Senator Wants Apple To Answer Questions on Slowing iPhones (reuters.com) 169
The chairman of a U.S. Senate committee overseeing business issues asked Apple to answer questions about its disclosure that it slowed older iPhones with flagging batteries, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a letter. From the report: The California-based company apologized over the issue on Dec. 28, cut battery replacement costs and said it will change its software to show users whether their phone battery is good. Senator John Thune, a Republican who chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said in a Jan. 9 letter to Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook that "the large volume of consumer criticism leveled against the company in light of its admission suggests that there should have been better transparency."
what about not helping the FBI as well? (Score:1)
what about not helping the FBI as well?
Re:what about not helping the FBI as well? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you mean to say that the Senator should thank Apple for not letting it's customers down by capitulating to government pressure to provide a back door. A door that hackers would certainly find and exploit in order to steal our personal data. A door that could be used by law enforcement without a warrant. I applaud Apple for standing up for personal liberties, even if it makes it tougher on law enforcement.
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What makes you think Apple phones have slowed down? Despite all the clamour, they have not been "slowed". The processor frequency is only lowered while there is insufficient current. I cannot see how this can translate to "Apple slowed my phone. It is a lie. I have a four year old iPhone 6 and it has not slowed at all. Because the battery is fine (86% original capacity). I'm not the only one in this situation. In fact, I personally don't know anyone with this problem.
This is created story by all the d
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While I agree this is over-hyped and generally represented as worse than it is.
Throttling the frequency of the processor is slowing down the phone. Doing it in a transparent manner would mean that the user would say my phones running slow I should get a new battery. Just doing it and not indicating why would probably result the user investigating why, removing apps, doing a factory reset and then going out and buying a new upgraded phone. This wastes users time and money.
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It is still slowing down the phone omnly when the load capacity is exceeded. That is really not very much of the time. I suspect that Apple's engineers thought it insignificant. Yes, they should have been more public but I think they (mistakenly) didn't see the need. A mistake they are fixing. If anyone went out and bought a new phone because they thought the phone was "wearing out" has a rather pathetic understanding of technology. [Aside: It is not that they don't wear out, they do, but it is slow.]
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what about not helping the FBI as well?
They already excoriated Apple for standing up for our privacy rights, remember?
Title should read (Score:1)
Senator wants Apple to donate to its campaign funds. You know, to resolve the "issues" that they may have due to "consumer criticism"
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Senator wants Apple to donate to its campaign funds. You know, to resolve the "issues" that they may have due to "consumer criticism"
I doubt it.. His seat isn't up for election for at least 4 more years, is a 3 time incumbent and he won his last election by 40 points... He's in no danger of losing his seat...
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There is a big difference. Before the shakedown, Microsoft was pointedly not involved in politics. Apple has long been deeply involved in the affairs in Washington.
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There is a big difference. Before the shakedown, Microsoft was pointedly not involved in politics. Apple has long been deeply involved in the affairs in Washington.
Actually, not so much until the past few years.
Overblown (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not an Apple fanboi... really I'm not. I have an iPhone, but won't use their overpriced Macbooks because of Apple's draconian design decisions. Having said that, I really do not see what the issue is here. We know lithium ion batteries degrade with use. I (and I think most people) want their phones to last through the entire day. Besides making the display dimmer, which really isn't much of an option, slowing the CPU to reduce power consumption is one of the only viable methods available through software to preserve the operating time throughout the lifetime of the phone. Should Apple have made this a user controlled option? Sure. In fact, Apple could have had the phone show some message "Your battery needs replaced - your phone only has 75% of the capacity from when it was new" and could have made a lot of money off of people replacing their batteries.
I do not think that the devices are slowed to make them unusable so people would buy new phones. Having a totally dead phone after 8 hours instead of 12 hours is worse, in my opinion.
Re:Overblown (Score:5, Interesting)
Fanboy or no, Apple likes repeat customers, and phones becoming useless garbage doesn't help retention. They didn't slow down their phones to make people buy new phones. They add features that are only available on new phones to do that. Intentionally making old phones not work drives people to other manufacturers. We can safely remove the tinfoil hats for a minute.
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I also don't think this change was just to make the batteries last the full day. It was also to address an issue where the device was requesting more power than the degraded batteries could provide and was causing unexpected shutdowns. I know of several people with older iPhones that random turn off. It sounds like this could have been the problem.
Exactly.
Fanboy or no, Apple likes repeat customers, and phones becoming useless garbage doesn't help retention. They didn't slow down their phones to make people buy new phones. They add features that are only available on new phones to do that. Intentionally making old phones not work drives people to other manufacturers. We can safely remove the tinfoil hats for a minute.
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They didn't slow down their phones to make people buy new phones.
Based on their iOS release history, that would be a literal first. The last supported version on iOS on any phone is one that uses way more resources than the phone can provide. That's been true going back almost their entire history. If you know it's the last iOS release for that model, do not upgrade.
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A system crash implies that it is a software problem. A sudden loss of power is not a crash unless you're flying a plane. Unexpected shutdown is a fine term.
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A system crash implies that it is a software problem.
