Techie Ramblings

Category: Phones

  • iOS kicking Android while it’s down.

    After the announcement of the blocking of unsigned Android apps from September 2026, the announcement of the death of Nova launcher and the disappointment of the Pixel 10 release it’s safe to say morale is fairly low in the Android camp right now. I’ve been quite vocal in that I’d be keeping a close eye on the iPhone announcement that happened last night and really I have just been waiting for an excuse to jump ship.

    The content of that Keynote was the excuse I was waiting for, and I suspect it will tempt quite a large number of others to swap sides.

    For me at least, it was the base iPhone 17 that stole the show. Yes the Air, the Pro and the Pro Max are technically impressive, but it’s the standard model that stands out as the bargain this time.

    I don’t like to buy storage upgrades, as the extra cost generally doesn’t translate a proportionate amount of extra resale value. For this reason any phone that starts at 128GB of storage was off the cards for me (it’s not only Apple that are guilty of this… Google too). 60Hz refresh rate was also a negative that plagued the Standard iPhone, and was something that annoyed me when I tried the 16e. When sub £200 budget phones have 120Hz, it’s unacceptable in a device that costs 4 times that.

    This years base iPhone solves all of those issues and includes more premium features than ever before. The starting storage is 256GB, with a £100 option to upgrade to 512GB. Personally I am perfectly fine with 256GB. It also has a 120Hz LTPO screen, which means that as well as being able to refresh the image 120 times a second, it can also drop down to as low as 1Hz, to preserve the battery when displaying static images. They’ve also given it ceramic shield too and an anti-reflective coating that previously you’d have had to buy a Samsung S24 ultra or S25 ultra to get. The bezels are small on the display, and it’s still in a neat compact form factor, and weighs a lot less than the pro models. All this and they didn’t increase the price from what the 16 launched at.

    I was fully expecting to only be impressed by the Pro/Pro Max devices, and would’ve probably gone with a Pro if it wasn’t for this unexpected bump in specs. Needless to say I’ll be putting a preorder in on the 12th when they open them up. I can imagine a lot of other disenfranchised Android users doing the same.

    It seems like Google are not self aware enough to realise that they are not the premium brand they think they are. They are too disorganised and spontaneous to be premium. “Stable” releases feel like beta versions, products that users grow to rely on get removed or discontinued without notice, their hardware is prone to failure, the performance of their devices is below even mid range devices from other manufacturers and amongst other things the play store is littered with malware. If Google think they can lock users into a “walled garden” with all these negative points, and hope to charge as much as much more premium brands I think they’re going to have a very rude awakening.

    Aside from the flexibility currently offered by Android, and maybe better integration with Windows and Linux machines there are very little benefits of using an Android device over an iOS one. If Google go down a path of locking down their devices, stopping unsigned app installs, locking down ADB, and even locking down the file system then the two operating systems become very easy to compare. Android would lose every time.

    I may sound very negative about all this, but it comes from a place of passion. As I’ve written at length in previous posts, Android is an operating system I’ve been very passionate about for over a decade now, and I’m sad to see it come to this. I really do hope that this doesn’t happen, but I feel like Google have set themselves on a path that can only lead to a completely locked down environment. Given no alternative, I’d rather be locked into a environment controlled by Apple, than one by Google and that’s why I’m making the move now (or at least in a couple of weeks).

  • The death rattle of the Enthusiast Android

    A grim title I know.

    However I chose my words carefully. Let me make no mistake, Android itself is going nowhere. In developing countries where wages are low an iPhone is unobtainium. An cheap Android smartphone is their only chance of connectivity.

    However in developed countries Apple has the largest percentage of smartphone sales of any brand. In the US Apple have over a 50% share of the entire market, more devices than all the Android devices combined.

    The average person who can afford and is willing to spend the prices of high tier mobile devices will generally buy an iPhone. In the UK at least where I have the most experience an iPhone is basically the default device for anyone under 30. A lot of them don’t have the latest generation, I often see plenty of 11’s and 12’s still in use but it has to be iPhone. It’s all they’re willing to use.

    Most of the other people will fall into just 2 categories. Someone who is not willing to pay Apple prices, and therefor will go for a budget Android device, usually sub £200. The second is the enthusiast. People buying Android foldables, S25 Ultra’s and some of the eastern markets offerings such as the Oneplus 13, or Oppo Find X8 Pro (I’m purposefully avoiding Pixels from this list, they’re just trying to target Apple users) do not represent your basic smartphone user. They are people that love to tweak, tinker, game and push their devices.

