Planned obsolescence!

[George Waseem]

iPad 2, iPad mini, iPad 3, iPhone 4S, iPod touch 5 users, Are u all ready? We're just a couple of months away from the keynote that may or may not totally discontinue those devices. First, what's weird about Apple is that they kept selling those devices for years and the last one was discontinued from the market in less than 5 months ago, how can apple sell devices this old in 2015, any one who just got one of the devices mentioned above won't like them at all just because they are old and they perform bad right now with iOS 9, so why Did apple keep them that long competing in the market, I can still find iPad minis and iPod touch 5's in any nearby electronics store, why did apple leave people get their hands over such old devices and then those people complain they didn't get enough updates or that their devices are stuck with a slow update and that they won't be allowed to upgrade anymore for bug fixes. Believe me, my iPhone 4 has been left unusable with iOS 7 and apple left me with no choice except upgrading to a new 5s. For a matter of fact, the iPhone 4 was still manufactured even after its discontinuation and sold in some countries even that it wasn't on the Apple Store or on apple's website and I my self saw it with the latest packaging with an iOS 7 interface image printed on the box. "How can apple still produce iPhone 4 with iOS 7 even with its unacceptable performance and endless problems and bugs. Any one getting iPhone 4 with iOS 7 won't be allowed to update anymore".
Why can't apple devices' last update be as good as any update that fixes bugs and leaves the device with a good usable interface and experience. We all know that all our Apple devices at some time will be discontinued and no one disagrees on that, it's just that our devices become useless as soon as they are discontinued, all what I want from the last update is to leave the device with an acceptable or usable condition and a good impression.

What do you all think ?

 

[oneshotpro]

Tim Cooks Apple wants your money with the biggest margins for as long as they can squeeze it out of customers. New AppleTV doesn't even support 4K, there's your proof along with selling 8GB and 16GB phones.

fanboys don't care because Apple is "winning" against the competition and seeing Tim Cook overjoyed with quarterly results makes them so happy.

 

[George Waseem]

Tim Cooks Apple wants your money with the biggest margins for as long as they can squeeze it out of customers. New AppleTV doesn't even support 4K, there's your proof along with selling 8GB and 16GB phones.

fanboys don't care because Apple is "winning" against the competition and seeing Tim Cook overjoyed with quarterly results makes them so happy.

After reading threads on this forum it seems customer satisfaction with iOS 9 isn't that great. Neither android nor iOS have an amazing customer satisfaction. But on using other phones, I won't have to upgrade to a new phone every year just to maintain my excellent performance. It's just about the iPhone experience that forces me not to get one of those Android or Windows phones, I just like the iPhone environment.

 

[dogslobber]

After reading threads on this forum it seems customer satisfaction with iOS 9 isn't that great. Neither android nor iOS have an amazing customer satisfaction. But on using other phones, I won't have to upgrade to a new phone every year just to maintain my excellent performance. It's just about the iPhone experience that forces me not to get one of those Android or Windows phones, I just like the iPhone environment.

That's what it boils down to: familiarity. We can all threaten to abandon the iOS platform but the reality of using Android, Microsoft or other smartphones [are there any?], is that they are plain awful. Even using iOS 9.2 on an iPad 3 is a better experience than using some Android abomiation.

 

[I7guy]

After reading threads on this forum it seems customer satisfaction with iOS 9 isn't that great. Neither android nor iOS have an amazing customer satisfaction. But on using other phones, I won't have to upgrade to a new phone every year just to maintain my excellent performance. It's just about the iPhone experience that forces me not to get one of those Android or Windows phones, I just like the iPhone environment.

IOS 9 is the best release in years; better than IOS 8 and ios 7. After IOS 8 I gave up on my ipad 2; under 9.2 it's now usable again.

 

[I7guy]

Tim Cooks Apple wants your money with the biggest margins for as long as they can squeeze it out of customers. New AppleTV doesn't even support 4K, there's your proof along with selling 8GB and 16GB phones.

fanboys don't care because Apple is "winning" against the competition and seeing Tim Cook overjoyed with quarterly results makes them so happy.

You really believe this is a rational response in any manner?

 

[George Waseem]

That's what it boils down to: familiarity. We can all threaten to abandon the iOS platform but the reality of using Android, Microsoft or other smartphones [are there any?], is that they are plain awful. Even using iOS 9.2 on an iPad 3 is a better experience than using some Android abomiation.

iOS is better than android at some and not all points, I see that android has dramatically improved between the last few years by that I mean pure android not the Samsung version. Android isn't still that bad as it was before but it's cons (malware, viruses, play store, etc) are preventing people from using it, some people take the risk. iOS is the easiest to use but android is the king of customization. I still think iPhone is the most amazing phone but with iOS 9 problems, it's just starting to lose its magic.

