this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Uh, not really what planned obsolescence is.

Though I do wonder how much more durable they would be if corning made it 1 mm instead of 0.4 mm thick.

Manufacturers can also improve durability by recessing the screen slightly into a plastic frame, that way when the phone drops on its corner or side on a hard object, it will reduce the likelihood of it cracking.

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

Uh, not really what planned obsolescence is.

You’re right, but I couldn’t think of a short term for this. I found ‘bad’ design too broad, and it’s not ‘hostile’ design either.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Probably just designed to fail maybe?

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

With phones, like with other things, a bit of protective covering goes a long way.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Not really. Unless you think dishes are planned obsolescence.

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

You transport the dishes, sure, but do you eat from them while standing? I was specifically referring to handheld devices.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Wine glasses, yeah. And other drink glasses too. But yeah, I assume you mean handheld electronics, which even that is a stretch. Handheld CD players, camcorders, cameras, are all pretty fragile and I wouldn’t say they’re planned obsolescence. You just gotta be careful with fragile things. We use our phones way more often than any electronic device from the past, so more chance to drop them and notice how fragile they are.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Hmm... maybe. You should look up East German Superfest glass. Big dishware producers refused to use it because it meant not selling replacement dishes.

Though, OP's argument is just dumb.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Now that you mention it, we live in the future! Where are my indestructible, microwave-safe, and machine-wash safe plates? Don't say plastic, those get weird with high temperatures.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Superfest made them. None of the glass makers and distributers would buy them because they were practically indestructible, so they couldn't see infinite sales.

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

Ironically it's only used on phones now so it's clearly not the chemical hardening alone that made them amazing.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I crashed my boat into a rock. PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE.

Yeah this one was easy to break. I originally up voted the post, but quickly changed my mind.

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

I dropped my handset a bunch of times - came out second in a fight once and wrecked some nerves in my hand - but it survived every time.

It's when we were abroad and trying to rent those funny little scooters that I dropped it on cobblestones and it was insta-dead. And me having already done arrive-can with my info stored on my phone that's now unusable. Wheeee.

I don't think even an otterbox would have saved it, though. The universe has a sense of humour and it's a very dark one.

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

You used your phone in a fight? Did you have those brass knuckles case or something?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

He went all out and got the Katana case.

Still lost though, as the other guy had a nunchuck case and fucked up his strong hand.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Bro just dropped his brand new Galaxy Fold/Flip/pixel from way too high and found out they need a case.

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

Hell, I even have protectors on the camera lenses.

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

The 2 has a MASSIVE camera tumor. Glad the newer ones are easier to enshroud in a hard case

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

Just looked it up, yep, that looks bigger than my phone's.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (5 children)

I agree that there should be phones that prioritize sturdiness for clumsy people, but I see things like sturdiness and waterproof capabilities used as an excuse to get rid of useful features, and I don't like it. I've had cell phones for over 2 decades, and I've never dropped one; having an SD card slot and headphone jack is much more important to me than durability, since I rarely hold it over water, and always make sure to keep a solid grip regardless of the circumstances.

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

having an SD card slot and headphone jack is much more important to me than durability

por que no los dos? i drop my phone on nearly a daily basis, because i am clumsy af, but the screen is more scratch and impact resistant than any screen protector i could purchase, and it's still fine after a couple years of that abuse. it still has a headphone jack and removable sim/sd tray, and if it ever gets dirty i can wash it in the sink. i do wish it had a removable battery and a better camera, but nothing's perfect i guess. there's no reason sturdiness or waterproofness need to get in the way of any functionality.

the trick is though, they don't market these sorts of phones to clumsy people, they more aim them at construction workers.

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

For you maybe, I drop my phone at least once a week.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

That's exactly my point. Different people have different needs, so while OP is right that there should be phones for themselves and yourself that address the fact that a significant portion of the population drop their phones regularly, my own needs follow a different hierarchy that benefits from a separate set of features.

The fact that phones are all kinda just the same, with any changes made to one model frequently rippling through to other models from other manufacturers in time, is an issue. The customization to phones shouldn't only apply to external features like cases and dongles.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Me too, and I feel like I'm pretty careful. But when you're always holding/moving a fragile thing, accidents happen over time

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Samsungs have been advertising water resistance to 10m for yeeeears with headphone jacks and sdcard slots. It's not exclusive.

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

I agree that the features are possible while still making the phone sturdier, which I wholeheartedly support, but I also understand that capitalism doesn't usually let us have upgrades, only tradeoffs, and usually bad ones.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I call bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I've had cell phones for over 2 decades, and I've never dropped one

Pressing X to doubt.

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

I got my first cell phone in middle school, and I knew that if it broke I wasn't getting another one, so I made sure to hold it securely when using it, since I didn't want to drop and break it. When I eventually upgraded to a smartphone a few years after they started getting popular, I held it even more securely, since it was even more expensive, and even more fragile. At this point it's just second nature to me to handle phones like I'm transporting fine china.

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

I think I'm pretty careful with my phones. In the last 20 years I've broken only one. But they are easily dropped, I do it pretty often. Just because it's something I'm always holding and moving around.

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

I'm not trying to claim superiority for never having dropped a phone - I understand that different people have different needs, and one of them is a phone that can survive frequent falls. However, I also recognize that features that myself and others use regularly are often removed from models that emphasize durability, whether or not their removal is actually helping, or just cutting costs. So I don't want to push phone manufacturers to focus so much on that one feature - that is important to some, but not to others - that they end up removing features that are equally important to certain people.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Meh, I can see that, my dad is the same way, the trick is he hardly uses one and treats it like an OSHA situation when he's operating it.

TBH it's not the worst habit to have.

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

I guarantee you, he would still have dropped it at least once in two decades of use.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That phrase doesn't mean what you think it means.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (2 children)

There's always a trade off when it comes to any device.

Fast or slow, lots of features or basic, cheap or expensive, thin/stylish or ruggedized, water or other ingress resistant standards. All of these have to be weighted against each other.

Also what constitutes a drop? 4 feet, 40 feet, 400? (sorry if I turned on anyone with a foot fetish)

It is absolutely possible to create a mobile phone with most features people want that survives multiple 4 foot high drops, but it will be encased in a few cm of rubber, the touch screen will be under a noticeable screen protector, and reception might suffer a bit, and it won't have wireless charging unless you're ok if that stops working after a unlucky drop. It will also probably be expensive, even more so if you then want to use more premium materials in order to try and slim it down some.

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

I wonder what these would look like if Apple made them:

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Does anyone remember these?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

I mean, my mobile phone was like 350aud, has survived literally dozens of drops from 4ft+, on a variety of surfaces from carpet and lino to gravel, concrete and bitumen. Literally every function of the phone works fine and there's no case, just a screen protector. It didn't come with wireless charging so I don't know how fragile that would be, but current phones are tough as shit.

The chassis of my phone is dented and smashed in dozens of places and everything it could do new it can do now just the same, except for looking pretty.

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