I hate mobile phones....

[Red Squirrel]

All apps are APK...

How does that work with Google Play apps? That's where most of them come from when something requires you to download an app. They never have it available as an APK.

 

[sdifox]

How does that work with Google Play apps? That's where most of them come from when something requires you to download an app. They never have it available as an APK.

When you download from an app store it is an APK your phone installs. It's not rocket science. Google just doesn't let you download the APK directly.

I installed Google services on my FireHD 10 and I get Google Play and can install all the compatible apps to the tablet. It was a bit more cumbersome to install since you need exact versions of the different Google pieces but that is what the internet is for. Just follow a guide. Hell devs at xda have created a PC app to do all that. FireToolbox.


I mean even HP TouchPad got dual boot to Android courtesy of CyanogenMod.

 

[lxskllr]

Some apps have multiple apks that make a whole. I can't comment on how that works, but a single program might have more than one apk associated with it.

 

[sdifox]

Some apps have multiple apks that make a whole. I can't comment on how that works, but a single program might have more than one apk associated with it.

That tends to happen with seasonal apps like CoD Mobile where the seasonal content gets downloaded and overwrite previous resource files.

Android App Bundle.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

My neighbor and I have gotten to the point where we don't really go out of the house without a cell.

He's had multiple heart operations and is effectively well beyond borrowed time. He's often alone in a field on a tractor, so if he goes down, no one would be near to help him. He can only hope he has enough left to call for help.

I'm not quite that bad, but if I fell and got a leg or back injury, I'm reasonably sure I wouldn't be able to get back to the house very easily.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I'm not quite that bad, but if I fell and got a leg or back injury, I'm reasonably sure I wouldn't be able to get back to the house very easily.

Fell from where? Horse or bike?

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Feet.

Last time I thought I did my wrist or hand, but managed to shake it off in a day or so. But the way my leg went out to the side and under, that could have been a problem too.

 

[pcslookout]

A little.

Though like someone else said they are so useful when traveling, as long as you can get cell data service of course, otherwise it can become a paper weight. Unless you plan on using it just with local maps or any other local data mostly.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Like everything, it is a double-edge sword.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

It is extremely low risk that hate on things that are so necessary for modern life that they are overpriced and deliberately engineered to be annoying and break frequently in order to maximize replacement frequency and therefore profit.

Smartphones should be made to the same standards as my drill press. It weight 100 pounds and is made from steel. Three generations of my family have owned it, and except for the occasional oiling and belt replacement, it's been working flawlessly for almost 40 years.

 

[nakedfrog]

A little.

Though like someone else said they are so useful when traveling, as long as you can get cell data service of course, otherwise it can become a paper weight. Unless you plan on using it just with local maps or any other local data mostly.

You can pre-load maps if you think you may lack service.

 

[nakedfrog]

It is extremely low risk that hate on things that are so necessary for modern life that they are overpriced and deliberately engineered to be annoying and break frequently in order to maximize replacement frequency and therefore profit.

Smartphones should be made to the same standards as my drill press. It weight 100 pounds and is made from steel. Three generations of my family have owned it, and except for the occasional oiling and belt replacement, it's been working flawlessly for almost 40 years.

This is just a bog standard "planned obsolescence sucks" sentiment, not that you're wrong, of course 🙂

 

[MrSquished]

When you download from an app store it is an APK your phone installs. It's not rocket science. Google just doesn't let you download the APK directly.

I installed Google services on my FireHD 10 and I get Google Play and can install all the compatible apps to the tablet. It was a bit more cumbersome to install since you need exact versions of the different Google pieces but that is what the internet is for. Just follow a guide. Hell devs at xda have created a PC app to do all that. FireToolbox.


I mean even HP TouchPad got dual boot to Android courtesy of CyanogenMod.

Definitely not rocket science. This is basic tech knowledge.

There are plenty of websites that also host the pure apk files for tons of Android apps. Because Android lets you side load. APK mirror is the one I've used the most.

We're talking to the guy who thinks Twitter can be run in a shed. Well maybe when Elon is done with it it will be.

 

[manly]

This is just a bog standard "planned obsolescence sucks" sentiment, not that you're wrong, of course 🙂

He's definitely wrong. Planned obsolescence is absolutely bullshit, but thankfully Apple, Samsung and Google now recognize that 5 years of software support is a baseline for phones.

But if a phone was designed to be indestructible and last forever like a drill press, the form factor would SUCK and it'd cost about twice as much as it does now.
It's not unlike some people wanting easily user-replaceable phone batteries without realizing that is going to change the phone designs, and not for the better.

 

[nakedfrog]

He's definitely wrong. Planned obsolescence is absolutely bullshit, but thankfully Apple, Samsung and Google now recognize that 5 years of software support is a baseline for phones.

