Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by maxaht 2141 days ago
This seems like an odd thing to say about a company that was caught purposefully slowing down older models
3 comments

As I understand it, Apple slowed down certain models to deal with the problem of batteries losing capacity over time. Which actually could give those phones a longer usable life (slower is better than shutting off completely). The problem was they didn't tell people they were doing it.
Also usable here should be in pretty big quotes. The phone didn't die and turn off, but it didn't get much done either. It could possibly still make phone calls
No, the phone was still usable, just slower.

If Apple didn’t throttle, the phone would restart every time it’s power requirements outstripped the batteries declining capacity.

I think it’s pretty clear which use case is better.

That has been explained a bunch of times:

Apple gives performance beyond what you would expect for a similar phone, in terms of battery life and responsiveness. Then, as you burn through your battery's age beyond what even other phone manufacturers would warrant, the OS slows down the CPU to let you continue using it. So it's actually giving you more than you would've gotten otherwise.

But all the complaints are that iPhone sucks, I guess.

Be transparent.
Move the goalposts
Is that really such a bold expectation that when I buy a phone the manufacture will not use hidden software to downgrade the performance without informing me?

Your standards are in the basement.

As opposed to this?

>the past couple of months have seen a sudden increase in Nexus 6P battery complaints, with many users reporting that their phones suddenly shut down, even though there was plenty of battery life remaining

It's not a simple system crash, because your phone will stay dead until you connect it to a charger.

https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/nexus-6p-battery-random...

That seems especially problematic if you are on the go and need to make an emergency call to summon help.

A working phone seems preferable.

Yes, and what part of transparency is opposed to a working phone? Apple did not have to do what they did in secret. Nothing you have said responds to what I said.

This isn't an "Apple vs Android" discussion. Maybe that's where you got confused.

I can’t believe people still perpetuate this distortion of the truth. It has to be malicious by this point.
Is it really too much to ask of a company for them to tell us when they're throttling our phones? Yes, they had a technical reason to do so, but people are right to be skeptical about this when it takes a lawsuit for this to come out.
You willfully tried to spread misinformation in your original comment.
Where did I lie? Apple was hit with a $500 million fine for nothing?

I'm not an Apple hater by any means. I understand they had their technical reasons, I was just pointing out the dichotomy between their perceived willingness to support older models and the lawsuit that says they are slowing them down.

Right here:

>This seems like an odd thing to say about a company that was caught purposefully slowing down older models <END>

That is a half truth and considered lying through omission. It's misleading because as written it implies that they slowed down phones without a valid reason, AKA to force upgrades.