The Current Deplorable State of Smartphones in 2023

[Arnox]

You wanna buy a smartphone? Well, you have lots of choices! Oh, you want security... Sheesh, look at this nut here. Probably gonna ask for a tinfoil hat too... But hey! You can have, uh... GrapheneOS with a shitty Pixel phone! :) No, there's nothing else that will run GrapheneOS. No, it won't be updated on older Pixels.

Alright, you want a Linux phone instead? Well, you can certainly have one! As soon as you cough up $900+. Oh, many of them already sold out. Dannnng. Well don't worry! If that price is too high, you can cough up $400 for a nice Pinephone Pro! That has buggy core software... What, you don't like bugs in some base phone functionality? Man, you're so picky!

Well, you can always go back to running a nice Android! Maybe with a custom rom for extra security! No, none of them are nearly as secure as GrapheneOS. But you can decide what features you want! A removable battery, unlockable bootloader, no notch or punchhole, a headphone jack, an SD card slot, a notification light... No, you can't have all of those features at once! Get real! Next thing you're gonna ask me for is a Samsung Galaxy S5! Oh boy, what a kidder you are! ^^

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

GrapheneOS is a google Android OS (as are most other "privacy/alternative smartphone OS's). Pixel smartphone is a google-made phone. Pinephone is Chinese. Samsung Galaxy runs google Android OS. Then there's the closed source and walled garden'd iPhone and iOS. Less said about that the better.

 

[Gauche]

Water proofing electronics was a mistake

 

[Arnox]

GrapheneOS is a google Android OS (as are most other "privacy/alternative smartphone OS's). Pixel smartphone is a google-made phone. Pinephone is Chinese. Samsung Galaxy runs google Android OS. Then there's the closed source and walled garden'd iPhone and iOS. Less said about that the better.

Out of curiosity, what phone do you daily drive?

Water proofing electronics was a mistake

Nah, that was mostly just a bullshit excuse to cut features.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Out of curiosity, what phone do you daily drive?

2 Dumbphones.

 

[Phiwise_]

Next thing you're gonna ask me for is a Samsung Galaxy S5!

I suppose this is meant to say the Galaxy S5 is your "best" model of smartphone?

 

[Arnox]

I suppose this is meant to say the Galaxy S5 is your "best" model of smartphone?

Yep.

 

[Phiwise_]

Yep.

I got a Samsung (TM) Galaxy (TM) Core (TM) 2 (TM) a couple months after it came out, and have fond memories of its OS simplicity and shape that was designed to be held by a human hand. Looks like it was released a couple weeks after the S5.

 

[Arnox]

I got a Samsung (TM) Galaxy (TM) Core (TM) 2 (TM) a couple months after it came out, and have fond memories of its OS simplicity and shape that was designed to be held by a human hand. Looks like it was released a couple weeks after the S5.

Another contender is the Note 4 which is just a variant of the S5. It's better in just about every way, although it's not water resistant like the S5 is.

 

[gaijinkaiju]

The reason phones are like this, is because the average joe just wants a phone that works. They don't care about privacy, or linux or whatever else you take issue with, they just want something that works and works with the least resistance. Its the same reason people use windows over linux, Google Chrome over whatever else, etc.

Then there's the closed source and walled garden'd iPhone and iOS. Less said about that the better.

Apple might be shit, but the Iphone5 was probably one of my favorite phones.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

The reason phones are like this, is because the average joe just wants a phone that works. They don't care about privacy, or linux or whatever else you take issue with, they just want something that works and works with the least resistance. Its the same reason people use windows over linux, Google Chrome over whatever else, etc.

Apple might be shit, but the Iphone5 was probably one of my favorite phones.

"Just works" is a cop-out. Most of them vote politically what they think is for the best, for mankind going forward. All stability or progress or rights and freedoms, but then vote with their wallet for the most absolute despicable corporations.. They never even question how they also bribe politicians, institute the standards all must adhere to, and create monopolistic dystopias wringing their users dry of both money, freedoms and privacy. It's hypocrisy.

 

[Arnox]

The reason phones are like this, is because the average joe just wants a phone that works.

I think it's more complicated than that. Android did a really good job for so long that we never really had to think about it for a long while. Then the Galaxy S6 started a trend of slowly stripping features out. Then it started becoming more and more clear just how insanely insecure pretty much all modern smartphones are. But by the time we all found out, the market had way too much momentum and no competitors whatsoever. Sometimes you could run a custom Android ROM depending on your phone, but that would only do so much, and of course, it was still Android at the end of the day. And Apple? Apple was even worse.

Linux phones are pretty much our only hope right now for a true competitor. But they are not ready yet. I think people generally do want an alternative, and they will pay for one, but it actually needs to be a working option. They're not going to switch to something that has problems even just using the camera.

 

[Phiwise_]

The reason phones are like this, is because the average joe just wants a phone that works. They don't care about privacy, or linux or whatever else you take issue with, they just want something that works and works with the least resistance. Its the same reason people use windows over linux, Google Chrome over whatever else, etc.

Apple might be shit, but the Iphone5 was probably one of my favorite phones.

Hard disagree. Ease-of-use and power don't have to be a trade-off, and aren't in engineering with higher standards. Phones are like this because the average joe doesn't want power, or more specifically doesn't know to want power, but that can be changed. Maybe not by one person, but it can happen.

 

[Arnox]

Well lads, I broke down. After finding out that the Pinephone Pro is STILL not in a good state, and finding that the only phone that has the features I want (Samsung Galaxy Xcover6 Pro) doesn't have LineageOS support, and due to my heightened threat model of being an administrator of Sanctuary, I have to get a Pixel... Fuck me, I really, really don't want to daily drive a fucking Pixel, but it looks like I have pretty much zero choice in the matter if I need security.