Samsung XCover

Same here, I have a Samsung XCover Pro bought 4+ years ago that still feels the same as when I got it. The only thing notable is the lack of 5G support, but it's only when I switch between it and my work phone (which has 5G) that I really notice the browser loading times.

Why would they break more often? I don't really see that. We have thousands of Xcovers (also replaceable) in the factories at work and they break no more often than the regular phones in the office environment. In fact people treat them pretty roughly because they're handling heavy requirement and you know how well people look after equipment they didn't pay for :) They're not perfect but they walk the walk. Another point: I know several people that have Fairphones where almost every component can be user-replaced and I've held them but I don't see them being any more fragile than any other phone, really. And these are not rugged models. And a Fairphone battery is 40€. An Xcover battery (including NFC antenna which is weirdly enough in the battery) costs similar. The screen 90€. All a lot cheaper than Apple, probably because there is no labor cost. You can just do it yourself or ask a friend who's handy.

It doesn't really matter. In practive it's only usable as minor rain protection anyway. I'm not bringing my phone into the shower. And like people have mentioned, the most rugged phones do have replaceable batteries. I used to have an Xcover for hiking and it never had any issues with water ingress either.

I will aldo be trying android next round. I remember i had a samsung xcover back in the days and it handled touch in the rain. If there is a droplet of water on ypur thumb the iphone freaks out. Also mich more spelli g errors and slower typing. The only thing missi g is hide email and private relay

Yeah, I bought my phone based on the requirements: - Headphone jack - A functional IPXY water/dust rating - Replaceable battery There aren't a ton of phones that satisfy this, but I ended up with a Samsung XCover Pro and have been quite happy with it. Of course, repairable covers more than a replaceable battery, but I do think Fairphone could have added a headphone jack without too much trouble.

I miss good mp3 player days. I started on iriver cd player that could read MP3s... once i had some spare money upgraded to iriver H10 wit 20GB spinning rust drive (still have it, still working, sitting in the drawer). Once tried an old ipod, to see what the hassle, learned the pain of loading my own music to it, and the lack of file browser on it, no i dont want that artist/album BS, got my own categorized collection. Sold that one quickly. Sandisk sansa with rockbox was spot on, both both units failed like a year from time i bought them. Currently using an old old heavy duty samsung xcover2, with cyanogen mod, it does not have a simcard just 128gb microsd with lots of music on it. DAC is reasonably good on it and it plays FLAC no problem. Doubles as offline GPS with osmAnd maps loaded in.

For me, the battery swap interest is down to using CGMs and uploading that data to a mesh of local "follower" devices belonging to family members, as well as to my Nightscout server. That's quite intensive with new data every minute. We've had blackouts here before, and it's those moments you really value stuff like battery banks, however, keeping them charged and making sure others don't siphon your juice from time to time can be annoying (lol!). Would be nice to keep an additional battery just for my device in my pouch of diabetes-related paraphernalia. Once upon a time, I had a Motorola A920 in the early '00s that came with a dock to put a second battery into to charge it (pre-CGM era of course), but something like that would be lovely when combined with a foldable or flip phone. After Google pushed a firmware update to my Pixel 6a today, it definitely gives a feeling of vulnerability. https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/16340779?hl=en Would love to recommend the Fairphone, but not available in every country. One of my cousins wanted one (his dad is diabetic too), but unfortunately not available to buy in Canada. Hopefully Framework humour the idea of a phone at some point, but it'll be difficult to please everybody, and I'm not sure it's economically viable. The Samsung XCover are mil-spec with swappable batteries (major selling point on their site) and don't struggle with being waterproof, so it can be done. I don't think it's as niche an idea as people would…