    These are the users that Android flagships are targeted towards. Without these users on board the segment will most likely collapse. With the news last week about Google’s plot to block unsigned app installations this is looking increasingly likely.

    Just recently we’ve had another massive blow to the Android enthusiast, the death of Nova launcher.

    Nova launcher has been an absolute staple of Android for as long as I can remember. For those that don’t know it’s an app that can replace the stock launcher (think theme, but a bit more) of your Android device. It launched back in 2011, I remember using it at least a decade ago. It had the beauty of making the manufacturer’s tweaks and decisions irrelevant, if you didn’t like the way your phone looked and the way you had to navigate around it you could just install Nova launcher and customize it however you liked.

    It’s a story we hear all too often. A big company buy a little one and ruins it. They impose all of their corporate, greedy practices onto the original team and eventually push them out. Credit to the original developer Kevin Barry, the poor guy had been the sole developer of Nova since the company was bought out in 2022, obviously maintaining it out of sheer passion but that obviously could only last so long.

    To some this may mean nothing. But to me it really does feel like the stars are aligning with a message. The Android I knew, and loved as a tech enthusiast is dying. Big corporations have won again. They’ve taken something fun, relatively open, community driven and unique and completely whitewashing into an advertiser friendly, bland, controllable product.

    Cynical as it is, I hope every single one of the Android flagship devices fails off the back of these decisions. That Samsung, Google and every other manufacturer supporting these decisions are reduced to only peddling budget Telescreens (appropriate 1984 reference). The sad thing is they’re probably perfectly happy with this. They could essentially give away their budget devices and still turn a profit through the ad and data revenue just using one of these bloat ridden devices generates.

    We’re only half way through this decade, and it is not looking good.

  • Android phone sans Google account

    In my previous post I mentioned that I’ve deleted my Google account, in protest about their catastrophic decision to remove the ability to install apps that aren’t signed with a paid, verified developers account on any Android device that uses play services. Aside from Huawei and Apple devices, this will affect every smartphone manufacturer in the western markets.

    A large portion of the population, maybe 90% or even higher will never even notice this restriction. Most people that use an Android device probably don’t even know that they can install apps on their devices from other sources than the play store. But for the portion of us that are developers, enthusiasts or even those that have a niche requirement this is a major advantage of an Android device.

    The ability to install applications from a packaged installer (APK) brings it one step closer to being a true pocket computer. After all, Windows devices have .exe’s and .msi’s. MacOS have .dmg’s and linux have .appimage, .flatpak, .deb and .rpm just to name a few. For me a defining factor of a device I own is having the ability to install what I want on my device, sourced from wherever I want, with the ability to back that file up should I ever want to use it in the future, long after it ceases to be available. I would class myself as somewhat of a data hoarder. I have installers for all sorts of software stored away on external hard drives, some I’ve purchased and some is open source, but the point is that is my copy of the software. I’m free to use it and install it on any device of my choosing, for as long as I want to.

    I have a lot of Android APK’s stored too. Some are old versions of games that have since been updated beyond recognition. Others are applications required for peripherals that would be useless without the software (USB-C endoscope, thermal camera, external microphones to name a few). Without the ability to freely install what we want on our devices they lose a major part of their functionality. They essentially become proprietary devices, locked to only approved software. Think something like a PlayStation. Yes you can buy games for it, digital or physical but only software that is approved by Sony, and only while signed into your PSN account. If a developer wanted to make a game but for whatever reason couldn’t publish through Sony it would be impossible to play on the console. Of course this isn’t directly comparable but I think it paints the picture of just how locked down Android will become when this comes into force.

    I’m under no illusion that there is no long term future for me using an Android device if this is the reality. Hence why I decided to delete my Google account pre-emptively. A decision I will never go back on I might add.

    So to the real point of this post. What is it like using an off the shelf Android device, in my case a Oneplus 13 with no Google account?

    Surprisingly, it’s not that bad. At least until the restrictions come into play that is.

    For now there are no deal breakers, only purposeful inconveniences.

    To name a few: Google maps refuses to let me save locations without being signed in, meaning I have to type each destination manually. Certain apps or games have “sign in with Google” as their only method of backing up. I cannot even access the area in settings that allows me to decide what data is sent to Google any more. I could not make in app purchases even if I wanted to. I have no “find my device” capability.

