it because the building it is supposed to be standing in was demolished 3 years ago.

It certainly depends on the specifics of the computer, but I'd wager that a computer does have around 5x more waste products than a cell phone. Cell phones are mostly battery and glass/aluminum.  Now if we're comparing a super high end phablet phone to a really compact chromebook, you're probably right and there's not a huge difference. High end phablet to high end desktop (or even laptop), I suspect the ratio is near 5. Don't forget about the monitor and cables to go along with that desktop.

And yes it's academic, my point was that the typical person probably creates considerably more waste with computers or cars than with cell phones, even though they're replaced more often.

Meh.  I've got several 10+ year old computer monitors that still work great and see daily use.  I've got some 20+ year old keyboards/mice doing the same.  Desktop computers are designed to be upgraded when they start showing age . . . even someone with no idea what they're doing can easily add RAM, swap out a processor, add another disk drive, change graphics card, etc.  Even if you have to replace the whole board, CPU, and RAM . . . you still end up with a reusable case, a reusable PSU, reusable fans, reusable optical disks, reusable HDDs.  Power cables are standardized, SATA cables are standardized, IDE cables are standardized, USB cables are standardized, VGA and DVI cables are standardized.  None of them need to be tossed if a computer goes bad.

Phones are designed to be disposable in their entirety every couple years.
This will soon be a thing of the past, sort of like working on your own car, replacing spark plugs or cleaning carborators yourself. People used to replace tubes or power supplies in their own TVs to.  Not so much cracking open a TV to fix it yourself these days.  I loved the simplicity of my old 60s era engine and have upgraded my share of desktops, but cars aint that easy anymore.  PCs are heading the same direction.

Optimiser

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #108 on: October 01, 2017, 09:10:01 PM »
Actually I am not sure about this. Car maybe, but Computer?
The most material on your dektop is cheap aluminium and similar.
The thing that makes computers so environmentally damaging is the gold and even more the very scarce other stuff. You also have that in your phone, maybe less, but 5 times less? I doubt.

Of course that is purely academical because there are very few computers that survive 15 years ;)
Only the hand full anecotical Linux mail server that stop working after years and years and nobody can find it because the building it is supposed to be standing in was demolished 3 years ago.

It certainly depends on the specifics of the computer, but I'd wager that a computer does have around 5x more waste products than a cell phone. Cell phones are mostly battery and glass/aluminum.  Now if we're comparing a super high end phablet phone to a really compact chromebook, you're probably right and there's not a huge difference. High end phablet to high end desktop (or even laptop), I suspect the ratio is near 5. Don't forget about the monitor and cables to go along with that desktop.

And yes it's academic, my point was that the typical person probably creates considerably more waste with computers or cars than with cell phones, even though they're replaced more often.

Meh.  I've got several 10+ year old computer monitors that still work great and see daily use.  I've got some 20+ year old keyboards/mice doing the same.  Desktop computers are designed to be upgraded when they start showing age . . . even someone with no idea what they're doing can easily add RAM, swap out a processor, add another disk drive, change graphics card, etc.  Even if you have to replace the whole board, CPU, and RAM . . . you still end up with a reusable case, a reusable PSU, reusable fans, reusable optical disks, reusable HDDs.  Power cables are standardized, SATA cables are standardized, IDE cables are standardized, USB cables are standardized, VGA and DVI cables are standardized.  None of them need to be tossed if a computer goes bad.

Phones are designed to be disposable in their entirety every couple years.
This will soon be a thing of the past, sort of like working on your own car, replacing spark plugs or cleaning carborators yourself. People used to replace tubes or power supplies in their own TVs to.  Not so much cracking open a TV to fix it yourself these days.  I loved the simplicity of my old 60s era engine and have upgraded my share of desktops, but cars aint that easy anymore.  PCs are heading the same direction.

I worked on my car just today. Changed the oil to be exact, but I also changed some light bulbs last week which involved soldering a new resister into my flasher relay to ensure the turn signals wouldn't hyper flash from the LED bulbs, and repaired the air conditioning system last month. Earlier this year, I built my own PC using off the shelf parts. I haven't had to open up my TV yet, but I've read about several people on this board fixing their TVs by soldering in new capacitors.

ooeei

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #109 on: October 02, 2017, 06:26:03 AM »
Actually I am not sure about this. Car maybe, but Computer?
The most material on your dektop is cheap aluminium and similar.
The thing that makes computers so environmentally damaging is the gold and even more the very scarce other stuff. You also have that in your phone, maybe less, but 5 times less? I doubt.

Of course that is purely academical because there are very few computers that survive 15 years ;)
Only the hand full anecotical Linux mail server that stop working after years and years and nobody can find it because the building it is supposed to be standing in was demolished 3 years ago.

It certainly depends on the specifics of the computer, but I'd wager that a computer does have around 5x more waste products than a cell phone. Cell phones are mostly battery and glass/aluminum.  Now if we're comparing a super high end phablet phone to a really compact chromebook, you're probably right and there's not a huge difference. High end phablet to high end desktop (or even laptop), I suspect the ratio is near 5. Don't forget about the monitor and cables to go along with that desktop.

And yes it's academic, my point was that the typical person probably creates considerably more waste with computers or cars than with cell phones, even though they're replaced more often.

