How Old Is Yours??

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

This weekend I 'bit-the-bullet' and upgraded my phone....

The battery was starting to get a bit too temperamental.

Looking back through the old files and records my previous phone was 9 June 2016..

So approx 4yr 3mnths...

I hear stories of people upgrading every 12 or 24 months!!  {why?}

How old are your phones?

and/or

how often do you tend to upgrade?

Just wondering?

:C

opcorn

 

[Andy™]

about 2 year old

usually get a new phone when contract is renewed, so every 2-3 years depending on contract length

 

[Murdoch]

I bought my current phone 2nd hand last Xmas for £125

The previous phone was also bought 2nd hand and lasted 4 years

I'm not wasting money on the latest gadget!

 

[Sharpend]

I upgrade on contract renewal. 
gives me a free upgrade of not quite newest phone but who cares! It’s more about battery wear more than new phone. 
the contract price is reasonable and a business expense so not really an issue. 

 

[ProDave]

I run an old gifted phone on a £5 per month SIM only contract, not unlimited but does all the calls I want.

I will upgrade it when a newer gift becomes available from one of the many relatives.

 

[boltonsparky]

About 4 years old, it's an iphone SE, refuse to upgrade because of how stupidly big all the new phones are. I generally keep them till they die, and by die I mean after I've got sick of pulling them apart to put new bits in so I get a fair bit of life out of them.

Have it on a sim only contract for £6 a month, unlimited texts and minutes and 4gb of data.

Each to their own but in my opinion there are far better things to spend £50 a month on than the latest model of aluminium and glass with a 1000% mark up.

 

[Sharpend]

Quite agree that’s why I negotiated a 40% discount on mine and 35% on my wife’s phone. So costs a lot less than needs too. 

 

[Evans Electric]

I used to get a free button phone from T.Mobile   every two yrs   as  their contract .       Excellent in a work situation  , quite sturdy etc .  if broken  they only cost about £10 .    no one will steal it  because they wouldn,t be seen dead with it. 

I bought myself a  pokey finger phone from  a shop  and t.Mobile   , now EE  ,  don't send free phones anymore . 

No idea what youngsters find in staring at the things all day long  TBH . :C  

Edit :    A customer had a smarty pants phone  and wanted to know what LED  flood I proposed to fit  .    He said show me on Screwfix  ,   just  say the make etc  .   I said I didn't really want to talk to  a bloody  phone but he insisted .  It wouldn't work because it couldn't understand my Brummie  accent .   

 

[Doc Hudson]

I generally keep them till they die, and by die I mean after I've got sick of pulling them apart to put new bits in so I get a fair bit of life out of them.

Back in the early years mobile phones used to have battery packs that could be removed, (and hence replaced), easily. So when your battery lifespan started getting a bit poor, you just fitted a new battery pack. {Similar to if your battery drill, or battery multi-tool needed a new battery.}  I still have the impression that battery life is a key factor influencing when people change their phones. Maybe they would be kept longer if it was easier/cheaper to just stick a new battery in? As its only the geeks who must have all the latest features on the day they are released.  The concept of paying several hundred pounds for a piece of technology that only has a lifespan of one or two years seems crazy to me. 

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I still relate to purchasing separate Amplifier, Turntable, Tape-Deck, Tuner, Speakers, (and later CD player), to listen to my favourite music, (AKA LP's Tapes). I was recently sorting some old documents and stuff whilst tidying up various draws & cupboards, where I found a receipt for my Hi-Fi amplifier. Nothing too fancy but in May 1989 it was £160. No idea what that relates to in modern money, or how many hours of work I needed to do to buy my amplifier. But it is still working 30+ years later sitting in our lounge. So that's less than £6, per year, so far! I can't think of any phone technology that can meet that lifespan?    

The trick is to have children who are in the geeky, must upgrade frequently category. So you can acquire old handsets off them, every one or two years, then just pay for an airtime contract for your phone calls, texts & data. Typically less than £10 per month. I've heard of some people paying £40+ per month, which has got to be madness IMHO. 

Doc H.

 

[boltonsparky]

Back in the early years mobile phones used to have battery packs that could be removed, (and hence replaced), easily. So when your battery lifespan started getting a bit poor, you just fitted a new battery pack. {Similar to if your battery drill, or battery multi-tool needed a new battery.}  I still have the impression that battery life is a key factor influencing when people change their phones. Maybe they would be kept longer if it was easier/cheaper to just stick a new battery in? As its only the geeks who must have all the latest features on the day they are released.  The concept of paying several hundred pounds for a piece of technology that only has a lifespan of one or two years seems crazy to me. 

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I still relate to purchasing separate Amplifier, Turntable, Tape-Deck, Tuner, Speakers, (and later CD player), to listen to my favourite music, (AKA LP's Tapes). I was recently sorting some old documents and stuff whilst tidying up various draws & cupboards, where I found a receipt for my Hi-Fi amplifier. Nothing too fancy but in May 1989 it was £160. No idea what that relates to in modern money, or how many hours of work I needed to do to buy my amplifier. But it is still working 30+ years later sitting in our lounge. So that's less than £6, per year, so far! I can't think of any phone technology that can meet that lifespan?    

The trick is to have children who are in the geeky, must upgrade frequently category. So you can acquire old handsets off them, every one or two years, then just pay for an airtime contract for your phone calls, texts & data. Typically less than £10 per month. I've heard of some people paying £40+ per month, which has got to be madness IMHO. 

Doc H.

 I remember those, slide the back case off and pop the battery out, easy to carry a spare battery although there was no real need to with their battery lives of days/weeks rather than hours like nowadays. 

I wouldn't tackle pulling the latest waterproof models apart, as the tech gets smaller and smaller they become increasingly difficult to repair, the components in the iphones are incredibly small and that's on a 4 year old model, the newer ones look like a nightmare. 

They're making them less and less serviceable with each release, ultimately they don't want you to fix them they want you to throw them away and replace with the latest model. I think it was apple that got taken to court recently for building in features to one of their software updates that slowed the phone to encourage replacement.