[moca]

Among major companies, Apple did a better job with supporting old devices. Google Nexus devices become completely out of date after 2 years (too slow to run latest software, and too hard to get hardware repair support). Software wise, Apple could have done a better job as the newer version of iOS is indeed bloated and doesn't run well on old devices. On the other side, Microsoft did great job on supporting Windows XP for over a decade with wide variety of hardwares.

[grobinson]

This is the same Microsoft that completely abandoned Windows Phone 7 users, saying phones such as the Nokia Lumia 800 would not be upgradable to Windows Phone 8. That announcement was made 2 months after I received my Lumia 800. I will never purchase another Windows phone. On the other hand, my parents iPad 2, purchased in 2011, has received dozens of software updates over the last four years from Apple.

[yeukhon]

My iPad 2 [edited] still able to get the latest update from Apple, although that iPad shows lags running the latest iOS (probably because of the new UI).

I think the major problem with Android is the unstoppable fragmentation. With low-end and high-end devices born every quarter, I find QA a nightmare. On the other end, if a bug can't be fixed after a year on a flagship device like Nexus 5 means there is something wrong with bug prioritization.

[fleitz]

iPad 1 only supports iOS 5

[MBCook]

Didn't it get iOS 6?

I know 7 and 8 aren't available, but I thought it got up to 6.

[bitmystic]

I have an iPad 1 and there are no updates beyond 5.1.1

[yeukhon]

Thanks! I forgot to check my model number!

[bad_user]

My Nexus 4 (released Nov 2012) has officially received the Lollipop upgrade and is working very well. I barely have reasons to replace it.

Apple does indeed a better job at supporting older devices, however new iOS releases are basically unusable on devices older than 2 years. I have for example a 2-year old iPad 3 and iOS 8 is usable on it, but for iPhone 4S or IPad 2 the upgrade turned usable devices into unusable ones.

[digisign]

My ipad 2 is running ios 8.1 well and i'm posting with it right now.

[hubot]

iPad 2 is one beast device, live through so many updates and is actually very usable.

[MBCook]

It's showing it's age.

The real problem is they're still selling it brand new (in the form of the non-retina Mini) and with Apple's policy of supporting devices for 2 or 3 years that means the device will get six years of updates, even though it's already aging badly at this point.

[agentdrtran]

My Nexus 4 isn't working well and I regret getting it. The speakers pops, it lags when playing audio, and most importantly, the camera bug is still not fixed. I can't make video calls on my phone because it could reboot at any second.

[hrktb]

Bduerst also mentionned updates that "almost bricked" his phone. I think the standards for "almost bricked" and "unusable" are incredibly low in this comment section.

I still have an iPhone4S in a drawer; it's visibly slower than when it was under iOS6 and even compared to a 5S it's night and day, but compared to other middle range android phones that's still decent. Side to side with a Moto G for instance, it's basically the same reactivity, but no one would call the Moto G an unusable device.

[tracker1]

The moto g didn't cost over $1160 over the course of two years (partly for amortized monthly costs, plus higher costs for the plan)... moto g on, for example Simple Mobile is $40/month plus the cost of the phone. Pricing may be slightly different, but when I compared when I got my N4 a couple years ago, the plans I was looking at for my phone would have been around $70-90/month or more, with any iPhone, plus the initial out of pocket... compared to a moto g out of pocket today, that's a lot more.

That's quite a big difference. I've been pretty happy with my Nexus 4, and hoping to get a full third year out of it... since the Nexus 5 isn't a huge bump, and the N6 is way out of the ballpark on pricing imho. I've been recommending the Moto G LTE for most people lately... it's a usable phone without a lot of extra monthly expense.

[hrktb]

Why does the data plan matter ?

The Moto G is under 250 unlocked and the first gen is one year old. The 4S went for a bit less than 700, is now 3 years old and resells for roughly 200. I don't think comparing the performances of the two under the most recent OSes available is biased.

[tracker1]

One is a new device, the other is used. Comparing them when they were new would be where I was talking about.. even today I'd suggest a moto-g over a 4S unless you have other apple hardware already.

[colechristensen]

The primary reason Microsoft ever attained and kept its business is backwards and broad compatibility.

[digi_owl]

Yep. It became a real shit storm when they changed the driver system somewhere around Vista/7 and people found they could no longer use their old(-ish) printer with their new computer. Then again, that same backwards compatibility has been a major contributor to all the security issues over the years.

[kristianp]

Wasn't that because of the switch to 64bit? A lot of older printers didn't have 64 bit drivers.

[mbesto]

Only difference now is the rate of new technology adoption is 10x what it used to be.

[colechristensen]

The difference is that the browser is now the center of computing for most people; things are thrown away quickly if they're not actively updated and 20 year old web pages render (mostly) just fine. Compatibility for an OS isn't needed near as much for most people most of the time only need an OS to launch a web browser. Hence Chrome OS.

There's a reason Windows XP has stuck around for so long... most people don't need anything beyond XP. Sure they need security updates and new drivers, but these things are in the background. XP had, essentially, everything anybody will need for the next 50 years.

[bduerst]

>Apple did a better job with supporting old devices.

Am I the only one who had the last iPhone 3 iOS update? It almost bricked the damn phone, making the interface impossibly slow.

[hrktb]

What's your point of comparison regarding to android devices ? I had an iPhone 3G that I updated all the way up. And I also had a LG L7 bought new under android 4. I found the iPhone 3G more reactive and usable in every single aspect.

[bduerst]

Why does it need to be a false dichotomy/comparison between Android and Apple?

The Apple phone I had became nigh unusable with a forced update. It's not contextual frame of reference - it just didn't work.

[Chronic30]

But people will say Google is cool and Microsoft isn't

[wutbrodo]

This is sort of a weird complaint to have, since "cool" doesn't at all have the connotation of "robust long-term support"; in fact it's almost the opposite, since being "cool" is a more in line with things like "move fast and break things".

That doesn't mean that backwards compatibility and long-term support isn't a good thing for the consumer, but it really has nothing to do with the concept of "cool".