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I don’t want a new phone, but I’m probably buying one

kooslooijesteijn.net

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Re: I don’t want a new phone, but I’m probably buying one

#71

Post by graderjs »

Maybe one day there will be AI-optimized "emulation" apps that work on older hardware, but emulate newer hardware, making intelligent code path optimizations / branch prediction, etc with the help of AI-generated bytecode that lets you not have to upgrade your hardware, you just upgrade the emulator you use to run apps supposedly only supported on newer hardware.

Also, whenever I hear "you're making me"--I instantly think of those Hollywood action/thriller movies, where in the climax, the villain often says, "You're making me do this" or something to that effect--and instantly distrust the speaker!

Re: I don’t want a new phone, but I’m probably buying one

#74

Post by Reason077 »

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…)

Re: I don’t want a new phone, but I’m probably buying one

#76

Post by Cthulhu_ »

> 2. Some apps get reset when I’m trying to multitask

This is an issue I've been having too (iphone XR), since this didn't use to be the case and the apps I use aren't significantly different from the ones I used a few years ago, it makes me think this is some kind of forced obsolescence or an OS bug. It also highlights that many apps don't implement a suspend very well.

Re: I don’t want a new phone, but I’m probably buying one

#77

Post by serf »

terhechte wrote: post #8

If they want to use an old phone, they can just stop updating their apps and not installing new apps. I still own a iPad 3 with the same, old, software stack from 2013. It still works, I can do things. I just don't expect todays developers to make a herculean effort so that I can run their apps on my old device. It is not just the overhead of supporting multiple different OS versions with different technologies, it i…

> I just don't expect todays developers to make a herculean effort

that isn't supposed to be a herculean effort -- if it is then you should question those that provide the software stack, and question why you're beholden to those decision-makers.

Re: I don’t want a new phone, but I’m probably buying one

#78

Post by jclardy »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #63
wiredfool wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ipad Mini2 owner here. Twitter doesn't work. Their app now shows _maybe_ 5% of tweets that my logged in user does. Safari is slow as crap on the website. Google voice still rings and shows notifications, but can't function because no updates are available and something in the api is broken. A non-zero number of sites show no-css warnings or just crash because it's an old JS interpreter. (HN though -- it's still rocki…

> The replacement is an 800eur ipad, because it's now effectively a pro model rather than the cheap one, and I'm not sure I can justify that. I find this hard to believe. A $300 iPad mini 2 from 2015 is comparable in specs to an 800 Euro 2023 iPad Pro? Edit: Actually, you can compare them directly on Apple’s website: https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-mini-2,ip... Even the current iPad mini (6th gen)…

That's because it isn't true, the replacement is the $599 iPad Mini 6 which is in a completely different class of tablet. Even the $300 iPad would outclass it by a mile.

Mini 6 has regularly been on sale for $499 as well since it is now long in the tooth already.

Re: I don’t want a new phone, but I’m probably buying one

#79

Post by medstrom »

londons_explore wrote: post #39
medstrom wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one thing if you already have the app and just stop updating it. My experience with the iOS App Store has been that if you only just now heard of the app and your phone's too old, you can't even download the version that works for your phone. That is what ends up forcing an upgrade. That people's phones can't run the newest version of an app, and aren't allowed to get an old version as a substitute.

Apple has every incentive to make sure old devices become unusable. It pushes people to buy new devices. The effect may be indirect - someone in a poor country with a 6 year old iDevice finds it becomes unusable, so they want to buy a 3 year old iDevice... And they're buying that from someone who has a 3 year old iDevice who sees that for not a lot of extra money they can buy the newest one.

It's not just an issue of poverty, as if only poor countries have to contend with old phones. In rich countries, there's still an issue of valuation. I have money, but I don't value phones that highly. Just like I could buy a $100 ice cream if I wanted to, but I don't value ice cream that highly.

Re: I don’t want a new phone, but I’m probably buying one

#80

Post by vanilla_nut »

terhechte wrote: post #8

If they want to use an old phone, they can just stop updating their apps and not installing new apps. I still own a iPad 3 with the same, old, software stack from 2013. It still works, I can do things. I just don't expect todays developers to make a herculean effort so that I can run their apps on my old device. It is not just the overhead of supporting multiple different OS versions with different technologies, it i…

No, you cannot.

Apple does not give you the freedom to use old versions of software. You can't downgrade your iOS version. You can only upgrade apps, and iOS only lets you download the latest available version of an app for your version of iOS.

Need to do a device reset? If you have managed to keep any apps on old versions, you'll get upgraded now. And you can't even save APKs and sideload because of Apple's developer signatured and certs.

Old versions of iOS get some, but certainly not all security updates.

And most importantly... so, so, so many apps, from banking to navigation to music, insist on checking your app version and blocking usage with a massive dialog box if you're a couple of weeks out of date. It's incredibly obnoxious, especially when some of these apps update 2-3 times a week and each update is >100MB. I try to use those services from a web browser these days, but Safari is so limiting you can't even reliably block ironic "download the app" banners.

And that's to say nothing of actual cellular advancements, like new LTE bands and 5G and voLTE, which older phones understandably can't get... but which certain phone providers use to kick old phones off the network. For instance, AT&T no longer allows any activations for phones not on their (very limited) voLTE whitelist, since they shut down 3G.

Like OP, really wish I could just use the 2016 SE for the next 10 years. But even though the hardware is capable the software industry has pushed it into the "legacy" bin.

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