old iPhones useless for anything, other than for just email, text, phone calls- sounds about right.
Might as well use a feature phone- cheaper, and the battery lasts way longer than any overhyped, overpriced iPhones- old or new.
I get that you have an axe to grind on iPhones, but you're delving pretty far from the bounds of reality here...
Out of OS support for more than a year or so, yes, I agree with you that an iPhone is good for phone/text, though I will disagree with email - to have email on my device require core credentials I consider sensitive (my main Google account, which is on a personally hosted and paid for domain).
As far as battery life? I actually can't agree there, because I've had a variety of modern corporate iPhones (translation, "I didn't pay for them and don't make heavy use of them"), and if you set them down, don't touch them, don't use them for anything, they easily last a week, if not longer. I tend to shut my current corp phone down when I'm not using it (so Thurs evening through Monday morning), and I've found it going over 2 weeks between charges. It's actually radically better than my 6S, which I can only get 3-4 days on without charging (and that's rare, I tend to run music or something through it and charge it every 2-3 days).
I have been through some Androids, (current dd an S9 Plus bought used off eBay, of course, lol)- pretty happy with them, playing games works great, going through 70-80 GB of Verizon data every month- no problem.
Sorry, I'm still struggling with your use here. You're optimizing for low phone cost, while burning through utterly staggering amounts of monthly data? The unlimited plans are $70-$80/mo before taxes and add-ons with Verizon, so... ok? I spend rather radically less than that a month, as do friends, because we just don't use phones for much.
Started with Android, actually, in some large part because at the time, Apple couldn’t be bothered with a bigger screen. I aint squinting to look a tiny Apple screen then, most certainly wouldn’t want to squint now to look a tiny (even if it’s made by Samsung or LG) Apple iPhone SE screen in 2020.
Hard to call a a 4.7" screen tiny, but... m'kay? Maybe get some glasses. I'm on a 6S, and I find it perfectly adequate for the limited use I have for a phone. Phone calls, text communication with individuals and small groups, reading email, etc. I don't use it for web, I don't use it for much in the way of streaming stuff. Seriously, I don't think I could use 80GB/mo if I tried.
Maybe one way, rather than consuming new iPhones, but not wanting to use a featurephone; is go with an older, cheaper, used, still-supported Android flagship with still decent hardware. After support ends, install an open-source Android like LineageOS.
What "still supported" Android flagship from 2015 or 2016 can you name? My iPhone 6S, from late 2015, is still on the latest OS with full security updates. Name
one Android device of that age that's still supported by the OEM.
I'm familiar with Lineage and such, and consider them to be a failure on the part of the OEM to support the device. They're better than running a device out of OS support, but, seriously, that level of hassle (been there, done that) is absurd for a modern computing device. If your device is supported. And God help you if you've got a kernel vuln.
Sounds kinda mustachian actually. And also actually, if Apple had its way, only rich people would have access to tech. Total douchebag.
At some point, "not bothering with a smartphone" is better than "I spend a lot of my free time working on keeping an obsolete device abandoned by the OEM updated and halfway secure."
That it's hard to make a case for Android these days is quite strange, when Android is the most used OS. It’s iPhone sales that is on a downward trend. Out there in the world, there’s some Android that’s a great fit, rather than inside Apple’s straightjacket.
Well, in that case, it's hard to make a case for a car, when pickup trucks are the best selling vehicles!
At least in the US, iOS marketshare is rising compared to Android over time. I'm not going to pick nits with world marketshare, because China is a huge market and gives no shits about any sort of infringement, so Android is easier, but... where's your source for iPhone sales on a downward trend? If anything, the slowing is because the phones are
better and
last longer. I haven't bought a new phone since 2016 - because my iPhone
still works. Yeah, I've replaced the battery, and done other work to repair damage of my own doing, but that doesn't alter the fact that the core phone is still operational, still gets OS updates, and still works for my needs. My wife has gone through at the very least, two Nexus 5X (boot loop failures), a Pixel 3A (screen... glitchiness? Not sure, colors got screwed up), and is now on a SE 2020. My iPhone has been radically cheaper than her Android experience, and that's before digging into the fact that she hated her phones because they failed at basic things we expect phones to do, like save the photos taken!
To really have a thing for Apple at this point, it’s fashion thing, I guess.
Or a TCO thing. I mean, if you're going to run old device long past OS support and update them yourself, fix them, etc, I'm not one to argue, but I also recognize this isn't a generally applicable thing for
most people.
The 2020 SE? Do your squinting eyes a favor, just don’t.
There’s is a better Android way out there, for less money. Seriously.
Sure, if you don't care about longevity, I agree! If you care about longevity, OS updates, or TCO... prove it.