Techie Ramblings

Category: Phones

  • 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.

  • iPhone 16e – I guess I was wrong

    I am humble enough to admit when I was wrong, and I’m not someone who tries to cover my tracks and pretend things happened. When the iPhone 16e was announced I made this post: https://blog.sm1th.uk/index.php/2025/02/20/iphone-16e-reality-check-needed/

    A lot of what I wrote holds true, the GPU does have one less core and the £599 price point is arguably too high, this also is absolutely not a continuation of the “SE” line however it does draw similarities to it. However what doesn’t appear to be justified was my concern about the C1 modem. It has held up to testing to be just as good as the Qualcomm modem it replaced, and the efficiency claims seem justified.

    After my recent terrible experience with the Samsung S25 my affinity towards Android as a whole took a massive hit. At this point I feel like the only reason exists any more is to harvest user data. The Android device you buy doesn’t matter, nor how you use it. My post on bootloader unlocking (read here) highlights this; the manufacturers and Google are desperate to keep you using their software, to collect your data. Say what you will about Apple but they are more careful with user data than Google, and their recent run in with the UK government only reinforces this fact.

    I’m also at a point in my life where free time is limited. I don’t want to spend my time configuring devices, resolving issues, customising layouts and finding apps to solve problem. I’ve lost what was a passion for smartphones, and with that my desire to get the new release year on year has gone with it. I just want a device that’s easy to setup, reliable and that will last a long time. So with that in mind I went cap in hand back to Apple.

    Initially I bought a new, sealed box iPhone 16e from eBay. However upon unboxing this phone it was MDM locked and quite clearly stolen, so I immediately returned it and decided that I would only buy new from a trusted retailer. My options for a new iPhone were last years iPhone 15, the iPhone 16e, the base 16, 16 plus or Pro/Pro max. With longevity in mind and the 15 already being locked out of features that was off the cards immediately. The Pro/Pro max were also quickly discarded as options due to their pricing and functionality that is overkill to my use case. Comparing the iPhone 16e and iPhone 16 was a little more difficult. The benefits of the iPhone 16 that are notable are an ultra wide camera, Magsafe, an extra GPU core and the dynamic island. None of these are particularly important features to me, and the better battery life of the 16e was a more important feature. With that decided I ordered the white iPhone 16e with 128GB storage.

    Setup was what I’d expect from an iPhone, very simple and easy. Within about 10 minutes I had the phone setup as I needed it. I was particularly impressed with the native support for CalDAV and CardDav, meaning I could sync my calendar and contacts directly from my Nextcloud installation. Aside from my cross platform notes and banking apps there was very little I needed to install that wasn’t already on the device. Apple still provides alternatives to using it’s iCloud service for everything, I can backup the device directly to my Mac Mini, and photos can be imported and then backed up to my external drive.

    The battery claims I’ve seen floating around in forums are justified. Apple devices have always been great at standby usage but this one didn’t even lose 1% overnight. Coupled with it using very little during screen on time and I’m very impressed. Being plugged into my car twice a day for carplay may actually give it enough charge that I never need to additionally charge it up.

    Performance is also as I’d expect. It’s fluid, keeps recent apps in memory for far longer than I’d have ever expected and needs next to no user input to maintain this performance long term. I’ve only had limited testing of the camera, and this was outdoors in good lighting but the photos and videos it has produced so far are excellent. Playing back one of these videos I was amazed at the quality of the audio, the microphone and speakers on this device are fantastic.

    People have said this is the phone Steve Jobs would’ve made if he was still alive. While I don’t know if that’s true the design is certainly nicer than the other recent releases from Apple. The one camera and lack of a stove top looking arrangement lends itself to a minimalistic look that we haven’t seen for almost a decade. The matte glass back in white, and silver matte aluminium frame make this a very appealing device that feels great in the hand.

    Another welcome benefit is the aftermarket support. I had a wealth of high quality cases to choose from, and the screen protector choices were endless thanks to it sharing a screen with the iPhone 14.

    I did not expect to find a device that I’d be so happy with, and that will be my long term primary device in something that I was initially so critical of. It just goes to show that we should stay open to new information and opinions even when we think our mind is set.

  • HMD 105 – Incremental upgrades

    From time to time I feel myself getting overwhelmed with technology. I’m very mindful and aware of my behavioral trait to be sucked into things to the point of obsession. Mobile games, social media, even just scrolling news can become unhealthy time sinks for me. I manage this in a few ways; I don’t do social media full stop, I only play games on my tablet which is too big and unwieldy to use at a moments notice or to leave the house, I disable the default apps and news scrollers that come with my devices and try to avoid browsing the websites.

