Devices

Spoiler: most of them are dead.

Since 2024-09-08

Good things:

• There's enough storage and horsepower to run everything I want with no issues whatsoever.
• One UI is surprisingly decent after you get rid of the bundled shitware.
• Autofocus actually works well.
• There's battery overcharging protection.

Bad things:

• There's no fingerprint sensor.
• Edge enhancement is impossible to disable even if you use a custom camera app. The only solution is to take photos in RAW.
• Almost every photo ends up overexposed. The only way I've found to work around this is to set the exposure compensation to -1 stop during daytime and -2 stops during nighttime + tweak it as necessary.
• The ISO is capped at 800, and the exposure is capped at 1/5th of a second, even though the phone is perfectly capable of more. If you use HedgeCam 2, you can override this in the calibration settings. If you don't, tough shit.
• Infinity focus is broken, just like on POCO C40. As I eventually found out, the reason behind this is that the lens is uncalibrated — android.lens.info.focusDistanceCalibration reports a value of UNCALIBRATED. You can use Camera2 Info to check yours.

Overall, a somewhat frustrating to use phone but only because I'm a nerd. Samsung did a decent job, but I'll definitely buy something less low end next time.

OS

One UI 7 (debloated)

Since 2020-10-07

Bought because having no laptop while in college sucks. I also decided to use its body to collect as many stickers as possible.

Hostname

laptop.home.arpa

OS

Windows 10, then Fedora, then Fedora + Windows 10

Desktop environment

sway, then GNOME

Specs

CPU

AMD Ryzen 3 3200U

RAM

4 GB, then 8 GB DDR4

Disk

256 GB SSD

Display

1920x1080 IPS

Since 2026-03-04

My relative (somehow) ended up with an extra phone they didn't need, so I picked it up for myself. It has a camera with a pretty big sensor, but on the other hand, no SD card slot and no headphone jack. In terms of bundled malware, it's about as bad as my old Samsung. Unfortunately, something is broken in its audio hardware, and sound keeps stuttering no matter what I do. Tough shit because I would've gladly used it as my main phone otherwise.

OS

MagicOS 9 (debloated)

Since 2018

Bought as a "downgrade" for my PC because I thought it was too fast and too big. Unfortunately, it turned out the replacement was instead way too slow.

OS

Windows 10, then Void Linux, then Fedora, then Fedora IoT

Desktop environment

i3, then sway, then none

Specs

CPU

Intel Atom x5-Z8350

RAM

2 GB DDR3L

Disk

32 GB eMMC

Since 2024-03-22

Picked it up from my relative since they stopped using it, and I really needed a phone after I killed my last one.

The phone itself is absolutely horrible:

• MIUI sucks even after you debloat it, and there are no custom ROMs. Even if there were, however, I couldn't unlock the bootloader because Xiaomi's website refused to let me connect my phone number, and you can't do it otherwise for some reason.
• Whatever CPU it has is not enough. The input latency is disgustingly high.
• 3 GB of RAM is not enough, and MIUI only makes it worse. Picture this: you want to send an image, but each time you open the file picker, your messenger gets killed because you run out of memory. This has happened way too many times.
• 32 GB of storage is seriously not enough. I couldn't install apps half the time because Google Play didn't have enough space for temporary files. Cleaning cache and unused files only helped for a few days or, sometimes, hours.
• When it's really bright outside, the screen gets above 100% brightness by artificially brightening everything with some LUT magic, which ironically makes it even harder to see because it decreases contrast. I don't know how, but there's no option to disable it in the settings. There should be, but there isn't. Taking photos with this on is a nightmare.
• I don't know what she did to it, but the touchscreen keeps freaking out and registering phantom taps.
• Sometimes, it outright refuses to charge unless you insert the plug at just right angle. This is likely her fault too.

Oh well, at least the camera is decent.

OS

MIUI (debloated)

Fate

Given away to my parents

2021-02-11 to 2024-03-13

The most reliable phone I've ever had. Great camera, great durability, great custom ROM support.

OS

MIUI, then LineageOS, then crDroid, then PixelExperience, then PixelOS

Fate

Hard bricked by me while dealing with microphone issues; couldn't be restored to completely usable state

2020-07-11 to 2024-11-23

Possibly the worst LCD monitor ever created. Terrible viewing angles, horrifyingly uneven backlight, mediocre color accuracy. It took me a lot of time to get used to it. So why did I bother in the first place? Because it was the only 4k monitor under $200, and this resolution is a match made in heaven for text rendering. Being able to look at letters and not see individual pixels justifies all of the sacrifices.

Fate

Given away to my parents

2020-07-08 to 2024-11-23

Bought to finally free myself from the hell of using an Intel Atom. This time, there were no power supply issues.

Hostname

desktop.home.arpa

OS

Fedora

Desktop environment

sway, then GNOME

Specs

CPU

AMD Ryzen 3 1200

GPU

AMD RX 550, then AMD RX 560

RAM

8 GB DDR4

Disk

WD Green 120 GB

Fate

Given away to my parents

2020-06-02 to 2021-02-09

Yes, 2 phones in a row with an exploding battery. What a wild coincidence.

OS

Android 8, then Lineage OS

Fate

Sold for parts shortly before a battery explosion

2019 to 2020-05-16

Somehow, this is probably still one of the thinnest phones ever made. 6 millimeters. It was incredible to hold. The camera was also great — miles ahead of anything I'd had before. Custom ROM support wasn't that great, but it was fine I guess.

OS

Android 8, then Lineage OS

Fate

Died due to a battery explosion

2018 to 2020-07-10

Great Full HD monitor. Not a single complaint I can think of. If you put it in someone's office, it'd probably work for a decade if not more.

