'Google Is Forcing Me To Dump a Perfectly Good Phone' (vice.com)
- Reference: 0158030571
- News link: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/22/01/25/2221247/google-is-forcing-me-to-dump-a-perfectly-good-phone
- Source link: https://www.vice.com/en/article/dypxpx/google-is-forcing-me-to-dump-a-perfectly-good-phone
> Not quite three years ago, I bought a Pixel 3, Google's flagship phone at the time. It has been a good phone. I like that it's not too big. I dropped it a bunch, but it didn't break. And the battery life has not noticeably changed since the day I got it. I think of phones in much the same way I think of refrigerators or stoves. It's an appliance, something I need but feel no attachment to, and as long as it keeps fulfilling that need, I don't want to spend money replacing it for no real reason. The Pixel 3 fulfills my needs, so I don't want to spend $600 on the Pixel 6, which seems to be just another phone that does all the phone things.
>
> But I have to get rid of it because Google has stopped supporting all Pixel 3s. Despite being just three years old, [1]no Pixel 3 will ever receive another official security update . Installing security updates is the one basic thing everyone needs to do for their own digital security. If you don't even get them, then you're vulnerable to every security flaw discovered since your last patch. In response to an email asking Google why it stopped supporting the Pixel 3, a Googles spokesperson said, "We find that three years of security and OS updates still provides users with a great experience for their device."
>
> This has been a problem with Android for as long as Android has existed. In 2015, my colleague Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai [2]wrote a farewell to Android because of its terrible software support and spotty upgrade rollouts. Android has long blamed this obvious issue on the fact that updates need to run through the cellphone company and phone manufacturer before being pushed to the user. At the time, Google didn't make any Android phones; the Nexus line was the closest thing, a partnership with other manufacturers like Motorola and HTC (I had one of those, too). But for the past six years, Google has made the Pixel line of phones. They are Google-made phones, meaning Google can't blame discontinuing security updates on other manufacturers, and yet, it announced that's exactly what it would do.
Gordon goes on to say that he's "switching to an iPhone for the first time," noting how the most recent version of iOS can be installed on phones going as far back as the iPhone 6s, which was released more than six years ago.
"Unless you routinely destroy your phone within two or three years, there's no justification from a sustainability perspective to keep using Android phones," he adds. "Of course, Apple is only good by comparison, as it also manufactures devices that are [3]difficult to repair with an artificially short shelf life. It just happens to have a longer shelf life than Google."
[1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/dypxpx/google-is-forcing-me-to-dump-a-perfectly-good-phone
[2] https://www.vice.com/en/article/bmje3w/goodbye-android
[3] https://apple.slashdot.org/story/21/11/05/2124214/the-iphone-13-screen-is-a-repair-nightmare-that-could-destroy-repair-shops-forever
This is me too (Score:5, Informative)
I've got a Pixel 3 - and its pretty much the perfect device for me.
I installed the Android 12 update, and it still works fine - does everything that I need, and does all my contactless payments etc etc.
I really don't see any requirement that would make me spend $1000-$1500AUD on a new Pixel 6 - as it doesn't add any functionality that I require.
The 3 year support is purely about forcing users to pay (on average) $300-400 every year for a new device every 3 years. It's all about a regular income stream for Google.
It's not like Google don't have enough resources to build a few extra android builds each month.... You think they'd have CI/CD just about perfect...
Re: (Score:2)
I feel the same way. I bought a Moto X back in 2017, ran out of OS updates. just bought myself a pixel 4a in the past year because I wanted the astronomy features of the camera. Right now, I don't need anything more the phone and I could be happy with it for probably as long as the battery holds out unless there's a major major improvement cameras. Being able to upgrade the camera is one of the reasons I'm seriously tempted by the fairphone.
That said, I have sitting on my desk a perfectly wonderful piec
Re:This is me too (Score:5, Insightful)
The solution is... just keep using your phone.
You know who'll get upset if there's an exploit in your phone? Your carrier. If people continue to use three year old phones and those phones have serious security exploits, your carrier is going to start threatening to ban Google's phones from its network.