    Even with these self imposed rules from time to time I sometimes start to feel like I’m spending too much time on my phone. Other times I feel like I’m just becoming too reliant on it. Most recently I felt like the Samsung S25 was so over the top with it’s data collection I was completely uncomfortable using it. When these things happen I like to spend some time using what’s referred to nowadays as a “Dumbphone”. I’d estimate I generally end up doing this once or twice a year, and do it for between a couple of weeks and a month. However in the past through Covid I did it for 6 months solid.

    My first purposeful dumbphone was a Nokia 105 that looked like the below:

    This phone still works perfectly fine to this day, but unfortunately 2G reception is getting worse and worse in my area and can’t be relied on.

    I then got the Nokia 110 4G 2023 model:

    This saw me through my last “Digital detox” but had some real flaws that lead me to end it prematurely out of sheer frustration. The keyboard seemingly just ignored about 20% of my button presses. This made typing a nightmare, more than going back to T9 predictive already was.

    So a few days ago when I decided I needed a break from smartphones and put my SIM in this phone again I was quickly reminded of it’s downfalls. Being seemingly one of the only people that don’t hold a grudge against HMD for using the Nokia brand I took a look at their now HMD branded web store and came across the HMD 105 4G, and HMD 110 4G. These are very clearly a continuation of the Nokia counterparts with the same naming convention. The differences between the two models are slim; the 110 has a 0.1MP camera and a ceramic coated shell, the 105 does not. I certainly wasn’t going to spend extra money on either of these features so opted for the 105.

    As can be seen below (unfortunately the old 105 can’t be compared as I lent it to a colleague for a detox of his own) the sizes between the Nokia 110 and HMD 105 are very similar, with the HMD 105 being slight bigger, but having bigger, more pronounced buttons and a much bigger screen:

    Aside from the lack of a camera on the 105 there aren’t really any differences, so I think a comparison is still fair.

    If you own a Nokia 110 4G 2023, and aren’t having any troubles with your keypad this probably isn’t a worthwhile upgrade. It’s very much an incremental upgrade, and lets be honest there’s only so much that can be done with the S30 operating system.

    That being said there are some differences. Texts on the HMD are now threaded, so makes for much easier tracking of conversations. The screen being bigger helps with basic web browsing and reading. Icons on the screen can now be rearranged, unfortunately still not removable though. The entire operating system has had a bit of a spruce up, with new settings, higher resolution and a less budget feel.

    There are some things that I would consider downgrades too: The auto power off/on has been removed. The weather app is gone. The unlock combination has become more awkward, with you now having to reach for the * key.

    Overall though I’m impressed. It’s everything I want from a “Dumbphone”. It allows me to call and text when I need to. It has a select few “tool” applications, a couple of very simple games (snake and blackjack) ignoring the trials and very little else.

    More importantly it doesn’t ask much of me. There was next to no setup of the device to be done, absolutely no accounts to sign into and other than calls, texts and alarms the phone cannot start sending me notifications. I can’t get invested into this device enough that it becomes invaluable to me, because it’s so simple. I know that “burner” phone has bad connotations, but this truly is that. It’s a tool. Other than your contacts (which you should have backed up elsewhere) if you lost this device other than your SIM card you wouldn’t really have lost anything of value. You wouldn’t be fearful that someone may find it and gain access to your entire life and all your secrets. And that is very refreshing.

    On a side note, this phone uses the BL-L5H batteries that have been used in previous models too. These are readily available online, and cheaply so the dream of having multiple spare batteries and being able to stay away from a charger for weeks is an achievable reality now!

    UPDATE: After some more real world usage I have noticed a couple of things that have annoyed me. The first is that ringer and ringtones, there are only 4 ringtones to choose from and none of them are attention grabbing. I missed 3 calls over the weekend, even with the phone on max volume in my bag I didn’t hear the phone while walking. The 2nd and this is not specific to this phone, it seems to apply to all recent button bound phones and this is the emergency dialler. If the phone is locked, screen off and in a pocket it only takes catching the 9 key to begin dialling. 3 accidental presses of this button and you will begin to call the emergency services. This essentially means the phone is unsafe to keep in a pocket. I would not want to put additional stress on the emergency services or get in trouble for accidentally dialling them. We are nearing double digits on the amount of times I’ve pulled the phone out of my pocket to find that the screen is on with a 9 already in the dialling screen.

