Built in Obselescence - does this wind you up?

[Defenbaker]

I've placed this in AIBU for traffic, as I'm interested to know if others feel similarly to me about this subject.

Over the years I've become very aware of the notion of built in obselescence, and the fact that manufacturers have a vested interest in ensuring that products do not last much beyond the guarantee period, so as to encourage future sales. The history of this goes way back to the invention of the electric lightbulb... early versions had the potential to last decades, but the manufacturers deliberately tweaked the design so that lightbulbs would fail and need replacing regularly. Ironically this is less of an issue now, with low energy bulbs and long life versions available, but I think that built in obselescence is still very much favoured by manufacturers, especially those who produce household appliances. It is definitely an issue with technology, where things change at such a rapid pace.

I have a Samsung Galaxy tablet that has started misbehaving. It's 4 years old, and it keeps freezing when I do certain things like online banking and shopping. Messages appear, saying that the Android software needs updating and their systems may be incompatible with my device. It turns out that it's not possible to download the latest version of Android, unless I upgrade the software on the tablet first... which apparently is nigh on impossible to do! Grhhh!!! I've been happy with the tablet until this happened, and feel it's such a waste if time and money getting a new one, because physically the tablet is fine, but it seems I will be forced to replace it, as there is so much that I need to do online, especially during a pandemic.

So, what I'm asking is - AIBU to feel annoyed that built in obselescence is so rampant?

Also, if any techie types have any advice re my tablet issues, that would be great. Even if it's just the best way to recycle it (I kmow lots of school children are in need of tablets for home learning, but I'm unsure whether it could be upgraded for them to use).

i know this might sound obvious but have you checked how much of your storage is used up in settings? my phone is 5 yrs old, its definitely slower but I make sure to keep lots of spare storage, also if you have a "task manager" app, look to see what apps are working in the background and see if you can ban them from running in the background. can you do a factory reset and reinstall all your apps? it might give you a better idea of what you have on there and free up some space.

Yes extremely annoyed
It's so wasteful and unnecessary
Killing the planet and my wallet
I may be showing my age, but the amount of cpu and memory things take to do no more than we could do years ago

Yes, this is something that really pisses me off.

Can’t advise on the tablet I’m afraid OP, but you are 100% NBU - this drives me mad and depresses me so much too, and it only seems to be getting worse

Yes, it's incredibly annoying how big corporations are allowed to manipulate and rip us off, with little recourse other than simply not owning certain items.

This is something that has annoyed the hell out of me in recent years. The incessant phone calls , bang on to the date two years after buying a new washing machine, that then starts to misbehave!
Then the phone calls a year after we bought a new dishwasher about a new warranty which coincided with our dishwasher misbehaving too... ended up replacing it as it was not repairable ( Smeg... don't touch the damned things... engineer said it was rubbish and we didn't care to fight for a replacement as they're notoriously hard to convince.)

The one that really gets me is when apps update past the phone and at the same time, the service is not available in website form. There's very little I would choose to do on the phone over a laptop. I got a smartphone for the first time (second hand) in spring 2019 because I needed Revolut for something, but it updated past the phone last January. They have website access only for business accounts, not personal. :/ So essentially if you want to continue using the service, it wants to force you to get a new phone.

They're all so big and inconvenient! Apple iPhones are basically the only ones that are relatively new and are not enormous. I did see a foldable smartphone Motorola that was a nice size but it cost nearly 3 times what I paid for my laptop in 2015, so it's not going to happen.

YADNBU. My biggest bugbear. Everything breaks, nothing lasts, even expensive stuff. There is a great documentary about inbuilt obsolescence online. It's called The Men Who Made Us Spend. The first product designed not to last was the lightbulb.

@midgebabe

Yes extremely annoyed It's so wasteful and unnecessary Killing the planet and my wallet I may be showing my age, but the amount of cpu and memory things take to do no more than we could do years ago

may be showing my age, but the amount of cpu and memory things take to do no more than we could do years ago

You clearly have a fundamental misunderstanding of how ‘cpu and memory things’ work.

The length of time it takes you to make 1000000000 (giga) calculations is far, far, far longer than a tablet/phone/computer.

@cowanalhoe Yes, I've done that, and there is plenty of spare storage space, so I don't think that's the issue. I'm loathe to do a factory reset as I'd then have to reinstall my email account and would probably lose my photos, etc... all hassle for something that probably won't work anyway, from what I're read online in techie forums. I don't play any games or watch films on the tablet, so it doesn't exactly get high use in that way. I was made redundant and all job applications are online now, so that's another reason why I might be forced to upgrade. I guess I will just have to accept that changing a tablet every few years is part of the cost of living now.

