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The iPhone 13 mini is dead, leaving small phone lovers in a lurch
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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Even Samsungs good update policy doesn't beat Apple, where I can easily get 7 years worth of major versions (and still minor updates afterwards).
For my needs it works out much cheaper to buy a new android phone every few years, but it is such a waste.
Depending on manufacturer you get up to 5 years of security updates, but the phone usually costs up to 800 euros less so it simply doesn't make sense to buy the iphone.
You end up throwing a perfectly good phone in a drawer, never to be used again.
In ye olden days, it didn't really matter that the phone was less secure. But with banking apps, you have no real choice in the matter.
I buy them cash, no contract, prepay.
Trade in value is usually really low, something like 20 euros max. I keep the old phone as a back-up and there's no need to wipe it.
Usually cheaper to buy the new phone on amazon or wherever. They don't offer trade in, but it still works out cheaper. No contract, cheaper phones.
They won't refresh it or resell yours either, unless it's an expensive model.
In Europe you have e-waste recycling. I hand my electronics in there when I have too much in my drawer or donate it if it still works.
My problem with cheap phones is, that they also degrade fairly quick. At the beginning they still feel fine but after just a few months of usage I already start to feel the micro stutters again. And I hate that. I blame Android in general for that and like that iOS' ecosystem is typically a lot more efficient in that regard.
Never had that issue, tbh. For all their flaws and limitations, the affordable motorolas usually run a relatively stock android, so that might be it.
Maybe. All the Androids I had pissed me off after 2 years latest. Since there were no small Androids at the time, I took the dive and bought an iPhone 13 Mini. I'll see if it also pisses me off after 2 years ^^ But at least what I saw from other people who have their iPhones for far longer, I am optimistic.
CarPlay works much more fluent than Android Auto. That alone already made the switch worthwhile. Oh and having a unified backup solution via iTunes is really nice. While many Androids cannot be backed up at all unless you root them (which I don't want).
I've only ever used Androids, all my phones have been at least 4 or 5 years with me, I've also never bought a flagship model. Honestly, at first having a smart phone for so long aged pretty fast, for the speed of software and hardware upgrades was frantic. But nowadays, I've had my current phone for 5 years and just now I'm considering an upgrade, just because I'm bored with it and want a phone with more storage space and a nicer camera. But otherwise the phone is still solid and functional, just had a software update a few months ago. I honestly hate that most Apple fans like to compare Apple with Chinese shovelware. But there are pretty good solid Android phones if you shop around.
The only worthy ones I found were Samsung and Pixel. At least in regards to update duration. I don't like Samsung's customizations though. So I effectively end up with Pixel. Which would be fine... but that doesn't solve my initial problem of wanting a "small" SmartPhone. At least not at the time I bought the iPhone Mini.
Since Apple buried the Mini series, this might very well mean this is not only my first, but also my last iPhone again. Time will tell.
Get a flip. That seems to be the format that most manufacturers are looking at for a smaller option. I had a friend who was small phone obsessed as well and nowadays he just uses a dumb phone and is starting to turn into a kind of Luddite.
Not yet good enough for me. With small I don't just mean width and height. Also weight and thickness. Even the Xperia XZ1 Compact I had was too bulky for me, even though width and height were perfect. But it was heavy and thick. So are the flip phones.
The Sony Xperia series is reknown for being extremely nice phones as well, the only reason I don't have one is that I don't know if you can build grapheneos for it or not.
The A series from Samsung starts at €120 or so, which is pretty cheap. But also low-end specs.
iPhone 15 is not that much bigger compared to S10e, so if you want a small phone like iPhone 13 mini you’re out of luck.
Unfortunately it hasn't received a security update since March and Samsung have put it as EOL. Still a great phone but it's not a small phone, it's about the same size as the S23, it was just small compared to the S10 and S20 which were stupidly big.
At this point, get an S23 or a normal iPhone if the S10e was a suitable size.
Sent from my Galaxy S10e.