    Feature phones of the time didn’t have this problem, why do we have it now? What is the point of a key lock if it doesn’t apply to one of the keys?!

  • OneUI 7 – Privacy hell

    My initial experience with the Samsung S25 hasn’t been what I’d define as smooth.

    On a hardware front I cannot fault it. The battery life is relentless and even with performance mode on light, and power saver on the phone is far faster than I actually require. The camera produces nice results, especially with the AI enhancements minimized too.

    My problem is with the software. When OneUI 6 was the latest version of Samsung’s mobile OS I would’ve told anyone that asked that it was, in my opinion the best Android skin on the market. The level of refinement, while still giving lots of room for flexibility and customization was unmatched.

    The flexibility and customization points still stand true, but I feel the refinement has taken a knock. Unfortunately the whole OS is starting to feel like one big advertisement platform, not far from how Facebook felt the last time I used it.

    I must’ve factory reset the device 3 or 4 times before I felt like I had the device setup properly. Immediately from the first power on you are absolutely bombarded with requests to give permission for anything and everything. The phone then takes it upon itself to install 10-15 bloatware apps, whether you agree to it or not. Previously this was a quirk only reserved for budget phones, but it seems to have made it’s way into Flagships! Once you get past that the phone will pester you to turn on multiple AI features, each with a disclaimer that this will be in exchange for your personal data. If you don’t agree with this you’re just locked out of entire menu items, when tapped you’re brought right back to the request again.

    The telemetry and data collection has just got out of control, and due to EU regulations that permission must be granted to do this, Samsung just absolutely bombard you with requests, hoping that you’ll cave in.

    This has left me feeling very uncomfortable using the device. On my initial setup attempts I tried using the “Universal Android Debloater” to remove the majority of this, hoping I’d feel more comfortable using the device knowing these apps were gone. Where I’ve had success with this on other devices, this one was a disaster. The device simply refused to work. A couple of times this even soft bricked the device, just showing a black screen until I factory reset it from recovery. Bear in mind I wasn’t disabling anything important like knox or the dialler, just random 3rd party apps that should never have been on the device in the first place.

    I made a journal entry yesterday, stating that I had a strange urge to go back to using a dumbphone for a while. I didn’t really understand why though, my screen time is low, and I haven’t been excessively browsing the web or playing games on the device. It was a persistent feeling though, so I obliged, popping my SIM into my Nokia 110 4G. I used it for the remainder of yesterday and the entirety of today, relegating the S25 to being switched off in my bag.

    Honestly it felt like a weight had lifted, and I still wasn’t sure why. It was only after journalling again this evening that I realized the subconscious motivation for wanting to do this. It’s the S25, more so OneUI 7.

    I deleted all of my social media accounts a long time ago, for the simple reason that their blatant data collection, and the fact you feel like a product made me uncomfortable, a strange unclean feeling that’s hard to describe. That’s exactly the feeling I get when I use the S25. The data collection, and desperation to be given permission to harvest that data is so blatant and relentless it completely tarnishes the experience of using the device.

    I imagine that for someone that simply doesn’t care about this the experience of using the device would be excellent. The AI features are so baked into the operating system that it’s near impossible to avoid using them, each of the notices you agree to would surely add some convenience to the user experience. But knowing how valuable this data is, the sheer amount that is being collected and the number of companies it’s being sold too makes the device feel like an enemy rather than an ally.

    Just a week into owning the device I already dread when I have to turn it on for a task I can’t accomplish on the Nokia. I know the second it connects to a network it will be contacting an eye watering amount of servers, relaying whatever it’s managed to scrape from my usage, be that location, usage patterns, interests, search history, nearby devices or even microphone and camera data. We already know that Samsung send themselves actual screenshots of your display on their smart TV’s at an average of 1 FPS, so is that such a stretch?

    I knew Samsung were greedy when it came to user data in the past, but this really has reached new levels. I see average users raving about their new Samsung devices, showing off the features they’ve happily agreed to, completely oblivious to what they’ve signed away in exchange. In some ways I’m jealous of them, ignorance is bliss as they say. Unfortunately I can’t just turn a blind eye to it.

    I’m going to cross my fingers, and just hold out for a Lineage release for the device. After all the bootloader is still unlockable, which is the only redeeming feature for this device at the moment in my mind. In the meantime I may even just reset the device and put it back in it’s box, it really does creep me out that much.