Help me with my thesis - Researching consumer perceptions, obsolescence, and electronics.

[Shrek]

I support return without reason.

Doesn't that push the price up?

 

[lexluthermiester]

For most phones changing the battery is easy

Not as much as you'd like to think.

 

[Lei]

Doesn't that push the price up?

Nope, I rather sell quickly than checking everyday for customers brushing my description.

 

[The Student]

In response to the example of sealed battery (one of the worst thing that happened in the smartphone industry). The Galaxy S5 was slim and get a removable battery and IP protection, they prove everyone it can be done and shortly after, just make the S6 with glass and sealed battery. Only Fairphone is actually trying to make things better, theres other smaller brand too like terra, i don't know all of them. But innovation should not be done in the detriment of repairability or losing useful feature (hi Jack 3,5).

Fairphone is getting a lot of attention, when describing obsolescence in smartphones. But do you, or any others, have any experience with the phone?

Here at TPU you're among people who have an above average ability - and desire - to repurpose old parts, build new old PCs, and hand them over to less demanding users, such as their own parents or charities. They will likely complain less about P/O because they know how to run against it, at least when it comes to PCs.
Gotta go now, those pesky HP 338 ink cartridges need refilling again, it's a dirty job.

I very much get the feeling that people are more insightful here at TPU than the average consumer, which also makes the discussion even that more interesting!
It is clear through this thread that the majority isn't happy about P/O, although other threads describes how some people like a good product/device upgrade ;-) Potentially being the 'victim' of relative obsolescence without being aware of it.

I started this from day 1 on my current phone (S21+), and it helped alot for the 1st 2 years, but not as much as it originally did... plus the battery on this phone is not that easy to replace, but there is a small shop downtown that I have used before, they will do it for $85 (parts & labor) so I will let them handle that, since my hands/eyes aren't as good as they used to be



I will try first to sell them to someone who wants a used/budget device, if this doesn't work out, I will take them to a recycling place......

I replaced mine for 9$
Just found a tall lady with long wavy hair, I asked her to bring me her hair dryer... I let her pull the battery out with her long fingers.

I bought some boiled eggs yesterday morning. Saw that lady again and put the warm egg on her cheeks, hahaha


I sold my monitor. My hdd.
I support return without reason.

Used parts may also end up being tossed at my sister or opened to steal the tech.
Steve Jobs said: good artist copies, great artist steals. So I think it's important to screw things open and steal the design inside.

I do buy 2nd hand stuff too. My psu, my mobo, ssd, hdd, keyboard, joystick, webcam, panoramic camera, gpu are all bought from 2nd hand market.

My brother says: the best guarantee is when something worked for 2 years and is still working. He repairs printers for a living. Including flashing their IC so they reset their counter instead of stop working.

When you are selling your used items, or even buying from the secondhand market. What is your main reason for that, is it based on the sustainable aspect of not creating unnecessary magnitudes of waste. Or is it more based on economic aspects?

 

[Kyan]

Fairphone is getting a lot of attention, when describing obsolescence in smartphones. But do you, or any others, have any experience with the phone?

I am currently holding on to my Honor 9, a June 2017 model that I bought in February 2018, on a technical point almost 6 years old and over 5 years of use. I haven't made any repairs and it still does what I ask it to do (with some flaws but it works).
I was thinking I would buy a fairphone since the release of the fairphone 4 (September 2021) but in fact I've outgrown my desire for something new and I'm still using my old 350€ phone from 2018. Time will tell, but if my honor 9 can make it to the fairphone 5 I will replace it this time. The battery is ok but shows signs of fatigue and many apps are not very fast, but I can get over it for now.

 

[AMF]

do u rem when best buy sent those circulars out every weekend and there was a magical new pc with .1 ghz improvement lol the industry is still the same just bigger leaps every few weeks it seems like just to get ppl that must have the latest and greatest empty thier pocket books... i wish ppl would just refuse to upgrade anything for a solid year .. boycott those bastards and watch the prices drop. id rather have a 2 generation improvement every 2 years

 

[R0H1T]

You would have to be a responsible adult for that, too much power is vested in children/teens or "grown up" children i.e. Gen Z these days who barely have an attention span of a toddler!

Far too many businesses spend way too much catering to them

 

[AMF]

You would have to be a responsible adult for that, too much power is vested in children/teens or "grown up" children i.e. Gen Z these days who barely have an attention span of a toddler!