    For now though, that’s it. I have access to all free apps on the Play Store through Aurora. I back up to my Nextcloud instance. I sync my calendars, contacts and tasks using DAVx. The phone still has play services installed so any apps that use it for push notifications can still do so.

    I’ve also gone one step further. I discovered an app through F-Droid called “Rethink”. It’s a fantastic DNS blocker/app firewall, and using it I’ve been able to block a huge amount of background apps and processes from having any form of network connectivity. I’ve configured it on a “whitelist” basis, where only apps that I’ve explicitly defined have network access. If this evil corporation are going to these lengths to stop me doing what I want with my device, they’re certainly not having any of my personal data. Blocking the phone communicating back to its Chinese manufacturers is a benefit too. While the data usage section of the phone never reported honestly about these communications I know they were happening, simply because even though this app is running permanently in the background my battery drain has decreased significantly, especially overnight.

    The problem with all this is that none of this will be possible after the verification comes into effect. The majority of these apps I’m using to circumvent having to use a Google account would never be approved by Google. It’s simply not in their best interest. They wouldn’t want me to use the Play Store anonymously, they certainly wouldn’t want me to block all their telemetry, and the version of DAVx on the play store is paid, which I wouldn’t be able to purchase without a Google account. So I’m under no illusion that this is a long term solution.

    My best chance of having this work semi long term will be to not allow my device to update at all, and even then this will only work for so long until the banking apps decides my Android version is too old. It also has security implications of allowing it to fall behind on security updates.

    As much as it pains me to admit defeat, unless a manufacturer comes out with a device running an alternative OS such as linux, which is looking increasingly unlikely my best option in this scenario is to just settle for an iPhone.

    Sideloading is possible on iOS devices, and because it’s never been a supported method by Apple it has a well established community built around it. The only downside is using Altstore, which means having to connect to a Mac or PC once every 7 days to renew the self signed developer licenses. But at least it has the option.

    This feels extremely bleak. Since 2012 I’ve been an Android enthusiast, that’s 13 years. In that time I’ve learnt a lot, and grown a lot. In that time I’ve always had an Android device by my side, and it’s never been used in the way Google intended. I’ve rooted them, installed custom ROM’s, messed with Kernels, overclocked, under clocked, modified applications, repurposed old ones into CCTV cameras, storage servers, seed boxes, emulation devices you name it. And all this is slowly coming to an end. First it was the root detection, then the decline of unlockable boot loaders, then play protect and finally the blocking of unsigned apps.

    As sad as it sounds I genuinely feel like I will end up mourning this loss. In another way it might do me good. If I do end up with an iPhone I will have zero passion towards it. Whatever model I get will last me for the duration of its functionality, there isn’t a bone in me that gets excited for new iPhone features that’s just not me. On Android I’d get excited about IR blasters, heart rate monitors, motion detection, insanely powerful processors, reverse wireless charging, always on displays, in screen fingerprint scanners, S-Pens and all sorts of features back when they were revolutionary. But iPhone, not at all. A repositioned camera array, a smaller notch, a camera button, a USB-C port, Apple Intelligence… Yawn. Maybe I’ll get back into Linux, maybe I’ll get back into modding games consoles, who knows. But I won’t be spending any more time getting excited about phones, and I’ll definitely be spending less money overall.

  • Is it time to ditch Google?

    In light of Google’s recent announcement (banning unsigned app installations from September 2026) I deleted my Google account today.

    I have always been creeped out by Google’s data collection, and only tolerated them anywhere near my personal data because of the flexibility the Android operating system paired with their services offered. Take away that flexibility and they have nothing of value to offer me.

    I don’t use many of the Google software products. The only ones I can think of are Google Maps, Youtube, Wallet and Find my phone. I don’t use Gmail, I don’t sync my calendar, tasks, notes or contacts to their servers as I manage all that myself. I use open source apps or anything I need from the Play Store I download with Aurora.

    I realised that when pushed, I don’t need a Google account at all. For the sake of my privacy I can do without Find my phone, I can watch and save all of my favourite channels on Youtube using Newpipe, I can use an alternative for Navigation or if using Android Auto I can just use Google maps without being logged in. Wallet will be an inconvenience but I’ll just use my physical cards again.