But if a phone was designed to be indestructible and last forever like a drill press, the form factor would SUCK and it'd cost about twice as much as it does now.
It's not unlike some people wanting easily user-replaceable phone batteries without realizing that is going to change the phone designs, and not for the better.

I was saying he's not wrong about planned obsolescence sucking.
I had phones with easily user-replaceable batteries in the past decade and the phone design was fine, the back came off to access the battery. I don't agree the form factor would "suck", but it is probably unreasonable to expect one to last more than 20 years, if for no other reason than overarching technology changes. I don't think 10 years is unreasonable, I actually still have the first smartphone I got back in 2009, and it still works (as a device, I doubt I could get it onto a cell carrier at this point).

 

[dank69]

It is extremely low risk that hate on things that are so necessary for modern life that they are overpriced and deliberately engineered to be annoying and break frequently in order to maximize replacement frequency and therefore profit.

Smartphones should be made to the same standards as my drill press. It weight 100 pounds and is made from steel. Three generations of my family have owned it, and except for the occasional oiling and belt replacement, it's been working flawlessly for almost 40 years.

The smartphone technology we have today wasn't available 40 years ago, and likely won't be very useful 40 years from now, unless we've somehow maxxed out our possible technological progress.

 

[sdifox]

He's definitely wrong. Planned obsolescence is absolutely bullshit, but thankfully Apple, Samsung and Google now recognize that 5 years of software support is a baseline for phones.

But if a phone was designed to be indestructible and last forever like a drill press, the form factor would SUCK and it'd cost about twice as much as it does now.
It's not unlike some people wanting easily user-replaceable phone batteries without realizing that is going to change the phone designs, and not for the better.

metal back secured with a few screws is bad how?

 

[manly]

I was saying he's not wrong about planned obsolescence sucking.
I had phones with easily user-replaceable batteries in the past decade and the phone design was fine, the back came off to access the battery. I don't agree the form factor would "suck", but it is probably unreasonable to expect one to last more than 20 years, if for no other reason than overarching technology changes. I don't think 10 years is unreasonable, I actually still have the first smartphone I got back in 2009, and it still works (as a device, I doubt I could get it onto a cell carrier at this point).

I'm not a huge fan of America's consumption society, so I try to use things until they fall apart.* You and I sound pretty practical, but there are still reasonable limits to my frugality. I've used only 5 smartphones as daily drivers since 2008, and I still have them all. Besides the 2021 that I currently use, only the 2017 flagship is still usable as a computing device.

The older ones are simply too slow and limited, even if you could magically put an LTE modem into them. I still have my iPhone 3G as an MP3 player but even that never gets any real usage.

Generally speaking, I use PCs longer than truly desirable but I absolutely wouldn't use a 2013 flagship smartphone today. Innovation has slowed down dramatically and assuming my next phone is a Google Pixel, I'd probably use it for 7 years until the software support ended. 10 years sounds more ideal rather than realistic.

* It's a bit nuanced with computing devices, as I generally think it's a bad idea to run systems that no longer have security updates.

metal back secured with a few screws is bad how?

To be clear (and this addresses the above quote), I'm saying there's no practical reason to try and design a smartphone to last a human generation (i.e. 25 years), let alone multiple generations. Building it like a tank would no doubt make it more expensive and bulky.

I wasn't arguing against user-replaceable batteries, which the EU seems set on regulating. I find e-waste to be a huge global problem, and if companies won't address it, then regulators need to step in. My point is that we don't need easily swappable battery packs like the old days, as those will make phones less water-resistant and a little thicker. Some people will take that trade-off but it's far from a universal desire.

I assume the poster was merely exaggerating about the disposable nature of our consumer electronics, but the way it was framed is just silly. He's a smart nerd, after all.

 

[sdifox]

I'm not a huge fan of America's consumption society, so I try to use things until they fall apart.* You and I sound pretty practical, but there are still reasonable limits to my frugality. I've used only 5 smartphones as daily drivers since 2008, and I still have them all. Besides the 2021 that I currently use, only the 2017 flagship is still usable as a computing device.

The older ones are simply too slow and limited, even if you could magically put an LTE modem into them. I still have my iPhone 3G as an MP3 player but even that never gets any real usage.

Generally speaking, I use PCs longer than truly desirable but I absolutely wouldn't use a 2013 flagship smartphone today. Innovation has slowed down dramatically and assuming my next phone is a Google Pixel, I'd probably use it for 7 years until the software support ended. 10 years sounds more ideal rather than realistic.

* It's a bit nuanced with computing devices, as I generally think it's a bad idea to run systems that no longer have security updates.



