iFixit is breaking up with Samsung
www.theverge.com
“Samsung does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale.”
  • 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.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
    530·
    6 months ago

    All this Samsung hate.

    Tell me which phone to buy. Plot twist:

    • no fucking apple because the company and their phone keyboards enrage me
    • no Samsung now
    • no huawei or similar Chinese spyware

    Bonus

    • really great camera
    • good photosphere software. (Clarify: it’s a panoramic with up and down as well so it makes a sphere around the photog almost)
    • imap, ical, smtptls (basic, I know)
    • 3.5mm jack

    Don’t use it as a phone but as a tablet so I don’t care about

    • phone
    • SMS
    • iMessage, naturally

    Okay, confidently smart people. Go!

    –…

    Edit: I love how asking a question gets downvotes. Thanks people!

    • LaggyKar@programming.devEnglish
      15·
      6 months ago

      Motorola and Nokia have phones with 3.5mm jack, and they come with pretty clean Android, without a bunch of bloat, aggressive task killers and whatnot. Though I can’t speak for camera, photosphere or repairability.

      Pixels are good in some ways, but of course, those don’t come with a 3.5mm jack.

      • I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        6 months ago

        Happy with my g84. $350AU

        Dual sim Oled Headphone socket SD card option Fast charging Stereo speakers Call recorder 5g

        Only gripes Camera not great Volume jumps from moderate to loud Leaving the camera app too soon after taking a picture in suboptimal lighting will lose the photo.

        Edit: ok voyager, what did you do with my carriage returns?

    • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.mlEnglish
      15·
      6 months ago

      No one’s saying don’t buy Samsung. I noticed your list of requirements didn’t include great repairability, which this article and comments are about

    • Altomes@lemm.eeEnglish
      10·
      6 months ago

      Sony Xperia line has a lot the things you want.

      You could go with an older model and throw lineage on it too

      • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        Only 2 years max of Android support, no security patches after that. E-waste producers only second to Redmi and Huawei.

        • Persen@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          What’s wrong with redmi, I’m using the 4x from 2017 and am planing to unlock the bootloader and use it for a couple of years.

        • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          Yeah, that’s a fair complaint for sure. I’m using a pixel 4a with a headphone jack and I can’t imagine living without one. I guess I’m not sure what phone I’ll get next.

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2·
            6 months ago

            I just got a Pixel 8 and I’m annoyed there’s no headphone jack. I have BT headphones as well, but my nice, non-BT headphones won’t work.

            You can get a dongle though, so that’s an option.

            • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              6 months ago

              Yeah, the headphone jack thing has been a major sticking point for me. But it seems like it’s becoming increasingly unrealistic to hold that line. Just sucking it up and getting a dongle might be the logical way to go…

        • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          See that’s an issue.

          I came out second in a fight one time on the base, and suffered hearing damage on the one side. Wheee. Wireless phones for me at least are harder to hear on, and speaker phones worse. Battery headphones? No thanks, even if the apple ear pods are fucking magical for ANC on a plane ride or train ride when she sends me hers (I don’t even pair them or play music; just light them up for blissful silence). I do find them expensive and disposable, normally, and that’s irksome to a former poor kid.

          I love that I can use a good-fitting earbud set that plugs into everything I need, and each thing doesn’t need its own converter dongle to lose. It’s a huge feature for me.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      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.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        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!

        -…

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          6 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!