    Aside from this I feel a sentiment that I’ve seen echoed quite a bit in light of this recent news. If Google remove what made their product uniquely attractive, then we may as well just get iPhones. It may sound strange to say, but I trust Apple with my data more than I do Google, and if there is no freedom on either devices then I’d rather use an iPhone.

    Apple aren’t saints by any means. They’ve locked their devices down to a ridiculous degree from the very start. However, they are a hardware company where Google are an advertising company. They recently stood up to the UK government when asked to provide a back door into user data. They offered long support of their devices before it was cool to do so.

    Do I think putting more business towards a restrictive company, that already has a near monopoly in the developed world is an ideal solution? Absolutely not, in any other situation I’d say it’s a terrible idea. But in this case it just might be the best option. And maybe, just maybe if Google notices a loss in market share, not just in Google Pixel users but all Android devices they might back track on this awful decision.

    I’ll be having a long think about where we’ll go from here, and whether I’m willing to leave Android behind. What I am certain about is that I will never have another Google account, and Google will never receive another penny from me, either directly or indirectly through Play Store purchases.

  • Google – Using a nuke to kill an ant

    If you stay current with tech news you’ll probably have noticed all the clickbait articles of “Google is killing Android”, “The end of sideloading” and various other catchy titles.

    For the longest time in Google’s very own mission statement it said “Don’t be evil.”, that was quietly removed a few years ago. If it weren’t, with their recent announcement they’d definitely be going against that statement.

    Under the current popular excuse of “Security” Google have announced that as of September 2026, to run an app installed from the Play store or anywhere else on any certified Android device (pretty much all of them) the publishing developer will need to have a paid, verified developer account. The cost for an account which is rumored to be around £35 as a one time payment is largely irrelevant.

    The intent behind this is to block apps that Google don’t like on any Android device. The main target here is undoubtedly “YouTube Revanced”, but it will also be targeting any modified APK’s that are floating around that circumvent advertising and allow premium features within apps such as Spotify without requiring payment.

    I for one am absolutely furious about this announcement. Over the years the one longstanding benefit to me of Android over iOS was it’s open nature. My phone is a small computer. I would never accept a computer (Windows, MacOS or Linux) that restricted me to only being able to install programs from a single source that they controlled. It’s a ludicrous concept and when it’s laid out like that I’m sure you would think so too. Then why should we accept these limitations on our small pocket computers?

    Google have been encroaching on smartphone users freedoms for a while now, with things like Safetynet and Play integrity they have tried to block users from using banking apps, accessing government services and various apps if their devices operating system is not the one it shipped with, or if it has been rooted. Again, this is done under the guise of security but when you think back to my computer analogy their reasoning falls apart.

    On my desktop or laptop computer I have the freedom to install anything I want, from any source I want. The onus is on me to ensure that the software I install is safe, and that I take precautions to keep my device secure. With anything I want installed on my system, I am free to log in to my bank, government services or anything else I wish to do. Why should my smartphone be any different?

    Unfortunately I think the general population has been conditioned by Apple’s practices with their iOS devices over the years to believe that this is for our own good. It really isn’t. The duopoly of Google and Apple over the Smartphone space was bearable when Android had flexibility. Those that were happy with the restrictions iOS imposed could go with an iPhone, those that weren’t could get a device running Android from any manufacturer. Where do we go after September 2026?

    Personally I am formulating a long (ish) term plan in my head. I have a Pixel Tablet that’s running a custom ROM devoid of any Google services, that should cover my media needs. My phone however is a different story. I think I may actually end up using two phones. One that will run within the confines of Googles rules that will be switched off the majority of the time, only being used for banking etc that can be used over WiFi with no SIM card. The other may have to be a Pixel (always buy used, don’t put any money into Google’s pockets) so that I have long term support for a custom ROM such as LineageOS, GrapheneOS, CalyxOS or anything that allows me to have zero Google services installed. In theory, this would no longer be a “certified device” and shouldn’t be limited on what I can install on the device I own.

    I am furious that the world is heading down this authoritarian path, especially when it comes to the internet. I don’t advocate true piracy, but I’m a firm believer that if something can’t be owned then it cannot be stolen. By using apps like Youtube Revanced, modded Spotify, or a modified Reddit client you can avoid the absolute swathes of advertisements that completely ruin the experience, you’re not stealing anything and you’re not harming anybody. Hence my title. Google have lost the battle against open source developers in their ability to stop ad blockers, and modified clients. Their final move is akin to a nuclear bomb, they are completely removing any remaining freedom on Android to stop a problem that will not even be noticeable in their profit figures. It’s greed at the highest level, and we should do everything we can to fight it.

