7 ms·

I'm more concerned about older mobile browsers. Almost everyone can install firefox/chrome on older PC's, but plenty are still running old android or non androi

I'm more concerned about older mobile browsers. Almost everyone can install firefox/chrome on older PC's, but plenty are still running old android or non android phones as their only means of a 'computer'.

Red_Leaves_Flyy 5y ago
I've got a couple old android devices that won't even load most websites these days. Hell, the play store doesn't even work anymore. It's similar on old apple devices, but not quite as bad.
- waheoo 5y ago
  This is such an utter failing of the ecosystem. It's why I call out bullshit whenever I hear Android is Linux.
  - throwaways885 5y ago
    Android is Linux, even if it doesn't follow the philosophy of your favourite Linux distributions. Maybe RMS had a point when suggesting people call it GNU/Linux. Maybe Android/Linux?
    - Kye 5y ago
      It's more like Google Play Services/Linux these days.
      - gtk40 5y ago
        Yes, it's a very different experience running Android with Amazon's setup on a Fire Device than on with Google Play Services, even if it's binary compatible.
    - yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
      Yep: GNU/Linux is very different from busybox/Linux is still different from Android/Linux, because the userland is (often) more important than the kernel; a user of Debian GNU/Linux has more in common with GNU/kFreeBSD than Android/Linux.
  - Red_Leaves_Flyy 5y ago
    It's also a symptom of a wasteful greed driven system. By abandoning old hardware the industry at large can quietly force people into 'regular' upgrade cycles. That's two years for their ideal consumers who trade in their old phones and get the latest. At most it's like 6-8 years before the hardware is simply too old to possibly keep running. Many frugal people run a cycle or two behind, eg they're on iPhones (or model year equivalents) 8-11 currently depending on their cycle timeline. There's no way out of the cycle. I had a few coworkers get dropped by their cell providers over the last few years as the carriers dropped support for cell phones they bought in the 20xxs. Essentially this planned obsolescence is manufactured consent in the population wide crowd funding of cellular technologies by for profit (mainly public) companies providing essential communication services. I'll leave the moralizing of this to philosophers, but all these dynamics and their externalities undeniably bear further scrutiny.
    - userbinator 5y ago
      The way to get out of the cycle is to push back with great force. Unfortunately people are too easily swayed by propaganda.
gruez 5y ago
don't androids use chrome by default, which can be updated through the play store?
- zild3d 5y ago
  think it depends on the manufacturer. Samsung ships with their own (chromium) browser
- ccouzens 5y ago
  Chrome requires android 7 (about 5 years old). Firefox requires android 5 (about 7 years old). Very old phones don't get browser updates. https://m.apkpure.com/google-chrome-fast-secure/com.android.chrome https://m.apkpure.com/google-chrome-fast-secure/com.android.... https://m.apkpure.com/firefox-browser-fast-private-safe-web-browser/org.mozilla.firefox https://m.apkpure.com/firefox-browser-fast-private-safe-web-...
  - skissane 5y ago
    How many people use 5+ or 7+ year old phones? I’m sure they exist somewhere but I don’t know any of them. It isn’t hard to get a 2-3 year old phone for free. A lot of people buy a new phone every 2-3 years and many of those people will be happy to give away their old phone if someone they know needs one
    - petschge 5y ago
      I do. Because I live in an area where I need to use CDMA. Sure, there is a couple of spots in town that have other cell phone networks as well, but in a lot of spots and basically all buildings you need to use Verizon (or one of the resellers) or be without a cell signal. And sure they have LTE as well, but AFAIK the initial connection to the network is always over CDMA. And except for google maps (that freezes my phone for minutes, but is easily replaced by Osmand) and the banking app for one of my banks (I'd probably use that once a year to deposit a check because THAT technology is also not dead yet), there is nothing that doesn't work well on my Android 6 Samsung J1 Luna.
    - 5y ago
luke2m 5y ago
It’s usually a certificate issue: if you install Firefox things should mostly work.
rk06 5y ago
Edge is also available on android. I don't know if it supports older android versions though
breakfastduck 5y ago
Not an issue for enterprise though, really.
tanaypingalkar 5y ago
yes , i also use a old phone which is probably 5 year old which only supports 1 of 10 websites. The chrome crashes all the times that is why i always use pc. The mobile phone market is growing quickly and we have to updates every month. Even window's needs to update montly. But still there are lot of people who wont buy new phone's every year but smartphone brands will never understand.

