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If you have an 16 month old iphone, Apple will turn their back on you.
- Thread starter tcphoto
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What on earth were you expecting?
An iPhones arc goes like this;
1st year, top of the foodchain, the flagship, the benchmark, runs everything.
2nd year, still a decent phone, still runs practically everything, still gets significant updates, doesn't get every new software feature (often hardware related, sometimes petty Apple).
3rd year, red headed step child. It's a phone, it works, but you're way behind the curve though so don't expect new bells & whistles.
Nothing wrong with this imo, show me another phone that is still relevant at the 18 month - 2 year mark.
It's for this reason I upgrade every other cycle. Started with a launch 3G, got a launch 4, and I'll be more than happy with it till mid 2012 when the 6 arrives.
And, of course, being on contract, the sale of my IV in 2012 will pay for the VI.
Spot on, that alternate-year strategy is a good one.
I do something conceptually similar, when the 4 came out the price of a 3gs dropped significantly, when the 5 comes out i'll buy a 4. I've owned every iteration of the iPhone, just one generation behind.
IMO these are the 2 best cost-value propositions, either have the latest and greatest at the much higher price for one year, and be 2nd best for another year, or always be 2nd best at a much lower cost. I like my option because every year i get a new phone, and pay not very much money for it! (I like to sit at the top of the gaussian distribution). But the other option also makes sense because for one year you know there's nothing better.
Well, no, i guess you could also just buy and be happy with it till it breaks ..
Which appears to be the consensus of this thread toward the op's post ..
Phone and Tablets of today are like Computer technology in the 90's. By the time you order it and it arrives at your house, it is obsolete. It's the nature of technology. Eventually, it will slow down and things will stabilize; you can chose to wait until then (I'm guessing that's still 10 years away) or just deal with it.
ive only been on a iphone for 6 months but why would you want to update and old device, wont it eventually not be able to handle the new firmware?
would you put windows 7 on a commadore 64?
all software or firmware has minimum requirements to operate so your device has fallen bellow what minimum requirement
when i bought my iphone 4 the 3Gs was much cheaper but i went with the current model to avoid your very same situation, some times deals are not as good as they seem
would you put windows 7 on a commadore 64?
all software or firmware has minimum requirements to operate so your device has fallen bellow what minimum requirement
when i bought my iphone 4 the 3Gs was much cheaper but i went with the current model to avoid your very same situation, some times deals are not as good as they seem
I follow the late adopter strategy as well. I bought the original iphone with the release of the 3, the 3 with the release of the 3gs, the 3gs with the release of the 4. I give my wife the previous generation (actually, she got the original one first). I've never paid over $100 for an iphone, and don't really ever feel like I've missed out (except for that first year when I didn't have the iphone )
That said, I'm on the bleeding edge now with the macbook air and ipad...but that's because those are devices where I feel a benefit to the current tech, and the resale value is high enough that I don't take too much of a beating with them.
)That said, I'm on the bleeding edge now with the macbook air and ipad...but that's because those are devices where I feel a benefit to the current tech, and the resale value is high enough that I don't take too much of a beating with them.
What a crazy co-incidence. Just this morning, Chrysler stopped by and gave me a brand new engine for my 2008 300C because they just came out with a better one for the 2011's. For FREE! And last night the drug store guy came over and gave me all new vitamins because the manufacturer improved them and he didn't want me stuck with outdated ones. For FREE! And then Borders brought over a whole stack of new books & magazines because the ones I bought last year were replaced with newer editions. For FREE! I can't wait for Best Buy & Sears to pop-in tonight, they're replacing almost everything in my house because they want me to always have the newest stuff. For FREE!
Dude, expect your 18-month-old phone to work just fine running 18-month-old software. Don't fault Apple because they came out with something better to draw-in new customers. This is how life works.
Dude, expect your 18-month-old phone to work just fine running 18-month-old software. Don't fault Apple because they came out with something better to draw-in new customers. This is how life works.
This is ridiculous. Why would anyone think they're getting updates to a phone that's going on 3 1/2 year old? It was released in 2008. It's now 2011. It's 2 Gens behind now, going on 3 in a few months [if rumors are true].
If you just got it, then chances are it was reduced in price. It's like the 3GS; they're selling them on contract for $49, because they're old and want to get rid of them. A year from now, when the 5's are out [or the 4Gs?], and the next one is getting ready to be released, then the 4's will be reduced...
It's succession, and more importantly, a revenue stream. You do realize that Apple is a company that is trying to make money, right? Why would they build a phone, and then say..."We'll support it forever, make updates for it, and therefore you'll never need a new phone". They'd be out of business pretty fast. It's like me getting mad because they don't make leaded gas anymore for my 1972 Chevy Impala....?
If you just got it, then chances are it was reduced in price. It's like the 3GS; they're selling them on contract for $49, because they're old and want to get rid of them. A year from now, when the 5's are out [or the 4Gs?], and the next one is getting ready to be released, then the 4's will be reduced...
It's succession, and more importantly, a revenue stream. You do realize that Apple is a company that is trying to make money, right? Why would they build a phone, and then say..."We'll support it forever, make updates for it, and therefore you'll never need a new phone". They'd be out of business pretty fast. It's like me getting mad because they don't make leaded gas anymore for my 1972 Chevy Impala....?
As some have mentioned, support is still there--just not any new software/firmware updates. That seems pretty reasonable for a product that will soon be 3 generations behind. I'm sure the 3G will continue to run just fine on their current software. Even though I could update my iMac to Snow Leopard I chose not to and it runs just fine on Leopard and I don't care if I don't get the latest and greatest that Snow Leopard updates provide. As for the forums, well they are Apple forums so I don't think any of us can expect them to be non-bias.
Using your rule, the OP would still have a 3G iPhone. The 3G was the second revision of the iPhone after all.
Frankly, I do expect my wife's 2.5 y.o. MB-alu to support OSX 10.7 Lion. I will take a giant $#!7 onif it doesn't.
This had been my assumption, and it appears the other posters, as well.
If you had an Android phone you would be one UPSET individual.
+1. TMobile EOL'd my myTouch 3G when it was only six months old.
I wish I could find the link to the article comparng iOS and Android that stated the TINY and I mean TINY percentage of Android devices that could run the current version of that OS.
Buy a Samsung or Sony Ericsson Android phone. They will show turn their back on you alot sooner.
The best Androids to get if you want updates is the Nexus line.
Honestly, all manufacturers will do that for you. When I was on Symbian, Nokia stopped giving me S60 V3 updates after a year and half. And the updates weren't always that great which just minor bug fixes here and there. Sometimes it would get worse and would drain the battery quicker. Nokia already moved onto newer phones.
Not all updates are worthwhile anyway.
The best Androids to get if you want updates is the Nexus line.
Honestly, all manufacturers will do that for you. When I was on Symbian, Nokia stopped giving me S60 V3 updates after a year and half. And the updates weren't always that great which just minor bug fixes here and there. Sometimes it would get worse and would drain the battery quicker. Nokia already moved onto newer phones.
Not all updates are worthwhile anyway.
16 months ago was December 2009. That's 7 or 8 months before the iPhone 4 was on sale. So, no, he didn't buy an iPhone 3G in June of 2010 as you wrongly imply.
I feel for the OP. But what other phone or handheld gadget has received firmware upgrades three years after release? Apple's not perfect, but my perception is they're still doing the best job *any* company has ever done with this class of product for post-sale support.
Actually your math is wrong. A few months from the release of the iphone 4 would not be in June. And December 2009 is 6 months before June, just saying.