  • Your phone probably isn’t worth babying.

    After my recent experience with having to fully disassemble and repair my Oneplus 13 (read my last post if you haven’t already) I came to some conclusions which have and will change the way I treat my phones, now and going forward.

    What I’ve learnt about this phone in particular is that the screen is very expensive, and a lot of work to replace so that’s definitely worth protecting.

    The back glass and camera lens though are not. For £20 it can be replaced with a genuine one with new adhesive. That may change my attitude to worrying about scratching the camera glass, and potentially using a case.

    A new battery is less than £15, and is surprisingly easy to replace once the back cover is off. Immediately upon seeing that I completely stopped worrying about having good charging habits, I now charge to 100% and don’t stress about using it whilst charging.

    The USB port, and in fact the whole lower daughter board can also be replaced for less than £15 and isn’t an involved task to perform. I’ll no longer worry about trying to opt for wireless charging to preserve the port.

    What I’m saying is, have a look at a teardown video of your phone and then have a look at the price of common replacement parts. If they’re not expensive, and the device is easy to repair is it really worth the mental energy and additional cost of protective products to baby your phone? Obviously with my phone the display is very expensive, but if it were a phone with an LCD panel rather than AMOLED it would probably be around £20 to replace the whole display assembly. At that price you’d be better off replacing it rather than buying a premium screen protector!

    When you have the ability to repair a product, and parts are readily available a phone stops being this prized possession and can just be looked at as more of a tool, to be used and repaired when necessary. Quite a liberating thought, especially for someone like me who has always hated the thought of scratches and damage that I could do nothing about.

  • Oneplus 13

    Image credits oneplus.com

    This is a phone that I should never really have come to own. At the beginning of this year I had an Oppo Find x8 Pro, which is essentially the same phone, from the same parent company just with a Dimensity 9400 instead of a Snapdragon 8 Elite. There is very little in the way of differences between the two devices, at least nothing meaningful in day to day usage. However we are where we are.

    Everything I wrote about the Oppo Find x8 Pro stands for this phone, they even run essentially the same operating system just with a different name (OxygenOS for Oneplus and ColorOS for Oppo).

    What stands especially true is that this is a very difficult device to protect. Not helped by the fact that for the most part the well known case/screen protector companies have failed to make anything for this device. That leaves your only option to be direct from China. I have tried at least 5 different brands and types of screen protectors for this phone and own 5 cases for it.

    The curved edges of the screen are the main problem here. Some screen protectors fail to adhere to the edges of the screen, some have borders obstructing the edges of the screen, others ruin the sensitivity of the fingerprint reader. Then there are issues with the cases; some offer no camera protection, others leave the curved edges of the screen exposed when face down and worst of all some cases will foul the screen protector causing it to detach from the screen.

    For anyone in this same conundrum I have finally found a combination that works. The SKIG UV glue glass covers the screen well, and still allows for even the most intrusive cases to not interfere with it’s edges. The case is from a company called “YCADEN”, and is a rubber case, with felt inner lining, magnets and camera cut-outs. The reason I didn’t like any of the official cases was that they have holes around each button, which lets dust in, they also don’t do a good job of protecting the camera and I hate the loss of clarity when using a glass camera protector. Initially with the SKIG screen protectors I had an issue that the fingerprint would register fine on setup and then proceed never to unlock the phone again. Strangely though after a day or so the fingerprint begins to improve and is now working reliably again. I’ve stocked up on these in future for reasons I’ll delve into.

    About 2 months into the ownership of this phone I was pretty frustrated with not being able to find adequate protection for it. I gave up and began to use the phone “naked” which means no case or screen protector. As I’ve previously alluded to I think I have mild autism and ADHD, and on this particular day, sat outside on my lunch break I had an intrusive thought. I wondered how tough this device was, and if I threw it down onto the rough concrete floor, would it survive? For whatever reason I gave into that thought and gave the phone an impromptu drop test. Needless to say it did not survive. The screen shattered and the housing took some damage. The screen still functioned so I put one of the SKIG UV protectors on which allowed me to use the phone normally.

