Can I expect modern Android devices to last 4 or more years?

[anon(10181084)]

This situation with short lasting devices, batteries bloating after 2 years, etc... has got me thinking: are these newer devices going to last as long as older ones? I used a Galaxy Tab 2 from December 2012 to July 2017 and it still works fine, despite overheating/crashing from heat and running at nearly 90C countless times during the last few months of its usage (I went extreme with the overclocking since the OMAP 4430 sucked at gaming). It was one of those devices that just refused to die. Even when the battery quit charging all together, it was enough to leave it for a whole morning on the charger and it would be back in business all of a sudden. I did all the things an insane device modder could do to it and it STILL works! I removed the OC and downgraded it to Android 4.3 and I swear that you almost can't feel that it is old except that the OS is ancient. Battery was never replaced and still works decently. Can modern devices last nearly half a decade of daily driver usage or are we now at a point where devices will start having severe issues before they are even 3 years old?

 

[chanchan05]

There should be no reason why they shouldn't. Bloating batteries aren't a new thing. I've seen bloated batteries since the days of the Nokia 3310. It's an inherent possibility with rechargeable battery tech.

This situation with short lasting devices, batteries bloating after 2 years, etc... has got me thinking: are these newer devices going to last as long as older ones? I used a Galaxy Tab 2 from December 2012 to July 2017 and it still works fine, despite overheating/crashing from heat and running at nearly 90C countless times during the last few months of its usage (I went extreme with the overclocking since the OMAP 4430 sucked at gaming). It was one of those devices that just refused to die. Even when the battery quit charging all together, it was enough to leave it for a whole morning on the charger and it would be back in business all of a sudden. I did all the things an insane device modder could do to it and it STILL works! I removed the OC and downgraded it to Android 4.3 and I swear that you almost can't feel that it is old except that the OS is ancient. Battery was never replaced and still works decently. Can modern devices last nearly half a decade of daily driver usage or are we now at a point where devices will start having severe issues before they are even 3 years old?

 

[anon(10181084)]

Yup, I know. I haven't experienced it myself but that one thread where some guy complained about his S7 having a bloated battery started worrying me. Also, have manufacturer's started cutting corners on hardware quality and thermals? I've heard countless stories of CPU heat wearing down a battery quickly on some more recent devices. This may not be an issue on a big spacious device like my Galaxy Tab S3, but I'm afraid my current phone's battery may not last more than 2-2.5 years with the amount of heat that the Helio P20 (aka "Helio Furnace") generates during heavy use or quick charging. Maybe some of you here, who replace devices every year or two, don't need to worry about this, but I use my devices until they become unreliable, obsolete, or just die. 3 years is the bare minimum for me. I hate planned obsolescence (one of the many reasons I just stay away from Apple).

 

[chanchan05]

Yup, I know. I haven't experienced it myself but that one thread where some guy complained about his S7 having a bloated battery started worrying me. Also, have manufacturer's started cutting corners on hardware quality and thermals? I've heard countless stories of CPU heat wearing down a battery quickly on some more recent devices. This may not be an issue on a big spacious device like my Galaxy Tab S3, but I'm afraid my current phone's battery may not last more than 2-2.5 years with the amount of heat that the Helio P20 (aka "Helio Furnace") generates during heavy use or quick charging. Maybe some of you here, who replace devices every year or two, don't need to worry about this, but I use my devices until they become unreliable, obsolete, or just die. 3 years is the bare minimum for me. I hate planned obsolescence (one of the many reasons I just stay away from Apple).

I never use quick charging. On Samsungs this should be less of a concern because Samsung actually throttles the CPU to a certain level even on gaming. To unlock full potentials of Samsungs for gaming, you have to open Game Tuner, then in the custom setting, you have to set it to allow CPU usage beyond what is recommended by the app. Then you go through warnings that increased performance causes increased heat.

I have no knowledge if other companies do that.

However, processors nowadays do heat up more on power intensive tasks. Replacing batteries isn't so bad anyway, at least where I live (I'm in Southeast Asia). I asked at a Samsung official repair center (we have one at every major mall. Think of it like Samsung's version of Apple Store), and they said they'll change that battery and reseal to waterproofing for like $70 in equivalent. Considering that the performance of a 2 year old S7 Edge is still actually better than the current mid rangers, I'd think 3 or 4 years is still very viable in terms of usage depending on wear and tear.

