5 ms·

It is still end of life after 3 years.

by acover 9y ago

agumonkey 9y ago
Too short IMO, I personally would value having a 5yo device still useful, above that I can accept limitations in terms of new; below it's just pushing for renewal for no reason.
- ProAm 9y ago
  Batteries don't last that long still, last I heard you get about 1000 charges before you need to do serious maintenance to a phone, in which case you'll probably want the latest and greatest anyhow.
  - agumonkey 9y ago
    I don't know, most of my phones are 4 years old and battery life is ok.
  - icebraining 9y ago
    in which case you'll probably want the latest and greatest anyhow. Why, if it still works fine? //Nexus 7 (2012) user here
    - agumonkey 9y ago
      Oh and btw, it's very possible that speed is a software issue. Latest gmail app update tweaked a few things in how mailboxes are loaded and it's way snappier. I have a moto g3 quadcore and 1G(maybe 2G)RAM. I cannot reason about slow performance for non gaming / pixel heavy stuff.
  - soperj 9y ago
    I'm still using a Galaxy S3(2012) with no battery problems. I use it every day, and I don't even plug it in every night.
    - mixedCase 9y ago
      Amen to that. I just took this screenshot using an extended battery on my S3: https://i.imgur.com/9dnRrA0.jpg https://i.imgur.com/9dnRrA0.jpg When I bought the extended battery kit it lasted from 3-5 days. 3 major Android releases later it is rivaling some dumbphones. Not having to worry ever about battery life has been life-changing and I'm not going back.
  - Symbiote 9y ago
    I just paid someone to replace the battery in my Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, which is 3 years old this week. It still works fine, although I do use Firefox with ad-blocking extensions. I doubt I'll need to replace it for at least another year.
  - goialoq 9y ago
    But when the latest is NOT the greatest, I don't want the latest.
  - disconnected 9y ago
    Anecdotal, but I have an Asus EEE from aeons ago (2010, I think?) that still has about 60%-70% battery health, which is not bad, considering that this little guy was brutally abused throughout its existence (it was my main PC in University). I also have a first generation Moto G (~2014) and an app I have here (OS Monitor) reports 70% battery health. In practical terms, the battery lasts a day of normal usage. On the other hand, I have a ~2 year old Toshiba, and Linux here is reporting 0% battery health and a "last full capacity" of 0 mAh. If I unplug it, it goes under in 5-10 minutes (factory battery life was about 2:30 hours). I read that the biggest battery killer is heat, not charge/discharge cycles. Regardless, and if I am not mistaken, that figure of 1000 charge cycles is for cycles of 100% discharge (or as close as you can get before the protection circuits cut in) followed by 100% charge. This rarely happens in the "real world" and thus that figure will probably be much higher when adjusted for real world conditions.
  - nradov 9y ago
    This is just another example of consumer hostile planned obsolescence. Rechargeable batteries are consumables. Most cell phones used to have removable batteries so when it wouldn't hold a charge any more you could easily replace. Now most phones have integrated batteries which can only be replaced with an expensive and inconvenient visit to a repair center.
    - Thorncorona 9y ago
      You're niche. Most people don't care as long as their phone is fast and they can use their phone all day. By the time a phone's battery becomes unusably short (my iPhone 4s still holds a charge for about a full day), most people agree their phone is ready for replacement.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- abawany 9y ago
  I agree. I am currently using my 2011/12 vintage Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (albeit as a play phone) with Lineage OS (Android 7.x) and it works pretty good. Batteries are getting harder to find but still available. It works great.
  - remir 9y ago
    The simple fact that we have to rely on volunteers to have a recent OS on our phone shows how problematic updates are on Android. Hopefully Project Treble will make the lives of Lineage devs easier.
    - abawany 9y ago
      You have a good point. I am very grateful to Cyanogenmod and Lineage OS and contribute what I can - it really puts the vendor junkware with its non-removable bloatware to shame. I once wrote a giant rant on XDA Developers after spending a long night debugging a Nook HD+ tablet and its highly-obnoxious habit of reinstalling uninstalled bloatware on a reboot. (Off-topic) I still prefer Android with its volunteer ecosystem due to the freedom it offers me with respect to my devices. I have tried to switch to iOS a couple of times due to my perception of their stronger privacy policies but my use cases, which I have been familiar with since the days of Palm, are incompatible with non-rooted iOS use models.
Grazester 9y ago
I really wonder if this is as long as Qualcomm guarantee's they update their binary blobs for compatibility with future Android updates.

