[Trevor]

On 8/09/2018 12:34 PM, Mike Rivers wrote:
On 9/7/2018 10:16 PM, Trevor wrote:
But the phone keeps on working until they turn off the towers for the
system it uses like they have here with 2G. 3G next to go. And old
apps like your browser generally keep on working, or when companies
like Google break them, there are often alternatives that still work
fine.

I practically never use my phone as a phone, but I use it as a platform
to run a lot of applications. The ones that don't need Internet access
continue to work, but the ones like travel apps like airlines and hotels
are always updating their hosts, and the old apps won't work with the
new hosts.


Since I never use those apps because of their desire to take control of
your data in most cases. it doesn't bother me. I just use a browser like
Opera. Anything serious is done on my computer or laptop anyway. Apart
from calls and SMS, the main phone data use for me is usually weather
reports and email. :-)


A couple of rounds of app upgrades will run on the old OS,
but then they'll come up with one that requires a newer OS, and, at
least in the Android world where my phone lives, the manufacturers do
the OS updates - until they decide it's time for you to buy a new phone,
and then they no longer send you an OS update.

Right. Far more incentive for them NOT to upgrade old phones
unfortunately. What I'd love to see is open Linux OS for mobile phones.
After all Android is partly based on it anyway.


It's not like Windows
where it doesn't matter if you have a Dell or an HP or a custom job with
a Gigabyte motherboard. You can continue to upgrade the OS from
Microsoft until your hardware will no longer support it - and then you
can sometimes upgrade the hardware, though a new Intel CPU and a few
more gigabytes of memory costs about as much as a new smart phone.

Certainly NOT the latest top line Apple or Samsung that many people
"must" have though.



However the inability to simply update a smartphone like you can a
computer is certainly one of the reasons I'd never pay $1k for one
like many do every year or two.

Me, neither. That's why I buy $100-$150 Androids. If I have to buy a new
one every couple of years to continue to use it like I've been using it,
it's not that expensive, though it does take a fair amount of time and
trouble to housebreak a new phone. There are always apps on my phone
that Google doesn't know about, so they won't automatically install with
the latest versions when I register the new phone.

But some people love the built in obsolescence, gives them a reason to
keep buying the "latest and greatest". Losing them or breaking them
often occurs first though.

Oh, yeah, to both. My present phone is a warranty replacement for one
that they no longer had any stock of, so they sent me the next newest
model which I don't like as much as the one it replaced. Then, a couple
of months ago, it fell out of my pocket and landed on a corner, so I've
joined the Order of the Cracked Screen, and I'm shopping for a new phone
now. They keep getting worse as far as features I don't like.

That is often the unfortunate part of buying cheaper models. Not that
the expensive ones are much better though. :-(