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Forced to upgrade

herman.bearblog.dev

161–170 of 303 posts

Re: Forced to upgrade

#161
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you like about Touch ID? I think I'd switch platforms before going away from Face ID, it's so trivial to authenticate without even moving a muscle that I don't even think about it. I have an older iPad with touch ID, and I simply turned it off because it felt like an anachronism in the experience.

Fingerprint vs Face shines while (for instance) having a conversation and, because you have manners, want to maintain eye contact while pulling up a photo of that thing you are describing, or to make sure that's just a robocall and not your wife with an emergency. It also shines first thing in the morning where your hair and eyes are so disheveled that even Siri didn't recognize you. Your thumb is probably still the…

> want to maintain eye contact while pulling up a photo of that thing you are describing

Unless your eyes point in markedly different directions, I'm having a hard time imagining how you'd manage that anyway.

Re: Forced to upgrade

#162
post #48

This also counts for desktop Macs. Twice in the last 20 years I have had to explain to my elderly Dad that even though his expensive Mac could last another thirty years, it's now a paperweight, or something to be 'repurposed'. I have wondered sometimes if hardware manufacturers actively seek out significant road-mapped hardware changes (such as Intel>ARM, etc., in case of Apple) in order to keep sales rolling in and…

Yup my dad bought an iMac back in 2014. It was that one model that didn't support targeted display mode. It broke about a month back (looks like drive failure) but had been having tons of issues before this due to newer software dropping support. He should be able to just buy a cheap mac mini second hand and plug it into that gorgious 5k imac display, but nope. Cant do that. Apple just like every other company could…

There is a third party upgrade that will turn those retina iMacs into a monitor.

Re: Forced to upgrade

#163
post #144

The main message I take from this story is that a decent quorum of consumers want Apple to offer a smaller phone in each generation. The OP seems not to have minded having to upgrade eventually, just not to a “virtual tablet.” I’ve heard others express the same desire.

I was going thru a box of old things the other day and came upon an old iPhone 4. God, what a beautiful device. In my opinion, the peak of iPhone design. I would love to have a phone that small again.

That was also peak iphone hype era—Gizmodo-style and all.

Re: Forced to upgrade

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Apple did this for two generations and not enough of people one bought it but it is still available used . https://www.apple.com/by/iphone-12/specs/ (12 mini) https://support.apple.com/en-us/111873 I would recommend to return the phone and get the 13 mini which should last awhile

The SE3 is good enough and not too big

I love SE3, had SE2 before it. I love the phone and the size, but I do NOT love the battery life.. It's manageable though.

Re: Forced to upgrade

#165
I’m in a similar situation with my iPhone 8. The battery currently shows 81% capacity, so needs changing, but it doesn’t make much sense considering it’s not getting anymore software updates. It sucks, because outside of that, the phone is fine! Really wish that we got updates for longer; feels as though companies are forcing you into upgrades just to sell more devices.

Re: Forced to upgrade

#166
I'm curious which apps were the purported problem. Apple's recommendation for app developers is targeting 16.1 as the min device, which the 7 and 8 support (devices that are 7+ and 8+ years old, fwiw), and doing a quick check of the app store, every top app I looked at required 16.1 or earlier. And FWIW, while Apple offers no specific guarantees, they're still providing security updates when necessary. There was one a few months ago.

Could there be a specific app that used some super new API or just wanted to force users to have recent devices? Sure, there absolutely are. But a simple survey demonstrates they're the fringe. For most people, iOS being stuck on iOS 16.x will remain irrelevant for a few more years.

Re: Forced to upgrade

#167
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact that a device can be perfectly usable for 5+ years is pretty good No. No, it's not good at all. For almost every other product it would be deemed unacceptable. Beyond unacceptable even. We should not normalize this. My car is > 10 years old. My desktop computer is > 10 years old. My laptop has had both the screen and battery changed. And the fan, multiple times. I don't know how old my laser printer is, pr…

For most people a phone is a monthly payment. One of the rewards that keeps them paying is that every few years they get an "upgrade." The phone companies and the mobile carriers very smartly followed the car model of selling: they sell a payment, and when the balance is paid off they offer a trade-in/upgrade (and a new loan). If you resist, you eventually stop getting support. For the same reason, many car dealershi…

This is very country-specific. I can think of quite a few countries where the norm is to just buy the phone, or at least finance it through a regular personal loan, not something tied to your operator.

Re: Forced to upgrade

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Samsung is top-tier by Android standards. 4 years of security updates and 3 years of OS upgrades (minimum - some devices, such as the premium models, get more than that). Better than Google themselves when last I checked, which is shameful.

Google now promises seven years of OS and security updates. The latest Pixels should be supported until August or September 2031. That said, I don't trust Google, and would recommend filling out the arbitration optout form when you receive the device.

It's crazy that they don't put a scare screen for arbitration before checkout.

Re: Forced to upgrade

#169
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are talking about Apple, who is willing to chop off a feature from a product just to sell you the 39$ dongle later. The couldn't give less shits about the environment.

Ah yes, the company that famously designed their headquarters with zero regard to the environment. The company that included a leaflet titled 'Why the brown box?' back in the 90's when they switched to unbleached cardboard shipping boxes for their computers. Nope they have never given a though about the environment. It's just not in their corporate dna.

Same company against right to repair, I wonder how many broken parts thrown away it took to offset some hundred carbon boxes.

Don't fall for the marketing.

Re: Forced to upgrade

#170
Yeah that sucks but it’s already the best out there. Some would say that you can use lineageos indefinitely on Android when the boot loaders is unlocked but the cold truth is that app requiring minimum os version also require the phone not to be unlocked and pass Google safetynet, which lineageos (even with magisk) can’t.
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