But the likelihood of there actually being an exploit is pretty tiny. You'd be looking for issues in the phone's Linux kernel, its GUI, or its radio interface, if you're going to look for something that isn't still updated right now, because literally everything else is. Your apps are going to continue to get security updates. The web browser will too.
The idea you have to buy another phone is absurd. Quite honestly, most people are using phones that aren't getting updates. If we get to a point that this becomes an issue, you can safely assume the carriers are going to lay the smackdown on Google over it.
Re: (Score:1)
This is what I thought when reading this ridiculous article. Ive held on to phones until they are basically unusable from a performance perspective. Its why I stopped using Samsung phones -- I got tired of having to switch out once every three years because they got insanely slow. I'm sitting on a One Plus 7T Pro right now and it still works perfectly fine. I'll continue using it until it either has no battery life or its performance degrades to the point of it being unusable.
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The only practical security problem is if you use your phone to access banking etc. So don't. Buy a cheap laptop instead of a new phone, and do all the finance related transactions on that.
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> The solution is... just keep using your phone.
Exactly. I had my previous phone from April 2015 until Sept 2021. It was a Kyocera HydroVibe (IP67 certified w/a headphone jack and user-replaceable battery) and it worked well for what I needed. I finally replaced it because my carrier (Sprint -> T-Mobile) said it wouldn't support phones w/o VoIP come Jan 2022. The phone ran Android 4.4 (KitKat) and stopped getting security updates a *while* ago; sometime in 2021 it stopped getting Play updates, and then wouldn't get any app updates, but it otherwise
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Sorry, I meant VoLTE not VoIP ...
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Depends how you use for phone. Personally I do very little web browsing on my phone, so I'm not concerned about it not getting updates. If I using my phone as my primary internet device and browsing random websites full of ads and installing tons of sketchy apps, I'd be a lot more concerned.
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You do realize a number of the exploits don't require anything beyond sending a text, SMS, or email to your phone - some don't even require that you open the message.
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Apparently you don't worry about all those Android exploits out there. Neither does hundreds of millions of others, and that's why there's such a healthy ecosystem of malware for Androids.
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> I've got a Pixel 3 - and its pretty much the perfect device for me
Same here. I don't really want or need to get a new phone, but I will be artificially forced to do so.
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Then don’t buy a Google phone, and next time read the fine print.
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His point applies to all Android phones. Are you suggesting no Android phones then?
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Yup.. I have a Pixel3XL, and it also got the Android 12 upgrade, and I REFUSE to pay $600-$1000 for a damn cellphone. I paid $150 for this 128mb Pixel3XL and am on Tmobile's $25 Connect plan. In other words, I'm going to use this phone until it dies or I break it.
Re: This is me too (Score:2)
Yeah. It's super annoying. But at least Pixels have top tier support from LineageOS.
Same has happened with my wife's Android One one (Nokia 6.1): "at least three years of security updates" meant "exactly three years of security updates."
So Lineage it is, then.
Those cell repair places could make a cottage industry of doing the initial Lineage setup, but people would never pay someone so they could get SECURITY updates. What TF do they need security for?
Re: (Score:2)
This is one of the best selling points of the Pixel -- an open bootloader. When the OS falls out of support, you load LineageOS on it, and keep going for an indefinite time after that (hopefully with a small donation their way on occasion to keep the project afloat).
There are other devices that don't have unlockable bootloaders (IIRC and please correct me if wrong, anything Samsung sells in the US is this way, while Samsung's Exynos stuff sold in the EU is always unlockable since Europeans don't put up wit
Re: (Score:2)
> I've got a Pixel 3 - and its pretty much the perfect device for me.
any phone without security updates is just a time bomb.
the good news is that any phone with security updates is just a slightly less volatile kind of time bomb.
the bottom line is: never ever depend on your phone for anything important. yes, phones nowadays offer great convenience but it comes with a caveat you should accept: that you are already royally screwed whichever way you go, because there is no real competition.
personally, i use an old blackberry with an outdated android version, but it has an actua
Re: (Score:2)
> It's all about a regular income stream for Google.
I doubt that. While I agree Google deserves criticism for this move, I don't think it's a nefarious forced-upgrade scheme. It fits in with that whole incompetence v. malice quote.