Red_Leaves_Flyy 5y ago

I've got a couple old android devices that won't even load most websites these days. Hell, the play store doesn't even work anymore. It's similar on old apple devices, but not quite as bad.

waheoo 5y ago
This is such an utter failing of the ecosystem. It's why I call out bullshit whenever I hear Android is Linux.
- throwaways885 5y ago
  Android is Linux, even if it doesn't follow the philosophy of your favourite Linux distributions. Maybe RMS had a point when suggesting people call it GNU/Linux. Maybe Android/Linux?
  - Kye 5y ago
    It's more like Google Play Services/Linux these days.
    - gtk40 5y ago
      Yes, it's a very different experience running Android with Amazon's setup on a Fire Device than on with Google Play Services, even if it's binary compatible.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
    Yep: GNU/Linux is very different from busybox/Linux is still different from Android/Linux, because the userland is (often) more important than the kernel; a user of Debian GNU/Linux has more in common with GNU/kFreeBSD than Android/Linux.
- Red_Leaves_Flyy 5y ago
  It's also a symptom of a wasteful greed driven system. By abandoning old hardware the industry at large can quietly force people into 'regular' upgrade cycles. That's two years for their ideal consumers who trade in their old phones and get the latest. At most it's like 6-8 years before the hardware is simply too old to possibly keep running. Many frugal people run a cycle or two behind, eg they're on iPhones (or model year equivalents) 8-11 currently depending on their cycle timeline. There's no way out of the cycle. I had a few coworkers get dropped by their cell providers over the last few years as the carriers dropped support for cell phones they bought in the 20xxs. Essentially this planned obsolescence is manufactured consent in the population wide crowd funding of cellular technologies by for profit (mainly public) companies providing essential communication services. I'll leave the moralizing of this to philosophers, but all these dynamics and their externalities undeniably bear further scrutiny.
  - userbinator 5y ago
    The way to get out of the cycle is to push back with great force. Unfortunately people are too easily swayed by propaganda.

gruez 5y ago

don't androids use chrome by default, which can be updated through the play store?

zild3d 5y ago
think it depends on the manufacturer. Samsung ships with their own (chromium) browser
ccouzens 5y ago
Chrome requires android 7 (about 5 years old). Firefox requires android 5 (about 7 years old). Very old phones don't get browser updates. https://m.apkpure.com/google-chrome-fast-secure/com.android.chrome https://m.apkpure.com/google-chrome-fast-secure/com.android.... https://m.apkpure.com/firefox-browser-fast-private-safe-web-browser/org.mozilla.firefox https://m.apkpure.com/firefox-browser-fast-private-safe-web-...
- skissane 5y ago
  How many people use 5+ or 7+ year old phones? I’m sure they exist somewhere but I don’t know any of them. It isn’t hard to get a 2-3 year old phone for free. A lot of people buy a new phone every 2-3 years and many of those people will be happy to give away their old phone if someone they know needs one
  - petschge 5y ago
    I do. Because I live in an area where I need to use CDMA. Sure, there is a couple of spots in town that have other cell phone networks as well, but in a lot of spots and basically all buildings you need to use Verizon (or one of the resellers) or be without a cell signal. And sure they have LTE as well, but AFAIK the initial connection to the network is always over CDMA. And except for google maps (that freezes my phone for minutes, but is easily replaced by Osmand) and the banking app for one of my banks (I'd probably use that once a year to deposit a check because THAT technology is also not dead yet), there is nothing that doesn't work well on my Android 6 Samsung J1 Luna.
  - 5y ago

luke2m 5y ago

It’s usually a certificate issue: if you install Firefox things should mostly work.

rk06 5y ago

Edge is also available on android. I don't know if it supports older android versions though

breakfastduck 5y ago

Not an issue for enterprise though, really.

tanaypingalkar 5y ago

yes , i also use a old phone which is probably 5 year old which only supports 1 of 10 websites. The chrome crashes all the times that is why i always use pc. The mobile phone market is growing quickly and we have to updates every month. Even window's needs to update montly. But still there are lot of people who wont buy new phone's every year but smartphone brands will never understand.