I am a tech junkie. My newsfeed is 50% new phones and computers. I work as a developer and have very few expenses. I love technology, am inundated with smartphone leaks, announcements and reviews, have disposable income, and use a smartphone that is almost 3 years old. I was so surprised at the realization that I had to look up the release date of my phone to confirm. In the past I have barely kept phones for 2 years, but smartphones have reached such a stable place that nothing has inspired me to upgrade.
I currently have a Google Pixel 2xl. It has an always on 6” OLED display, a fingerprint sensor that works most of the time, cameras I can’t complain about, enough power to use all of my apps without frustration and enough battery life to get me through the day. When I look at new phones on the market they cost more than this one did when it was newly released and offer very little in the way of new features. Bezels are smaller, screens are bigger, performance is better, cameras are better, but none of those things are a limitation with my current phone.
Even as a technology enthusiast I cannot recommend upgrading your phone right now based on new features that have come out in the past 3, or 4 years. The only reason I would recommend buying a phone right now is if your phone is really old and frustrating to use, it is broken, or it is no longer receiving security updates. If you fall into this category read on.
When you have good 4G coverage do you ever feel like your internet connection is too slow? It is going to take a long time before 5G coverage is very widely available. After this happens we will see technology take advantage of the possibilities of faster internet connections. It is going to be a while. I would not worry about it.
I recommend buying an iPhone. Since phone hardware is changing very little it makes sense to keep phones for longer. iPhones have some of the best build quality and will receive software support for much longer than any Android phone.
Software updates are nice for new features, but are crucial for security. Last year’s Pixel phones (the ones made by Google, the creator of Android) will only receive software updates for 3 years. Samsung’s new flagship Galaxy S20 line, which can cost as much as $1600 will only receive software updates for 2 years. Most iPhones receive 5, or 6 years of updates. This means that with an iPhone you will not have to buy a new phone after 2, or 3 years to stay secure.
Who knows if your phone will be hacked if it is no longer receiving security updates, but my phone has all of my most important information, so that is not a risk I am willing to take.
iPhones are generally able to do more in terms of battery life and performance with less in terms of hardware specs, so software updates are less likely to negatively impact your experience on iOS than on Android.
I am not going to go into the iOS versus Android battle. At this point they are both good, mature ecosystems. Apps generally perform better on iOS because the hardware is more limited and tightly controlled, so the software can be better optimized for the devices. Android is more customizable and runs on diverse hardware, but, as we discussed above, hardware is not changing very fast these days.
There are two major drawbacks to iPhones. Firstly, they are very expensive, even if you are buying older models. You will probably end up spending more on an iPhone than you would on an android. Secondly, Apple is more patronizing. They tightly control user experience, which has its benefits, but can also feel limiting and frustrating at times.
Most Android phones receive two years of updates and one year of security updates, so they are good for 3 years. This makes it harder to recommend buying a refurbished Android phone.
For example you can pick up a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S10+ for $450, but you will need to buy a new phone in 1.5 years if you want to stay secure. Then you would be out another $450, so your total cost would be $900 in 3 years, which is basically the cost of an iPhone. If you frequently break, or lose your phone this could be a good route, though.
In order to get the full 3 years of support out of a phone you have to buy a newly released phone. I would recommend a phone in the Google Pixel a, or the Samsung Galaxy A line. These are well made phones that can be purchased at lower costs. When buying an android phone, though, check when it was released and check how long it will get security updates for.
The other obvious option here is the newly released iPhone SE. I feel like this phone is missing a lot of features compared to Android competitors at the same price point, which are hard to differentiate from flagship phones, but it will get security updates for longer. If you are already in the Apple ecosystem and want to stay there this is your option.
There is one new phone feature that is enabled by the improvements in phone hardware, the ability to plug your phone into a laptop, or a monitor, mouse and keyboard and use it as a desktop computer. Currently only Samsung offers this feature and only on their flagship phones, but some third party applications are available to enable it on other phones.
While there is some nice logic to only carrying one computer, your phone, and plugging it into a keyboard and monitor when you want a more traditional computing experience this does not seem to end up making as much sense in reality.
It will probably not be a cheaper setup. Laptops have gotten cheap. You can get a good windows laptop, or chromebook, that will provide a better computing experience for under $1000. A Samsung phone that supports this functionality will run you about the same, if you want it to be supported for 3 years. A portable monitor, keyboard, mouse, battery and usb c dongle to enable it all will cost around $400. A cheaper Android phone would cost about the same.
It will probably not be a lighter setup. The combined weight of a monitor, keyboard, mouse, battery and dongle will be about the same as, if not more than the weight of a laptop.
It will definitely not provide a better computing experience. This is a relatively new technology, so it is still buggy and not as good as using a traditional desktop operating system.
There are two reasons to go with this setup. If you primarily use your phone and want the best experience there and your traditional computing experience is secondary. If you have a work laptop and travel a lot. This setup enables you to not do personal work on your work laptop without having to bring two laptops with you when you travel.
If you did the math you will realize that my phone will stop receiving security updates this fall, when it officially hits 3 years old. This means I can be put to the test and asked what I will do then. I will either buy an iPhone 12, or I will buy a Samsung Galaxy flagship device.
At this point it is probably pretty self explanatory why I would make the switch to an iPhone, so I will not elaborate.
I would buy a Samsung Galaxy flagship device because my falls into a category where desktop computing from a phone could be useful. I have a remote job and may be travelling. In this case I would have to bring my work computer and may want to have a personal desktop computing experience without having to lug around two laptops. That said, I use my personal computer for programming, writing and watching video. The latter two can be done in a browser and having a separate personal browser is easy. Programming would likely be more frustrating on a phone desktop operating system than on the computer my employer gives me to program for them on, so that is not much of a use case either.
I like experimenting with new features and technologies, but at this point the phone space is pretty stale. I have had one iPhone in my life, but it seems like iOS may win me back in the near future.