It's not just about the cost though. They're inferior to pretty much any other mid-range or high-end smartphone too. Expensive but good would be fine. Cheap and mediocre would be fine. Expensive and mediocre though? Nah.
My £250 used phone has a faster processor, more RAM, better screen (higher resolution, brighter, bigger and higher frame rate), and a higher capacity battery with faster charging. It's a mid-range Xiaomi from a couple years ago, not a high end or flagship phone.
They should take notes from pinephone. Offers something unusual at a low cost. Since enthusiasts eat that stuff up you get extra help with software and ROMs too. Yes it's low spec, but it's good enough for enthusiasts to play with and is of good value as the price reflects the quality.
Plenty of other brands which aren't Chinese are both better and cheaper. Samsung, Apple, Google, Asus even.
Do they all use cheap Chinese labour? Sure. Do you actually think Fair phone doesn't? Even if they somehow completely avoid China for the whole supply chain, they will inevitably get cheap labour from somewhere - like Taiwan or Costa Rica. After all they are using standard Qualcomm parts, so that's going to be either TSMC in Taiwan or Samsung in China and Korea.
According to their own website their living wage bonus is only $2.63. It doesn't even say if that's per hour or per day.
I would rather buy nokia with ifixit partnership and save hundreds of euros. for me it's about the money 700€ is a shit ton of money
edit: okay after looking moreninto nokia phones (or hmd phones, maker of current nokias) I would propably hold my money until they release something new and good which isnt too expensive, currently their lineup is a bit weird. but they do make the phones mostly from recycled materials and I like the idea of that company. (mostly cuz it's finnish and even stores the data in finland so no china involved)
While this may be concerning from an ewaste standpoint, don't worry! Samsung has that covered. For anyone that elected to get a new phone instead of replacing a simple part Samsung has had the courage to not include a charging brick which slightly decreases the size of the box. Customers that need a charging brick can aquire one through a separate expensive purchase that comes in another box shipped on a different cargo ship from china. Samsung is super duper into being green.
If you're replacing your phone surely it's better that it doesn't come with the charger (from an environmental point of view), since you don't have to ship it back and they don't have to ship you a new one. And what does it matter if they're on different ships? It would still be pretty much the same amount of emissions released, which is probably less than the amount needed to drive it to your house. Adding the extra packaging for two separate items isn't great though, and I agree that as a customer it isn't great to get less for the same price.
Most importantly, Samsung has only ever shipped batteries to iFixit that are preglued to an entire phone screen — making consumers pay over $160 even if they just want to replace a worn-out battery pack. That’s something Samsung doesn’t do with other vendors, according to Wiens. Meanwhile, iFixit’s iPhone and Pixel batteries cost more like $50.
I went from years of Pixels to an S22Ultra. The only hard part was that the app drawer is paged instead of scrolling. I just ignore everything Samsung/Bixby and never see it. Seems fine 🤷♀️
Honest question: What makes you think you are qualified to know if they've "done anything"? Nova was bought by an analytics(data) company, the danger wasn't in them aesthetically changing nova or its core functionality, the danger was in them keeping you thinking nothing has changed but aggressively/unethically selling all the data about you so others can exploit and manipulate you.
Simple example is, making a predictive model of when you're most likely sad based on context clues and general device usage and then kleenex buys that data, in aggregate. They then use it to predict when they can raise the price of tissues for surge pricing in your area when you're most vulnerable and least price sensitive. This is a slightly silly example work "big Kleenex" as the bad guy, but hopefully you get the idea.
Add to it if you use any of nova middle layer services (e.g. A nova search widget instead of browser search, sesame shortcuts, etc). That's all increased fidelity they get on a data profile of who you are at any given time so that they can sell it to others to target and harass you. That is what the new nova is, quietly. You won't get a knock on your door to ask you if you approve, it has just happened already.
More hypothetical examples:
We detect increasing frequency of you launching the travelocity app, means you're getting more desperate to book, prices go up on your app, increasing more and more between today and the departure date you've been searching.
You downloaded two pregnancy tracker apps in a week, means that several companies can now invest in spamming you with predatory social and direct mail advertising and you're employer can consider finding alternative cause to fire you to not absorb the upcoming costs of delivery/care and parental leave.
You not having any Christian/bible material or apps on your phone means there's a high percentage that you aren't a practicing Christian (or conversely, you having a Quran app downloaded). Your house gets a big red X on a map for an app funded by dark money Christo-fascist, Christian nationalists quietly creating a directory of "good" people and "bad" people that your neighbors with red hats and flags on their raised trucks can eventually download and access freely to "keep an eye out".
That last one is NUTS! You're crazy! That's ridiculous!and then...
Meaningfully, Google is under a much larger microscope and with an aggressive FTC. Nova is smaller relatively and that has its own under the radar dangers
