Category: Uncategorised

I’ve talked at length about my unhealthy affliction of obsessing over smartphones and changing them far too often. So far I have been unable to pry myself away from it. I used to switch cars too, sometimes multiple times per year. Thankfully I would consider myself completely cured of that habit. My current car I’ve had for 3 years and I’m just as happy with it as the day I got it. I have no intention of getting rid of this car until it’s no longer economical to repair.

My next goal is to achieve that same sentiment towards smartphones. After all, innovation has plateaued so there’s very little logical reason to switch them all the time. This issue is an emotional one, or more likely one that’s being manipulated by marketing and advertising.

Across the globe we’re in difficult financial times, with an uncertain future. Bleeding money on depreciating assets is not a wise thing to do, although that’s exactly what this is. I have reclaimed the cash for the majority of smartphones I’d purchased and I’ve settled for a simple Samsung Galaxy A26. This was a work provided smartphone, so it’s actually cost me nothing. I am using an iPhone SE 2022 as my work phone, which I bought for £50 and I’m perfectly happy with so I decided to use the A26 as my personal phone.

It’s nothing fancy, but it’s fast in daily use, has a nice screen, the battery lasts a long time and the cameras are good enough. It’s everything I need in a smartphone and nothing more, nothing less. I don’t do any demanding tasks on it (that’s all delegated to my desktop) so having ultimate performance isn’t a concern. All it really needs to be is a reliable communication device, which it is.

A recent conversation on Reddit got me thinking about our daily relationship with our phones too. It was along the lines of “boomers” having a better relationship with their mobile phones than the following generations do, and that we should try to mimic that.

Thinking of my Grandparents they use their phones in a way that is alien to us. For one, they share a phone, something unfathomable to the majority of us and something even I wouldn’t like to do. The phone has a place in the house, generally on a table somewhere and the charger will be there with it. The phone doesn’t go up and live on a bedside table at night. They have a deep mistrust of technology so private data and financial apps is a definite no (something I’ve already done).

From that I plan to take a couple of things away from this. My phone doesn’t need to come to bed with me. I don’t use it as an alarm clock, and it slows my night time and morning routine down. It can get put on charge overnight, downstairs. I’ve also put one of those old person style wallet cases on my phone. It makes it less convenient. Having to open it every time I want to use it is another step to a process that might just cause me to leave it alone.

The above, while beneficial doesn’t change my impulse purchasing of phones though. For that I need to address my exposure to marketing and advertising. For a long time my media topic of choice has been smartphones. I’d watch tech youtubers comparing phones, discussing future releases and reviewing current ones. I’ve now unsubscribed from all of them and removed them from my feed. I’ve also unsubscribed from any Smartphone related subreddits. What I want is for them to just completely fall off my radar, I don’t need to know what’s coming out or what features I’m missing out on, and I also don’t want to be reminded that my current device is now not the latest and greatest.

Marketing is very clever, and while nothing I was consuming was directly advertising it was fulfilling the same purpose. It was keeping me well informed on all of these new expensive products and making me feel like I needed them. Although, Youtubers are generally sent their products for free because it directly benefits the phone companies, and Reddit could be 99% bots these days so who knows it literally could’ve just been disguised advertising all along. Either way, I feel like I’ve been played and manipulated against my will. While I don’t skirt away from the responsibility that I’ve had poor impulse control, I don’t think the odds were ever really in my favour.

If I was doing this once a year, or every other year I wouldn’t have really considered it a problem. That’s how it started, and then around COVID time it just spiralled out of control. Time to kick this once and for all and become one of those guys that has an “old” phone. I’m doing this for myself and my finances. There are better things to do with money pump up shareholders funds buying near enough the same products to replace one that still fulfilled its purpose fine.

With that being said expect much less (most likely no more) smartphone content on this blog. I will still post regarding broader topics such as major changes to operating systems etc but there will be no more device reviews. I may lean a little more into gaming as that’s another hobby of mine, and miscellaneous tech projects I’m working on at any given time. That’s the beauty of a self hosted blog with no commercial gain, I can do as much or as little of this as I feel, on any topic I like with no negative effect. In reality I don’t even know if anyone reads this, so it’s more a public journal than anything else! If you are reading thanks for reading and hope you enjoy the outpouring of my brain every now and again. Until next time.

Taken from: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/11/android-developer-verification-early.html

“Empowering experienced users

While security is crucial, we’ve also heard from developers and power users who have a higher risk tolerance and want the ability to download unverified apps.

