DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market

Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by TheScaryOne on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @10:55PM (#47609459)

My Samsung Galaxy S3 died after 8 years. EMMC failure. Just started boot looping while I was asleep. Everything gone. Known issue.

My Samsung Galaxy S8 died at 7 years. Some kind of thermal failure, I was able to recover my data by keeping the phone in the freezer while I copied. Known issue.

My Samsung Galaxy S21? I figure I've got another year or two in it before it, too, dies.

Having beautiful dead phones that have never had a broken screen or a hard drop is pretty depressing.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by sureMan6 on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @11:51PM (#47609784)

I bought a used Samsung and it started boot looping almost immediately, all these issues seem very specific to Samsung

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by gzread on Thursday April 02, 2026 @12:22AM (#47609956)

The Seagate of cellphones

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by account42 on Tuesday April 07, 2026 @05:18AM (#47672577)

I'm not aware of Seagate ever having produced explosives.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by joe_mamba on Thursday April 02, 2026 @04:26AM (#47611532)

>I bought a used Samsung and it started boot looping almost immediately

Maybe that's why the previous owner sold it.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by Joe_Cool on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @10:58PM (#47609481)

I am noticing something those devices have in common.

My Galaxy Tab also has dead EMMC. My HTC One M8 still works and even holds a day of charge. Too bad Android doesn't support 32bit ARM anymore.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by pseudohadamard on Thursday April 02, 2026 @01:53AM (#47610452)

It can also depend on the hardware it's connected to. If the endless gigabytes of Samsung's value-add software are scribbling to eMMC nonstop then it's not surprising the flash is wearing out. A lot of this stuff is masked by the fact that most people swap out their phone for a new one that's exactly the same every 12 months so they never notice this, but if you hold onto a phone or similar device for longer the unnecessary wear starts to add up.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by TheScaryOne on Thursday April 02, 2026 @04:15AM (#47611449)

The S3 ran Samsung software for about, oh, a month after I bought it brand new?

I'd been running CyanogenMod until they quit giving updates to the S3.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by 21asdffdsa12 on Thursday April 02, 2026 @03:13AM (#47611009)

Google Android should get more praise for doing quality control by analyzing and killing apps and processes that attacked the hardware - at least back in the day.

The great filter for incompetence by the big G was real and necessary.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by TiredOfLife on Thursday April 02, 2026 @02:41AM (#47610766)

My Galaxy Note 8 is still going as my main daily music player/backup phone.

My Galaxy Note 4 still works. Had to sideload updated web certificates.

My Galaxy S1 would still be going, but somebody got the charging port wet.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by blks on Thursday April 02, 2026 @02:51AM (#47610831)

iPhones usually live pretty long life.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by throwaway2037 on Thursday April 02, 2026 @02:51AM (#47610834)

    > My Samsung Galaxy S8 died at 7 years.

Yikes, that is a long time! How many times did you fix it (screen or battery)?

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by TheScaryOne on Thursday April 02, 2026 @04:13AM (#47611435)

Never. I am very gentle to my phones. Thing has one small dot of a scratch on the screen. Never been opened.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by close04 on Thursday April 02, 2026 @03:57AM (#47611338)

I just replaced my OnePlus 5 a couple of months ago at over 8.5 years old. No repairs needed, battery was a bit crippled in active use, especially making calls, but fine for a mostly idling phone. In idle it still lasts longer than a 1.5 year old iPhone 15. I still use it for by backup phone number SIM, as it slowly gets to ~9 years old.

The bigger issue was no more OS updates since 2020, and no Play updates since 2023. The battery can be replaced but getting a fully updated OS is more involved.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by zozbot234 on Thursday April 02, 2026 @04:33AM (#47611601)

OnePlus 5 runs great with custom ROMs, including potentially ones based on mainline Linux as opposed to AOSP. (The Linux support is not as good as OP 6/6T but getting there pretty nicely.)

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by close04 on Thursday April 02, 2026 @05:14AM (#47611925)

Too bad they have these long lists of "this doesn't work so well" and I'm too time constrained to troubleshoot for too long or dig for solutions. And I'd also need to replace the battery. It's an option for when I actually have some time.

The device integrity is a bigger deal, this is also a backup for some banking apps so if they don't work it kind of defeats the purpose. I removed all other apps to minimize the attacks surface.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by zozbot234 on Thursday April 02, 2026 @06:10AM (#47612328)

If you're using it as backup for banking apps and the like I totally get not running a custom ROM on it! But you could also set that backup on something even cheaper, any one of the random not-bootloader-unlockable brands, and be left with the OP5 as a Linux phone. You're also right that the Linux support on OP5 is not up to standard yet, this is more of a question for the future if that support improves.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by close04 on Thursday April 02, 2026 @09:01AM (#47613892)

What's cheaper than an already existing phone that would otherwise stay unused or end up in the landfill (recycling center)? It could also be a great experimentation platform, play with Linux on the phone, but the time I have available now leaves little room for this kind of play.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by zozbot234 on Thursday April 02, 2026 @11:37AM (#47615902)

The goal is not "experimentation" but having it eventually as an always up-to-date daily driver once the support for it matures. You're quite right that we're still a bit far from that, though.

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by account42 on Tuesday April 07, 2026 @05:21AM (#47672593)

I have never broken a phone screen, not sure why some people think that's normal. The USB charging ports on the other hand...

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Re:DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market by pjc50 on Thursday April 02, 2026 @04:37AM (#47611622)

Yeah, the Flash has a wear lifetime. Battery has a finite lifespan too. Anything over five years is pretty good going. My wife managed that with a Nokia 1020, the last and best of the Windows phones.

Like everything else, phones need to be backed up.

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