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C’mon, he’s still using a phone from 2016 (which was the low-end model even in 2016), and by his own admission it’s still pretty usable for most things. I thin

C’mon, he’s still using a phone from 2016 (which was the low-end model even in 2016), and by his own admission it’s still pretty usable for most things. I think that’s a pretty good run. All the Android users I know have been through at least 3 or 4 phones in that period. And so have some of the iPhone users who obsessively upgrade every 2 years even though they don’t need to! (Typing this on an iPhone X from 2017…)

popol12 4y ago
It wasn't low end ! It was released with the same flagship SoC that was inside the last iPhone released (iPhone 7)
- JoBrad 4y ago
  The SE has always been the low-end phone, regardless of its internals.
- wruza 4y ago
  Apple doesn’t do a wide spectrum of ends, but SE is a low end, both price and hw-wise. It just doesn’t suck as much as 10%-priced devices android industry can offer, and most downgrades go to cameras, borders, etc. Which is nice, since not everyone is a selfie type.
- eddieroger 4y ago
  It is the cheapest of the phones they offer. It is literally the low end of the range. It has the same chip, but older everything else. It's OK for something to be the low end - it has a market and a purpose. It isn't a slam against the device.
SamBorick 4y ago
The hardware is still working. I think it's reasonable that the software should continue to work until the hardware is physically incapable of booting. An entire industry deciding that hardware "should" only last 6 years is shameful. (Typing this on a macbook pro 2012)
- ryandrake 4y ago
  The problem here is that software appears to be "wearing out" faster than the hardware it's running on, which is utterly ridiculous. Bits don't wear out. Removing backward compatibility is a deliberate decision being made by developers to make their own jobs more comfortable.
- TheHappyOddish 4y ago
  My 486 hardware still boots fine. However developers have moved away from it and the manufacturer no longer supports it. I can run community supported software on it. How is this any different to the phone in question?
joshspankit 4y ago
You wouldn’t argue that a hammer “had a pretty good run” and needed to be replaced if the head detached. Nor a car with a flat tire. Nor a road when a pothole appears. The point I’m making is that when the devices are made there are future issue that are both known and reasonable (battery will wear out, network-based security vulnerabilities will be uncovered, etc), but we all recognize that those can be solved (user-replaceable battery, the ability to selectively block network access, etc). What’s particularly frustrating are the “unreasonable problems”. For example: running photo recognition in the background on a device that does not have the resources to do it without affecting the user. Or gatekeeping old (perfectly functional) applications. Or any of the other cases that are outlined in these threads. In those cases it’s companies intentionally choosing to restrict our ability to use “their” devices and typically because there’s more profit in pushing “their users” to update.
- Reason077 4y ago
  > "You wouldn’t argue that a hammer “had a pretty good run” and needed to be replaced if the head detached." If I'd used that hammer every day for many years and it had finally given out? If re-attaching the head wasn't going to give as good result as buying a new hammer? Sure I would. > "For example: running photo recognition in the background on a device that does not have the resources to do it without affecting the user" Yeah. Apple shouldn't have enabled that by default on older devices, but it can be turned off (Settings -> Siri & Search -> Photos).
  - joshspankit 4y ago
    > If re-attaching the head wasn't going to give as good result as buying a new hammer? The way hammers have been made in the past, you could almost trivially make a new wooden handle and attach the head to it bringing it to just as good as new or even better (if you sourced stronger wood).

popol12 4y ago

It wasn't low end ! It was released with the same flagship SoC that was inside the last iPhone released (iPhone 7)

JoBrad 4y ago
The SE has always been the low-end phone, regardless of its internals.
wruza 4y ago
Apple doesn’t do a wide spectrum of ends, but SE is a low end, both price and hw-wise. It just doesn’t suck as much as 10%-priced devices android industry can offer, and most downgrades go to cameras, borders, etc. Which is nice, since not everyone is a selfie type.
eddieroger 4y ago
It is the cheapest of the phones they offer. It is literally the low end of the range. It has the same chip, but older everything else. It's OK for something to be the low end - it has a market and a purpose. It isn't a slam against the device.

SamBorick 4y ago

The hardware is still working. I think it's reasonable that the software should continue to work until the hardware is physically incapable of booting. An entire industry deciding that hardware "should" only last 6 years is shameful. (Typing this on a macbook pro 2012)

ryandrake 4y ago
The problem here is that software appears to be "wearing out" faster than the hardware it's running on, which is utterly ridiculous. Bits don't wear out. Removing backward compatibility is a deliberate decision being made by developers to make their own jobs more comfortable.
TheHappyOddish 4y ago
My 486 hardware still boots fine. However developers have moved away from it and the manufacturer no longer supports it. I can run community supported software on it. How is this any different to the phone in question?

joshspankit 4y ago

You wouldn’t argue that a hammer “had a pretty good run” and needed to be replaced if the head detached. Nor a car with a flat tire. Nor a road when a pothole appears. The point I’m making is that when the devices are made there are future issue that are both known and reasonable (battery will wear out, network-based security vulnerabilities will be uncovered, etc), but we all recognize that those can be solved (user-replaceable battery, the ability to selectively block network access, etc). What’s particularly frustrating are the “unreasonable problems”. For example: running photo recognition in the background on a device that does not have the resources to do it without affecting the user. Or gatekeeping old (perfectly functional) applications. Or any of the other cases that are outlined in these threads. In those cases it’s companies intentionally choosing to restrict our ability to use “their” devices and typically because there’s more profit in pushing “their users” to update.

Reason077 4y ago
> "You wouldn’t argue that a hammer “had a pretty good run” and needed to be replaced if the head detached." If I'd used that hammer every day for many years and it had finally given out? If re-attaching the head wasn't going to give as good result as buying a new hammer? Sure I would. > "For example: running photo recognition in the background on a device that does not have the resources to do it without affecting the user" Yeah. Apple shouldn't have enabled that by default on older devices, but it can be turned off (Settings -> Siri & Search -> Photos).
- joshspankit 4y ago
  > If re-attaching the head wasn't going to give as good result as buying a new hammer? The way hammers have been made in the past, you could almost trivially make a new wooden handle and attach the head to it bringing it to just as good as new or even better (if you sourced stronger wood).