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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

#131

Post by wruza »

popol12 wrote: post #108
Reason077 wrote: post #74

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…)

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

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.

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

#132

Post by ovao »

ericpauley wrote: post #129

The analysis of phone lifetimes based on software support is dubious. Apple generally supports groups of devices together that are similar hardware. Given iPhones 12-14 are virtually identical I’d expect these will all lose support around the same time. Generally, this article is apple hate on steroids!! Apple is still releasing security updates for a 7-year-old device; name a mainstream android phone that’s doing th…

I don’t think you read the article fully. The gripe is more about what mobile app developers do with respect to long-term support for older hardware/OS versions and much less about what Apple does.

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

#133

Post by brk »

favsq wrote: post #29
magic_hamster wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think anyone is stopping you from using an older version of a game or older firmware, given you can obtain them (legally) and you're ok with the limitations this might impose. For example, if you're not on the latest version of a multiplayer game, you might not be allowed to play. On older firmwares you might not get full access to the application store. Etc. The point is, you don't need a law, but it might n…

Most phones don't allow you to downgrade your version of the OS. Definitely iPhone doesn't.

Hell, tons of software-driven things don't allow you to downgrade, it's not just phones. And often for good reason, a software upgrade on a modern "thing" often contains firmware or patches for various chipsets in the device, not just some OS or app-level features and fixes. Orchestrating a downgrade, and ensuring it doesn't accidentally brick something, would be a major testing headache across the matrix of all potential FROM and TO versions of software that could be involved. All so that some super edge case user can be accommodated.

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

#134

Post by a-dub »

at least apple ships security updates for older devices. last i looked, they go back at least 7 years.

before the pixel 6, qualcomm pixels capped out at 3 years.

it should be a legal requirement to unlock bootloaders and possibly even open source the software when a company chooses to stop providing security updates for embedded computers. either that or there should be a fine for every device for every year it is unsupported in the first ten years after manufacture.

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

#135

Post by dmix »

ericpauley wrote: post #129

The analysis of phone lifetimes based on software support is dubious. Apple generally supports groups of devices together that are similar hardware. Given iPhones 12-14 are virtually identical I’d expect these will all lose support around the same time. Generally, this article is apple hate on steroids!! Apple is still releasing security updates for a 7-year-old device; name a mainstream android phone that’s doing th…

Those 12-14 minis are amazing phones. My girlfriend has one and the form factor is perfect for her and it was affordable. Feels high quality in your hand, reminded me of a modern iPhone 4.

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

#136

Post by ericpauley »

lapcat wrote: post #119

I was quite satisfied with my iPhone 7 (2016) and didn't experience any problems with it, unlike the article author. However, iOS 16 doesn't support iPhone 7, so I had to buy a new iPhone SE (2022), which was the cheapest model available. The 2 phones are mostly identical, and indeed it's difficult to distinguish them if set side by side.

Out of curiosity, why did you need to upgrade for iOS 16? 15 will likely be receiving security updates for a while longer.

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

#137

Post by bombolo »

patwolf wrote: post #82

It's not just phones. Yesterday I tried to dust off a MacBook Air from 2012 so that the kids could play some games. It was used regularly up until 3 years ago, but now pretty much all software is broken, and it won't let me upgrade anything. Hopefully there's a Linux distro that will work on it.

Linux is your only shot, apple removed support for i386 binaries and opengl, so 99% of games no longer works.

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

#138

Post by UncleSlacky »

SCdF wrote: post #120

I've mentioned this on here before, but my otherwise perfectly functional Pixel 3A has been out of security-patch support for nearly a year. It's disgusting honestly, my only options are to try to find some open source project keeping patches up to date, have my most important information on an unpatched device, or throw it in the trash.

LineageOS looks like your best bet: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/sargo/

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

#139

Post by Aromasin »

ericpauley wrote: post #129

The analysis of phone lifetimes based on software support is dubious. Apple generally supports groups of devices together that are similar hardware. Given iPhones 12-14 are virtually identical I’d expect these will all lose support around the same time. Generally, this article is apple hate on steroids!! Apple is still releasing security updates for a 7-year-old device; name a mainstream android phone that’s doing th…

I was trying to find an answer to your question and found a great website I thought I should share, documenting when Samsung EOL their devices. Oldest mobile device (not including smart watches) to have security updates is the Galaxy C7 from 2017. Genuine device support only extends as far back as 2019 to the Samsung S10 though. I found Apple's list also, which I'll share below.

https://endoflife.date/samsung-mobile

https://support.apple.com/en-ie/guide/iphone/iphe3fa5df43/io...

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

#140

Post by ovao »

wtetzner wrote: post #114
serf wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Windows 7 and 8 are both EOL by Microsoft. I don't think it's unreasonable of valve to drop support for OS's that Microsoft aren't maintaining it's not unreasonable until you realize that Valve offers no other method for audiences that may be stuck with older machines to play the games that they purchased, which at the time of purchase they had completely met all of the system requirements. A basic game should not h…

I haven’t been keeping up, but how many games on Steam still require Windows? I wonder if SteamOS (or another Linux distro) would be a reasonable option for people on older machines?

I tried to see if this info was available in SteamDB (and it probably is somewhere — I’m just not finding it in an easily-accessible way), but my feeling is that most games on Steam are still Windows-only.
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