Reply to post: Re: No jack, Jack.

Samsung Galaxy's flagship leaks ... don't matter much. Here's why

Lee D Silver badge

Re: No jack, Jack.

The excuse was always "size".

In fact they then just stuck in ten times more rubbish that nobody wanted (quad-cameras and suchlike). So I don't believe that.

And if you've had to pay £799 for a smartphone, you surely don't want to have to rebuy EVERY accessory that you had to buy with your previous similarly-priced smartphone. So I can understand that frustration.

If you bought a £1000 laptop tomorrow, to replace a £1000 laptop two years ago, would you be happy about having to buy all-new USB cables, display cables (HDMI), audio cables (ironically), etc. every time you do that? Sure, once for a generation, and then buy a backwards-compatible cable (e.g. you can still your USB mouse with a USB-C -> USB adaptor or hub, etc.) but not every damn laptop.

New phone = new charger = new case = new car-cable = new car-holder = new USB cable = new headphones and so on... adding to that list doesn't help at all, when cheaper phones don't require that (a double-whammy saving). And that's assuming you don't share that stuff with other phones/audio devices - now you may have to upgrade your in-car aux port, buy bluetooth dongles, keep two cables including one for that old phone you gave the wife, two headphones - one that works at home, one that works on the phones, etc. etc.

I'd expect an £800 phone to do everything a 5-year-old £800 phone could do... and more. Not less.

But then, I have literally not spent £800 on phones in my entire life. Not even if you include the landline phones and cordless handsets of old.

If I was to go to such an £800 phone, I'd have to rebuy and change the way I do everything with my current phone - plugging it in in the car, charging it (the cables on my car, the battery packs - if they are capable of fast charging it already- the chargers at home, etc.), putting a case on it, etc. and it would quickly turn into a £1000 exercise and a complete change of how everything I do on or with the phone works (even signing into it... aren't PINs frowned upon nowadays?).

Or I could spend £200, get something "one model up" on my current phone that uses the same cables, does everything I already do, and more. Alright it won't be a famous brand but... (shrug).

There's a reason I stuck on the S5 mini. Nothing else has the IR blaster. And I use that. Sure, there might be dongles that do it, or BluRay players you can control with an app, but now I'm buying those and setting those up too, having to bolt on extras (that don't fit in even the new case), after having spent lots of money on a phone that then can do "What I did before, but has a 4K camera I'll never use".

When I went from an S4 mini to and S5 mini the transition was seamless. Last year, I reflashed the S4 mini with LineageOS and use it as a living room remote control and "quick google" device. It's actually faster, smoother, higher version of Android, etc. than the S5 mini is and lost no functionality - it even uses the same cables. The choice I face is now really "new phone" or "risk LineageOS on the S5 mini that's not as well supported". A few-hundred pound phone that did everything I needed, without the junk, and requires no extraneous purchases stands out as a better choice to me than splashing £800 on a phone that then requires all kinds of nonsense that probably won't work on my other phones.

Smartphone manufacturer's will learn eventually, but it's gonna hurt them to get there. They will have to settle for people like me buying not-so-smart phones at cheaper prices and demanding things like aftermarket battery replacements and legacy ports.

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