Should support for gadgets be increased to 5 years to save environment?

[Renoktation]

I have never seen anyone else speaking about it. But I will. Smartphones and laptops are made up from as many as 70 elements from our periodic table including plastics. They release so much toxic in our water system.

Currently, smartphones are supported by manufacturers for 2 to 3 years. After that, even if the hardware remains fully functional, software updates stop arriving. Do you think that it's time companies start making products with longer life span in mind?

There are 7.2 billion people on this planet and if they continue to "UPGRADE" their smartphones every couple of years, no one can save our planet.

Do leave your comments.

 

[me just saying]

a good portion of users have been upgrading their phones every year or two even though a lot of phones have three year support. doubt that will change if support is increased to five years.

 

[Renoktation]

a good portion of users have been upgrading their phones every year or two even though a lot of phones have three year support. doubt that will change if support is increased to five years.

We may need solid statistics to support any claims. Like what percentage of people upgrade their phones willingly and what percentage are forced because the Android won't update. And then many who cannot afford have to root their phones to get latest update.

 

[libra89]

We may need solid statistics to support any claims. Like what percentage of people upgrade their phones willingly and what percentage are forced because the Android won't update. And then many who cannot afford have to root their phones to get latest update.

This is probably dependent on where users are located but I have seen people update their phones because of the following: they see other's phones and how their camera is, the battery doesn't last at all anymore, their phone is either really slow because of the new updates, or apps like whatsapp stop supporting their version of the OS.

 

[Renoktation]

This is probably dependent on where users are located but I have seen people update their phones because of the following: they see other's phones and how their camera is, the battery doesn't last at all anymore, their phone is either really slow because of the new updates, or apps like WhatsApp stop supporting their version of the OS.

The solution lies in what you said.

1. Well battery can be replaced if OEMs decide to provide a removable battery and also provide original spares for longer duration of time.

2. Smartphone can become slow if it contains more number of apps than it is supposed to have. This is more of a problem in Android because of all the background tasks and permissions. This problem can and should be solved by changing how OS manage different app states and background tasks. Google should take cues from iOS & W10M.

3. If WhatsApp is not supported on older versions of OS, then that is not the problem with WhatsApp. That's an issue with OS. As it upgrades, it adds on newer and more secure APIs. OS designers should design OS with long term applicability in mind and may be not push unnecessary updates like minor UI changes. This can solve this issue.

4. Camera technology has saturated today to such an extent that next version doesn't add any noticeable changes. It may have been an issue few years down the line but not today. Having said that, if there are some components of the device that needs frequent upgradation like SDD, RAM & battery on laptops; or batteries and display on smartphones, they should be made modular.

The problem is we are not serious with this issue. WHO and UN conventions on climate change is doing so much but the message somehow fails to seep down to the masses.

Not just companies, but I do not even see any of the tech blogs highlighting this issue.

Everything runs like a well oiled machinery.