this post was submitted on 25 May 2024
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1054
iFixit is breaking up with Samsung. ‘Samsung’s approach to repairability does not align with our mission,’ says iFixit’s CEO. (www.theverge.com)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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  • iFixit and Samsung are ending their partnership on a direct-to-consumer phone repair program.
  • iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens says "Samsung does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale" and that the deal is not working due to high parts prices and difficulty of repairs.
  • Samsung only ships batteries pre-glued to the phone screen, forcing customers to pay over $160 even for just a battery replacement, unlike with other vendors.
  • The contract also limited iFixit to selling no more than 7 parts per customer in a 3-month period, hampering their ability to support local repair shops.
  • Additionally, Samsung required iFixit to share customer email addresses and purchase history, which iFixit does not do with other partners.
  • iFixit says it will continue to stock aftermarket Samsung parts and publish repair guides, but will no longer work directly with Samsung on official repair manuals.

iFixit says:

We clearly didn’t learn our lesson the first time, and let them convince us they were serious about embracing repair.

We tried to make this work. Gosh, we tried. But with such divergent priorities, we’re no longer able to proceed.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, the selection kinda sucks.

I went with Pixel 8 because:

  • can be flashed with another Android OS - I went with GrapheneOS
  • 6.5 years of Android updates (no word on security updates)
  • fancy new memory tagging feature for security - maybe I'll feel confident using it after it gets updates
  • great screen
  • probably more repairable? A quick search found a battery replacement for an okay price ($50?)

But none of that is on your list. I don't care about the camera (though it does have arguably the best camera on the market), and pretty much any software can do ical/IMAP/smtptls. I don't know what "photosphere" is (again, don't care about the camera), but I'm guessing Pixel does it or something similar. It even has fun AI crap to play with (I use GrapheneOS, so I'm not getting any of that).

The only thing missing here is the 3.5mm jack, and requiring that is going to limit your options significantly. If you can budge on that (e.g. get a dongle or BT headphones), Pixel could work for you. There might even be a case that provides one, IDK.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I don't know what "photosphere" is (again, don't care about the camera)

It's amazing, IMHO. It's the difference between a pan shot and street view (ie, look up as well).

I'm only going to see a few amazing things given the opportunities available to someone like me even with our economic mobility, but I love going back and revisiting the things I've seen in detail. The cliffs of Ronda or the ceiling of the old bath houses below it, the view from the central hotel in Reykjavik or the shared rooftop patio in my old apartment; or date-stamped pics of that apartment so the landlord can't say we hosed the trim in the second bedroom. These are things I love to go back to and spot new details I missed at the time but are interesting or important later, and I have a massive collection of such treasures.

I won't be back to the natural history museum near the Atlanta zoo and its phenomenal dinosaur skeleton, as I don't get to fly except for work and that job's done, but I forgot until I looked again that they assembled small skeletons of winged dinosaurs as part of it: I blanked on that until I reviewed it years later, for instance.

Photospheres are a thing that, once you realize the dimension they add to a good panoramic memento, you just can't do without, IMHO.

Hope you see it too!

-..

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Huh, it looks like Google Camera 9.1 (what's on the original Android shipped with Pixel 8) removed that feature.

But honestly, if I wanted that, I could get it with a separate camera, like the Insta360.

Anyway, I hope you find a good fit!