Far too many businesses spend way too much catering to them

exactly when they could cater to everyone buy not being wasteful of the precious silicons

 

[The Student]

do u rem when best buy sent those circulars out every weekend and there was a magical new pc with .1 ghz improvement lol the industry is still the same just bigger leaps every few weeks it seems like just to get ppl that must have the latest and greatest empty thier pocket books... i wish ppl would just refuse to upgrade anything for a solid year .. boycott those bastards and watch the prices drop. id rather have a 2 generation improvement every 2 years

Didn't I just see a thread where you told that you have bought an 6950XT while having the 6900XT?
But yes, I remember it. Actually more with phones like Nokia and Sony Ericsson, when they changed design every other week, creating constant desire for a change ;-)

 

[AMF]

Didn't I just see a thread where you told that you have bought an 6950XT while having the 6900XT?
But yes, I remember it. Actually more with phones like Nokia and Sony Ericsson, when they changed design every other week, creating constant desire for a change ;-)

i posted wrong pic

 

[The Student]

I am currently holding on to my Honor 9, a June 2017 model that I bought in February 2018, on a technical point almost 6 years old and over 5 years of use. I haven't made any repairs and it still does what I ask it to do (with some flaws but it works).
I was thinking I would buy a fairphone since the release of the fairphone 4 (September 2021) but in fact I've outgrown my desire for something new and I'm still using my old 350€ phone from 2018. Time will tell, but if my honor 9 can make it to the fairphone 5 I will replace it this time. The battery is ok but shows signs of fatigue and many apps are not very fast, but I can get over it for now.

My old iPhone 7 lasted from approximately 2017 and until recently. I was thinking about the Fairphone, but ended up with a new iPhone 13 instead. I have this fear from 'smaller' electronic manufacturers. Which is irrational, as I probably should be more aware of the big manufacturers..

i posted wrong pic

Ohh okay, sorry!

 

[AMF]

My old iPhone 7 lasted from approximately 2017 and until recently. I was thinking about the Fairphone, but ended up with a new iPhone 13 instead. I have this fear from 'smaller' electronic manufacturers. Which is irrational, as I probably should be more aware of the big manufacturers..


Ohh okay, sorry!

thats where it pays to do hours of research on lesser known manufactures and their products sometimesyou can find a diaamond in the rough

 

[Shrek]

So much stuff doesn't last

• I have some wonderful alarm clocks but the alarm set switch was not reliable (they didn't use gold plated contacts); I had to use silicone oil to make them dependable.
• Room fans don't seem to last long unless one opens up the motor and get a lot of oil into the bearing, then they seem to last forever.
• Chair mats crack up in a few years unless one gets the right one.

Then again some stuff does

• Modern spark plugs seem to last a lot longer than old stuff.
• Modern engine oils and lead acid batteries seem to last a good bit longer.
• LED house bulbs are so much better than tungsten bulbs.

Then there are things that can't be compared since they didn't even exist

• Thumb drives
• E-Ink readers to hold and read a library

I'd say things are better now than in the past

• My car is at around 230,000 mi and does not burn oil.
• My computer is over 10 years old and still doing all I need.

Even cheap has it's place

• I'd never be able to afford a 'real' variac to slow my fans.

But I almost always get the best replacement parts for a repair as I want it to last.

 

[caroline!]

LED house bulbs are so much better than tungsten bulbs.

If you don't mind the horrible CRI, heh.
Anyway.

I don't buy phones and stay away from portable computers -laptops and tablets- that can't be upgraded.
Polls and forms are something I always ruin, because they're mostly aimed at consoomers who are constantly buying stuff just for the visuals or trends, and I don't do that.

 

[Icon Charlie]

When it comes to cars, those of old did not last a fraction of modern ones.

My 43 year old Dodge D150 would like to have a word with you.

 

[Shrek]

Miles?

 

[The Student]

LED house bulbs are so much better than tungsten bulbs.

I don't know if I'm too biased of the 'lightbulb theory', but aren't we impressed by the lifetime of LED bulbs just because we have gotten used to the heavily manipulated lifetime of incandescent bulbs?

 

[Wirko]

I don't know if I'm too biased of the 'lightbulb theory', but aren't we impressed by the lifetime of LED bulbs just because we have gotten used to the heavily manipulated lifetime of incandescent bulbs?

