Gay and Lesbian Agenda Graphic 09

THE SILLY  iPHONE MYTH

Apparently, there is a silly myth in circulation which erroneously claims that iPhone users must purchase a new iPhone for $1,000+ every year because their current iPhone becomes obsolete. I don’t know who started this baseless rumor, but I would like to set the record straight.

To begin with, just because newer versions of an iPhone may have new features — namely in the operating system — and maybe a better camera, or perhaps a better battery, does not necessarily make an older iPhone useless or obsolete.

Body-wise, iPhones haven’t really changed that much. They are basically the same shape as they have always been with variations in the body size and screen size, and the placement of the backside camera.

I would say that the three biggest physical changes — aside from the aforementioned — is that the “Home” button was removed a number of years ago, the stereo audio port was removed, and just recently, Apple was pressured into replacing the lightening port with a USB-C port to make the iPhone more standardized.

Contrary to the myth that is apparently going around in online circles, no one is forced to purchase a new iPhone every year if they don’t want to, and if they don’t feel the need to.

And actually, people who do that are really the Apple fanatics who must always have the latest and the greatest. Perhaps they do it as a status symbol. Who knows. These are the people who will stand in line in the dark for hours, long before an Apple store opens. Some of those folks will even camp out overnight in order to guard their spot in line. Now THAT is really Apple fanaticism! I am not one of them, and I have never been one of them.

Quite simply, if a person is happy with the feature set of their current iPhone, and doesn’t feel that they need the features which are being  offered in the next generation of the iPhone, then they are free to remain with their current phone. No questions asked.

To be clear, an older model iPhone does NOT become useless or obsolete, or suddenly stop working, just because a newer model iPhone is released by Apple. Apple does not have some kind of secret remote button which causes all previous models to suddenly stop working. That would be silly, rather mean, greedy, and probably illegal.

For the record, in addition to having used and owned a long line of Macintosh computers since 1990, I currently use a 2018 iPhone Xs Max with 256 GB of storage, which I purchased in early 2019.

Aside from having to charge it frequently because the battery health is now down to 50%, my six-year-old iPhone Xs Max still meets my needs just fine. In fact, it is running the latest version of iOS, that being 18.3.1.

However, this may possibly be the last OS update that it receives, because last year, Apple added the Xs Max to its “vintage” list. Apple considers a device vintage when it has been out of distribution for more than five years, but less than seven years. When a device passes the seven-year mark of being out of distribution, then it is added to Apple’s “obsolete” list.

Aside from being my only communication device — meaning telephone — I still get a lot of value out of my Xs Max. Consider the following list:

1. text messages
2. send & receive email
3. surf the web in Firefox
4. video chat
5. take photos
6. make videos
7. listen to music
8. conduct online research
9. visit 13 social networks
10. watch movies & TV shows
11. write new poetry
12. create new mp3 songs
13. check my bank account
14. track packages
15. read the daily news
16. track the weather
17. write new BBB articles
18. etc., etc.

Considering that I can still do all of the above on my six-year-old iPhone, I would hardly call my phone useless or obsolete.

If I recall correctly, at the time I purchased it as a brand new phone in early 2019, this iPhone cost $1,250.00.  If we divide that amount by my current six years of usage, that means that I have spent an average of just under $210.00 per year for this phone, and that average will drop even further with each additional year of usage that I get out of it. My friends, I would say that is a pretty wise investment.

So the idea that iPhone users have to spend $1,000+ every year because their current phone has become obsolete is just a silly myth, probably invented by Apple’s competitors, or by people who have never used an iPhone, and thus speak out of ignorance.

In fact, I recently discovered an advantage of owning an older iPhone. While my phone is currently running iOS 18.3.1, one thing which the latest updates are unable to install due to my phone’s age, is all of the AI crap.

Quite frankly, I find it absolutely annoying, bossy, aggressive and intrusive! It seems to have a mind of its own! I don’t need all of the predictive nonsense which Apple has been adding in recent updates!

I would rather proofread my content myself and correct it, than have AI constantly jumping ahead of me and telling me what I intend to say.  I waste more time correcting its errors, and removing words and phrases that it has inserted, which turns my sentences into nonsensical gibberish!

So again, despite now being six years old, my iPhone Xs Max continues to be useful and serves me quite well. Hopefully, I will continue to get a few more years of good use out of it before it bites the dust.

On the other hand — yes, I just had to add this next section — in recent years I found the need to purchase a few low-end Android phones. This decision resulted from the fact that I have a number of online friends who are Android users, and who regularly participate in my Bill’s Bible Basics online Christian ministry.

Being elderly similar to myself, some of these folks don’t have a lot of experience with all of this modern technology. Even some of the simplest tasks which more advanced users find very easy to do, these elderly folks can find quite challenging and confusing to accomplish.

As a result, even though I am a longtime Apple products user, I decided to purchase a low-end Android phone — and later, yet another one — so that I could learn the ropes of the Android operating system, and thus help out these dear Christian friends.

Well, to my great surprise, after barely two years, the back half of my Android phone began to split apart from the front half. I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know if the phone had simply overheated or what.

Upon conducting some online research, I discovered that this is in fact a well-known problem with low-end Android phones. The problem results from the lithium-ion battery expanding over time, and forcing the back side of the phone to split  from the front side. From what I have read, this is is a very dangerous situation, because the battery can eventually explode, or the phone will even catch fire!

Well, while my Android never caught fire or exploded, the battery did continue to expand, until the back side of the phone was very much separated from the front side. I was eventually forced to dispose of the phone.

I have another slightly-newer Android phone sitting in my desk drawer which I never use. Being as it too is a low-end model, I imagine that sooner or later, it too will suffer the same demise as my first Android phone.

On a final note regarding this subject, I have a neighbor who is an Android phone user. One day while we were chatting a bit during a local power outage — we were both charging our phones with his car battery — he informed me that rather than purchase a high-end Android phone which can cost big bucks, he prefers to buy low-end models, and to simply replace it every two years when the battery expansion issue occurs. Well how about THAT!

So, maybe us iPhone users pay a hefty price for our phones, but they are both solid and reliable, and they last a long time. Oh, and let me close with one final point. While Android phones only allow you to update the operating system for two version numbers, I have been updating my iPhone Xs Max for the past six years.

The bottom line for me personally has always been this:

Whether it is a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet or a cell phone, get whatever you like and whatever meets your particular needs and fits within your personal budget,  regardless of whether it is macOS, iOS, Windows, Android or any other operating system. But just remember one thing: You get what you pay for.

I hope the previous information is helpful to some of my readers.