Read that as five years of major OS updates and seven years of security patches.
Haha, we can expect to see similar announcements from other manufacturers, because the EU now mandates software support for new devices.
Even if you’re outside of the EU, you’ll benefit from this. Since the OEMs have to do it anyway, they’ll likely push the updates to all markets and market it as if they’re being nice. Nope. They’re just complying with the law to the bare minimum.
Starting on the 20th of June 2025 (just two days!), the EU is enforcing a minimum of 5 years of updates on all smartphone/tablets sold after they are withdrawn from the market.
I.e. if a model is sold for 2 years, it must receive software support for 7 years. Just like this Nothing Phone.
This is like all the fast food places in Canada proudly announcing their hormone and antibiotics free meats. Yeah no shit dip shit, it’s the law, as if if you were allowed your meats wouldn’t be 90% antibiotics and growth hormones.
Fml when i bought a new phone last month out of fear the upcoming ones would get a price jump from tarrifs…
How’s that a bad thing? Unless they’ve already stopped selling that model then you’ll benefit!
I cant find any information about wether this does include phones that where already being sold because i would be surprised if those that don’t comply on a hardware level will just disappear.
Hmm good point. I would have thought if they’re still selling that phone after the rule comes in then they should have to comply, seems like a bit of a loophole if they can keep selling old devices that break the rule, right?
Software updates can be deployed regionally either based on carrier or by product SKU. If there are different SKUs for North American vs EU phones, which is almost universally the case because of differing regional requirements such as radio technology, target price points and so on. That means that phone model ‘X (NA)’ could have a different update schedule than ‘X (EU)’.
Why? money, of course. There is a small cost to supporting a SKU for updates, even if it’s the same software that’s already being deployed to another SKU. That increases if the two SKUs have different processors (Samsung does this). On top of that, longer update schedules means people aren’t replacing their phones as often, which means theoretically less sales - though I find that claim dubious as many people replace their phones long before they lose software support.
So yes, while it’s possible that a company might honour a 7 year update schedule outside of EU, it would be by their choice to do so.
Isn’t that the bare minimum mandated by the EU?
Correct
In effect, yes.
5 years minimum software support after the device is no longer on the market.
Presumably this phone will be on the market for two years (in the EU at least).
Theoretically it could be less than 7 years if they only sold it for one year, of course, but even OEMs that release phones each year like clockwork tend to keep their previous model around for a while.
Shame they don’t offer headphone jack on any of their phones. Same goes for Fairphone too.
Truly the most frustrating trend since it started.
Still running shitty android. Pass.
And what is your proposal they run? iOS is Apple only; Linux phones are still in their infancy and away from mass adoption. And before you mention Graphene or Lineage OS, both are just forks of Android.
How good are their devices? My Pixel 4 is still working, but its definitely showing it’s age.
In fact I decided to make my first post on Lemmy about it.
I have the Phone 2 in the US and I love it. Keeping it for a while longer and intrigued by the phone 3 for sure.
I use Nothing Phone 1, and I will never change it to something else.
Maybe will consider to buy Nothing Phonbe 3 eventually.
They have clean design philosophy, but in order to fully embrace it you have to install their monochrome icon pack. And this is the only android UI which is pleasant to look it, and not some flashy multicolored abomination as other platforms do.
Not having flashy multicolored icons means a lot for the mental wellbeing.
Wait is that some fancy flashlight hardware in the pic or just dumb marketing shit?
Yes.
I had a Phone (2a), I actually liked it for what it is. It’s a gimmick, but a useful one in my life. I switched because of my own irresponsibility. I.e. I used it in environments it wasn’t meant to be in.
Hard to imagine a scenario where laying your phone on the table with the screen down and looking for flashing lights is more “useful” than just having it on a stand and looking at the screen, but you do you.
I use it as a dim light at night when I go to the loo, instead of blinding myself with the flash.
Also it’s a volume indicator which is occasionally useful.
Also, if you care, when people notice the back of my phone light up they comment on it because that isn’t normal. (2a)
It’s not for that though, more like the notification light on old phones so if you’re just next to your phone for a while you can set different patterns for different notifications or people to pay attention to. then can set a persistent light up top for priority notifications so if you’re working or at the beach or something can just glance and see you have ‘priority’ information waiting and dont have to be staring at your phone
That’s ok. It’s not for everyone, even Nothing knows that. It was nice for me, but I didn’t choose to buy a new one because I wanted something that could stand a bit more abuse.
I’ll let you decide: https://9to5google.com/2023/07/17/ultimate-guide-nothing-phone-2-glyph-interface/
That’s kinda cool actually. Thanks for sharing the link!
