Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Love the HN crowd here explaining that staying still on old tech full of security holes is a-ok. :)

Both Android and iOS have made awesome progress on all fronts, from security to stuff like AR and ML.

You can now have a supercomputer in your pocket - just using it for phone/texts is such a waste.




> just using it for phone/texts is such a waste.

I'd argue the real waste is throwing away a fully-functioning device full of rare-earth metals and other niceties every two years.


It is. Which is why if you buy an iPhone you can use it for more than two years and still receive security updates, as opposed to Android.


Or you do what I do: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15693586 (not without problems of its own, I easily concede)


Well I do not need supercomputer in my pocket (and I guess most people don’t). Phone and text plus decent browser that honors my privacy and security will do.

Music app, Maps and perhaps Youtube as luxury but beside that?

I would rather like a smartphone < 100$ that I can replace every year and do not worry when it breaks or if I loose it.


If you trust them, Huawei has some decent phones in the € 120-150 price range. Nothing super-exciting, but for the use case you describe, they are perfectly cromulent.


Some of us just don't care that much about the newest fastest shiniest thing, or if we do, we care more about all the money spent and/or physical waste that goes into churning through devices all the time.

If companies are dropping support after two years and forcing users to buy a new device or face major security issues, I say the complaints shouldn't be directed at the users not constantly buying new devices, but at the companies creating devices with such a short planned obsolescence.


I have better things in life to spend 600 € on, a mobile phone isn't one of them.


> just using it for phone/texts is such a waste.

What else would you suggest I use it for? It's worse at pretty much everything except GPS than my desktop or laptop.


You take pictures with your desktop or laptop?


Not the OP, but having an actual camera for special events solves that one pretty easily. A map in the car, a sketchpad for notes - analog has its perks.


> Love the HN crowd here explaining that staying still on old tech full of security holes is a-ok. :)

It’s disheartening when a forum full of supposed tech enthusiasts starts to morph into a bunch of paranoid tech Luddites. That is what, imho, killed slashdot. Every post was full of comments slamming anything new. Eventually it just got toxic and boring. Who wants to hear a bunch of paranoid outliers brag about their 8 year old phone on a forum like this?

The tech industry is constantly changing. If you can’t handle it, you should go into something else...


Almost nobody is slamming new things. They're slamming the OS update process. And it very much deserves it. It's not a criticism of the new versions themselves.

And keeping up with tech doesn't require constant purchases. You're not a Luddite because you use something for more than three years, for crying out loud.


Harsh tone but 100% warranted imo. It’s fascinating to see so many otherwise smart people completely fail to understand the changes around them.


Its harsh because there is no way to sugar coat it. This post is full of people bragging about running 9 year old phones with ancient highly vulnerable operating systems. On the same forum that has people bragging about being child geniuses and making posts like “I’m assuming that just by reading HN you have an above average intelligence”.

No. You don’t get to claim you are “above average intelligence” when you brag about downloading OS updates off sketchy “community” forums and then make posts like “better than some faceless corporation”. That isn’t intelligent. That is just being stupid.

Ever hear of the dunning kruger effect? Some folks need to go read about it and then smack themselves upside the head.

Seriously. Paranoid tech ludditism is an eye rolling, tedious, boring circlejerk. Go back to your green screen gramps— I’m sure it is good enough for anything but I like my 4K color monitor, thanks.

...Keep that stuff out of tech forums because it is cancer. Sla


I am happy for you, that you can afford spending several hundred euros/dollars/yen/whatever every couple of years for OS updates.

Majority of us have better things in life to use our money for.


However, a large number of people on HN are software engineers who make their living writing software for these devices; it would seem like a crowd that loves tech like React “Native” might consider the latest devices somewhat important to their business. If developers are running old devices and old OSes, then it follows that they aren’t developing around the latest capabilities because they themselves don’t use the latest capabilities. For a “progressive” crowd, it sure seems like there are quite a few reactionaries.

This “keep my older device” argument makes perfect sense if you are an end-consumer but it makes no sense if your business is building software. Software developers ought to consider it a minimum requirement to be on the cutting edge. We should be leading the way and not doggedly hanging on to older tech.

If we were house painters, then running a 5 year old device makes no difference, but if we are supposed to be building the future, it’s illogical to be obsessed, almost to a hipster-degree with running outdated equipment.

It’s Jay-Z rocking an 8-track.


Just because I am a software engineer, doesn’t mean I am willing to spend more than 600 euros every three years for the privilege of having an updated device.

That are more important things in life.

If Google wants us to actually use the latest features, then they should force OEM to upgrade to Treble and push to their devices.

Not to force us to buy an Oreo device, hoping that this time around OEMs will actually push updates on ALL devices.


> If developers are running old devices and old OSes, then it follows that they aren’t developing around the latest capabilities because they themselves don’t use the latest capabilities.

And what are these latest capabilities? As an user, the only difference between Android 6 and 7 that I noticed are redesigned notifications. Between Android 7 and 8, I don't even have an idea. I don't care for the latest Google or Apple assistant; so this all is not enough of reason to drop 600-100 EUR on a new phone.

Hand-waving about "latest capabilities" is even less of a reason.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: