Phones predesigned to fail.

Quazzie

This might be more suited to a conspiracy theory forum but I have noticed with previous phones that after a certain lenght of time that they start to function incorrectly. Messages stop sending. Crashing and Freezing become more common. They don't hold their charge for as long.

Whilst I'm sure there are many different possible reasons for all of the above, could it simply be that mobile phone manufacturers don't want their phones to last longer than a predetermined time because their profits are based on new sales being reoccurring?

I have noticed this in particular with one giant manufactuer and found that every phone I ever owned bought from them started to systematically self destruct after a 6-8 month period.

Any thoughts?

long_b

I' d have to agree. Apart from the battery life, that's just the normal wear and tear on the battery

grizzly

Sure, planned obsolescence has been with us since the 1920s. So it's not really a conspiracy!

pjjk

I have noticed this too with a certain big company. After 8-10 months, my N95 stopped working(it works without a sim card, which is good I presume, but I cant make calls/texts) also 3 other phones I've had over the last few years packed in fully.
So I agree with your statement, totally!

seamus

Yeah, I've noticed that Sony Ericsson's can't seem to take more than 6 months before the buttons become iffy and the software starts acting out.

In general, as in all other areas - the more moving parts a phone has, the quicker they're going to wear out. Any clamshell phone I've had, the flip starts to become looser in about 3 months, and develops serious play after about 6 months. Phones with little joysticks or very high buttons start to wear out in around the same timeframe. The SE K800i I had was pretty much screwed after 8 months, though it remained useable enough until it went for a little swim in the rain last week.

For the record, I very rarely drop my phone but they spend a lot of time in my pocket with my keys.

With the newer touch screen phones coming out now, they've fewer moving parts so therefore a greater chance of surviving for longer, but companies I'm sure are aware of this and you'll start seeing offers of full OS upgrades, along with extra features and so forth.

I wouldn't be surprised if the manufacturers offered a phone that's full-featured, but crippled by default. For a price, you can upgrade your phone to the "premium" version, which is little more than entering an activation key which allows you to use WiFi, email and so forth.

TheZenWithin

grizzly wrote: »

Sure, planned obsolescence has been with us since the 1920s. So it's not really a conspiracy!

I agree.Usually electronics more noticably failing.

A Nokia representitive addmitted that the average life expectance of a Nokia phone is 2 yrs tops.Aymore than that and the phone simply hasnt been used

Jonathan

Products are designed to fail. Some times it is for economic reasons, sometimes for environmental reasons.

The economic reasons are obvious. Thing breaks, you go and replace it. Money for the company.

The environmental reasons are not as obvious. An example being that there is no point in designing a car to last for 40 years. You know that there are going to be far more efficient engines out in 10 years, so why waste money and resources designing an object to last for 30 years of inefficient use.

I think phones are a mix of the two above, money for makers, but also the fact that they know that the vast majority of phones are fcuked out after a year anyway to make way for the latest model.

towel401

i don't think there is any such conspiracy. lithium ion batteries aren't very good and some components do fail eventually. Never seen a phone go into a software-based self destruct mode

My first phone from 1999 still works (an alcatel)

Nokia 5210 from 2001 still works and has been used pretty much all that time

E61 from '06 still works after joystick replacement. They even put the joystick on its own little board so it would be easy to replace

Li-ion tech is improving, and unless you have a 1st gen iphone the batteries are not hard to replace

cars will also keep going if you maintain them, but a lot of people just drive'em till something goes terribly wrong. not a good idea

jimmycrackcorm

It's like anything - the more complex they get, the more prone to failure they get. Plenty more stories of people getting new phones that break within a week.

Alter-Ego

Had a sagem for four years. I'd still be using it if i could source a replacement battery.

120_Minutes

while there is an argument for planned obsolescence, and i dont discount it, luck does play a part too.

I bought a 6230i in 2004, had i not wrecked the battery by over charging and traded it in i'd say it'd still be going strong today.

switched to a w800i in 05, still have it and it still works, camera is a bit fuzzy but a sw upgrade would fix that. battery is fine.

switched to a w810i in 06....still perfect

got an n95 8gb in march this year, no problems yet.


bought the wife a samsung f700 in may..she flushed it a month later, but grabbed it and dried it and put it away till last month, one new battery later and its up and running again (speakerphone is a bit iffy though) she bough herself a 2630 last month in case her f300 wouldnt come back to life. that went into the washing machine days later for 30 mins. whipped out the battery straight away and put it in the hot press overnight. powered up first time and is still going (screen is a little misty)

so, some phones can be fighters!

whisht

Alter-Ego wrote: »

Had a sagem for four years. I'd still be using it if i could source a replacement battery.

http://url.ie/n5e