    I priced up a replacement screen from Oneplus themselves, however they wanted £280 + postage, which is frankly ridiculous and almost put me off repairing the phone at all. Thankfully I found an original replacement with frame on Aliexpress for £130, which while still annoyingly expensive was easier to stomach.

    The adventure didn’t end there though, and is still ongoing. Once the screen arrived I promptly discovered how Oneplus achieved their impressive IP69 rating, and that was through using a phenomenal amount of adhesive to hold it together. That combined with the frosted glass on the back rendered it nearly impossible to disassemble. Suckers would not stick, and the tolerances were so tight that I couldn’t insert a pick.

    Eventually using a combination of heat, and levering a small screwdriver through the slim slot to push on the glass from the other side I managed to remove it, amazingly without breaking it. However when I was cleaning the old adhesive off the back glass to reuse it, it completely shattered. In a rage I threw the entire phone in the bin. Only to remove it 5 minutes later and continue with the swap the following day. Because the screen came pre-bonded to a frame it meant rather than swapping the screen the job was essentially swapping the motherboard and components into a completely new housing. Fortunately I’ve performed this task on iPhones in the past, compared to that this was a breeze.

    A replacement back has been ordered for the phone, however after the experience with the glass back I’ve opted for the plastic back from the blue variant. In a knock on effect, this will destroy any resale value of the phone because it will be a Frankenstein that was never sold; a black frame with a blue back and silver camera surround. My justification for this is that if I ever need to go back inside for another job like a battery replacement, it should make my life a lot easier being plastic. It may also reduce the weight of the device slightly too.

    So what does the future hold for this device? Given my track record, who knows. At least I can’t really sell it now. It’s already been destroyed and brought back so there’s really nothing else to do other than protect it adequately and keep using it. My partner is currently using a Pixel 7 Pro, if that fails or she needs a replacement for whatever reason maybe I’ll give her the Oneplus 13. Until then though she’s perfectly happy with her devices and hates the stress of changing phones unless it’s necessary.

    I’ve already pre-ordered the Unihertz Titan 2, although I did that more to support the market of phones with physical keyboards than intending to buy it to replace the Oneplus 13. I have my doubts on whether it’ll be suitable as a “main phone” replacement however it’ll be a nice gadget to have a play with.

  • Moto G75 5G

    This phone was an interim device that I owned alongside my iPhone 16e and ultimately replaced it.

    For most people this would be an excellent phone, and for the price it can be had ~£150 it represents excellent value for money.

    It has decent specs; Snapdragon 6 gen 3, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage with SD expansion, very good quality LCD screen.

    Realistically I should’ve kept this phone, however at the time I was going through a phase of mobile emulation and this was struggling with some of the PS2 and Gamecube titles I was trying to throw at it. I purchased it 2nd hand, and sold it for exactly the same money I purchased it for.

    This one stands out from the rest of the Motorola range in that they’ve actually given it a long support window for OS and security updates. They’ve removed the OS update promise from their site now but it was originally 5 years, and they’re still advertising 6 years of security updates.

    Realistically I should’ve kept it, but I didn’t and now own the Oneplus 13 which I purchased solely for it’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. If we go back 3 devices we’ll see that I already had a device with this chipset in the S25…

    I’m glad I document all of this, because it really does expose the problem I have with constant need for new and shiny, and the self justifications that go along with it. I’ve often suspected I have mild undiagnosed autism, which is backed up by the fact my mother, father and 2 brothers both have it. Both of my brothers also have ADHD, which I suspect I have too. I’d say my list of phones owned over the last 5 years probably confirms that.

  • Unihertz Titan 2

    Is it strange, or a sign of the current market that the first phone to draw my attention is one that draws heavy inspiration, to the point you could call it a homage, to a phone that was released 11 years ago?

    It doesn’t take much guessing to realise this looks very similar to the Blackberry Passport. The Blackberry didn’t capture my attention at the time (It’s launch price of £529, and lack of carriers stocking it might have had something to do with that), but a revival of it at less than half that price certainly did.

    I currently have a Oneplus 13 that I use as my only phone, and for the most part I’m very happy with it. It has phenomenal cameras, it has random quirks that I love such as the alert slider and IR blaster, it has the most powerful mobile chipset currently on the market, it charges at over 100w and has a 6000mah silicone carbide battery. What would I possibly be interested in a phone with budget/midrange specs and a 1:1 aspect ratio screen? Two words; physical keyboard.

