[MiddleEndian]

I'm still using my Palm Phone, as I find it better looking and I think the form factor is nicer than the Unihertz phones. I am able to type pretty easily with Microsoft's swipe text keyboard.

But as it was not particularly fast in 2018, it's only a matter of time until software becomes too slow to use on the phone. Even opening the text messaging app has a visual lag nowadays. The battery life is also not great; I don't really care but it seems to annoy my friends lol.

Eventually I'll probably end up with a Unihertz, but I'm still holding out for a new similarly sleek small phone from Palm.

[joshspankit]

In terms of battery life, you could probably give it a renew by having the battery replaced with a new one. Other than that you could likely keep using it. There’s no reason for old devices to become slower except:

- The internal databases (such as the messages database) growing larger than the devs intended

- Not enough free storage space to comfortably allow swap files

- 3rd party background processes taking over

Bad code can sometimes happen (usually “just” memory leaks requiring a reboot), but what we usually think of as a rule (“old devices are slower”) is manufacturers pushing more and more features on to the device until it can no longer keep up.

[MiddleEndian]

Nah the manufacturer isn't pushing anything, this phone hasn't been updated by the manufacturer in many years. It's the apps that are slowing down. I have replaced the Palm Phone with newer Palm Phones after breaking a couple, the battery life isn't any better.

For me, the tradeoff is still worth it for now because it has the best form factor. But at some point within the next decade, it will become impossible.

[joshspankit]

> Nah the manufacturer isn't pushing anything, this phone hasn't been updated by the manufacturer in many years.

That’s what I was thinking, and my instinct says you could just keep using it for another decade.

> It’s the apps that are slowing down.

That doesn’t make sense to me unless it’s one of the reasons I mentioned above: their internal DB getting too large (solution: wipe data), or the app company pushing updates.

But I can tell you know what you’re doing so I’m not going to try to convince you you’re wrong.

[MiddleEndian]

>the app company pushing updates.

It's not one specific app. I need to use up-to-date versions of apps to connect to various services, and I need to visit modern versions of websites because those are the only websites that are available. They are increasingly resource intensive but my phone will not get any faster. Therefore at some point, this phone will become unusable. Probably within five years.