2017 to 2024-11-23

Bought for the sole purpose of being Librebooted. Turned out to only be useful for a couple years until technology went too far and it became unusable with modern software.

OS

Parabola GNU/Linux-libre, then Void Linux, then Debian, then Windows Vista

Firmware

Lenovo BIOS, then Libreboot, then Coreboot

Fate

Given away to my parents

2017 to 2022

Just an Android phone. Nothing to write home about, except that it had a removable battery.

OS

Android 6, then Lineage OS

Fate

Destroyed by me in a fit of rage

2016

Had to use it for a year due to my last phone dying. Total garbage but technically usable.

OS

Android 2.3?

Fate

Probably still alive, but I don't know where it is

2016

Damn boy, that's thick. Too bad the battery still sucks.

OS

Android 5, then Lineage OS

Fate

Died due to some hardware problems

2016

It looked similar to MTS SMART Surf2 4G, but wasn't it.

OS

Android 5, then Lineage OS

Fate

Destroyed by me in a fit of rage

2015

Can't remember anything about them except for the fact that they existed. Up until they didn't, that is.

2014 to 2022

I was obsessed with Windows 8 at the time, so having a Window tablet was my dream I looked for with passion. Unfortunately, it turned out to be pretty lame. Especially with how bad this thing was at charging over USB — it was literally unusable if it wasn't charged because it charged slower than it discharged.

OS

Windows 8.1, then Windows 8, then Windows 10

Fate:

Destroyed by me in a fit of rage

2014 to 2018

Decent monitor for 2005, but certainly not 2018. 1024x768 pixels is not enough. Having built-in speakers is nifty though.

2014 to 2018

A better version of the first custom PC, this time fully mine. It had power supply issues too, but it somehow survived in the end. Oh yeah, also its motherboard had ASUS Express Gate on it which appeared before every boot unless you disabled it in the BIOS setup, which I obviously did since it offered nothing except a half broken outdated Firefox.

OS

Windows {XP,Vista,7,8,8.1,10}, then Elementary OS, then Lubuntu, then Gentoo, then Arch Linux, then Parabola GNU/Linux-libre, then Debian, then Void Linux

Desktop environment

LXDE, then Xfce, then i3

Specs

CPU

Intel Core i7 920

GPU

Nvidia GTX 560

RAM

4 GB, then 8 GB DDR3

Disk

some 256 GB HHD, then Samsung 850 PRO 256 GB

Fate

Sold to another person

2013 to 2016

It was a 3.5" low-end phone, intially sold with Android 4. The body was silver plastic with a paint job of a really poor quality. There were 3 standard (by that time) touch buttons below the screen, and the battery was removable. In fact, it was so removable that the lid started falling off after a year.

2012 to 2022

Technically, this was a GPS navigator, but I used it as a Windows CE PDA. Totally useless, but it was pretty fun.

OS

Windows CE

Fate

Destroyed by me in a fit of rage

2012

Yes, that was a fucking DVD player. Absolutely unremarkable in its DVD playback capabilites but highly remarkable in its operaing system that looked like an embedded Linux distro straight out of year 2000 with Windows Vista-esque backgrounds slapped onto it. It puzzled me back then, and it still puzzles me now.

2012 to 2016

Okay, technically it was an "E-book reader", but like, it had a color LCD touchscreen (resistive, but still) and ran regular Android 4. I think it's totally fair to call it a tablet.

2012 to 2015

Pretty nice looking netbook with the screen of the perfect size. They shouldn't make laptops bigger than this. The performance was mediocre to say the least, but I didn't care much about it because it gave me the complete freedom to do whatever the fuck I wanted with it.

OS

Windows 7 Starter, then Windows 8

Fate

Died due to the internal GPU failure

2011 to 2014

First desktop computer I've ever had, co-owned by my parents. Not really impressive by any standard.

OS

Windows XP, then Windows 7

Specs

CPU

Intel Core i3?

GPU

AMD Radeon Graphics?

RAM

2 GB

Disk

256 GB HDD

Fate

Died due to power supply issues

2011 to 2013

Apart from its rounded black appearance, the fact that it had a touchscreen, and that it ran some proprietary Java ME crap that tried to look like it was made by Samsung, I don't remember much about it... Okay, maybe I do remember how I decided to wash it with soap for some unknown reason, killing it in the process, but let's not get into that.

2010

A self-proclaimed "smartphone" made out of silver plastic, with no touchscreen but with a bottom panel that could be rotated. One side of that panel had regular phone buttons, and the other had music player controls. It ran something that looked like Symbian, but I'm not sure what exactly it was.

2009

It was a pretty unremarkable late 2000s brick phone with a color screen and a black body. While it had the MTS branding, I think it was produced by Alcatel or something.

2007

First mobile device I've ever used. It was an early 2000s brick phone. The body was light gray, and it had that rounded Y2K sort of appearance. The buttons looked like they were metal, but they were actually made of shiny plastic. The screen was black and white with a hint of blue, and it had an active LCD backlight.

2003 to 2023

An absolute monster of a laptop for 2003. I have no idea where and how my parents got it.

OS

Windows XP, then Gentoo Linux

Specs

CPU

Intel Pentium 4-M at 1.7 GHz

GPU

SiS 315

RAM

1 GB DDR1

Disk

320 GB 2.5" IDE HDD

Display

1400x1050 LCD

Connectivity

3.5 mm jack, DVD-ROM, Ethernet, FireWire, infrared port, modem port, USB 2.0, VGA

Fate

Thrown away by my parents