Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by TeMPOraL 521 days ago
Devices? Yes. Expensive? Only if you fail in picking them. Buy an iPhone or something. I'm in Android camp, but I only buy flagships (after some bad experiences with cheap end of the phone spectrum) specifically because I can rely on them to work for 3+ years, getting updates over that period, and importantly, still being performant enough relative to contemporary software as to not be annoying to use.

I agree with GP here. In the current security-obsessed zeitgeist, 2 years of security updates is criminally low, pretty much designed to generate e-waste.

3 comments

Something like a Samsung A55 will also get 5 years of security updates. This line usually converges to around 300 Euros halfway the yearly product release cycle. There are cheaper Samsung models with long support periods, but last time I looked, they would only get quarterly security updates. The Pixel _a_ line usually also has pretty good pricing, but they tend to have weird issues/bugs.

(I'm an iPhone user, but just to point out that there are also more affordable options with longer support periods.)

In my experience, I had to give about 100/yr to havea relatively good device foor my needs. I could choose to buy a cheap thing every year, or 600 every 6; for similar Performance. I prefer to change device no so often. 2 years is just too short.
iPhones have very good resale value even after 3 years, financially not that expensive! Easily good for 5 years and even then you can have decent money for it. Of course they can become pretty expensive suddenly - just when you drop them.