Posted on 09/19/2019 8:50:16 AM PDT by C19fan
There is always a bitter sort of irony in watching videos of the unveiling of a flashy new iPhone on your own scuffed and scratched years-old device. As reviews of the new iPhone 11 rolled in this week — and I watched them on my trusty iPhone SE from 2016 — I almost immediately started doing the math in my head to figure out if I could afford the shiny new phone.
But this year's parade of iPhone reviews was a bit different. Where most reviews have traditionally recommended readers upgrade every two years, The New York Times, for example, suggested most people with a 3- or 4-year-old phone hold off on buying a new one. This is a significant change in tone, and it's rooted in the iterative state of smartphone technology: These days, there just isn't much a brand new smartphone can do that your current smartphone can't. But this shift also presents an opportunity to reflect on our buying habits. Why did we ever think it was ok to upgrade devices that cost of hundreds of dollars every year or two? In this moment of increasing environmental awareness, is upgrading your phone unethical?
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...
My group that I manage is using iphone 8s. We have 40, just added 4 last week. They’re good enough and aren’t stupid expensive..
I’m posting this from my five year old and perfectly fine Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
Why replace it just because a new model came out? If it still does the job then keep using it.
Heck, I’m still trying to learn how to be proficient with my 4 year old one. Its harder and harder to keep abreast of the new tech.
I just replaced my 3 year old iphone 6+ with an 8+ the battery on the 6+ was failing, and the charging socket was broken requiring a rubber band to hold the lightning connector in at the proper angle which was getting harder and harder to find.
“In this moment of increasing environmental awareness”
Why do they always have to virtue signal in describing all of their decisions? Why can’t the reason be the upgrade just isn’t worth it?
Save the money or spend it on something else.
I still have an iPhone 4 I bought for $1
I just replaced my perfectly-functional iPhone 5c with my wife’s old iPhone 8 (she got a new XR).
The ONLY reason why I retired the 5c is because Apple stopped updating the iOS and newer apps that I needed for work wouldn’t run on iOS 10.
I still even had decent battery life after owning the phone for almost 5 years.
My iPhone 6 serves me just fine. I can see My grown kids however looking enviously at the new 11. Whatever works for you.
I don’t consider upgrading a perfectly good phone (or other electronic device) unethical; just stupid if the old one works just fine. That’s why they add bells and whistles to the new models, so that people think they “need” them. I like my iPhone 6S just fine. I wish I had that 2-lens camera so I could take those portraits with the out of focus background; but I don’t need it.
I use whatever my employer gives me, because at heart I am a desktop workstation kind of guy. That said, for those who conduct business on their phones, spending a thousand dollars a year on something that influences their quality of business/work may be a wise decision.
I would still have a flip phone that actually fit in my pocket if it hadn’t been for the wife moving to the newest Samsung Galaxy smart phone. Of course she gets free upgrades every two or so years.
If you want to buy a new phone, even if you have a perfectly good one, that’s up to you.
Your money, your choice. Ethics have nothing to do with it.
Until he passed in 2018, a buddy was using an original iPhone. He refused to upgrade it even once. It seemed to work fine for his use.
these people building Beowulf Clusters with Pi hobby computers could round up old iphones and go for something with lots more power.
The only conclusion for a decent person, government should make these decisions for us, pocket the squandered money and spend it on things liberals like.
Same tune, new melody, we are now alluding to environmentalism as a shoehorn to ultimately restrict consumption of these goods. The no growthers will search out the smallest pocket of your life and, like Packard and Galbreath, save us from ourselves. Not even your iPhone is safe.
I have a Note 4....just looked and it says my Android Patch is from 2017...hhhmmmm....wondering if that is a problem.
One of our female in laws drives a 16 year old car, and her husband has to throw away her old worn out shoes and jeans.
Yet, she orders every new Apple Device known, when they come out. Then, she denies that she is an Apple cult member.
She also passed on a $300 offer last Thanksgiving from us, if she didn’t use her phone or any Apple thing from the Dinner to the next morning to check face book, texts/emails and whatever. We had a chair full of smart phones, pads and portable computers to show her we could do it.
"Now with Tint Control"...as in the classic Bloom County cartoon.
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