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 ...
I think that I have that model, and it works great.
My wife has the next one and larger since she has a damaged hand from a long time ago hand injury.
I have a 3 year old Amazon tablet as a backup and for my Kindle. It replaced our expensive weather monitors that died every 2 years, and it stays connected 24/7 to a weather station 300 yards as a crow flies.
My main electronic tool is a 2 year old Acer Chromebook 15. I can text, email and pay bills and handle our finances with the Chromebook.
My wife has a 10 inch Acer Chromebook, when she wants something bigger and a key board.
All of the above is very reliable, and if new would cost less than a single new I Phone.
I bought my first iPhone— an iPhone5– at launch in 2012. Unlike my previous phones, it always worked and I never had any battery issues. Had my wife not been given two new XRs as a 2018 Christmas gift from her employer, I’d still be typing this from it. I miss the HOME button but plan on staying with this one for at least the next five years.
I go back to the early days of the PC revolution. Back then, the machine you wanted always cost about $3000 (in 1980s dollars!), and you really needed to upgrade about every 3 years.
Today you can get an awesome PC for $2000 that will last 4-5 years.
I figure a $1k smartphone that I make last 4 years is pretty cheap.
I still have my 2010 MacBook, I upgraded the hard drive and memory, and it still runs fast, the only drawback is I can no long upgrade the OS, but really, I don’t need it for much more than web browsing.
I'm in that camp. This post comes from an 8 year old AMD FX-8350 running Linux. Love this thing.
My current cellphone is a Samsung Galaxy S9. It replaced a six year old Motorola Droid phone. I plan on keeping this S9 as long as possible. As long as things work and do what I need them to do, I keep them. Why waste $$ just to keep up with the Jonses'?
“I don’t know who the damn fool who proofread it was.”
I’m sure you’ll give him a stern lecture in the shaving mirror tomorrow...;-)
I’ve got a Dell laptop down in the theater room that’s about that old, and that’s all I do with it. It was running too slow on Win 10 (yeah, letting it “upgrade” to that was a dumb move), so I put Linux Mint on it. It’s now fine for a web surfing machine again.
Mine is fine, except for a small crack in the screen that doesn't affect it's effectiveness.
But we've been told that Apple will drop i Phone 5s from their technical support and eventually we will have to buy upgraded ones.
We'll buy them refurbished and not brand new. They cost too much.
My car is six years old.I expect to drive it for many more years.
My Harley is 27 years old. It is now officially an “Antique”. I expect to ride it until I die, preferably in that order.
My flip phone is always charged and ready for emergency call with speed dial to AAA. I can text on it too. What more do I need?
But here’s the kicker:
I post a thread on FR every day, using HTML, with colors, fonts, graphics, and format, with a ten-year old desktop Apple Computer with an OS10.6 operating system. I can watch videos, send and receive email, pay my bills online, browse the Internet, and make my own graphics. Why should I upgrade?
If it works, don’t try and fix it.
My Avuncular Luddite Lifestyle is no less productive than someone’s who has all the latest gadgets, and I am not filling up landfills with electronic scrap.
Oh...and my Harley takes $10.00 to fill the tank with Premium and I’m good to go 160 miles.
LOL!!!!
when you buy new now the payment remains the same. So i had an 8 on the payment plan and for $3 more, i now have a ten. Payments are done because it ties you to the company theoretically forever. I can have the latest phone because i am impulsive.
I reality I tread in ever 2 models. Even my high tech kids don’t do that often.
My phone is much smarter than I am, as you have already deduced.
Best wishes.
I’ve always had iPhones, my other stuff is Apple and has been since the 80’s. But, I don’t buy the latest, greatest thing I wait until it’s discounted so I’m always somewhere from a bit behind to way behind the curve. I use my iPhone until it stops working, then get the newest model that is reasonably priced through my cell phone provider. “Ethics” have nothing to do with it, practicality does. If I wanted to go out and blow money on a brand new iPhone every time a new model comes out, that is my prerogative and I resent some high muckety-muck attempting to dictate that.
We buy ours outright, not on some payment plan.
I have an S7.
With each update Samsung disables another feature.
I used my iPhone 5 for many years, it was a good solid phone that just worked, until it didn’t, plus I dropped it and badly cracked the screen. Not worth the repair bill. I got quite a few years out of it, though. The last year or so I started getting strange looks from people, some even asked me where I found such a small iPhone, lol. The larger screen on the 8 I have now is nice I guess, but I actually would prefer one that fits better in my pocket.
I’m perfectly happy with my iPhone 6S plus. It’s updated with the current software and does everything that I want it to do and probably almost all of the stuff that the new phone would do. I don’t need a camera with three eyeballs looking like a war of the worlds Martian.
I remember when I got the 6S plus I thought it was so big. Now it feels just right in the hand.
If you want on or off the Apple/Mac/iOS Ping List, Freepmail me.
My original iPhone (2007) was handed down through my family, with its original battery which was still adequately working for eight years, until it was finally retired after being used as the equivalent of an iPod touch (no cellular phone connection - WIFI connection only for kids games) by my then five year old granddaughter. At that time that original battery would still take an 80% charge which would last about ten hours.
I have an 8 plus. I like the 8 because it still has the home button and the print reader. Facial recognition is not for me.
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