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> The cherry on top was to stop paying each year for a new smartphone, that does nothing more than the previous one Why were you buying new phones every year?
by scaladev 6y ago
> The cherry on top was to stop paying each year for a new smartphone, that does nothing more than the previous one
Why were you buying new phones every year? This is such a non-argument. I've been using the same Android phone for almost 7 years. It does everything I want it to do. Sure, I spent a couple of days trimming down the system, and carefully selecting applications (for example, the Google Clock from 2015 weighs about 3 MB and is very fast, while the same application from 2020 is about 30 MB and is extremely slow to start, despite having the same feature set).
- everdrive 6y agoDoes your 7 year old android phone receive security patches?
- Qluxzz 6y agoMaybe I've been lucky here but my Oneplus One (April 2014), now flashed with lineageOS is still receiving updates. Android version: 10. Android security patch level: March 5 2021.
- techrat 6y ago> now flashed with lineageOS Your device is not stock and is, therefore, an exception.
- heavyset_go 6y agoHow old is the kernel?
- Qluxzz 6y agoKernel version: 3.4.113-lineageos-g168ab7a #1 Thu Mar 11 08:34:55 UTC 2021
- techrat 6y agoDoes an Android phone without security patches cease to function? OS security patches are less of a concern for older devices because the majority of the OS was still moved into Google Play Services and as long as the apps are still updated (eg, Chrome), the risk is very low.
- Spooks 6y agoAt least for me, I don't do banking on my phone and my main email is not tied to my phone.
- jjav 6y agoAt the end of the day, that's really the only safe way to use a phone.
- jjav 6y agoMy 14 year old Motorola Razr doesn't receive any security patches. Sad how gadgets become ever more brittle and unreliable as they get newer.
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoThere are only a tiny handful of Android phone models that get security patches after 2–3 years are up, and they are generally rather expensive phones. Sometimes phones are supported for longer by LineageOS, but the LineageOS devs emphasize that they are only a group of hobbyists, they don't work for you, and they can drop support for a phone any time they want (because they e.g. lost their phone of that model, or simply lost interest).
- lotsofpulp 6y agoThat's still not every year though.
- ajyotirmay 6y agoI don't think so
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoIt could be. I have twice been burned by LineageOS. I wanted a deGoogled Android phone, but the only LineageOS-supported models that were available in my region, and which I could afford, had been initially released already 1.5–2 years before. Not only was my new phone soon abandoned by the manufacturer, it was also suddenly dropped by LineageOS after only about a year of my owning it. The prospect of truly long-term support for years and years is one reason I bought a PinePhone and have been keeping track of its development. But sadly the current PinePhone has too ancient and underpowered a CPU to be useful.
- DyslexicAtheist 6y agoguess the reasoning is that there is a lot less attack surface when used in a way where number of apps is reduced to 2-3 (I have such a set-up and for my purpose even an older non-smart motorola flip phone would do the trick). as soon as I want to do video calls at reasonable speeds, it's probably in my interest to have moderately new hardware and chipsets supporting things like beamforming or other things that only more recent hardware can give me. but even here my 8 yro phone does everything I want it to so that argument kicks only in for truly ancient hardware (e.g. LTE support etc)
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y agoNot to mention that if you know people who are constantly upgrading their phones, then you have a supply of free phone upgrades anyway, just a year or two behind everyone else.
- Robotbeat 6y agoI use iPhones (the SE type versions) because they receive updates for like 5 years. Ideally it’d be more like 10 years, but this is still much better than typical Android and WAY better than “once a year.”
- antihero 6y agoYep! New iPhone SE for five years is the way forward. They are powerful enough to use day-to-day with pretty much zero lag, have screens large enough to read comfortably, and have the useful features (Apple Pay) of the pricier phones. The camera is still decent, but I prefer my mirrorless anyway.
- tdsamardzhiev 6y agoPeople are different. Perhaps he tends to go down slippery slopes with this kind of things. I know I do.
- coldtea 6y ago>Why were you buying new phones every year? This is such a non-argument. Many people do. You'd be surprised.
- mikepurvis 6y agoRight, but it's a choice. I still run an iPhone 6, and I really haven't felt limited by it.
- olyjohn 6y agoI miss my iPhone 6. I thought the SE would fill it's shoes, but the lack of headphone jack makes me constantly regretful. I'm shocked by how many people tell me to "Just put a new stereo in your car" or "Upgrade to a Bluetooth receiver" or "Buy new headphones" or "Just carry that shitty adapter around with you all the time..." Not only should I spend $600 on my phone, but I should also apparently upgrade every single audio device that I own so that smart phone makers can save $1 on each phone they sell.
- throwaway07650 6y ago> so that smart phone makers can save $1 on each phone they sell What Apple mentioned in the iphone 7 reveal, which was when they made headlines for removing the jack, was that it is a bulky component that extends quite far into the phone, competing for precious real estate with other components.
- olyjohn 6y agoRight, which makes the phone easier to build and thus saves money. There's no getting around the fact that money is the #1 reason they have started omitting the jack. Apple has no other reason to leave out a feature that adds a convenient redundancy to a common use-case. There's literally no other negative to leave out the jack other than cost.
- 6y ago
- ravenstine 6y agoYou can get excellent quality refurbished(aka renewed) phones for incredibly cheap that are only a year or two behind the current models. I don't think I've ever bought a brand new phone and paid full price. In fact, I only buy a new phone when the battery starts to die and it's not serviceable. I can't honestly say I understand why people believe they need to buy the latest phone every year or two.
- marshmallow_12 6y agoSame with cars. I fail to understand why anyone would spend 20k on a brand new Focus, for example, when for the same money you can get a 5 year old Mercedes c (also an example)
- GloriousKoji 6y agoI'm fairly confident in terms of total cost of ownership and reliability of a new Focus will outlast the 5 year old C class.
- marshmallow_12 6y agoBuy one for 15k. It will still be better and i doubt the difference will come to more than "total cost of ownership". of course it's a bigger car so more expensive to run. so buy a 5yo focus and get the best of both worlds.
- blaser-waffle 6y agoYeah, was my thought too. A 2018 Focus will probably be pretty reliable, still have some parts under warranty, and have a lower TCO than having to insure and repair an older Mercedes.
- NathanielK 6y agoMaybe outside of North America. The automatic transmission had big problems here. Ford tried to game the fuel economy with a cheap unreliable transmission. Unlike other regions which got torque-converted autos and popular manual options, almost all the Foci were sold with a dry Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). This worked on the highway, but around town is was programmed to "crawl" like an automatic, slipping the dry clutch and wearing out very fast. Big class actions happened and now Ford quit selling cars here, only Mustangs and trucks. Some older Mercedes might have a lower TCO than a 2018 focus, but only because the focus is disastrously unreliable.
- heavyset_go 6y ago> Why were you buying new phones every year? This is such a non-argument. I've been using the same Android phone for almost 7 years. Most Android phones run forked kernels, so even if you put LineageOS on them for security updates, they're still stuck on ancient kernels. I have phones with LineageOS on them that will never see a Linux kernel newer than the 3.0 fork the manufacturer released.
- watwut 6y agoYeah, I buy new phone when old breaks or is not sufficient for my needs. No reason to buy more often.
- dredmorbius 6y agoGoogle's target is for three years of OEM support on Android. In practice even that minimal standard is all too frequently not met.