Comment by jraph | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jraph | Hacker News Reader

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Here are your facts, here's your single device:

The iPad 2 is blocked on Safari 9, which was released in 2015, only 4 years later.

The Samsung Galaxy S II was released in 2011 too [0]. It was running Android 2.3.3, but could be upgraded to Android 4.1.2. The latest Firefox version to support this version of Android, Firefox 68.11.0, was released July 27, 2020, 9 years later. The web is way more usable today on a 2020 browser than on a 2015 browser. And in 2020, the browser was current on this device!

But the story does not end there. Today, you can install Lineage 18.1 / Android 11 on this device [1]. To be fair, many things don't work on this port, but there's an official Lineage 14.1 / Android 7 Lineage ROM [2] for this device, last built on 2018, 7 years later, on which current versions of Firefox mobile work, because Firefox supports Android 5 and later [3]. And since it is an official Lineage release, you'd expect the device to work correctly on it.

You can have a current browser on this 12 years old device. This is possible because most Android devices are not completely locked out from custom OS development.

> Probably apart from desktop

But that's my point actually. To be fair, the Galaxy sII is an incredibly lucky device compared to most Android devices (however, iPhones and iPads are also usually compared to the Samsung Galaxy ones). And don't be mistaken, I also strongly dislike Android. A computer bought from 2012 can be upgraded to an up-to-date Linux distribution without any issue. There's nothing fundamental to mobile devices that should prevent this.

[0] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_II

[1] https://www.xda-developers.com/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-unofficia...

[2] https://lineageosroms.com/i9100/

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_for_Android#Platforms

> It was running Android 2.3.3, but could be upgraded to Android 4.1.2.

> The latest Firefox version to support this version of Android, Firefox 68.11.0, was released July 27, 2020, 9 years later.

Android 4.1.2 was released in 2012, a year later.

The latest version of iOS for iPad 2 was 9.3.6 released in 2019, 8 years later.

Apple's support for its mobile and portable hardware far exceeds any other manufacturer.

And though I agree that it's a sad state if affairs, but very very very few people will have the knowledge and the skills to install unofficial unsupported versions of whatever on their phones and tablets.

> Android 4.1.2 was released in 2012, a year later.

It does not mean there were no security patches after this though. But let's say you have a point here, security support on Android is usually a complete joke.

> The latest version of iOS for iPad 2 was 9.3.6 released in 2019, 8 years later.

Okay, but that's not the complete story. The previous version, 9.3.5, was released in 2016. It seems 9.3.6 only contains a GPS related fix. It's good they provided this fix (I guess it makes the iPad 2 way more useful, as a GPS device) but it's nothing substantial. Still stuck on a late 2015 browser with some fixes in 2016 when the Galaxy S II could run a up to date browser in 2020

So...

> Apple's support for its mobile and portable hardware far exceeds any other manufacturer.

Yes and no. I agree that they provide support for far longer than any other manufacturer. But after this, you are dead stuck. I'd rather have an Android device supported by the manufacturer for 3 years (Android One) and be able to install and use up to date apps and browsers on it for years after this, and be able to install a Lineage OS on it. The support won't come from the manufacturer and this is a shame, but at least you have reasonable support for years on many device thanks to Lineage.

> very very very few people will have the knowledge and the skills to install unofficial unsupported versions of whatever on their phones and tablets.

Indeed. Though they can still find help from a knowledgeable friend. I suspend most people don't though.

That said, I'm done with Android too, because of this "sad state of affairs" you mention. I am lucky to never have got people used to me having the usual messaging suspects that require an Android or an iOS device so I can get away with avoiding them altogether.

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