Is that truly a manipulation? Living in an area with a stable 230V power, I can say that most incandescent bulbs last(ed) very long compared to their stated 1000h lifetime. Meanwhile, I would call LED bulb 10,000-30,000h lifetimes heavily manipulated - about as heavily as compact fluorescent bulb lifetimes.

 

[Lei]

I don't buy phones and stay away from portable computers -laptops and tablets- that can't be upgraded.

All laptops should be sold in toy shops.
Stupidest invention of silicon valley.

 

[Shrek]

I don't know if I'm too biased of the 'lightbulb theory', but aren't we impressed by the lifetime of LED bulbs just because we have gotten used to the heavily manipulated lifetime of incandescent bulbs?

I went from replacing bulbs on a regular basis to not recalling the last time I replaced a bulb; so for me it is very real, as is the reduced power consumption.

 

[Lei]

When you are selling your used items, or even buying from the secondhand market. What is your main reason for that, is it based on the sustainable aspect of not creating unnecessary magnitudes of waste. Or is it more based on economic aspects?

What you say happens, intentionally or not.

But here are two other reasons:
Sometimes I want to buy something I never had before. It seems useful, but I have my doubts if it really contributes to my expectations. For example e-book reader. Will it be portable enough, easy to handle for long hours, drops into my jeans pocket if I'm not wearing an overcoat.... I can't test even if I go to a shop and they let me try. I need weeks of trial. So I get an old used model.

Panoramic camera. I got an old model before I pay a premium for something I never had before.

I got a smartwatch for free by participating in an sports event. I stopped wearing it after a month. You see, sometimes you think something is cool until you own one. Same fate could happen to any brand new smartwatch If I had pay for them.

Using a projector as second monitor. It seems like an excellent idea. But I won't try unless with a cheap used model before I throw lots of money at it and possibly regret.

Would you buy the best top notch telescope if you have never looked at the sky before unless with naked eyes? Perhaps a used good model is better than a cheap new lower-tier.

The other reason is there are good guys selling their stuff. I don't want to disappoint them just as I don't want others disappoint me when I'm selling.

Anyway, I have the money to buy new stuff. And why let something sit around get covered by dust when someone else can benefit.

Miles?

Your word triggered me this song, thank you

 

[lexluthermiester]

I went from replacing bulbs on a regular basis to not recalling the last time I replaced a bulb; so for me it is very real, as is the reduced power consumption.

Same here. LED lighting is the real deal, greatly better than CCFL and completely superior to incandescent lights. A point you missed, which can matter in the heat of summer, LED lights produce much less heat than CCFL and are leap & bounds cooler than incandescent. LED is the best thing to happen to general lighting since artificial lighting was discovered/invented.

 

[Icon Charlie]

I don't know if I'm too biased of the 'lightbulb theory', but aren't we impressed by the lifetime of LED bulbs just because we have gotten used to the heavily manipulated lifetime of incandescent bulbs?

Going to say a few things about the bulbs. AND YES you are correct about companies evilly manipulated the lifetime of incandescent bulbs.

LED are better than Incandescent Bulbs in Energy efficiency. However they are not good in all environments

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/led-traffic-lights-trouble-in-winter-because-they-don-t-melt-snow-1.3465301

 

[Lei]

Don't know why my LED lights died in less than 2 years.
I told the building maintenance: lights died for quite a long time now, but I'm too embarrassed to ask repairmen come to replace....

They asked why?
I said: my room is more messed up than a zoo. Could you give me the lights and I replace myself?
They said ok

But 2 hours later to my horror two ladies knocked on the door and wanted to check conditions inside.
I tidy up as fast as I could and then repairman came with a ladder.

I gave the lady a party balloon to play with while keeping her waiting in the corridor.

Same here. LED lighting is the real deal, greatly better than CCFL and completely superior to incandescent lights. A point you missed, which can matter in the heat of summer, LED lights produce much less heat than CCFL and are leap & bounds cooler than incandescent. LED is the best thing to happen to general lighting since artificial lighting was discovered/invented.

 

[Shrek]

They probably use the cheapest they can get

I normally get quality but I could not resist a deal that was running on LED bulbs, and while I was expecting a slew of early failures, that has not turned out to be the case.

I actually went through the pile the moment I got them and found two DOA, so that did not bode well; but have had no failures since then. Some manufacturers overdrive their LEDs and this can shorten life.

I had a cheap mains voltmeter and the LED dimmed over the years.