To be clear (and this addresses the above quote), I'm saying there's no practical reason to try and design a smartphone to last a human generation (i.e. 25 years), let alone multiple generations. Building it like a tank would no doubt make it more expensive and bulky.

I wasn't arguing against user-replaceable batteries, which the EU seems set on regulating. I find e-waste to be a huge global problem, and if companies won't address it, then regulators need to step in. My point is that we don't need easily swappable battery packs like the old days, as those will make phones less water-resistant and a little thicker. Some people will take that trade-off but it's far from a universal desire.

I assume the poster was merely exaggerating about the disposable nature of our consumer electronics, but the way it was framed is just silly. He's a smart nerd, after all.

I just replace my Honor 8's battery for the second time. Not my daily driver, but it serves as bed neffing device since it is small.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It is extremely low risk that hate on things that are so necessary for modern life that they are overpriced and deliberately engineered to be annoying and break frequently in order to maximize replacement frequency and therefore profit.

Smartphones should be made to the same standards as my drill press. It weight 100 pounds and is made from steel. Three generations of my family have owned it, and except for the occasional oiling and belt replacement, it's been working flawlessly for almost 40 years.

At minimum they need to standardize the architecture more, kinda like x86. This would make the OS infrastructure more similar to PC where it's not tied to the maker of the phone. Imagine if you can't update windows anymore or even upgrade to a newer version because Dell does not support your model PC anymore and you can only buy Windows from Dell because you have a Dell. That's basically how phones work. Even with custom roms you are very limited to specific models that they managed to get it to work on and they are at the mercy of the manufacturer to keep Android updated.

Would be cool if they standardized phones to a point where they are more modular too, where you can add various expansion or add on modules. perhaps even change the cpu, mainboard, camera, screen etc. Make everything more or less snap into place. As long as the standard is open and not just something 1 company comes up with. Google had come up with that but even if it had taken off it wouldn't have gotten very far once they move on to the next model.

 

[manly]

I just replace my Honor 8's battery for the second time. Not my daily driver, but it serves as bed neffing device since it is small.

We're actually in agreement, because this isn't the hot-swappable battery pack I'm referring to. I'm talking about the form you used to see before iPhone, or that bygone era of digital cameras.

I believe my 2014 Moto G does have an easily swappable battery, after you pop off the plastic back cover. Some people will no doubt prefer this capability. Do I think swappable batteries should be a regulatory requirement? No, not really as long as a phone shop can do it reasonably. But the EU mostly makes good decisions for consumers, so I won't gripe if that's the final decision.

 

[sdifox]

We're actually in agreement, because this isn't the hot-swappable battery pack I'm referring to. I'm talking about the form you used to see before iPhone, or that bygone era of digital cameras.

I believe my 2014 Moto G does have an easily swappable battery, after you pop off the plastic back cover. Some people will no doubt prefer this capability. Do I think swappable batteries should be a regulatory requirement? No, not really as long as a phone shop can do it reasonably. But the EU mostly makes good decisions for consumers, so I won't gripe if that's the final decision.

EU just says user replaceable, not necessarily back to the pop back cover pop in a different battery easy.

 

[manly]

EU just says user replaceable, not necessarily back to the pop back cover pop in a different battery easy.

I may have misunderstood the proposed language.

Making sense of the EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

The smartphone battery legislation is… complicated.

www.theverge.com

The regulation isn't set yet, but some consumer advocates want something a lot easier than the current regime (i.e. Apple with its hostile tooling). But you're right we're not going back to feature phone removable batteries, which would alter modern phone designs.

 

[MrSquished]

He's definitely wrong. Planned obsolescence is absolutely bullshit, but thankfully Apple, Samsung and Google now recognize that 5 years of software support is a baseline for phones.

But if a phone was designed to be indestructible and last forever like a drill press, the form factor would SUCK and it'd cost about twice as much as it does now.
It's not unlike some people wanting easily user-replaceable phone batteries without realizing that is going to change the phone designs, and not for the better.

No it won't. I remember really nice phones with removable batteries, they were fine. And technology and manufacturing have improved since then. Maybe the phone will be a smidge thicker. But it won't be a bad form factor at all

I mean if you've only been in the Apple ecosystem then you've never used a phone with an easily removable battery, or even just A removable battery. So maybe that's it.

 

[nakedfrog]

I wasn't arguing against user-replaceable batteries, which the EU seems set on regulating. I find e-waste to be a huge global problem, and if companies won't address it, then regulators need to step in. My point is that we don't need easily swappable battery packs like the old days, as those will make phones less water-resistant and a little thicker. Some people will take that trade-off but it's far from a universal desire.

I have my phone in an Otterbox now anyway, since moisture getting into the charging port on my last phone during a hike seems to be what did that one in 😀
Apart from the battery being on the way out too. I'd only had it 3 years 😥