It is still end of life after 3 years.

by acover 9y ago

It is still end of life after 3 years.

Too short IMO, I personally would value having a 5yo device still useful, above that I can accept limitations in terms of new; below it's just pushing for renewal for no reason.

ProAm 9y ago
Batteries don't last that long still, last I heard you get about 1000 charges before you need to do serious maintenance to a phone, in which case you'll probably want the latest and greatest anyhow.
- agumonkey 9y ago
  I don't know, most of my phones are 4 years old and battery life is ok.
- icebraining 9y ago
  in which case you'll probably want the latest and greatest anyhow. Why, if it still works fine? //Nexus 7 (2012) user here
  - agumonkey 9y ago
    Oh and btw, it's very possible that speed is a software issue. Latest gmail app update tweaked a few things in how mailboxes are loaded and it's way snappier. I have a moto g3 quadcore and 1G(maybe 2G)RAM. I cannot reason about slow performance for non gaming / pixel heavy stuff.
- soperj 9y ago
  I'm still using a Galaxy S3(2012) with no battery problems. I use it every day, and I don't even plug it in every night.
  - mixedCase 9y ago
    Amen to that. I just took this screenshot using an extended battery on my S3: https://i.imgur.com/9dnRrA0.jpg https://i.imgur.com/9dnRrA0.jpg When I bought the extended battery kit it lasted from 3-5 days. 3 major Android releases later it is rivaling some dumbphones. Not having to worry ever about battery life has been life-changing and I'm not going back.
- Symbiote 9y ago
  I just paid someone to replace the battery in my Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, which is 3 years old this week. It still works fine, although I do use Firefox with ad-blocking extensions. I doubt I'll need to replace it for at least another year.
- goialoq 9y ago
  But when the latest is NOT the greatest, I don't want the latest.
- disconnected 9y ago
  Anecdotal, but I have an Asus EEE from aeons ago (2010, I think?) that still has about 60%-70% battery health, which is not bad, considering that this little guy was brutally abused throughout its existence (it was my main PC in University). I also have a first generation Moto G (~2014) and an app I have here (OS Monitor) reports 70% battery health. In practical terms, the battery lasts a day of normal usage. On the other hand, I have a ~2 year old Toshiba, and Linux here is reporting 0% battery health and a "last full capacity" of 0 mAh. If I unplug it, it goes under in 5-10 minutes (factory battery life was about 2:30 hours). I read that the biggest battery killer is heat, not charge/discharge cycles. Regardless, and if I am not mistaken, that figure of 1000 charge cycles is for cycles of 100% discharge (or as close as you can get before the protection circuits cut in) followed by 100% charge. This rarely happens in the "real world" and thus that figure will probably be much higher when adjusted for real world conditions.
- nradov 9y ago
  This is just another example of consumer hostile planned obsolescence. Rechargeable batteries are consumables. Most cell phones used to have removable batteries so when it wouldn't hold a charge any more you could easily replace. Now most phones have integrated batteries which can only be replaced with an expensive and inconvenient visit to a repair center.
  - Thorncorona 9y ago
    You're niche. Most people don't care as long as their phone is fast and they can use their phone all day. By the time a phone's battery becomes unusably short (my iPhone 4s still holds a charge for about a full day), most people agree their phone is ready for replacement.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
abawany 9y ago
I agree. I am currently using my 2011/12 vintage Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (albeit as a play phone) with Lineage OS (Android 7.x) and it works pretty good. Batteries are getting harder to find but still available. It works great.
- remir 9y ago
  The simple fact that we have to rely on volunteers to have a recent OS on our phone shows how problematic updates are on Android. Hopefully Project Treble will make the lives of Lineage devs easier.
  - abawany 9y ago
    You have a good point. I am very grateful to Cyanogenmod and Lineage OS and contribute what I can - it really puts the vendor junkware with its non-removable bloatware to shame. I once wrote a giant rant on XDA Developers after spending a long night debugging a Nook HD+ tablet and its highly-obnoxious habit of reinstalling uninstalled bloatware on a reboot. (Off-topic) I still prefer Android with its volunteer ecosystem due to the freedom it offers me with respect to my devices. I have tried to switch to iOS a couple of times due to my perception of their stronger privacy policies but my use cases, which I have been familiar with since the days of Palm, are incompatible with non-rooted iOS use models.

Grazester 9y ago

I really wonder if this is as long as Qualcomm guarantee's they update their binary blobs for compatibility with future Android updates.