Meh.  I've got several 10+ year old computer monitors that still work great and see daily use.  I've got some 20+ year old keyboards/mice doing the same.  Desktop computers are designed to be upgraded when they start showing age . . . even someone with no idea what they're doing can easily add RAM, swap out a processor, add another disk drive, change graphics card, etc.  Even if you have to replace the whole board, CPU, and RAM . . . you still end up with a reusable case, a reusable PSU, reusable fans, reusable optical disks, reusable HDDs.  Power cables are standardized, SATA cables are standardized, IDE cables are standardized, USB cables are standardized, VGA and DVI cables are standardized.  None of them need to be tossed if a computer goes bad.

Phones are designed to be disposable in their entirety every couple years.

I've got a computer I built 7 years ago that I just upgraded the video card for, so I'm totally with you here.

My point was you have to also consider the environmental impact of the object, rather than only the amount of time you use it. Plenty of people keep computers for a long time, but then many others toss them every 3-4 years as well. I haven't met too many people with 15 year old computers around.

Obviously we should be trying to reduce this waste whenever possible, hopefully the kiosks for used/damaged phones I see popping up in grocery stores everywhere are helping.

onehair

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #110 on: October 04, 2017, 08:56:14 AM »
I was just forced to get rid of my Android due to updates and bloatware.  It was still able to make and receive calls but wasn't able to update itself without constant crashes and deleting apps and photos.  So now I've gone Apple since my company Virgin was offering that Inner Circle thing and I was able to get a good deal on EBay.  I got an SE for $369 (please no facepunches) even I won't pay $1000 for one.  I would have stayed Android if some of the apps I run were compatible across the devices more than likely.  Since I already own Ipods transferring wasn't a big deal and I only lost one app so far.  I am so used to saving space however going from 16 gig to 128 of RAM was a revelation to me.  I won't load videos, podcasts or music on it that's what the Pod is for so I know that saves space too.  And I can't imagine upgrading yearly when I do upgrade it will likely be to an older model Apple as well.

FINate

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #111 on: October 04, 2017, 09:44:02 AM »
I was just forced to get rid of my Android due to updates and bloatware.  It was still able to make and receive calls but wasn't able to update itself without constant crashes and deleting apps and photos.  So now I've gone Apple since my company Virgin was offering that Inner Circle thing and I was able to get a good deal on EBay.  I got an SE for $369 (please no facepunches) even I won't pay $1000 for one.  I would have stayed Android if some of the apps I run were compatible across the devices more than likely.  Since I already own Ipods transferring wasn't a big deal and I only lost one app so far.  I am so used to saving space however going from 16 gig to 128 of RAM was a revelation to me.  I won't load videos, podcasts or music on it that's what the Pod is for so I know that saves space too.  And I can't imagine upgrading yearly when I do upgrade it will likely be to an older model Apple as well.

Some of the Android phones have SD card slots (ones that you leave in) which effectively expands the phone's storage. For something like $25 I quadrupled the storage on my Moto 5g plus. But keep in mind that there's a big difference between RAM (which running applications require) and storage. RAM in phones generally cannot be easily expanded (I guess one may be able to solder in new ram, but probably tricky). The best thing you can do for any phone, Android or iPhone, is to be very picky about the apps you install, especially those that want/need to run in the background. The amount of crapware people install on their phones (and desktops) is appalling.

ketchup

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #112 on: October 04, 2017, 09:50:58 AM »
I was just forced to get rid of my Android due to updates and bloatware.  It was still able to make and receive calls but wasn't able to update itself without constant crashes and deleting apps and photos.  So now I've gone Apple since my company Virgin was offering that Inner Circle thing and I was able to get a good deal on EBay.  I got an SE for $369 (please no facepunches) even I won't pay $1000 for one.  I would have stayed Android if some of the apps I run were compatible across the devices more than likely.  Since I already own Ipods transferring wasn't a big deal and I only lost one app so far.  I am so used to saving space however going from 16 gig to 128 of RAM was a revelation to me.  I won't load videos, podcasts or music on it that's what the Pod is for so I know that saves space too.  And I can't imagine upgrading yearly when I do upgrade it will likely be to an older model Apple as well.

Some of the Android phones have SD card slots (ones that you leave in) which effectively expands the phone's storage. For something like $25 I quadrupled the storage on my Moto 5g plus. But keep in mind that there's a big difference between RAM (which running applications require) and storage. RAM in phones generally cannot be easily expanded (I guess one may be able to solder in new ram, but probably tricky). The best thing you can do for any phone, Android or iPhone, is to be very picky about the apps you install, especially those that want/need to run in the background. The amount of crapware people install on their phones (and desktops) is appalling.
Some Android phones are very picky about what can be installed on an SD card vs the phone's internal flash.  I ran into that with my old Galaxy S, which had a hilariously low amount of onboard storage (I think it was 512MB, total, including space needed for the OS).  By 2015, I had a trimmed down up-to-date custom Android install, but on top of the super basic Google apps, I could literally have maybe one or two other apps installed.  The SD card was really only useful for storing media.  Then I dumped it when T-mobile shut down the 3G bands the phone supported.  That was the phone I've most held onto literally as long as I could have, even when it was borderline worthless the last few months.

onehair

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Re: Your New Phone Will Probably Cost You $1,000!
« Reply #113 on: October 04, 2017, 09:52:44 AM »
I had an SD card in the old one bringing it up to a whole 16 from the 8 it came with I moved apps constantly but it never seemed to do any good. I Googled everything to keep freeing up space and I was planning on keeping that phone for at least 2 or 3 years like I did my other ones.  I agree about the RAM though.  I have learned to be more selective about the apps I use in the beginning I was downloading everything that looked good.