decent budget phone

MouldyOldDough

Both of my last two phones were Motorola - the present a G7 Power - which had an excellent battery life but not user replaceable - the battery swelled up and needed replacing after 2 years 3 months - Motorola didn't want to know

Had to get it replaced by a "phone store" battery life now nothing special

So next phone will not be a Motorola

Grumpy_chap

TMSG said:

I am not sure what sort of updates you're talking about... but does this mean that the well-heeled should get access to security updates for longer than the less well-off or those that are simply trying to save money?

No, that is not what I meant.
I was thinking £100 for the Moto and 2 years of updates.
Buy another £100 Moto and get another 2 years.
Still saved a load compared to a £1k phone with 4 years of updates.

TMSG

@Grumpy_chap Ah, I see... it's fine to have longer support for 1 expensive phone so long as buying 2, 3 or perhaps even 4 less expensive phones still ends up being cheaper?

Apparently, you don't see what's wrong with that idea. For instance stuff like landfill, waste of resources or the old chest nut carbon footprint.

I still think that all smartphones (which are basically computers) should get the same security update treatment, regardless of the price. IMO the length of support should be 4 years minimum (perhaps not for no-name Chinese stuff but certainly  for well-known brands).

Grumpy_chap

TMSG said:

Apparently, you don't see what's wrong with that idea. For instance stuff like landfill, waste of resources or the old chest nut carbon footprint.

I did mention upthread that this is not green.

I am not sure how much longer life the high-end phone actually gets.
My cheap phone is purchased outright, currently 4 years old and not due imminent replacement.
Many of the high-end phones are on 2 year contracts with the expectation of upgrade at the end of 2 years.

I agree that it would be better if all phones had update for 4 years, but everything is set against commercial backdrop.

tiger135

any thoughts on  the nokia c32 it feels nice in the hand and has a glass back and android 13 full

WelshPaul

I don’t expect a £100 phone to go from Android 11 > 12 > 13, but I would expect to get regular monthly or quarterly security patches and whatever updates come for the OS version installed for at least three years.

It isn’t just Motorola’s cheap phones that lack regular updates, it was all of them. Only recently have they raised the bar on their flagship folding phone by committing to three years of updates.

ballyblack

tiger135 said:

any thoughts on  the nokia c32 it feels nice in the hand and has a glass back and android 13 full

Nokia c32.........no NFC.............so no Google pay

TMSG

WelshPaul said:

I don’t expect a £100 phone to go from Android 11 > 12 > 13, but I would expect to get regular monthly or quarterly security patches and whatever updates come for the OS version installed for at least three years.

I agree and that's why I always talked about security updates. In fact, I have had a couple of phones upgrading the Android version and in both cases it was not a positive experience*, so I now prefer to stick with whatever version I received. But I do security updates as they come.

*I have lots of automation bits on my phones (via an app called Tasker) and it's unbelievable how much of the stuff needs adaptation for new Android versions. Partly this is cared for by the app itself but often it's a matter even more restrictive Google policies for various things and then things get interesting. So once I'm happy with the running system I won't upgrade.

Grumpy_chap

WelshPaul said:

I don’t expect a £100 phone to go from Android 11 > 12 > 13, but I would expect to get regular monthly or quarterly security patches and whatever updates come for the OS version installed for at least three years.

It isn’t just Motorola’s cheap phones that lack regular updates, it was all of them. Only recently have they raised the bar on their flagship folding phone by committing to three years of updates.

On  the provision of security updates for a longer period, who should pay for this and how?

What is the average time that a phone is kept?  
There does seem to be a tendency that these devices are treated as disposable and traded in after a couple of years.
Oddly, this characteristic probably supports longer security updates on budget phones than high-end.  I would expect that far more high-end phones are on contract and can be changed up to the next phone after a couple of years.  I also expect that the budget phones are more likely to be purchased outright and kept in service until the device stops working.

Perhaps solving the challenge of security updates requires some change to the total mind-set behind how we own and use phones in a wider sense.

PHK

Actually, the amount of time that a phone is kept has been increasing over the last few years. Security updates tend to be done by the chipset manufacturer. The manufacturer of the phone has to integrate with any customisation they’ve done and send them out. This isn’t terribly costly and should be built into the price of a phone. 

I think where Motorola and Nokia, to some extent,  have struggled is their reliance on obscure chipsets (normally found in Chinese phones) and older chipsets.