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There is no need to buy the flagship phone every year or every two years. I can understand it if they cannot afford it, but anyone who’s into technology and can
by AnonC 6y ago
There is no need to buy the flagship phone every year or every two years. I can understand it if they cannot afford it, but anyone who’s into technology and can afford should make sure they have the latest software updates. They should also educate others about the importance of timely updates.
If you buy an iPhone on launch, you get five or six years of software updates.
I can only pity the people using their Android phones way past any hopes for software updates and being vulnerable to issues (security, software and hardware). I’m referring to most of the Android phones that don’t see updates after a year and all Android phones that don’t see updates after three years from launch. Pressuring Google or OEMs to provide software updates for longer hadn’t worked well, and Google is still slow on improving it.
- ISL 6y agoThe security issue is a growing systemic problem. The hardware is fine, but the vendors no longer support it. We are going to need a new revenue model or open-source paradigm to come to the forefront. The community approach is improving, but doesn't yet come close to the level of support one finds for Debian on the desktop.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago> There is no need to buy the flagship phone every year or every two years. I can understand it if they cannot afford it, but anyone who’s into technology and can afford should make sure they have the latest software updates. They should also educate others about the importance of timely updates. This is certainly not going to happen. When you get a new phone, there are only three ways it can hurt you: (1) costing money; (2) being the wrong shape; (3) having the latest software updates. But getting the latest software updates is guaranteed to hurt you in way #3. If you update your software, a lot of it will stop working. Unsurprisingly, people have noticed this.
- TavsiE9s 6y agoNot trying to troll or anything, legitimately curious if that's the experience Android users have to deal with.
- RHSeeger 6y agoAs do iphone users, though it's less frequent for iphones because there's less variety in the hardware/system (so can be more thoroughly tested before release).
- fishtacos 6y agoI have no idea what OP is on about. If we're talking firmware updates, I've yet to have software stop working after a system update or upgrade. There have been random crashes that 9/10 times clear up on their own after a couple of reboots, or needed to clear cached data and resumed working afterwards, but no show stoppers and certainly no software incompatibilities after the update was applied. My most recent OS upgrade was on an LG phone with stock firmware (upgraded from Android 8 to 9). Flawless process, and this is on a phone that's gone several other updates and upgrades (biggest one was 8 to 8.1 as I recall) and has been in constant use for 2 years. Been an Android user since the Google Nexus One, which I got on release day as I recall. Weirdly enough, it's the LED trackball I miss the most.
- input_sh 6y agoAnecdotal of course, but so far I've gone through I'd say 6-7 major Android version upgrades with no issues. Switched from Nexus 5X to Android One phones (AKA stock Android experience, like Pixel but without its camera software), so I've gone through more major upgrades than most Android users. Next one is going to be a difficult decision, since it seems like one or two Android One phones were released in the last year or so. That doesn't make me optimistic about the Android One line, but I have close to two years before I have to worry about that.
- pavel_lishin 6y agoThe latest Android update is causing my Pixel2 some pretty significant QoL issues. I can no longer set certain apps or contacts to break through Do Not Disturb mode, and I can no longer reliably get to the top or bottom bars in full-screen apps. I would rather take the risk of security, software and hardware issues than deal with this every day; I need to figure out how to downgrade. Yes, it's important for users to update software. But it's also rather important for software to not break end user's products! I can completely understand why people avoid updates.
- BrianOnHN 6y agoWhat security issues am I facing by using a Note 5?
- AnonC 6y agoAll the issues unpatched since Android 7 (which Wikipedia says is the latest version for Note 5). Your phone is about four major software releases behind from the current one. If your question is what harm you have suffered or would suffer, that’s like asking what’s happen if you didn’t wear seat belts for just one week or a month and still drive at high speeds. One can also make up other analogies related to safety.
- pavel_lishin 6y agoIf we're going with the seatbelt analogy, the most recent update now requires me to use my car key to lock and unlock the seatbelt, and prevents me from using the radio when the seatbelt is engaged. And given that the dangers aren't comparable, I would love to just opt out and continue using my old, possibly less safe, seatbelts.
- carschno 6y agoNote that your "seatbelts" are no longer safe to use after two years. If you refuse to buy a new car then, it's your fault if someone gets hurt!
- pavel_lishin 6y agoI surely wish I could buy new seatbelts without also having that update break how my radio works, and prevent my windows from rolling down.
- _jal 6y agoI hear you. There are systemic negative incentives. Bug fixes don't generate revenue, except in very indirect ways; making old hand sets annoying coerces hardware purchases. If you're a low-margin handset maker, that's a combination that suggests an obvious course of action.
- rdtwo 6y agoI reject every apple update I can. Besides security they add a whole bunch more tracking shit post corona that I absolutely don’t want.
- solarkraft 6y agoOEM software is proprietary and almost always crappy anyway. Luckily there are independent builds of Android (with varying degrees of customization) for lots of phones. For a good overview over which models are supported check out which phones LineageOS supports officially: https://download.lineageos.org/ https://download.lineageos.org/ (for more intensive research on a specific phone check out its XDA forum). These devices are typically updated as long as someone cares about doing it. The Nexus 5 (released in 2013) is still receiving the most current versions of Android.
- GoToRO 6y agoI got updates on samsung just fine and in fact more updates after 2-3 years. Also the updates were more visible (UX changes).
- hesarenu 6y agoI am yet to see Android vulnerability in the wild. This in India where everyone is on android and many using years old mobile. Compared to frequently viruses on windows machines. So are these devices hacked and the users do not know them? What area indications to know your device is hacked?
- nullc 6y agoPerhaps it's like Linux on the playstation 2: During the time when sony enabled users to install Linux no one cracked the security. As soon as sony blocked linux, people cracked the security to restore it (and also copy the games...). So long as the malware is coming from inside the playstore there isn't as much reason to exploit the vulnerable software...