Mr. TeatimeMar 14

I just got my shiny new #shiftphone8 today, and it's ... still definitely the phone I should have bought. But I'm also the type of person who can find something to complain about in any situation, so here goes the good and the not so great, mostly in comparison to its predecessor, the #SHIFTphone6mq (because I got the deal where I got a 6mq, some time ago, for buying the 8 before it was in production):

1.(+) In case you didn't know Shift phones: They're fully repairable, user-openable, replaceable batteries, fairly produced ... all the good things that make a phone actually worth buying. My last phone before switching to Shift was a Xiaomi F1 Pocophone, and it broke so fast it was crazy. While replacing the screen, the battery got damaged, and you can't replace the battery without (...)

Show threadMr. TeatimeMar 14
ungluing some parts, and when that was done, the next fall broke the screen again which meant I'd have to replace the battery again to replace the screen, and spend ages fiddling ... no thank you.
2. (+) Yay, there's a pre-installed screen protector, as there was on its predecessor
3. (-) The bumper case is too small, by a fraction of a millimeter. If you put the 6mq face-down on a table, even with the screen protector, it rests on the rim of the bumper. The new bumper is almost exactly flush with the screen protector, so I expect a lot more scratches. I'm curious how well the bumper works if one corner of the front side hits the floor first. I hope I don't have to find out.
4. (+) At least it seems that even without the bumper, and without screen protector, there's a tiny (...)
Show threadMr. TeatimeMar 14
bit of bezel protruding enough so the actual screen is not the first point of contact if the phone falls on the ground. That should really be an essential design rule for smartphones, which seems to have been abandoned by most other manufacturers.
5. (+) There are two SIM slots, and a "physical e-SIM". What's that you ask? It's a thing you can put in one of the regular slots to convert that slot into an e-SIM slot. So you can decide whether to have two actual physical SIMs or one e-SIM slot and one regular.
6. (+) although the phone does come preinstalled with a "full" Android, including all the Google stuff, there is a "light" version of ShiftOS which is Google-free (but happy to work with microG, so things that rely on Google Play services can still work). They also support (...)
Show threadMr. TeatimeMar 14

others to create adapted versions of other free operating systems. Notably, /e/OS already has a version (I've been running the 6mq on /e/OS, and consider doing the same with the new phone).

...that's it for now. Will try and add more comments to this thread as I start setting it up.

Show threadFlorian

@Mr_Teatime
I have additionally found:
1) It gets really hot when used in the car for navigation
2) Shift did some nice tweaks to ShiftOS L, but these may be taken from Lineage. Don't know
3) Camera is not great under ShiftOS L
4) Changing from ShiftOS G to L and back is very easy
5) One can use both SIM slots AND the micro SD
6) Battery needs to be taken out to swap SIMs or SD card
7) Double tap to turn on screen reacts already when screen is touched (ShiftOS L)

#shiftphone8

Mar 14 at 10:32pmWeb
Show threadMr. TeatimeMar 15

@f_g
The issue with the device getting hot (and battery draining quite fast) also happened with the 6mq. I was never sure whether that was due to /e/OS, OSMAnd spinning circles in the background or something else I'd done -- i.e. whether it's an issue with the phone design or something else.
I'd hoped they solved that with the new phone/OS. (edit: was complaining about Shift recommending high charge rates. They don't actually do that (anymore)). The battery in my 6mq failed only this January, after maybe 1.5 years. At least the new battery was cheap and replacement needs no tools, took me 10 seconds.

Will see how it goes with the new one.