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I was recently basically forced to get a new phone because my Galaxy Note 3 had become virtually unusable from software updates over the past few years. Common

by nilkn 11y ago

I was recently basically forced to get a new phone because my Galaxy Note 3 had become virtually unusable from software updates over the past few years. Common tasks would freeze the phone for seconds at a time. All animations were laggy. It was as if it was running on 10-15 year old hardware, not 2 year old hardware. Just to be clear, I've experienced similar degradation with Apple products as well (specifically an older iPad), but never as severe as with the Note 3. My old iPad is still definitely useable; it's just not as smooth as it once was. The phone on the other hand had just become complete junk. Meanwhile my girlfriend's Nexus 5 phone has been on a roller coaster of battery life changes. Not too long ago, an update caused her battery life to drain to 0 in roughly half a day of light usage. Then it was fixed. Then it was ruined again in the update to Marshmallow. She's going to have to get a new phone as well because hers too has become nearly unusable.

walterbell 11y ago
Obsolescence as a Service! It can even be A-B tested to optimize the migration to new phones.
tonfa 11y ago
Did you consider replacing the battery? (beside the battery not aging very well, I'm still happy with the N5 performance).
- soylentcola 11y ago
  I agree. I damaged the charging port on my N5 and while it usually works, it occasionally doesn't and I didn't feel like depending on it. Still, I kept it around when I bought a Moto X last year and still fire it up occasionally and use it as a backup phone. I'm always surprised when I fire it up and (once it finishes syncing all of my email and stuff) it still runs great. I actually miss how the display is bonded to the glass so that there's just a little less of that barely perceived disconnect between my finger and the screen. Didn't think much of it but when I go back to the N5 it's a pleasant surprise. I feel like the last couple of years have seen mobile devices really hit a point where even a $350-400 device can remain useful for several years. Anything I own that's older (iPad2, Galaxy S2) ran like a dog within a couple of years.
- xeromal 11y ago
  Nexus phones are notorious for the rollercoaster of battery life. Before Marshmallow, my N6 would be dying by 5pm with random, low-medium usage. With a Marshmallow build from XDA, I hit 20% at 9pm. It's insane. The battery stats looks roughly similar from either OS though.
washadjeffmad 11y ago
This isn't a rebuttal, but there are often (better) alternatives to the firmware that ships with devices, especially if it's a carrier maintained version. I've used Cyanogenmod on my smart devices for as long as I've been buying them. CM has had sandboxing for apps for a few years now, and I was running 5.1.1 on my S3 months before it was available for my SO's S5 through her carrier. CM13, announced recently, will be built around Marshmallow. For older devices, you can either try the newest CM versions or go back to earlier stable major releases. And they're all bloatware and CarrierIQ free.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  I stayed away from Cyanogenmod because... well, the rule of conservation of hackergy dictates that playing around with rooting my phone would take me away from hacking electronics and constantly reconfiguring Emacs. But at this point I think after I get back from China, if I won't buy a phone here, I'm going to flash my S4 with Cyanogen, praying it will help - the way the phone has been slowing down for the past two years is utterly ridiculous, and I blame it on overheating CPU or something because I just can't believe this shit could be software - neither the system nor the apps I use should ever need that much processing power.
mattmanser 11y ago
I just replaced my nexus 5 battery, has totally rejuvenated my phone. I can use heavily and it will still have charge at the end of the day. Fairly easy to do if you buy an opener kit for a few dollars. It's a hardware problem.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
TeMPOraL 11y ago
Oh yes. My S4 has been slowing down over the last 2 years to the point I simply don't do things like browsing too much, because they involve spending 30 seconds waiting to switch between apps, etc. Many sites are unusable due to the amount of heavy JS processing they do. I stick to native apps as much as I can and I'm thinking about getting a new phone.

by nilkn 11y ago

walterbell 11y ago

Obsolescence as a Service! It can even be A-B tested to optimize the migration to new phones.

tonfa 11y ago

Did you consider replacing the battery? (beside the battery not aging very well, I'm still happy with the N5 performance).

soylentcola 11y ago
I agree. I damaged the charging port on my N5 and while it usually works, it occasionally doesn't and I didn't feel like depending on it. Still, I kept it around when I bought a Moto X last year and still fire it up occasionally and use it as a backup phone. I'm always surprised when I fire it up and (once it finishes syncing all of my email and stuff) it still runs great. I actually miss how the display is bonded to the glass so that there's just a little less of that barely perceived disconnect between my finger and the screen. Didn't think much of it but when I go back to the N5 it's a pleasant surprise. I feel like the last couple of years have seen mobile devices really hit a point where even a $350-400 device can remain useful for several years. Anything I own that's older (iPad2, Galaxy S2) ran like a dog within a couple of years.
xeromal 11y ago
Nexus phones are notorious for the rollercoaster of battery life. Before Marshmallow, my N6 would be dying by 5pm with random, low-medium usage. With a Marshmallow build from XDA, I hit 20% at 9pm. It's insane. The battery stats looks roughly similar from either OS though.

washadjeffmad 11y ago

This isn't a rebuttal, but there are often (better) alternatives to the firmware that ships with devices, especially if it's a carrier maintained version. I've used Cyanogenmod on my smart devices for as long as I've been buying them. CM has had sandboxing for apps for a few years now, and I was running 5.1.1 on my S3 months before it was available for my SO's S5 through her carrier. CM13, announced recently, will be built around Marshmallow. For older devices, you can either try the newest CM versions or go back to earlier stable major releases. And they're all bloatware and CarrierIQ free.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
I stayed away from Cyanogenmod because... well, the rule of conservation of hackergy dictates that playing around with rooting my phone would take me away from hacking electronics and constantly reconfiguring Emacs. But at this point I think after I get back from China, if I won't buy a phone here, I'm going to flash my S4 with Cyanogen, praying it will help - the way the phone has been slowing down for the past two years is utterly ridiculous, and I blame it on overheating CPU or something because I just can't believe this shit could be software - neither the system nor the apps I use should ever need that much processing power.

mattmanser 11y ago

I just replaced my nexus 5 battery, has totally rejuvenated my phone. I can use heavily and it will still have charge at the end of the day. Fairly easy to do if you buy an opener kit for a few dollars. It's a hardware problem.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

TeMPOraL 11y ago

Oh yes. My S4 has been slowing down over the last 2 years to the point I simply don't do things like browsing too much, because they involve spending 30 seconds waiting to switch between apps, etc. Many sites are unusable due to the amount of heavy JS processing they do. I stick to native apps as much as I can and I'm thinking about getting a new phone.