Based on this feedback and our ongoing conversations with the community, we are building a new advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn’t verified. We are designing this flow specifically to resist coercion, ensuring that users aren’t tricked into bypassing these safety checks while under pressure from a scammer. It will also include clear warnings to ensure users fully understand the risks involved, but ultimately, it puts the choice in their hands. We are gathering early feedback on the design of this feature now and will share more details in the coming months. “

Finally! In a year that I can only describe as demoralising for a tech enthusiast this may be the first bit of good news I’ve read. Google have clearly realised they had gone too far with the developer verification system and the removal of the ability to install unsigned APK’s. In theory this means all of us with APK collections for niche applications or legacy products are safe, at least for now.

Does this mean we can relax though? I’d argue not. Just because Google has backed off this time, doesn’t mean they won’t try again. We will all need to be ready to raise our voices, and be prepared to vote with our wallets when that time comes.

Unfortunately for myself in the UK this doesn’t offer much respite. Despite not being part of the EU anymore we seem to be in the habit of implementing their rules regardless of our membership status. Back in August the EU mandated that no new phones could be sold with an unlock-able bootloader. This is a disastrous ruling. Personally every Android device I own is rooted if I have the option. It gives me the ability to properly backup my apps and their data, I can use a proper firewall to control network traffic, I can access low level system files and I can make tweaks to my phones that I wouldn’t be able to with only user access. I fully understand the supposed risks of unlocking my bootloader, rooting my phone and even installing third party ROM’s on my devices, but these risks are mine to take. I don’t mind being warned about it, but removing the ability in my eyes is the same as removing my ownership. It’s like being back at school using the computers, you can use them, but not really.

Let’s also not forget that Google are withholding their source code for as long as they can and making it as difficult as possible for custom rom makers such as GrapheneOS, LineageOS, e/OS and CalyxOS (who have already put their entire project on hold for this reason among others). Google are desperately trying to shake off any openness they once promoted.

For now at least, I’m pleased for everyone that we’ll still be able to enjoy Android the same way we have for years, albeit with Play integrity and Safetynet hounding those users that still keep Google services installed (I don’t). My personal plan will stay the same. I’m amassing a collection of slightly older, affordable devices that allow me full control over them in an effort to weather the storm. So far I have the Samsung Note 9, a Pixel 6 and a Pixel 7a. All purchased very cheaply, I will repair them when needed and use them until support drops however many years in the future that’ll be. Thankfully all of them are running Lineage OS with no Google services, so I’ll be immune to Google’s restrictions if they change their minds. It seems even up to the Pixel 10 allow for a full bootloader unlock, so I can keep looking at later devices second hand as their value drops.

First came the Mini smartphones. The iPhone 12 and 13. If you believed everything you read online you’d think they were a massive success. But take a moment and think, when was the last time you saw one in real life? I’ve seen 2, not including my own iPhone 12 Mini, since they were released up until the current date. On the other hand, how many iPhone 12 and 13’s have I seen? Countless. The were a commercial failure. I am surprised Apple even bothered to release a 13 Mini after the flop of the 12 Mini. The vocal minority online would have you believe there are rafts of people that would run out a buy a new phone if only Apple would release a new mini phones, but the numbers just don’t reflect that. The sales wouldn’t even break even.

Then came the thin phones. First the Samsung S25 Edge, then the iPhone (17?) Air. Unbelievably slim yes, but why? Who asked for this? I can’t think of anyone I know in person that wanted an unmanageably large smartphone, just thinner and with lots of compromises to get to that point.

When you strip the marketing away the slim phones are budget versions of their flagship counterparts. They have smaller batteries, inferior cameras and questionable cooling performance. All in the name of being thin. Even the thin argument falls to pieces when you lay them on a table. They wobble all over the place because the camera modules protrude almost doubling their thickness in some places.

I’ll ask the question, who are these phones supposed to be for?

I don’t think even Samsung or Apple know the answer. With slowing innovation, forced longer update promises and the maturation of the market people are holding onto their phones for longer. These big companies NEED you to buy their devices more frequently and they’re getting desperate.

Apple vision, another desperate attempt to sell an additional product, and another failure.

I’d even argue that folding smartphones are another example of this. Selling a product that even today shouldn’t be out of the prototype stage with failing hinges, cracking screens and occasional fires (Pixel 10 fold I’m looking at you). No-one asked for a square inner screen that’s the wrong aspect ratio to get anything done, no-one asked for a phone that the screen cracks in half if you open it too many times. I’ll say it again, they’re getting desperate.

What we are witnessing is market saturation and late stage capitalism, with a few monopolies playing out in real time. There is nowhere left for them to grow into, and yet shareholders demand they must. If they stagnate, they die. Samsung can fall back on their other consumer electronics and appliances, and Google can focus on advertising and their digital services, but what about Apple? They’ve failed to make strides in digital services, in the shadows of Netflix and Spotify. They’ve failed at AI. Their Mac’s from 2020 are still more powerful than the average person needs, and their phones have essentially been unchanged since the iPhone 11.

It sounds strange to say about the third biggest company in the world, but I think Apple might be in trouble.