Have we reached peak smartphones?

There's an idea going around that there's not a whole lot of improvement in smart phones these days. If there  isn't  much  improvement  in  the new phones  there  isn't much reason  to  upgrade  until  yours breaks.

In such a market repairability and durability seem like they become much more important than they used to be. I haven't seen any evidence of that currently but I sure would like to. The only phones that are easy to take apart and swap parts on are budget phones made of plastic. You know, I have nothing against plastic. The problem with budget phones, by and large, are the processors and screens, Etc. At the very least, we all know that batteries wear out. Being able to put in a new battery seems like such an obvious feature if you're going to use your phone for more than a year.

PS:
Peak smartphone refers to the number of shipments per year.

Samsung screens scratch easily?

I've had my Samsung S7 for about 6 months ( it was cheap because the s8 had just come out ). Despite being the most expensive phone I've ever owned, the screen is already a haze of near invisible scratches. More than I can count. None of my other phones (Nexus 4, Moto x2, LG volt) had any scratches on them in over 2 years use. I doubt I suddenly got clumsy six months ago. So what's your excuse, Samsung?

To be fair the scratches are invisible during use, but it doesn't bode well for the future.

Windows 10 feels like beta software: removing photos app

I'm amazed how Microsoft could go from an os that did everything you need (xp) to a bloated but somewhat improved os (7) to a barely useable unfinished os (8) and then get accolades for releasing something barely better (10).  

My latest run-in with 10 is with the built-in "photos" app. I installed irfanview which is much more powerful, and windows immediately proceed to reassociate all image formats with the built-in viewer. At least I got a notification. But it included no way to undo Microsoft's "fix", which kept on being applied every time I told infanview to take over jpgs again.

The solution seems to be to uninstall "photos". Well easier said than done.  "Add/remove" programs does list "photos". But it helpfully indicates that uninstall is not a supported option but flashing when you click that button.

Thanks Microsoft.

The solution was to Google. Thank goodness for Google in this messed up world of windows 10. Because to un-install photos you need a rather long powershell command: Get-AppxPackage *photo* | Remove-AppxPackage Luckily Google knows your pain and it's the first hit.

Now recall xp, fondly, where you never had to Google to know how to remove an app. Or 7, where the built in search was good enough to find the right screen to do it.

2 years till Microsoft stops supporting 7. Oh what am I to do.