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by scanlimes 3835 days ago
>Cars require maintenance the expectation of which greatly influences our purchasing decisions (e.g. "Toyota tax").

There is a thriving phone repair industry patronized by people that can't afford to throw away expensive electronics every few years. When the most common "failures" are cracked screens and dead batteries, both of which are fairly easily replaced, it makes sense if you don't "need" the absolute latest and greatest to signal.

>People generally don't buy used phones.

Used iPhones retain their value pretty well.

>Phones don't come in mutually exclusive form factors (2dr coupe, airport van, cab and chassis, everything in-between). They're all touchscreen slabs with one or more buttons at the bottom.

I dunno, the difference between a regular smartphone and a "phablet" is pretty striking to me.

>You also won't get fired from your job if you break your phone and your bosses call goes to voicemail. If you don't show up for work because your car is broken you'll probably be fired.

Where the heck do you work?

2 comments

> dead batteries

Anyone who designs battery-powered consumer electronics and doesn't make it trivial to replace a dead battery should be slapped with a cold herring.

One nice feature of the Samsung Galaxy line (at least up to the 4S I have now) is that it takes all of ten seconds to swap batteries.

The mechanisms necessary for a removable battery that doesn't fall out accidentally cost extra weight and bulk. It's an engineering tradeoff, and swappable batteries aren't worth it for many users. This is also why many laptops have fewer interchangeable parts- for many people, being lighter and thinner is better, and a 3-5 year lifespan is plenty.
> excuses

let's just remove all features that add weight!

Used iPhones retain their value pretty well.

As a user of a second-hand iPhone 5c, I can say that I was quite impressed and am now fully converted from Android. As well, I'm tempted to just buy second-hand phones for the rest of my life now.

I think that the state of the hardware is pretty good now that we can consider second hand rather than brand new items. The only concern is whether the software landscape will move slow enough so that the phone/table/TV or other smart device is usable for at least 2-3 years. In older times, when the software was not able to be upgraded so easily, this time period is much, much longer.