 

[George Waseem]

IOS 9 is the best release in years; better than IOS 8 and ios 7. After IOS 8 I gave up on my ipad 2; under 9.2 it's now usable again.

It's the most amazing in your opinion. It could be better than iOS 8 but definitely worse than iOS 7. iOS 9 has a complete new strategy, I remember when I first updated my 5s to iOS 8 (the first major update as iPhone 5s was preloaded with iOS 7), it was complete awesome, even much better than iOS 7. Let's take a look at iPhone 6 1st major update which is iOS 9 (as it was preloaded with iOS 8), iOS 9 is definitely worse than iOS 8 on iPhone 6. You see, "iPhone 5s (iOS 7<iOS 8)" "iPhone 6 (iOS 8>iOS 9). I have an iPad mini at home which in fact has the same iPad 2 specs, iOS 9 just made it feel stuttery and laggy.

 

[John Mcgregor]

iOS is better than android at some and not all points, I see that android has dramatically improved between the last few years by that I mean pure android not the Samsung version. Android isn't still that bad as it was before but it's cons (malware, viruses, play store, etc) are preventing people from using it, some people take the risk. iOS is the easiest to use but android is the king of customization. I still think iPhone is the most amazing phone but with iOS 9 problems, it's just starting to lose its magic.

Apps, apps, apps. When android has to offer some then things might change, but now it's just crap, low quality except all the usual suspects, horrible ads in most apps, IAP are crap. Tablet apps are crap.

 

[Sleaka J]

It's the most amazing in your opinion. It could be better than iOS 8 but definitely worse than iOS 7. iOS 9 has a complete new strategy, I remember when I first updated my 5s to iOS 8 (the first major update as iPhone 5s was preloaded with iOS 7), it was complete awesome, even much better than iOS 7. Let's take a look at iPhone 6 1st major update which is iOS 9 (as it was preloaded with iOS 8), iOS 9 is definitely worse than iOS 8 on iPhone 6. You see, "iPhone 5s (iOS 7<iOS 8)" "iPhone 6 (iOS 8>iOS 9). I have an iPad mini at home which in fact has the same iPad 2 specs, iOS 9 just made it feel stuttery and laggy.

iOS 7.0 was released with a major bug that reboot 64-bit devices (of which there were only a couple at the time) a number of times during the week, even while using it, and wasn't fixed until 7.1 was released 6 months later.

iOS9 might have stuttering issues, but at least it doesn't reboot randomly.

To call iOS 9 worse than 7 is forgetting or ignoring the completely unstable nature of 7.0

 

[oldmacs]

iOS 7.0 was released with a major bug that reboot 64-bit devices (of which there were only a couple at the time) a number of times during the week, even while using it, and wasn't fixed until 7.1 was released 6 months later.

iOS9 might have stuttering issues, but at least it doesn't reboot randomly.

To call iOS 9 worse than 7 is forgetting or ignoring the completely unstable nature of 7.0

It depends what device you had. As far as I know it was only tha 64 bit devices that had major iOS 7 reboot issues. I used iOS 7.0 from launch day on my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 and found it far more pleasent than iOS 9.0 on much need (for the time) devices.

Back to the main story, give. The iPad 2 was still the most used iPad as of a month or two ago, with the mini 1 being second, they may get iOS 10 given Apple has removed the need for devolopers to support older devices and because they (supposedly) used a new system to devolop iOS 9 for older devices. ( previously they chucked the whole operating system on and then disabled features, now apparently they put a very basic version on then slowly turn on features to achieve a good performance mix). That way newer devices are not held back by old ones, devolopers are not tied down to supporting older devices and people who own the devices can still revive security and other updates, which is good in a multitude of ways. then if they allowed downgrading, everyone would be a winner.

Despite iOS 9 running terribly on my iPad 2, it has been the continued ablitity to update my software that has kept this iPad viable for so long. Another year of that would be great, even if the version of iOS 10 that the iPad 2 received had no new features.

 

[Michael Goff]

This is just what we need, another topic on something that makes absolutely no sense.

 

[Armen]

Apple is in a difficult predicament when it comes to iOS upgrades:

- If Apple doesn't allow a 3 year old device to upgrade to the latest iOS people cry "Planned obsolescence!. They want me to buy a new phone to get the new features!"
- If Apple allows a 3 year old device to upgrade to the latest version of iOS people cry "Planned obsolescence!. They made it run slow on purpose so I'd have to buy a new phone!"

