3y ago

Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone

www.theguardian.com

29 comments

Nokia G22 has removable back and standard screws allowing battery swap in less than five minutes at home
Is the bar this low now? That's not a "DIY repairable phone", that's a "phone that meets the bare minimum for non user-hostile hardware".
- just some good old capitalist innovation in action
  
  Sell the problem and the solution! Genius!
Neat! There's also Fairphone if you want a phone with changeable parts.
- super expensive, pinephone has very beta software support but it's affordable
can't wait for open software support from various operating system providers
- Apparently locked bootloader and a SoC that has very bad main-line Linux kernel support, so no that is not going to happen most likely.
  
  wow
"It runs Android 12 and will be supported for three years of monthly security updates"
so it'll be e-waste before 2027, roger that
Rant: Big battery? Wow! Why is it that no tech article outside of specialised articles from tech blogs ever mention actual specs? For anyone needing actual specs before even considering a purchase, here's gsm arena: https://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_g22-12137.php
Rant over.
Annoyances aside, this is incredible! Well done to Nokia for going back to their roots. Phones are no longer as durable, but at least they can be repairable. But remember this: For true reparability and modularity, there are only Fairphone for smartphones, and Framework for Laptops. Let's hope Nokia also provides the kernel sources quickly and we can hopefully get some custom roms, and maybe even Mobile Linux on this thing!
- Theres a growing demand for physical keyboards on their devices
  Where is this growing demand? I also see one or two people in the comments like this, and I get that you may want it, but I've seen no reports indicating it's anything but extremely niche.
  On a side note, which keyboard software do you use on your phone? Maybe that's the problem.
- This made me think! I still have a smart ish phone with a qwerty keyboard! And I type a lot on phones! Gonna see if I can load PostMarket OS on it and see what it's like writing long rants and roleplay responses on it compared to touchscreen!
Check fairphone
This seems pretty cool to me, hopefully this is a trend that catches on. The phone itself looks decent too but it sounds like the screen might be lower resolution? This is coming from a pixel 2 XL so I'm not sure how it compares.
The last Nokia phone I had did not even support unlocking the bootloader so I'm skeptical about this
- Are they still owned by Microsoft? If so, zero chance in hell they're letting you sideload a ROM.
  
  I believe that Microsoft bought their phone division from Nokia but not the whole company.
  https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324432404579051931273019224
Between stuff like this and the fairphone I’m really struggling not to pick one up to play around with
Nokia g22. It’s $800
- The article says:
  The Nokia G22 will cost from £149.99 shipping on 8 March with replacement parts costing £18.99 for a charging port, £22.99 for a battery and £44.99 for a screen.

29 comments