4 ms·

It's a toy after they stop updating it in a few years and you can no longer run new creative software for no good reason. In my book that makes it a toy today

It's a toy after they stop updating it in a few years and you can no longer run new creative software for no good reason. In my book that makes it a toy today too.

mynameisvlad 2y ago
You’re blasting Apple for their obsolescence? The company that has gone out of their way to support phones and tablets _far_ longer than their competitors? Okay, Jan.
- jraph 2y ago
  On Android, support time is insanely crap. But when Apple support does end, it's game over. I picked up an iPad 2 (from 2011), it's perfectly capable hardware, although a bit slow, but it's only usable for browsing HN and viewing PDFs because one can't upgrade the goddam browser or install an alternative one. Updates ended in 2015, mostly. I could upgrade a One Plus X released in 2015 to Android 7 (Lineage 14.1). An old version, but everything is perfectly usable. Browsers are at their latest versions. Before this, the phone was on stock Android 6, the latest Firefox ran on it. Still bad, because there's no security upgrade, but unofficial builds for the latest versions of Lineage exist on this phone (they will never be official because the goddam kernel can't be upgraded, and newer versions are necessary to support features mandatory for being official, including the way disk encryption is managed). Anyway, phones and tablets are in a sad state overall. They become e-waste way too soon. Android and iOS both have horrible support time. Not more than a few years of updates (with FairPhone probably being the best here, but still a few years). And anything else is pretty much unusable, at least for phones. In comparison, PCs can be upgraded pretty much forever, at least on Linux. Phone constructors are doing this to themselves through lack of standardization and vendor lock in, but I guess they are happy enough with the situation.
  - mynameisvlad 2y ago
    You just compared a tablet from 2011 with a phone from 2015. That's a pretty apples to oranges comparison. How available are Lineage OSes to Android tablets from 2011?
    - jraph 2y ago
      The Samsung Galaxy S II (a phone) released late 2011 had official lineage 14.1. There are unofficial builds of lineage 19 today. That's a particularly good situation, I don't really know how was Android back then, but in any case Android still allowed installing alternative browsers, allowing devices to be useful long after updates stopped. Firefox was still installable on android 4.4 recently enough. So there's that. But again, that's still just bad either way, I expect better from hardware. 4 years is awfully short and I don't quite care if Android was better or worse. Apple controls everything, how come it was only capable of 4 years of updates? It's unacceptable, and the usual two or three years of updates on stock Android too, of course.
- Zambyte 2y ago
  Yes, I am blasting Apple for locking down the machines they sell such that no one can "support" them besides themselves.
alephnerd 2y ago
> It's a toy after they stop updating it in a few years and you can no longer run new creative software for no good reason. My Mom who's a teacher is still using a 2017 iPad Air as a daily driver for most usecases (eg. Google Classroom, Netflix, Textbooks).
- Zambyte 2y ago
  I use a laptop that has a factory Windows Vista sticker on it. I don't find that noteworthy.
theshrike79 2y ago
After a few years? Are you sure you're not talking about Android tablets? You easily get 5-6 years of full OS updates, not just security patches, on all iOS/iPadOS devices.
- Zambyte 2y ago
  And then what?
macintux 2y ago
My iPad Pro turns 6 this year and still runs the latest operating system.
- Zambyte 2y ago
  My Dell Insprion turns ~15 this year and still runs the latest operating systems.
  - wglb 2y ago
    My intel Atom D2500 1.86 ghz still runs the latest Open BSD.
  - theshrike79 2y ago
    I'm kinda doubtful it can run Windows 11 tho.
    - Zambyte 2y ago
      Me too. Luckily I have other options.

It's a toy after they stop updating it in a few years and you can no longer run new creative software for no good reason. In my book that makes it a toy today too.

mynameisvlad 2y ago

You’re blasting Apple for their obsolescence? The company that has gone out of their way to support phones and tablets _far_ longer than their competitors? Okay, Jan.

jraph 2y ago
On Android, support time is insanely crap. But when Apple support does end, it's game over. I picked up an iPad 2 (from 2011), it's perfectly capable hardware, although a bit slow, but it's only usable for browsing HN and viewing PDFs because one can't upgrade the goddam browser or install an alternative one. Updates ended in 2015, mostly. I could upgrade a One Plus X released in 2015 to Android 7 (Lineage 14.1). An old version, but everything is perfectly usable. Browsers are at their latest versions. Before this, the phone was on stock Android 6, the latest Firefox ran on it. Still bad, because there's no security upgrade, but unofficial builds for the latest versions of Lineage exist on this phone (they will never be official because the goddam kernel can't be upgraded, and newer versions are necessary to support features mandatory for being official, including the way disk encryption is managed). Anyway, phones and tablets are in a sad state overall. They become e-waste way too soon. Android and iOS both have horrible support time. Not more than a few years of updates (with FairPhone probably being the best here, but still a few years). And anything else is pretty much unusable, at least for phones. In comparison, PCs can be upgraded pretty much forever, at least on Linux. Phone constructors are doing this to themselves through lack of standardization and vendor lock in, but I guess they are happy enough with the situation.
- mynameisvlad 2y ago
  You just compared a tablet from 2011 with a phone from 2015. That's a pretty apples to oranges comparison. How available are Lineage OSes to Android tablets from 2011?
  - jraph 2y ago
    The Samsung Galaxy S II (a phone) released late 2011 had official lineage 14.1. There are unofficial builds of lineage 19 today. That's a particularly good situation, I don't really know how was Android back then, but in any case Android still allowed installing alternative browsers, allowing devices to be useful long after updates stopped. Firefox was still installable on android 4.4 recently enough. So there's that. But again, that's still just bad either way, I expect better from hardware. 4 years is awfully short and I don't quite care if Android was better or worse. Apple controls everything, how come it was only capable of 4 years of updates? It's unacceptable, and the usual two or three years of updates on stock Android too, of course.
Zambyte 2y ago
Yes, I am blasting Apple for locking down the machines they sell such that no one can "support" them besides themselves.

alephnerd 2y ago

> It's a toy after they stop updating it in a few years and you can no longer run new creative software for no good reason. My Mom who's a teacher is still using a 2017 iPad Air as a daily driver for most usecases (eg. Google Classroom, Netflix, Textbooks).

Zambyte 2y ago
I use a laptop that has a factory Windows Vista sticker on it. I don't find that noteworthy.

theshrike79 2y ago

After a few years? Are you sure you're not talking about Android tablets? You easily get 5-6 years of full OS updates, not just security patches, on all iOS/iPadOS devices.

Zambyte 2y ago
And then what?

macintux 2y ago

My iPad Pro turns 6 this year and still runs the latest operating system.

Zambyte 2y ago
My Dell Insprion turns ~15 this year and still runs the latest operating systems.
- wglb 2y ago
  My intel Atom D2500 1.86 ghz still runs the latest Open BSD.
- theshrike79 2y ago
  I'm kinda doubtful it can run Windows 11 tho.
  - Zambyte 2y ago
    Me too. Luckily I have other options.