The only other logical suggestions I've heard from many of you is "Why doesn't Apple just let us choose to upgrade or go back to whatever version we want?"

Scenario 1

Apple lets users downgrade but will not support older versions. This leaves many people no choice but to upgrade if they run into issues with an older version.

Scenario 2

Apple decides to support older versions of iOS. How is Apple going to cover the cost of maintaining multiple branches of code? The $199.99 you paid 3 years ago doesn't even touch support cost.

What happens to developers? Are they now forced to make their app available on all versions of iOS and fix bugs on them as well but only get paid 99 cents once?

Apple is a business not your friend. I'm actually surprised iOS updates are not purchases of $29.99. That price would somewhat help cover costs on maintenance.

 

[Elisha]

Apple just optimizes for new hardware and don't pay as much attention to older hardware like Google does for its Nexus devices. But then again Android is open source and there are way more devs contributing to the sources so the newer versions almost always works smoother and faster on older Nexus devices.
In the end of the day, Apple is a corporation and its responsibility is to the shareholders and not the customers!

 

[hiddenmarkov]

IOS 9 is the best release in years; better than IOS 8 and ios 7. After IOS 8 I gave up on my ipad 2; under 9.2 it's now usable again.

Mileage varies here. I have seen issues with the 9 series. 7 and 8 were just plug and play for me and nothing stood out as really off about them. This across 2 phones, 2 minis and an ipad. I get 5 chances to roll the dice. One mini and one phone had post install get interesting in 9. Got them stable and well...never had to work for that though prior.

 

[Sleaka J]

It depends what device you had. As far as I know it was only tha 64 bit devices that had major iOS 7 reboot issues. I used iOS 7.0 from launch day on my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 and found it far more pleasent than iOS 9.0 on much need (for the time) devices.

It's irrelevant that you didn't experience rebooting on iOS 7. Millions of other people who had just bought brand new devices like the iPhone 5S or iPad Air or iPad Mini 2 encountered it until it was fixed in March the following year, about 6 months later.

MILLIONS OF BRAND NEW DEVICES REBOOTING ROUTINELY.

There is no issue with iOS 9 that compares with that.

 

[Cigsm]

I'm assuming you're trolling but I'll bite.

#1. Apple TV doesn't support 4K at this point because less then 15% of homes even have a 4K TV. There is not even one piece of 4K hardware media you can buy. Comcast, the largest cable operator in the country has just now turned on three channels that are 1080p HD - nearly 10 years later. Netflix's own "ultra HD" (4K) isn't even 25% of the bandwidth of true 4K. Finally, with 300GB internet caps, 4K is a non starter as of now.

But yeah, it's apple.

Tim Cooks Apple wants your money with the biggest margins for as long as they can squeeze it out of customers. New AppleTV doesn't even support 4K, there's your proof along with selling 8GB and 16GB phones.

fanboys don't care because Apple is "winning" against the competition and seeing Tim Cook overjoyed with quarterly results makes them so happy.

 

[Act3]

I'm assuming you're trolling but I'll bite.

#1. Apple TV doesn't support 4K at this point because less then 15% of homes even have a 4K TV. There is not even one piece of 4K hardware media you can buy. Comcast, the largest cable operator in the country has just now turned on three channels that are 1080p HD - nearly 10 years later. Netflix's own "ultra HD" (4K) isn't even 25% of the bandwidth of true 4K. Finally, with 300GB internet caps, 4K is a non starter as of now.

But yeah, it's apple.

I can record 4K with my iPhone 6s and I can edit that 4K video on my air 2. But I can't watch that video in full resolution on my 4K tv using Apple TV as the player? Yeah it is all Apple.

 

[oldmacs]

It's irrelevant that you didn't experience rebooting on iOS 7. Millions of other people who had just bought brand new devices like the iPhone 5S or iPad Air or iPad Mini 2 encountered it until it was fixed in March the following year, about 6 months later.

MILLIONS OF BRAND NEW DEVICES REBOOTING ROUTINELY.

There is no issue with iOS 9 that compares with that.

Wow.. Did I say it wasn't an issue? I merely said that it depended on what device you had. Given that the 5S, Mini 2 and iPad Air were owned by a very small minority of people (compared to the rest of the installed iOS base at the time) and that not all of those devices had those problems, thus I said it depended on the device you owned.