Basically, Google does this shit with all their products. They're always focused on the next thing and they're horribly disorganized. They also tend to let algorithms and statistics make decisions for them, so if the numbers say most users only keeps their phone for 3 years, they'll make the stupid decision to drop support after th
Re: (Score:2)
Why can't you just run LineageOS?
Re: This is me too (Score:1)
Iâ(TM)m hoping to get a Fairphone for my next phone. Theyâ(TM)ve got some interesting commitments to supporting devices longer than an average android phone. Theyâ(TM)re only available in the EU. But my phone is fairly new, hopefully theyâ(TM)ll expand by the time I need them.
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> The 3 year support is purely about forcing users to pay (on average) $300-400 every year for a new device every 3 years.
Except that in practice, if the device is sold for that entire 3-year period, it actually forces a 1.5-year replacement cycle, on average, depending on when you buy it.
I'm a firm believer that these sorts of support policies should be based on the date of last sale, not the date of first sale. I'm also a firm believer that, because of the security risk inherent in having a bunch of devices in common use that aren't up-to-date with security updates, governments should mandate at least three years of support
I wanted to like Android. (Score:4, Interesting)
I wanted to like Android. I really did.
But crap like this is part of why I just can't. My iPhone is over 6 years old, and can still run the current OS.
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Does it really need to run the latest OS though? It's not like you're missing out on anything new. As long as you're still getting security updates, I don't see any reason why you'd want to update.
With Apple in particular, I seem to remember a lot of users complaining that updating the OS came with a noticeable performance hit.
If your device has an app... (Score:1)
Yes it does have to run the latest OS. Which is frustrating because it is not Apple's requirement, but that of the device that uses iOS apps for configuration.
I have a few devices using a apps for the configuration. Great easy interface and experience that I am familiar with.
But the app is being kept up-to-date with the latest OS, so I have to keep the OS up-to-date to use the product that requires an app to configure.
Because the is auto-downloaded to when there is a new version (security feature) bu
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Likely, it doesn't absolutely need to run the latest OS, but your line of questioning has to do with Apple's OS support lifecycle. They generally provide regular security fixes for the current OS version and two previous versions. Given that they release a new OS on a yearly schedule, the ability to run the current OS or one released in the past couple of years is somewhat of a barometer for receiving the latest security patches.
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Same. I upgraded to a new iPhone this year because my 6-ish year old iPhone 6s was lagging pretty badly running the current versions of my apps. Shockingly, the 6s still runs the current factory supported iOS. How many 6 year old Android devices still run the latest Android release without resorting to hacks?
Or . . . (Score:2)
You could [1]follow these people [bbc.com] and either ditch your electronic tether, or get just a phone.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60067032
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Good luck having a tech job where at least one 2FA app isn't a requirement.
Qualcomm, not Google, is forcing this (Score:5, Informative)
The problem is not caused by Google.
It's caused by Qualcomm's refusal to support their hardware for more than 3 years.
From Ars Technica ( [1]https://arstechnica.com/gadget... [arstechnica.com] ):
> let's do a quick recap of how Android makes it to your smartphone. First, Google releases builds of AOSP (the Android Open Source Project) to everyone. This doesn't run on a phone yet, though. First, your SoC (System on a Chip) manufacturer (usually Qualcomm) has to get hold of it and customize Android for a particular SoC, adding drivers and other hardware support. Then, that build goes to your phone manufacturer (Fairphone, in this case) which adds support for the rest of the hardware—things like cameras, the display, and any other accessories—along with built-in apps and any custom Android skin work that the company wants to do.
If Qualcomm won't give Google a modern Android version with drivers (including proprietary binary code) for an older SoC, Google cannot (reliably) release modern Android for any phones based on an older SoC.
This arrogant, obstructive attitude (to many other things as well as software updates) is a major motivator for large phone manufacturers to use SoC from Someone Who Is Not Qualcomm.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/the-fairphone-2-hits-five-years-of-updates-with-some-help-from-lineageos/
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
This is one also one of the reasons why the new Pixel 6, which runs a Google-designed SoC, comes with updates for no less than 5 years down the line.
Re:Qualcomm, not Google, is forcing this (Score:4, Insightful)
> The problem is not caused by Google.