    I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated by virtual keyboards, for a time they seemed like they were doing great. Two notable phones I remember were my iPhone 6s and my Samsung Note 9. Both had excellent typing accuracy and haptic feedback, the experience was good enough that I didn’t notice it. Since then it’s been downhill. The iPhone 16e I had made me an awful typist, I’m not sure of the technical term, but the “hit boxes” for each letter seemed to change frequently, meaning any developed muscle memory was rendered useless. The autocorrect was also comically bad. The Oneplus 13 is a similar scenario. It uses GBoard and I’m having an awful experience using it. It makes me feel like I can’t spell. I do have large thumbs, but this is a large screen and I’ve managed to type accurately on smaller screens than this in the past. I’m not sure what’s going on, whether it’s “improvements” to the apps or some sort of machine learning going on but it’s borderline infuriating. To the point I actively avoid having to type anything on my phone. If it can possibly wait until I have the chance to type on a physical keyboard I will delay it. Even trying to accurately type URL’s is a nightmare, as autocorrect starts changing words and adding punctuation where it shouldn’t be. Typing on a flat piece of glass is fundamentally flawed. In my opinion it is inferior in every way to even the worst physical keyboard.

    This frustration has grown to the point that when I saw this device announced on kickstarter I knew I had to try it. I’m willing to ignore the 60hz refresh rate, the chunky dimensions, the questionable manufacturer (Unihertz are Chinese based and have a poor history of not updating their launched devices), the big Unihertz metal logo on the front and the gimmick of the second screen on the back, purely because no-one else is making devices like this. The other options in 2025 are the “minimalist phone” which has a e-ink screen and plenty of other drawbacks, a small group of Chinese hobbyists retrofitting a new motherboard into a Blackberry classic or getting a “Clicks” keyboard and one of their supported devices. This really is slim pickings.

    A glimmer of hope for physical keyboard lovers is that this kickstarter campaign has generated quite a buzz. The campaign received 7019 backers, and ended with a total of $16,358,594 pledged (HK$ convert to £1,569,525.30). The goal was just $785,000 or £75,316.82. There has also been a lot of chatter about this online.

    I’m hoping that this device becomes such a resounding success that other manufacturers see they’re missing out on a market segment and start to offer alternatives. If nothing else, a market flooded with near identical slabs of glass is just dull and needs some variety.

    We’re currently being told we’ll begin receiving our devices at some point in October, I’m excited to get my hands on it.

  • Smartphones – A hot take

    In a world that’s currently going mad I came across a post a couple of days ago that got me thinking. It was a group of Apple users actually panicking about these US import tariffs and what it could potentially do to the next generation of iPhone pricing. There was one user in particular that was outraged at the prospect that he might have to keep his iPhone 16 Pro Max for longer than a year. He had obviously become so accustomed to upgrading his phone ever 12 months that the mere idea that he would have to keep it for longer than this enraged him.

    Smartphones are a relatively mature tech segment nowadays, I’ve written about it at length but innovation has ground to a halt and upgrades are very small and incremental year on year. Back in 2012 we were seeing differences between yearly models that would be comparable to 5 years worth of revisions today. Stagnant would be an appropriate description but I’d argue it’s not a bad thing, for the end user of the products at least.

    You DO NOT need to upgrade your phone every year. In fact, I’d go as far as saying don’t need to upgrade your phone unless it’s broken. I’m saying this as much to myself as I am you readers, and I’m aware that the average person not interested in the tech space is not guilty of this. As tech enthusiasts we need to realise that the days of rapid developments and innovating features are gone from the smartphone segment. The excitement is dead.

    A better way of thinking of smartphones would be the same way the majority of us think of laptops. You use a laptop for as long as it works, if possible you replace the battery when it needs it and would only consider replacing the device when it no longer functions as you need it to. Unless you’re in a very small minority that still gets excited over new models of laptops, they are just tools. We need to shift our way of thinking about smartphones to this same philosophy.

    If all you’ve clicked on this article for was to find out my hot take you can stop reading now. TLDR: If you’re smartphone was made on or after 2020 and was a reasonable spec at the time, you don’t need a new one. Keep using it, stop looking at the new releases and save your money!

    A large part of what spurred me to write this post was my recent experience with an iPhone 11 Pro. I acquired the device after my terrible experience with the Samsung S25 to find out if iOS suited my current requirements better, as I’d tried a lot of recent Android devices and wasn’t happy. In short it did. But the unexpected discovery I made was that a device released in 2019; 6 years old was fast, did everything we would reasonably expect from a 2025 smartphone and with a replacement battery lasted me a couple of days between charges.