For me and many others, iOS 7 was very stable compared to iOS 8 or 9. Personally, under iOS 9 my iPad and iPhone crash to the extent I have to reboot them when I try and clear notifications in notifications centre. That sort of thing never happened under iOS 7 for me. Many people effectively had their new phones effectively disabled under iOS 8.0.1 if I remember correctly.

 

[George Waseem]

Apps, apps, apps. When android has to offer some then things might change, but now it's just crap, low quality except all the usual suspects, horrible ads in most apps, IAP are crap. Tablet apps are non crap.

iOS wins in the application development and advertisement system.

 

[George Waseem]

iOS 7.0 was released with a major bug that reboot 64-bit devices (of which there were only a couple at the time) a number of times during the week, even while using it, and wasn't fixed until 7.1 was released 6 months later.

iOS9 might have stuttering issues, but at least it doesn't reboot randomly.

To call iOS 9 worse than 7 is forgetting or ignoring the completely unstable nature of 7.0

No one is still on 7.0 anymore, everyone updated to 7.1, iOS 7.0.x was apple's first time into a new design. iOS 7.1 fixed everything but left the iPhone 4 with a horrible unusable experience.

 

[George Waseem]

This is just what we need, another topic on something that makes absolutely no sense.

If you think the topic doesn't make sense, DON'T READ IT. It's for people who care!

 

[George Waseem]

Apple is in a difficult predicament when it comes to iOS upgrades:

- If Apple doesn't allow a 3 year old device to upgrade to the latest iOS people cry "Planned obsolescence!. They want me to buy a new phone to get the new features!"
- If Apple allows a 3 year old device to upgrade to the latest version of iOS people cry "Planned obsolescence!. They made it run slow on purpose so I'd have to buy a new phone!"

The only other logical suggestions I've heard from many of you is "Why doesn't Apple just let us choose to upgrade or go back to whatever version we want?"

Scenario 1

Apple lets users downgrade but will not support older versions. This leaves many people no choice but to upgrade if they run into issues with an older version.

Scenario 2

Apple decides to support older versions of iOS. How is Apple going to cover the cost of maintaining multiple branches of code? The $199.99 you paid 3 years ago doesn't even touch support cost.

What happens to developers? Are they now forced to make their app available on all versions of iOS and fix bugs on them as well but only get paid 99 cents once?

Apple is a business not your friend. I'm actually surprised iOS updates are not purchases of $29.99. That price would somewhat help cover costs on maintenance.

well apple can update the devices to the latest software but maintain a usable condition. We don't ask apple to support older devices regarding the applications as we all know that newer apps support a limited amount of devices. Downgrading could keep everyone happy as everyone can choose the perfect system for the device. If Apple isn't giving us good or satisfying software then at least they could allow downgrading.

 

[AFEPPL]

I dont know about planned obsolesce, but i have no issues with an OS of any type having a stated life span. We cant expect support to last for ever, but it should last the usable life of the device. So to me the real question is how long should these devices last? if it was a car it would be clear x/miles or y/years... Apple however, are messed up with the yearly release cycle for iOS and OS X that simply adds more and more mess and problems each iteration. They need to pause, and clean up, optimise and then innovate.

As for 9 being the best release in years, its all open for individual opinion, but mine (and a good portion of this forum it would appear) is that's just complete hogwash. 9 even on the 5S runs like completely crap compared to the shipped iOS version. I've done clean installs multiple times and nothing changes. it's full of lag and stutter. As for an iPad 2, i've just put it back in the box as its completely unusable now. Its a pain simply to enter the password at logon and thats with all the features turned off. Web browsing, forget it, watching the keystones appear delayed in the address bar is not my idea of a useable, fluid device enjoyable to use device..

As per the many other threads, apple need to allow the older devices to go back to the shipping versions they were supplied with. Let consumers "CHOOSE" what they want to do, not apple force versions on consumers for market share and PR reasons. And yes, no one forces you to upgrade, but you don't know what its like until you try it. That argument is like saying well you cant complain your hotel was crap or your car had a fault - you "CHOOSE" to buy it..

 

[George Waseem]

It's irrelevant that you didn't experience rebooting on iOS 7. Millions of other people who had just bought brand new devices like the iPhone 5S or iPad Air or iPad Mini 2 encountered it until it was fixed in March the following year, about 6 months later.

MILLIONS OF BRAND NEW DEVICES REBOOTING ROUTINELY.

There is no issue with iOS 9 that compares with that.

Exactly, but there are millions of other bugs that are built into iOS 9