> It's caused by Qualcomm's refusal to support their hardware for more than 3 years.
And your suggestion is that Google had no idea about this going in and when it was revealed to them they were powerless to do anything about it?
Apple uses Qualcomm modems too so why don't they suffer from this problem?
Re: (Score:1)
Apple has been using custom SoCs (like the A9) on their phones ever since mid-2015.
Re:Qualcomm, not Google, is forcing this (Score:4, Informative)
> Apple has been using custom SoCs (like the A9) on their phones ever since mid-2015.
Those SoCs [1]don't include the modems [9to5mac.com], so you've done nothing to rebut the parent's proper observation. Apple leveraged its might to allow it to update phones with Qualcomm modems from 6 years ago. Google... did not.
[1] https://9to5mac.com/2021/11/24/apple-designed-chip-modem-2023/
Re: (Score:2)
If only Huawei was listening. Gap in consumer demands. But remember Nokia, LG and Sony and maybe HTC all gave up their leads because they had no ultimate control. Maybe Blackberry. Either way - the world is waiting for up-gradable solutions - which would also harm spyware makers like Cellibrate etc. Check up on Canadian OS maker Copperhead.
Re:Qualcomm, not Google, is forcing this (Score:4, Insightful)
Stop making excuses for them. Google are the ones that negotiated the inadequate support contracts for the hardware they commissioned. Qualcomm are not responsible for anything beyond the timeframe they agreed with google. This was a failure on googles part.
Re: Qualcomm, not Google, is forcing this (Score:1)
For security updates, this should not matter, only for major OS upgrades.
Also if this would be an actual problem, how do community built android projects, such as lineage os, still release new android 11 builds for phones and tablets dating back at least to 2013?
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nothing stops google from making an OS that can still work with older drivers. backwards compatibility is a thing
also, google is big enough to do their own chips and prevent the qualcomm issue. or buy them out
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It is also caused by Google.
On the Pixel 6 they are now offering longer support, but only for security updates, not guaranteed OS updates. So they still aren't on par with apple, and even then the support period is still longer than some iPhones may receive.
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This isn't about Qualcomm. All Google has to do is patch the OS that's already there for security issues. In theory you could still have vulnerable drivers but that can often be worked around in the kernel/userland anyway.
really blows chunks (Score:2)
This shithouse attitude by google towards its ecosystem and Security is possibly the only thing that could make me consider Apple. The ironic joke is their own security team constantly lambasts and ridicules other companies for lax security policy and patching yet their own is perhaps the worst in the industry at the moment.
Nothing new, custom firmware is the answer (Score:5, Informative)
There's nothing new to the story, it has been the same for over a decade. The source code is always available, and for major phones developers on sites like XDA-developers share their updated firmware builds.
Re: Nothing new, custom firmware is the answer (Score:2)
Installing an image from some random dude on the internet isn't my idea of keeping a phone updated for security
Google forces nothing (Score:5, Insightful)
"Forced" my ass. They're not bricking it, just use the phone without security updates. You still have to do something stupid to have a problem. I've never once updated Android, and have never had a single problem, and I keep my phones until the battery starts screwing up, usually about 5 years. If you don't fall for scams to exploit it, and don't put random apps on it without researching them first, you'll pretty much never have a problem.
Re:Google forces nothing (Score:4, Interesting)
> I've never once updated Android, and have never had a single problem,.
...that you know of.
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LOL Get a load of this guy telling people on Slashdot they don't need security updates
Re: Google forces nothing (Score:2)
wtf?
It's not about "having a problem" or not, it's about security. People who were spied using the Pegasus spyware didn't know they had "a problem" either
Overpriced? (Score:2)
I've been buying smartphones in the $200-$300 range for quite some time. Can someone please tell me what a $1000+ phone does that a $250 Motorola Power can't? I can make calls, emails, run apps just fine. I get about 2.5-3 years out of them each time, making the annualized cost $100. I do this for my spouse too, but we only get about a year and a half since she's clumsy and breaks screens.
I know people that go after the latest and greatest phones at work. The conversation always goes quiet when they boast a
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It's not so much what the $1000 can do that the Power can't, but how soon you want it done.