 

[anon(10181084)]

Ok, so what about AMOLED longevity? Will my Tab S3 end up with green tinting after 4 years? People have reported this issue with the Note 3 and other old devices.

Off topic: Where is that setting for decreasing the throttling in game tuner? I need to figure this out in order to boost the performance of my tablet.

 

[chanchan05]

Ok, so what about AMOLED longevity? Will my Tab S3 end up with green tinting after 4 years? People have reported this issue with the Note 3 and other old devices.

Off topic: Where is that setting for decreasing the throttling in game tuner? I need to figure this out in order to boost the performance of my tablet.

AMOLED longetivity depends on your usage. AMOLED will change slightly in color over time the more you use it. I don't notice any bad tinting on any of my devices, and my oldest surviving one is a 6 year old Galaxy S3. I do use it in a more basic color setting so it's naturally a bit yellow tinted. I don't use the adaptive setting.

Game Tuner>Set it to Custom>Open the per game setting and scroll down to performance.

 

[anon(10181084)]

Ok, thanks for the info.

 

[Morty2264]

I would certainly say "yes" so long as the devices are cared for. Phones can last way longer than their "contract term," so to speak. It's all in (or some of it is, anyway) how we use them!

 

[J Dubbs]

What incentive do companies have to make their phones last longer? Since smart phone sales are slowing down I think we've seen some pretty obvious signs lately that companies are purposely designing phones to die sooner/slow down/and generally just not hold up with more hardware/battery etc failures.

It's kinda shocking that as phones are reaching ridiculous highs in pricing they're also reaching inexcusable lows in quality and reliability.

 

[chanchan05]

What incentive do companies have to make their phones last longer? Since smart phone sales are slowing down I think we've seen some pretty obvious signs lately that companies are purposely designing phones to die sooner/slow down/and generally just not hold up with more hardware/battery etc failures.

It's kinda shocking that as phones are reaching ridiculous highs in pricing they're also reaching inexcusable lows in quality and reliability.

Well, think of it like cars. The replacement parts and maintenance earn the companies a lot. I'd wager that Apple earns a ton from is especially since they started using proprietary screws.

Making a long lasting phone that can be repaired is not a sinking investment. Honestly they raised prices on labor and parts since making sealed phones (I asked at Samsung Care Centers here). Labor for phone checkups raised by 50%, and repair costs raised 100%. Not that they were THAT expensive anyway. They used to cost 8USD and 12USD before in equivalent to our currency here.

Of course, people are going to buy phones anyway. With the amount of abuse phones gets from users, it will wear down in a couple of years for most people.

 

[anon(10181084)]

Ok, so my previous phone was a hand-me-down from my father. Shortly after I got it, in fall 2016, the 3G radio went into some very slow (0.16-0.25Mbps) mode after I used a hidden speed boosting feature. Disabling the feature didn't help, and my carrier had no clue what was wrong. It was the first time I experienced a real hardware issue on a mobile device. Of course, that was not enough to make me change it. As I began to reap the benefits of the great CPU it had (it was my first device that was better than a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 ...), it showed it's true face by heating up like crazy when running mid to high end games (it had the 2GHz edition of the first ever true octa core SoC). This was of course tolerable for nearly a year, especially after I finally upgraded my tablet to a Tab S3 and did most of my gaming on that istead of on my phone. After that, everything was ok until after a big trip where I only had my phone with me and had to charge it multiple times during multiple car rides and flights due to it being used as a substitute for my gaming tablet (the phone wouldn't last much more than an hour of gaming). When I finally came home, I started to have issues with charging it, and it would occasionally crash/reboot, once when opening Opera Mini and the other time when disconnecting the charger. Any heavy use of the phone would heat it up so much that the battery capacity would fall a bit after the next charge. Woooooof... The phone then became slow, and eventually I decided to replace it because it was pretty much a zombie/half-alive device before it even turned 3 years old... My current device does get pretty toasty, but I think it will last longer since it was made for use in high temp environments.

