Do All Phones Turn To Crap After A Year?

[music_man185]

Do all phones start dying after a year? It seems like most products these days are made to break down so that you have to buy a new one. Are phones any exception? Most people get new phones every 1-2 years. So manufacturers probably just build them to last that long at most. I got my razr maxx a year ago. And out of the box, it was very fast and responsive. It stayed that way for a while. But recently, a year later, it is becoming laggy and unresponsive. Many apps freeze and force close. Including the home screen! I'm not a heavy user and don't have a lot of apps or media stored on the device. I regularly reboot, delete old messages and clear app cache. I've read other reviews of the maxx that say the same thing about a year after purchasing. But I'm wondering if this is an issue with certain phones, or most phones. My girlfriend and I are getting ready to drop $500 on a note 3 and s4, and for that much money, I want to make sure they will both be good devices 2 years from now, at least.

Sent from my Motorola RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk

 

[Steven Tyson]

Re: Do All Phones Turn To The Walking Crap After A Year?

Yes this is a issue with almost all electronic devices thoough have u tried a factory reset, wont totally fix the problem but might speed your phone back up

Posted via Android Central App

 

[music_man185]

I haven't tried a factory reset. I'm getting ready to sell the phone in a month, and I'll do a factory reset then.

Sent from my Motorola RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk

 

[Inhocmark]

Its like anything, occasionally you just have to clean it up. An app inventory to see what you really need and use followed by a nice factory reset. Before my new phone, I took the opportunity to clean off my creaking iPhone 4 just before iOS 7 launch. Clean install, just loaded back my contacts and settings from the cloud and installed apps I wanted fresh. The phone hummed as well as any 3 year old phone can be expected to.

This is the nature of the tech beast. Regardless of what phone you buy in 2-3 years its going to have a battery that doesn't quite hold its charge as well as it used to, physical buttons that aren't as snappy as they once were and apps that aren't built for your older device.

 

[music_man185]

I understand poorer battery life and apps not being compatible with age. But the home launcher freezing and force closing after a year of light use seems unacceptable to me.

Sent from my Motorola RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk

 

[alexlam24]

It happens frequently on my HTC Amaze so I know your pain bruv, but it happens when your hardware wears down due to usage. My battery only has 60% of the original battery life so I have about 1000 mah left. I'm just waiting for the Nexus 5 now

Sent from Samsung Z1 GPE on T-Mobile

 

[Inhocmark]

I understand poorer battery life and apps not being compatible with age. But the home launcher freezing and force closing after a year of light use seems unacceptable to me.

Sent from my Motorola RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk

Strange...but not unheard of. Sometimes you just need to go back to square one though. It can really help a phone.

 

[mrsmumbles]

My Hydro was spontaneously rebooting by the 5th month. It turns apps on by itself, and the browser and other stuff was crashing at least 50% of the time. Freezes were constant.

After I got my optimus f7, I began using my Hydro on WiFi as a mini tablet and I'd uninstalled at least half of the apps on it. Now, it runs far better than it did before, including even the battery life is much better than it was before.

So, the less strain on the machine the better it will run. I haven't even rooted, just uninstalled a lot of stuff and I use it far less to browse the web. I only use the apps I still have on it. I don't know if it will still run well or at all after a year, but I think it could now. Before, I worried it would die any day.

Sent from my C5170 via Tapatalk 2

 

[TeknoBug]

Depends on how you use them and how you treat the battery. The Li-Ion batteries have a typical life span of 3 years, if you constantly drain it down to 0 or at least below 20% everytime, you're going to drastically shorten its life. My HTC Desire has pretty much the same charge life today as it did back in 2010 and still going strong, same for my HTC One X.

 

[aikonriche]

I guess that applies to majority of smartphones nowadays. Smartphone manufacturers don't pay much attention to the quality of their hardware as they know people would normally change phones every 1.5 years or so.

 

[srkmagnus]

I guess that applies to majority of smartphones nowadays. Smartphone manufacturers don't pay much attention to the quality of their hardware as they know people would normally change phones every 1.5 years or so.

