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Planned obsolescence by bricking old hardware?

jfrunyon 5y ago
Really? You're going to suggest that Google is the worse perpetrator of planned obsolescence when Apple still slows down phones and uses their flawed design as a scapegoat (and originally did it secretly and lied about it)? Okiedoke. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724
- SilverRed 5y ago
  They slowed down phones to prevent them from crashing on peak voltage. If you remember the android scene around the same time, the Nexus 6P would just crash constantly when the battery got degraded. If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash. Of course this should have been more visible to notify the user to get a battery replacement. Which it now is and there is a full battery health page. It was also never really secret or lied about. There was a mention in the change logs that no one reads.
  - rzzzt 5y ago
    > If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash. Certainly the average user would choose "no crash _and_ not get slower", conveniently ignoring the either-or nature of the question. (Maybe "get less battery life out of a single charge" if they are trying to come up with an alternative.)
    - foxpurple 5y ago
      That’s not an option. It’s not that the battery was flat. It’s that when the CPU hit peak power consumption the voltage of the battery would drop low enough to cause the CPU to fail. The only option is to limit power draw or to crash.
      - jfrunyon 5y ago
        No, actually, it IS that the battery was flat, and it IS an option. Apple chose to use a battery which was not durable enough for the requirements imposed upon it by their design. I'm not sure why you think that they couldn't have avoided it like LITERALLY EVERY OTHER PHONE MANUFACTURER (including themselves at one time).
        rzzzt 5y ago
        I was thinking whether this problem could be alleviated by building in extra capacitors as a reserve for transient high current consumption.
        foxpurple 5y ago
        At the time android phones were suffering the same problem. The nexus 6p would randomly crash at 30% charge.
  - jfrunyon 5y ago
    > If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash. No. If you asked the average user if they would rather their phone have the speed decreased, or have a slightly thicker battery (and thus phone), they would all rather it be slightly thicker.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  > You're going to suggest that Google is the worse perpetrator of planned obsolescence Yes. The big problem was the deception, not the slowing. If they wanted to remove the speed difference between new and old phones, they'd have to slow them all down. And especially because you can get a new battery, I find updates getting cut off so soon with android to be significantly worse than anything apple does.
  - jfrunyon 5y ago
    No, the deception was what got them fined. However, why do you think they chose to go with the deception, knowing that they were risking fines? Oh, right, it's because the slowing definitely would've been a problem if they had disclosed it up-front. And you can't get a new battery, by the way. Apple's batteries are not designed to be replaced, remember?
    - Dylan16807 5y ago
      > Oh, right, it's because the slowing definitely would've been a problem if they had disclosed it up-front. If they made the turbo a bit less aggressive, so slowdowns happened on fewer phones, and made it say "your battery is failing so the phone can't reach peak speed reliably", it wouldn't have been a big problem. Batteries can only put out so many watts as they age, and apple didn't cause that to spite people into having to buy new products. > And you can't get a new battery, by the way. Apple's batteries are not designed to be replaced, remember? I see that as a separate issue.

Really? You're going to suggest that Google is the worse perpetrator of planned obsolescence when Apple still slows down phones and uses their flawed design as a scapegoat (and originally did it secretly and lied about it)? Okiedoke. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724

SilverRed 5y ago
They slowed down phones to prevent them from crashing on peak voltage. If you remember the android scene around the same time, the Nexus 6P would just crash constantly when the battery got degraded. If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash. Of course this should have been more visible to notify the user to get a battery replacement. Which it now is and there is a full battery health page. It was also never really secret or lied about. There was a mention in the change logs that no one reads.
- rzzzt 5y ago
  > If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash. Certainly the average user would choose "no crash _and_ not get slower", conveniently ignoring the either-or nature of the question. (Maybe "get less battery life out of a single charge" if they are trying to come up with an alternative.)
  - foxpurple 5y ago
    That’s not an option. It’s not that the battery was flat. It’s that when the CPU hit peak power consumption the voltage of the battery would drop low enough to cause the CPU to fail. The only option is to limit power draw or to crash.
    - jfrunyon 5y ago
      No, actually, it IS that the battery was flat, and it IS an option. Apple chose to use a battery which was not durable enough for the requirements imposed upon it by their design. I'm not sure why you think that they couldn't have avoided it like LITERALLY EVERY OTHER PHONE MANUFACTURER (including themselves at one time).
      - rzzzt 5y ago
        I was thinking whether this problem could be alleviated by building in extra capacitors as a reserve for transient high current consumption.
      - foxpurple 5y ago
        At the time android phones were suffering the same problem. The nexus 6p would randomly crash at 30% charge.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  > If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash. No. If you asked the average user if they would rather their phone have the speed decreased, or have a slightly thicker battery (and thus phone), they would all rather it be slightly thicker.
Dylan16807 5y ago
> You're going to suggest that Google is the worse perpetrator of planned obsolescence Yes. The big problem was the deception, not the slowing. If they wanted to remove the speed difference between new and old phones, they'd have to slow them all down. And especially because you can get a new battery, I find updates getting cut off so soon with android to be significantly worse than anything apple does.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  No, the deception was what got them fined. However, why do you think they chose to go with the deception, knowing that they were risking fines? Oh, right, it's because the slowing definitely would've been a problem if they had disclosed it up-front. And you can't get a new battery, by the way. Apple's batteries are not designed to be replaced, remember?
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    > Oh, right, it's because the slowing definitely would've been a problem if they had disclosed it up-front. If they made the turbo a bit less aggressive, so slowdowns happened on fewer phones, and made it say "your battery is failing so the phone can't reach peak speed reliably", it wouldn't have been a big problem. Batteries can only put out so many watts as they age, and apple didn't cause that to spite people into having to buy new products. > And you can't get a new battery, by the way. Apple's batteries are not designed to be replaced, remember? I see that as a separate issue.