Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by marcelluspye 1987 days ago
Coincidentally, yesterday my father handed me his old Moto X 2014 with a shattered screen, asking me if I wanted to do anything with it before he trashed it. I wiped it and installed lineageOS, which is what I'm using to write this comment; its definitely a less fluid experience than my full-dystopia-mode pixel 4A, but its a refreshing experience nonetheless and I could imagine it's great for people who want to treat their phone as a tool and not a perpetual distraction device (I would guess that even with further tinkering I would be hard pressed to get all my apps integrated sufficiently seamlessly so as to enable such levels of distraction).

I watched a teardown video for the phone on YouTube and it appears the battery is replaceable, just not easily, whereas its given an "x" on this list (is this true of all phones?). Fortunately I don't seem to be suffering any battery-related problems at the moment, but I will be attempting to replace the screen, which does not seem to be easy on this dwvice.
2 comments
onli 1987 days ago
> it appears the battery is replaceable, just not easily, whereas its given an "x" on this list (is this true of all phones?)

So, the listing for the Moto X 2014 is saying exactly that. A swappable battery means that you can just take off the cover and change the battery, without needing any tool. That's not the case here (at least it's not marked as having that feature). Instead an iFixit guide is linked with 'moderate' difficulty (unlike others that are very difficult, then I wouldn't even try). Maybe that definition of a swappable battery is not universal and should be explained on the page?

link
marcelluspye 1986 days ago
It probably should be explained. Their classification makes sense, but I think some may be misled. The demographic of people getting older phones and running LineageOS would probably be comfortable with managing a few obnoxiously tiny screws to replace a battery, and just want to be able to replace them when they start crapping out, whereas the older phones I've had which advertised a replaceable battery (consistent with this list) made it easy enough for grandma.
link
nirv 1986 days ago
> my full-dystopia-mode pixel 4A

What do you mean? I keep Pixel 4A on my buy-list, if/when my old trusty Nexus5X with zero Google services breaks down.

link
marcelluspye 1985 days ago
I just meant that I haven't made any efforts to keep google from snooping on me through that phone. So I get all the convenience of e.g. google screening my calls and waiting on hold for me, with all the associated privacy concerns, as opposed to the LineageOS device which I don't think has any google apps/services at all.

I do enjoy the 4a very much however, it's a great device.

link