I don't think this is true. I'd bet that the opposite is true: People don't upgrade as frequently and often use their devices beyond 1.5 years, or their contract term. Even on a subsidized contract, phones are not cheap. Even at $199/$299, these things are not cheap.

 

[rdubmu]

Do a factory reset and all your issues will go away. If you are installing and un-installing apps it will slow down after some time.

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

 

[SactoKingsFan]

All the Samsung phones I've had have lasted a while without any issues. My GS2 Skyrocket, for example, has been going strong for about 2 years. It lagged a bit after 9 months so I rooted and added the latest version of Cyanogenmod, which allowed me to move on from Touchwiz and keep the phone running without any lag or other problems.

 

[Inhocmark]

I don't think this is true. I'd bet that the opposite is true: People don't upgrade as frequently and often use their devices beyond 1.5 years, or their contract term. Even on a subsidized contract, phones are not cheap. Even at $199/$299, these things are not cheap.

I think you're right.

I'm honestly not sure what people expect from a device that is used and abused even by the most careful users day in and day out without a real rest. Even the best made product is going to show its age with the kind of use they get.

 

[Haalcyon]

Well, it's a safe bet that the Note 3 will not be krăp after a year. Nor the HTC One, nor the Moto X, nor the Nexus 5.... They will be succeeded however.

from a '14 Note 10.1

 

[Linh321]

This is very true! It's not like the old unlocked Nokia 3320 or Motorola rock that you can still throw it at the wall and still nothing happens and 10 yrs later you pop in a sim card and still able to make calls and send sms with out hassle! It's not like buying a Honda or Toyota that last you 300k miles before you can sell it for parts then call the junk yard people to scrap it! Now a days the attention span is under 1 year as if! New and exciting gadgets come out every 3 months and you just can't keep up with them! You'll be poor if you do! But finding and pick out one that let you stay content for even a year from now is hard! Why do you think I am reading android central or Engadget or technology news everyday? 4 months ago I got the nexus 4 I was happy as pigs and cows now I'm just blehhh OK there's better newer phone on the horizon! And I just can't wait until my installment to be paid off so I can get another newer phone even though the one I am using now will be still very capable long after my installment with T-Mobile! I opened a box from my brother last month and he had phones from 2004 Nokia Motorola LG they still work! And it's hard for him to throw or part with them especially that Nokia N95! That was the **** back in 06 with all the game and that 5 mega pixels camera! I Can actually use it today for every day if I want just that it's gonna take me longer to type this long reply on it with an old browser from symbian os! But phone calls texting and videos recording and pictures are just great still! Ay yay yay!

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Ernest Hlink]

Luckily, I still have my good old NOKIA 3330 and its working so smooth, like the worst tires on smoothest ice.
Cant say about Samsung, or LG, Huawei or what ever else all Android. Not sure about iPhone, but I doubt so.
Simple - modern age, stocks age, requires us to BUY BUY and BUY once again.
I refuse to spend money on crap. I have so much urge to tear my LG G2 mini smartphone apart (like I did with my BB Q10 back then), but then how will I communicate with GF? She likes chats, so do I, but good old ICQ (QIP) was bulletproof.
Simply, these new devices sucks, and will suck as long as stock age will last.
They are slow, even when NO APP is launched what so ever after FRESH factory reset. 2-3seconds before FB messenger is launched, hm, thats awesome.

 

[wenso smith]

Re: Do All Phones Turn To The Walking Crap After A Year?

Yes this is a issue with almost all electronic devices thoough have u tried a factory reset, wont totally fix the problem but might speed your phone back up

Posted via Android Central App

Yes this is true..

 

[chanchan05]

No they don't. Unless your carriers do something to your firmware to force you to buy, I'm going with no they don't. Apart from the expected degradation of battery capacity, I don't feel the phones getting slower over the course of a year or so.

 

[Red_Star]

No. But really depends on a certain model, however I used a rather cheap one for a long time and everything was ok. I think it would work even now, if it wasn't stolen from me a year ago