People who know me well know that I am a bit of a stickler for unnecessary waste. It’s one of the character traits that helps me to consistently resist the temptation of upgrading my smartphone until the utility value surpasses the envy value (often to the bemusement of my friends).

I fall on the end of the spectrum of people who view smartphones as a tool, in contrast with those who see them as fashion accessories (not making a judgment here, to each his own).

Still, rapid advances in technology, suspiciously built-in obsolescence, and a relentless pace of new features requiring more powerful processing forces us all into upgrade cycles of these personal devices which we carry with us daily. Incidentally, it was due precisely to these breakneck upgrade cycles we experience in developed countries that inspired us to launch AfriqueConnect, a project in which we collect and donate used mobile phones to improving lives in the developing world.

Thirty months with the same smartphone

Well, I’m proud to celebrate this month as the 2 1/2 year mark that I’ve used the same smartphone: the Freetel Samurai Miyabi. Thirty months with the same smartphone, which I understand is five times the national average, at least among my peers in venture capital.

The Samurai Miyabi surpassed even my wildest expectations in terms of longevity. Perhaps most significantly, I have not witnessed any tangible performance degradation over this 30-month period. The only exception I’ve identified is the phone’s incompatibility with certain advertising features of Facebook Messenger’s Instant Games platform. Since I have a horse in the race on Facebook’s Instant Games platform, I’m very curious to understand the monetization mechanics of each game from an investor perspective. This limitation stems from the Samurai Miyabi’s rarity more than anything else though.

Other than this single drawback however, I cannot recall ever encountering any other limitation with this phone since I bought it in 2016.

Freetel was a Japanese company which originally offered MVNO services as well as constructing their own phones. Unfortunately, Freetel was forced into bankruptcy after selling off its phone production to Rakuten.

It’s too bad that a challenger like Freetel couldn’t make it work; it was good while it lasted. Despite the critics, I find your Samurai to be the most honorable phone I’ve ever used.