Hacker News Reader

Comment by pottertheotter | Hacker News Reader

Only 3 years of updates? I've had some version of an iPhone since the 3 and have considered giving Android a go, but that's a big downside if true.

View on HN

Coming from iOS, I can imagine that being a disappointment. 3 years of updates is a relatively new trend in the Android world. I used to complain about this as well, but now that it's 3 years, that's about when I usually buy a new phone anyway.

See: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705.

Only anecdotally, but old iphones (more than 3 years old, such as in my case the original iphone SE) have poor enough battery life expectancy that I'm not sure I'd call longevity a big win for iOS.

There is an easy fix for that: it costs 49 USD to change the battery of an iPhone SE in an Apple Store. Whether it's cheap or expensive is of course a matter of perspective. But an iPhone SE with a new battery is certainly better than most phones you could buy for 49 USD...

That is a good point. I've always been a little hesitant with repairs like that because I'm unsure how much longer it'll let the phone last, but at least the SE is still getting iOS 14, so... a while?

Sadly, 3 years of updates is really above and beyond in the Android world. Many get 2 years but most are abandoned even earlier.

This has gotten _a lot_ better since Google started contractually requiring OEMs to provide regular updates. My Galaxy S8, purchased through a carrier, is still receiving security updates (although probably not for much longer).

Security updates are nice but they all stop receiving new versions of Android way too soon. There's really no reason for this mostly. I mean some of the features in new versions of Android might require certain hardware like an onboard TPU, for instance, but mostly those versions of Android would work just fine on older phones.

Compared to what? Any other brand I never expect an upgrade. Even when they promise one. What it ships with is what it has forever.

iPhones

There are some advantages to vertical integration like iOS has.

For most of my friends, the disadvantages vastly outweigh them. As a simple example, you can't use uBlock Origin or another ad blocker with Firefox on iOS.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com