I got rid of my G Power in favor of a OnePlus 8T because I was just fucking sick and tired of waiting a goddamn eternity for the G Power to do anything.
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You're exactly right. The reason I get a higher end phone is, one way or another, the latency. Whether it's just the loading speed, or even the increased ram and ability to multitask. Although top of the line phones aren't necessary for that anymore. You can't buy a $100 phone, but you can definitely get a $3-500 one that will last you 3 years with minimal difference between that and a thousand dollar phone.
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Really? I have an LG Stylo 4+ on my desk. It's a 4-year-old budget phone. I paid $75 for it as a replacement for when the great 3G shutdown forces me to give up my beloved Blackberry.
It seems more than fast enough. I certainly don't feel like I'm waiting for things to load. When I pull out the stylus, the note app is on the screen before I'm ready to write. Solitaire and Firefox start in less than a second.
I'm not using it daily yet, but I can't see myself being annoyed by the performance, and I'm swit
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> Can someone please tell me what a $1000+ phone does that a $250 Motorola Power can't?
Way better camera.
The answer is /e/ OS (Score:1)
The answer to this problem is to get a phone supported by /e/ OS. It receives tons of updates for longer than your phone is worth using. I have a Fairphone 3 which I imported into Canada. Best decision I ever made on a phone. Totally de-Googled from the outset, but where you can make your own decision on the level of Google-izing you want. You can put the Aurora Store on it for access to all Google apps, but use anonymous logins. Or you can use a real login and have access to paid apps.
I like that it
Run alternative firmware to extend handset life (Score:4, Informative)
You can keep an older handset such as the Google Pixel 3 running for a very long time using alternative firmware, such as LineageOS 18.1 (based on AOSP Android 11), which is fully supported.
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/blueline/
Re: (Score:2)
Does VoLTE finally work under LineageOS? The last time I checked a few months ago, the situation with VoLTE was positively dire, and Lineage seemed to be almost deliberately oblivious to the fact that if they didn't do something, and do it FAST, LineageOS would become effectively unusable as a phone operating system in the US as of approximately now.
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I have LineageOS on a Pixel4 and when I check the Phone Info, it says VoLTE is provisioned... "Voice Network Type = LTE". It seems to work just fine on T-Mobile.
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Same here, with LineageOS on a Moto X4.
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That's awesome news!
It's frustrating how LineageOS's leadership has almost completely buried its head in the sand over the VoLTE crisis, even if only providing clarity about which phones have seemingly zero hope of ever having working VoLTE with LineageOS, vs those that seemingly have working VoLTE. Their official silence on the matter makes Google's "stony silence" seem downright chatty by comparison.
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I have LineageOS (/e/OS) on my Android phone (Galaxy S9) and it has supported VoLTE for as long as I've had the phone, around a year now. Your information is out of date.
Probably longer support from Apple going forward (Score:1)
The summary mentions supporting back to the 6s (six years ago), but really it's kind fo back to one of (although not the) first 64 bit devices, I could see where Apple may well extend out new iOS support for devices a bit more going forward, maybe seven or eight years.
"Have to" (Score:2)
> "But I have to get rid of it because Google has stopped supporting all Pixel 3s. Despite being just three years old, no Pixel 3 will ever receive another official security update. Installing security updates is the one basic thing everyone needs to do for their own digital security."
No, you don't "have" to get rid of it.
* Apps will still update.
* A large part of the system, like all Google Services, etc, are updated through the app store now.
* You can turn off things that are not needed to reduce footpr
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It's also a really really great alternative to a Raspberry Pi.
Rah Rah Rah! (Score:1)
Grr argh mugh ooomf noonoo ANDROID!
Sorry, had to poop. What are we talking about?
--
Frustration is fuel that can lead to the development of an innovative and useful idea. - Marley Dias
Spotty Rollouts? (Score:2)
> This has been a problem with Android for as long as Android has existed. In 2015, my colleague Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai wrote a farewell to Android because of its terrible software support and spotty upgrade rollouts.