    It has a great set of cameras, has NFC for contactless payments, it’s design holds up well, the screen is very clear and has great colours and it runs the latest version of iOS therefor there would be no apps that are incompatible with this device. For 99% of iPhone users this phone has everything they need. Nobody needs the car crash that is Apple “Intelligence”, and you could live without a 120hz refresh rate. Aside from those two, which are arguably not even features there have been no meaningful additions to iPhones in the past 6 years.

    Comparing an older Android to now is a bit more difficult. Up until very recently Android phone manufacturers were not updating their phones past 3 years as a maximum. However a device that released in 2019 would’ve shipped with Android 10, and with 3 years of updates would’ve been updated to Android 13. Almost every app on the play store is still compatible with Android 13, so using a device from then would still be possible. The Pixel 4, Galaxy S10 and the Oneplus 7 were all released this year, and while none of them are officially supported by their manufacturers anymore they are still very usable today. Even Android version updates have become minimal to the point where I would struggle to tell the difference between Android 13 and Android 15 without delving into the device settings. Using the Galaxy S10 as an example; you get a high resolution OLED screen, 3 cameras, WIFI 6, wireless charging and a CPU that still gives todays mid range devices a run for their money. With most major Android manufacturers now promising 7 years of updates there should be nothing stopping us using one for a decade.

    With all the self justification in the world there is nothing stopping any one of us using a device until it is at least 5 years old. The battery will most likely want replacing at around the 3 year mark, but that’s not a hard job for the handy and an inexpensive repair for those that aren’t. I gather that a lot of people replace their devices when the battery no longer lasts as long as they need it to, and perhaps in 2027 when the EU mandate of user replaceable batteries comes in that will change.

    I purchased my iPhone 16e with the intention of following my own advice. Yes I could’ve continued using the iPhone 11 Pro for a little longer, but realistically iOS 18 is the last update it will receive. I am sick of setting up new devices so I wanted a device that I could keep for a long time, and I intend to do just that. The iPhone 11 Pro was gifted to a family member who was still using an iPhone 10R. The iPhone XR got treated to a battery replacement and was then given to a colleague who’s iPhone X had succumb to water damage, so even at or beyond the end of their life cycle these devices are still serving people well.

    The average replacement cycle of a phone globally is 2.5 years. At least in the UK, due to the ever increasing prices of the handsets the contracts are being stretched out to 3 years, so I imagine this will increase the average somewhat.

    A lot of average users are hesitant to sell their old devices, due to not being able to back up their data or concerns about a bad actor getting hold of their data. So rather than getting a second life they just sit collecting dust until they’re too old to be useful and then discarded. Arguably this is a worst case scenario for a smartphone, and these people in particular are the ones that should be encouraged to keep their devices for longer.

    I think what we’re seeing from phone manufacturers currently is desperation. They know they’re not innovating, and that the reason to buy a new smartphone regularly is diminishing. So they’re turning to marketing, relying on software features and gimmicks that could easily have been a software update on their existing models to sell phones. This won’t last forever though, I would hope that the average consumer will start to see through this veil and realise that there are not enough meaningful differences between a phone sold 5 years ago and now to justify the exorbitant cost that manufacturers are demanding.

    We’re seeing a similar issue to what has happened to the car market. Buyers have got so used to buying their cars on finance that the actual selling cost is irrelevant to them, as long as they can afford the monthly bill they’re happy, regardless of the clauses or the duration of the contract. With this, people are now spending eye watering monthly sums of up to £1000 on cars they really can’t afford to put fuel in, let alone maintain, and while the cars are still selling the manufacturers will keep raising the prices.

    For most it would be unthinkable to spend £1500 outright on a smartphone, but for around £40 a month for 3 years that suddenly seems a lot more palatable. Add in the SIM part of the contract and it’s not uncommon to see £100 a month phone bills. If customers can start breaking out of these contracts, and only have to pay for their data, minutes and texts for less than £10 a month I doubt many of them would want to go back to their big bills, especially in the economic climate we face today.

    This is wishful thinking, but a major turn like this in customer spending might just force smartphone manufacturers to drop their prices, and potentially move away from annual or even biannual release cycles.