The components include precious metals, so somebody will make money out of that, I guess. Or I might be able to donate to a school, if they can download the required software etc - maybe the average 14 yr old could find a way around this issue. I feel so ancient at times.

I had a phone. This one that did the acting up thing. I was given a new phone and it lay forgotten about for 3 years.

My phone died spectacularly so I had to boot up the old one for a weekend to be in text contact. It updated and now works.

I think software wise there might be some sort of gap in use that allows the software to be actually improved rather than built in glitchy.

How to get around that I don't know

@Defenbaker why can’t you download the latest software?

@prawncocktailpringles Yes, I think that documentary was the one I watched, several years ago, where they explained about the history of the lightbulb. It was certainly a lightbulb moment for me, especially when they showed an ancient lightbulb somewhere in the States, that has been in use for many decades and is a tourist attraction! It made me view manufacturers in a different light. Also, it reminds me of Brave New World, where recycling is frowned on, and consumerism is encouraged, to keep industry going.

I've got an Ipad Air which I've had about 7 years and it still works fine. I'm expecting it to conk out any time though.

I have a laptop I like it but it needs updating it installs the update then uninstalls it because it's not compatible with a five year old laptop but still it insists on motherfucking updating demands it i change my settings to never update! it overrides it to demand the update then uninstalls it again

Android is the operating system, if Samsung haven't made a more recent version available for your tablet and the things you need to do don't work on it anymore you're stuck unless you buy a newer tablet - or are confident enough to try rooting and installing an updated operating system.

I understand the problem, but part of the reason updates happen is to improve security. It would be nice if large manufacturers did with tablets the same as with Chromebooks where you know when you buy it how many years you'll receive updates for. Unfortunately with tablets and phones they often have custom UIs/add their own crap so it's not so straightforward as just pushing the update out.

@FTEngineerM Well, when I viewed the app settings the "download upgrades automatically" box was ticked, so in theory it should have upgraded automatically, but hasn't, because it is still on Android 4.4, apparently. I read up online and people said a manual uprade is possible, but after going around and around the settings I could find no option to do this, even when I unticked the auto box. I then read further and found that apparently the latest Android app is not compatible with software on my 2016 tablet anyway, and so I would need to upgrade that first. Apparently this can be done by using a computer and somehow linking it to my tablet, but I don't have a computer, and have no access to one, since being made redundant. Also, the person who wrote the article said that it took them 2 hours to do the process, which they then had to repeat, as it didn't work first time! So, I don't think it would work.

My DH has an iPad, about 6 years old, and has similar issues. It doesn't help that he can't remember the password he used when he set it up... again, this is something that keen techies might know how to get around, but even if it could be unlocked, we suspect the iPad is too old to support the lastest app upgrade needed to keep it functioning.

Fairphone are making smartphones with components/modules that can be replaced I believe.

www.thephone.coop/personal/phones/fairphone3/?gclid=CjwKCAiAxeX_BRASEiwAc1QdkY4kDMiShVexipq0MtYRWDy2_huvvz4qyLA46a6QDim1T1un2JRrkBoCIh4QAvD_BwE

On a slightly less technical topic...non-stick frying pans.
Lifetime guaranteed!
But read the small print, they don't mean your lifetime, they mean the life of the nonstick. So the metal pan is guaranteed to last longer than the coating, which in my experience is about 6 months.

Landfill is filling up with frying pans. Has anyone successfully got a replacement when food starts sticking?

Dishwashers. Fucking dishwashers.

I have replaced more of them than I have had hot dinners.

Yes! I have a HP printer that refuses to update and therefore some of the functionality doesn’t work. Result is a convoluted process to print something. It’s annoying as it’s barely been used but feels deliberate that it won’t update. Also HP support is absolutely useless. Would never buy from that brand again!

It's a massive flaw in consumer capitalism isn't it?

@GrolliffetheDragon Thanks for clarifying... no, I'm not confident to do such a techie overhaul, I wouldn't even attempt it.

@Theunamedcat God, that sounds just like a laptop we had a few years ago, it was an absolute bloody nightmare! It would spend hours downloading updates, then didn't work afterwards, until we uninstalled the upgrade! It drove us crazy, and is the reason why we struck to tablets after that, as we thought there would be less stuff needing upgrades, so less to go wrong.

I worked in an office with decent computers and was able to do some personal stuff in the office after work, but now that's history so I need a tablet that functions reliably. When I go onto the Jobseeker website it shows me what looks like an old DOS type web page, there are no icons and I can't view any job vacancies. I guess that's also down to my tablet being obsolete. I feel quite glum about it all. Never mind, I will use some of my redundancy money to get another tablet.

Didn't Triumph Motors deliberately design in places where water would collect so that their cars would rust?

I am reading this on a ten year old iPad. Still works for internet etc but some apps either can't be upgraded or would use too much memory.