Huh? Are we talking about Android-based phones from companies like Samsung, because I've never had patchy rollouts for a Google Pixel or Google Nexus!
right-to-repair... software? (Score:1)
With all the current right-to-repair momentum, how about agitating for the right to repair software... give me the source & tools (or make them available to a "third-party repair shop") so it can be fixed.
Consumer protection laws (Score:2)
At the point where a security problem is found in such a device and there's a refusal to make a fix available, it would be interesting to see how the consumer protection laws of various countries handled a "I bought this X time ago and it's already broken and they refuse to make it fixable" complaint.
Search for "Google abandoned projects" (Score:2)
There are a lot of results, including this authoritative list: [1]https://killedbygoogle.com/ [killedbygoogle.com]
[1] https://killedbygoogle.com/
Can an expired phone still use gpay? (Score:2)
Google's security posture seems really shady if they'll let you keep on using gpay on a phone months to years out of security updates, but will block your ability to use gpay if you unlock it and install a modern secure OS like Lineage.
Meet the wireless carriers, (Score:2)
I tried recently to activate my spare Galaxy S7 on the Verizon network. They told me that I can't do that. It's not supported.
OTOH, I can take an activated SIM (a sim activated on my account in another, newer phone), and move it to the S7 -- however, they will not activate the S6, S7, or S8 phones on the Verizon network.
Why? I dunno. You think you got Pixel 3 issues? I bet Verizon won't activate that, too. The S7 works great. In fact, it worked great in Brazil, and partly because of this I just gave it to a
Install Lineage (Score:2)
Install Lineage
Re: Install Lineage (Score:2)
But then they wouldnt be able to post their fake gripe that Google doesn't spoon feed them or wipe their ass.
Android security updates don't matter (Score:2)
> Installing security updates is the one basic thing everyone needs to do for their own digital security.
We've been trained to believe this, because it's certainly true on Microsoft Windows.
But a smartphone isn't the same thing as a PC. Just what threat model are you using?
On Windows, malware can get you through an email or a web page.
On Android, you have to install it from the Play Store.
A typical PC has many thousands of applications. A heavily-loaded smartphone has probably less than a couple hundred.
And think of what Google takes away with each "upgrade". I might never move on from Pie, because in later ve
Re: (Score:3)
> On Windows, malware can get you through an email or a web page.
> On Android, you have to install it from the Play Store.
This is a falsehood. Whoever told it to you, don't trust them anymore, because they gave you bad information.
See for example: [1]https://resources.infosecinsti... [infosecinstitute.com]
[1] https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/topic/hack-android-devices-using-stagefright-vulnerability/
Use another flavour of Android (Score:2)
The whole article seems to be based on the idea that since Google doesn't support the Pixel 3 anymore then there is no way to run the phone and still get security updates and still run Android. But this is clearly not the case. Other flavours of Android, apart from the one which shipped with the phone, are still supported and run on the Pixel 3. LineageOS and /e/OS, for example, still run on the Pixel 3 and will likely continue to do so for years: [1]https://doc.e.foundation/devic... [doc.e.foundation] Switching to another pla
[1] https://doc.e.foundation/devices
Re: Use another flavour of Android (Score:2)
The whole article is based on the fact the person isn't so lazy they can complain about and actually get it on Slashdot, but they are also just too stupid enough not to spend the time to put LineageOS on their phone....
I have a pixel 2 xl (Score:2)
I just got a security update yesterday and I am on Android 11(LineageOS 18.1 microG) . So I have no idea what this person is talking about unless they just want to justify a new phone. If you have the energy to get a stupid complaint on Slashdot front page, then you can install ligeageos too.
I bought Nexus (Score:2)
I bought a Nexus specifically because it was vanilla Android. It long ago stopped receiving updates, but overall has been a great experience, with the OS working exactly how it should,, having a dearth of bloatware, and integrating with Google's cloud. But while Android are terrible with support, Apple intentionally cripples their phones after a while, but at least you're secure for longer.
Unfortunately, the phone (and OS) I loved most was a Windows phone. It had great support and a brilliant interface.
I th
I'll Bet (Score:2)
> In response to an email asking Google why it stopped supporting the Pixel 3, a Googles spokesperson said, "We find that three years of security and OS updates still provides users with a great experience for their device."
