Would buy an Essential Smartphone if it would come with /e/ as default OS?

We’re running a poll on twitter to see if there would be interest out there for /e/ on the next generation of Essential smartphones. Let’s be clear, if that phone is indeed launching, it has most likely stock Android as default, but that doesn’t prevent us from getting some visibility out there.
Don’t hesitate to vote ‘YES’ and help us make some noise around /e/! :grin::heart_eyes::sunglasses::love_you_gesture:

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YES! (Sorry, but I don’t have a twitter account.)

I regret that I didn’t pay enough attention to Essential PH-1 during its launch. Seems like it was the most significant thing in the non-apple smartphone design since the first HTC One, and it is much better looking than all modern iPhones.

Just hope PH-2 receives an acceptable SAR rating and all modern flagship’s features.

I probably would depending upon price. I have an Essential PH-1 now as a daily driver and a soft bricked PH-1 I’m think of replacing the motherboard and installing /e/. Especially since LineageOS has recently supported the PH-1.

NO ! I wouldn’t buy something that has crippled hardware by design = non-replacable battery … Look at the budget-front: still some new devices with this feature around… As the battery is the first component with noticable wear, it should be considered that all those shiny unibody-devices point directly to some evergrowing waste-hill…

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I understand your point, but it must also be admitted that most users simply don’t know how to deal with lithium batteries (don’t mean you). I think, modern battery can survive quite a long time if treated with care.

First of all, we need to get rid of fancy fast charging. Just throw away the stock charger right after purchase!

It might also be beneficial to use Battery Charge Limit and try not to discharge smartphone below 25%.

you’re right with your argument: Basically one should handle it’s phone with care and get a little into technical details of it…
But how to encourage Manufactors to build environmental-compliant devices…???
Unfortunately I guess it all can be reduced to the question of economic laws (if nobody request with force and in majority someting durable, the cheapest production rocess wins)… :frowning:

Great discussion. It is true that Essential like many others don’t have a good track record in terms or repairability. I’m in total agreement on my side that batteries should be replaceable among other components to target maximum repairability.
We tried to piggy back on the ‘buzz’ around a potential Essential Gen 2 to get some visibility.

@npfp One of the biggest challenge is indeed customer demand but also you have to take into account the components evolution (screen, soc, etc…). It is nearly impossible to design a smartphone architecture that can last long enough to maximize the benefit of interchangeable parts. SOC evolve at fast pace, not to speak about screen sizes. And as long as you don’t have huge volume demand for parts, the manufacturers of these parts will not maintain availability and support over time. If brands would integrate the whole components production and assembly it might a different story. That’s the issue Fairphone and other similar projects have been faced with.

I’m actually happy and thrilled we will push refurbished smartphones as an option. I think it is smart and a great way to reduce waste.

Alexis

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@alexis
…of course, the idea of refurbishing older devices is great ! But there are companies who rank repairability higher on their priority-list… (for example “shiftphones” https://www.shiftphones.com/ ). And even in the not so long gone past, devices had their components screwed instead of glued together… Even a big company like LG released a last attempt to attract users by modularity (-> G5 in 2015/16). Even I mention a little slowdown in the speed of technical evolvement concerning the components. On the entry level of smartphones, the standard amount of RAM stands still at about 1 Gb, for example. In my opinion, the evolution of smartphones goes in the direction of more fancyness instead of a good basic technical equipment… As the most attracted group of customers are younger people, I guess that we will stay on the path of “higher, faster, further”. As I see it, corrections can only happen from political side by imposing production rules to further prevent manufacturers from implementing “breaking points” in their products…

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I agree with that, because I see a factor of planned obsolescence in these hard-glued batteries. But on the other hand, it leads me to thinking: if users are allowed to treat batteries as a consumable and replace it every year, wouldn’t this cause even more environmental pollution?

I think today’s smartphone evolution is not goes, but more likely to have an fictional appearance of going. Look at iPhone 5s, Galaxy S5 or Nexus 6. These devices were released in 2013-2014, but are still supplied with the latest iOS/Android and seem to be doing everything they have to do. Why would the owners have to switch from them?

I agree that used batteries are also a garbage factor. but I think throwing a whole device away after 2-3 years (which applies for many younger users in the “first world”-countries) means a lot more waste. Coming back to the initial question if I would buy an Essential-Phone, here again the counter question: why not a newer model of another manufacturer, possibly an entry-level to mid-range device? As I understood the initial question, the key-point would be “equipped with / e / OS”, thus probably small quantities and thus initially a relatively higher unit price. Why not look around for a European manufacturer, then in the second priority the aspect of sustainability … I think about names like “Gigaset” or “Wiko”.
Of course, I will continue to use my old Galaxy S4 mini (Lineageos unofficial 16) and as secondary device my trusty old sony ericsson xperia pro (cynogenmod 13)… :wink:

I’d say because the PH-1 was simply the right smartphone, as it should be. It reminds me of the first iPhone, which was basically just a combination of already existing technologies, but made with talent and passion of real tech-fans, not just merchants. Also, where else are you gonna find the titanium/ceramic body for 500 bucks?

I like the idea. Of course, it depends on the specs. But I’d strongly consider purchasing the device.

Please understand you asked /e/ fans to vote for /e/. As a GNU/Linux user, I’ve seen this done many times. A small number of potential customers ask a publisher/developer to port their Windows game to GNU/Linux. They respond, we polled our customers and they almost all said they would not buy a GNU/Linux version. Well, duh. Why would Windows users want a GNU/Linux version? Also, why would they buy the game again?

The fact that 83% of apparent /e/ fans said yes is virtually meaningless.

The fact that 17% of apparent /e/ fans said no is potentially very damaging.

A better poll would be to ask Android and iOS users "Would you buy a smartphone with an open source, privacy-enabled operating system other than Android or iOS?

Answers to that poll would means something and no answer looks damaging to /e/.

Thanks for this feedback, there are indeed many ways to conduct polls and different opinions about what they do or do not show. This poll was more intended to get extra visibility piggybacking on the news around Essential potentially launching a new device.

We got a good amount of organic views and engagement with it. The respondents size is quite small to drive any meaningful conclusions from it.

We have several surveys in the pipe ranging from user satisfaction to a wider poll asking the general public about what would make them switch to something else than stock Android or iOS.

Thanks for commenting, always valuable to get feedback.

101% yes for me!

I’m still debating on when and how to flash my Samsung S7.