 

[Rukbat]

My Samsung Precedent (released in mid-2011) still works. With almost no RAM or storage, it's virtually worthless, but so will an S9 in 2025. Not because it doesn't last (although without a removable battery, that would probably end up costing a bit), but because the industry moves. My StaTAC still works too, but it can't be used because it has no GPS. And that was released 22 years ago. (My 29 year old MicroTAC also works, but the battery is just about gone, and I'd have to build one out of NiCds if the phone were still usable.)

If you treat the phone well, it's normally going to last. But if you drive a tank into a large enough cliff face, you'll produce scrap steel.

 

[anon(10181084)]

I also have a really old phone laying in my cabinet. It is one of the first WP7 devices and was used by both ofy parents before it became mine in 2015. It still runs smoothly (something you cannot expect of an Android after so many years). The only issue is, if you browser the web for half and hour or record video for more than 11min, it will get slightly warm and then reboot and drain most of the battery in seconds. But that phone did survive something most phones would not: my cat threw it off a two meter tall balcony and the only damage was the glass shattering and some barely visible microcracks in the LCD. I am guessing modern high end devices, even with a case, would be blown to smitherines if they fell that much.

 

[anon(10388027)]

All rechargable batteries from all manufacturers slowly loose their ability to recharge and hold their charge. I'll get my battery replaced at 2 years.

Easy ways to increase batttery life between recharges:

Turn off the recording by Google of your Google web and app activity, and your location history. You probably will want to delete all the saved data, too.

Really, unless you love making reviews of stores, restaurants, etc in Google Maps, or like being able to look up your personal travel info Google records and maps daily... this is the biggest battery saver you can make.

Never use the WQHD+ display setting and turn down your display brightness a little bit.. There is almost no web content in quad HD. Unless you are looking at high resolution photos your took, you never need the highest display resolution option.

 

[anon(10388027)]

The top android phones have plenty of RAM and cpu power. They won't suffer from their expected 2 or 3 years of OS upgrades.

Screen burn in is s fact of life for OLED displays unless you are very careful. I'd certainly never have a lock screen always on, displaying something. I alrwady have serioys burn in due to a game.

5G
The new network is coming, but won't be widely rolled out widely for a couple of years in North America. Big surprise was the Canadian gov't won't auction off 5G 3500 MHz spectrum ro carrier until 2020! (carriers are lobbying that the auction happen sooner).

I think there is some mobile upgrade fatigue for the most expensive, premium android phones. Five upgeades in a decade is expensive, even if you are selling your old phones.

 

[ankit3302]

Obviously. We can expect modern smartphones to last for 4 or more years. At present times. smartphones are well equipped with modern technology and awesome features. So, why they would not last for more years. If you use them properly, definitely it will work longer.

 

[LuxuryTouringZone]

If you buy a well-built, high specc'd phone, then it should last 4 years or more if you service it properly when needed.

 

[LeoRex]

Depends on the phone... Most every OEM all but abandons a line once the new version drops. The only phones that would remain relatively up to date after 48 months are the Pixel line... Google pushed out support for the p2 to 36 months, and you may get a few security updates in year 4. By then you are more at the mercy of Qualcomm updating low level hardware libs... Those stop, no more upgrades.

You'll still have to deal with battery degradation, of course.. but batteries can be replaced... 1, maybe 2. I replaced the battery in my 6P at about 18 months... Got two problem free years, could have easily gone one more. I expect my 2xl to give me 2 years, minimum... Then we'll see if there's a desire to update when the Pixel 4 comes.

 

[mwake4goten]

One good way to maintain phone longevity is to switch off auto update apps on Google Play. Unless you really need a app feature there's no need to update apps. Most of the time updates introduce new features that can slow older (and new) phones. In my experience in rare cases some apps updates are coded with better optimization and run better but as I said this is not the norm. Look how the Facebook app has been bloated over the years!

Same goes for OS version updates, don't do it unless you really want the new features. But it's the same as the app updates, you generally trade features for performance. Just look at the forum posts for people that have upgraded.

I have 6.0 marshmallow on my HTC10 and 8.1 Oreo is available, I refuse to update because of all the reports from unhappy users that did who complained about poor battery life after updating.