Next year they may find that two years of security and OS updates still provides users with a great experience.
And then they may find that one year still provides users with a great experience.
This is a non-sequitur response - it literally does not respond to the question that was asked at all. (If you think it does you have been listening to press flacks for way too long.)
Quite your whining and put LineageOS on the Pixel (Score:2)
Own it.
Yeah (Score:5, Informative)
Let's hear the Apple haters spin how a 7 year old phone still getting security patches is bad.
Re: (Score:1)
Won't somebody think of Tim Apple's profits!
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Maybe Mr. Apple thinks in longer time spans.
My choice for work-supplied phone: iPhone
My choice for work-supplied laptop: Macbook Pro
Our choice for son's phone: iPhone
Our choice for tablet: iPad
My choice for desktop: NeXT
[which I had for ~20 years or so]
Re: Yeah (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm a Mac user since the 90s, but no Apple partisan.
Don't think Apple's long patch window (good for security, yes, certainly) is doing a bunch for the planet.
Keeping the oldest iPhones out of the dumpster is like getting rid of the disposable straws in the coal power plant lunchroom.
Apple's commitment to sustainability is a greenwash, by my lights. Lets you feel like you're doing something good for the planet, just like driving a small car, say, a Volkswagen (yeah, got one too. 15 years old).
What's so bad,
Re: (Score:2)
That milled aluminium laptop case might have something to do with the longevity of the mac laptops I have owned, compared to the plastic fantastic offerings from Dell, Toshiba and Lenvo, all of which fell apart pretty quickly.
I guess my most recent work Lenovo has lasted pretty well, since it hasn't moved from my at-home work desk during the covidities. I imagine I will start traveling some time in the future so I can get back to breaking laptops.
Re: Yeah (Score:2)
No doubt it's sturdy (as I said, I have one), but the aluminum-skinned ones were long-lived as well, and they were covered in stamped metal, just as recyclable, just as pretty to my eye, and the case anyway was lighter (though the internal electronics, including a DVD writer) weighed enough.
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It's still locked down. It's a pretty jail you have.
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> It's still locked down. It's a pretty jail you have.
You see a jail, I see a fortress.
Until the open source community is able to come up with a more viable solution than Android, iOS provides the only compromise I'm willing to stomach.
However, I use my phone in a very appliance-like manner. Pretty much the only apps I've downloaded are ones I need for work or my bank. Like 99% of my time using the phone is split between calls, texts, and the web browser. I don't want apps on my phone, so the more difficult Apple makes it to install apps the better. That makes
Re: (Score:2)
> You see a jail, I see a fortress.
Yeah, you're wrong. The jail is designed to keep you in. Protection is not the goal (I've read enough OSX source code to know they would have done things differently if security were the top goal).
If it were a fortress built to protect you, then you wouldn't see this kind of thing: [1]https://futurism.com/the-byte/... [futurism.com]
Use iPhone if you want, but stop lying to yourself. It's not super-secure, it's average.
[1] https://futurism.com/the-byte/iphones-hacked-by-texting
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For a phone, I *WANT* things to be locked down. For my computer, I want everything to be controlable by me. Two very different use cases. But I don't like Javascript on either of them. (See my sig.)
For my phone, Javascript prevents really locking things down.
For my computer, Javascript is designed to prevent *me* from controlling it.
As for Apple...It was my carrier that forced me to get a new phone this year (well, last year now). They want to switch to 5G for reasons that I find totally worthless (an
Re: Yeah (Score:2)
AFAIK the reason they chose 3 years is because Qualcomm won't supply new drivers past about that period. Pixel 6 uses Google's own homegrown SoC, which means they can do whatever they want, and probably the reason why they extended it to 5 years for that phone.
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Are you suggesting that Google does not have the technical ability to write drivers, or that Google is unable to tell Qualcomm to keep the drivers updated? Further more, are you suggesting general Android updates all require the Qualcomm drivers to be updated?!
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> Are you suggesting that Google does not have the technical ability to write drivers, or that Google is unable to tell Qualcomm to keep the drivers updated? Further more, are you suggesting general Android updates all require the Qualcomm drivers to be updated?!
You are starting to understand what working with Qualcomm is like.