You have a faulty definition of crash. A "crash" is any unexpected, abnormal end of processing. Bad memory chips can cause a system to "crash", with nothing directly to do with software.
Yaz
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Show me where pulling the power cord out of a desktop computer is regularly referred to as a crash.
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That is because pulling the power cord out, and the computer turning off is not UNEXPECTED for the user.
Re: Overblown (Score:2)
Ok. A power outage. You're picking completely pointless nits - don't tell me you haven't heard a real world story where someone couldn't figure out why their computer wasn't working during a power outage.
Re: Overblown (Score:2)
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Just semantics. The point was with unexpectedly losing power - and who says that the user is the one pulling the cord?
Planes never crashed before they had computers? (Score:2)
Perhaps the software world adopted a common term with similar meaning across many industries (crash == "this thing failed unceremoniously") and now they're lecturing the rest of the world on how to use it.
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And if the stock market didn't open one day or trading was temporarily halted - neither would be a crash.
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I think the issue is mainly not telling anyone what they were doing. If they had announced what they were doing and why, there would have been some grumbling but probably nothing like the outrage we're seeing now.
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I think the issue is mainly not telling anyone what they were doing. If they had announced what they were doing and why, there would have been some grumbling but probably nothing like the outrage we're seeing now.
Wanna bet?
You must be new to the internets...
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Of course people would be screaming on internet forums. That happens every day no matter what. I'm talking about protracted national news coverage, expensive remedies, public apologies, Senate hearings. Do you think all that would have happened if they'd been transparent about this from before they started doing it? It seems unlikely to me.
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Of course people would be screaming on internet forums. That happens every day no matter what. I'm talking about protracted national news coverage, expensive remedies, public apologies, Senate hearings. Do you think all that would have happened if they'd been transparent about this from before they started doing it? It seems unlikely to me.
You know what they say about Hindsight, right?
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Should Apple have made this a user controlled option? Sure. In fact, Apple could have had the phone show some message "Your battery needs replaced - your phone only has 75% of the capacity from when it was new"
Apple has already said they plan to provide more detailed information and control for the user regarding battery health and attempts to avoid random shutdowns.
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More so than this, what Apple was doing was performance capping. The iPhone is already aggressive when it comes to keeping the CPU as slow as possible to achieve the tasks at hand. The issue is that as batteries age, not only does their capacity go down, the amount of current they can supply at a given voltage also goes down. You get into a state where doing something CPU intensive will draw enough current to under-volt the system, causing the phone to "Crash" and reboot itself. What apple was doing was put
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I do not think that the devices are slowed to make them unusable so people would buy new phones. Having a totally dead phone after 8 hours instead of 12 hours is worse, in my opinion.
I agree with the first part. However, the way Apple implemented this "feature" is COMPLETELY stupid. They should have provided a setting and information about the health and age of the Lithium Ion battery (consequently they said they would do this after everyone got pissed at them) so that consumers could make the right choice for them. I would have preferred the opposite setting. The problem with Apple, and I have several Apple devices, is that Apple thinks it knows best how you should use its product
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One advantage of Apple is that it uses expert opinions as to how to set things so people can't mess them up. It's part of "just works". Apple is not, repeat not, going to allow you to set your phone to a mode where it crashes instead of slows down. This isn't just a matter of battery life, it's a matter of avoiding crashes.
Now, you may not want Apple making decisions for you, for very good reasons. In that case, I'd suggest buying something else.
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In fact, Apple could have had the phone show some message "Your battery needs replaced - your phone only has 75% of the capacity from when it was new" and could have made a lot of money off of people replacing their batteries.
Or alternately this thread would instead be about money-grabbing Apple scaring people into paying them for new batteries when their existing battery was "just fine", and that Apple was crippling people phones on purpose to extract maximum cash.
Yaz
Re:Overblown (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree completely with almost everything you said, except this:
"could have made a lot of money off of people replacing their batteries."
While that is true, it's a LOT less money than they'll make from people replacing the entire phone instead, which I think most folks would do.
The question being, which scenario would lead the user to buy a new phone faster:
1) the phone randomly shuts down when below 30% and using a lot of CPU
2) the phone displays a message "Your battery is about to die we will slow it down to ensure proper usability"
My bet is on #1.
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The question being, which scenario would lead the user to buy a new phone faster:
There is no reason to buy a new phone based on the battery wearing out if you're happy with the phone you have. Anyone who thinks otherwise is ignorant. It costs $15 for a new battery. You can them on Amazon. Either you need to install it (there are tons of tutorials on youtube) or have someone else do it. It doesn't cost much and is WAY cheaper than buying a new phone.
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And the vast majority of users had NO idea that it was an intentional slowdown. Nor did they know that replacing the battery would fix it. They bought a new phone. They announced the battery program AFTER the holiday sales rush. Coincidence?
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They announce the battery program within days of it being reported that older iPhones were running slower in benchmarks on the iOS versions that have the code that restricts the clock frequency.
Yes, it was a coincidence. You are seeing conspiracies where there are none.
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All that you are saying is true. But you should read my post and the post I was replying to. You'll then realise that what you are saying has nothing to do with my point.
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90% of people who spend the money to pay for an iPhone wouldn't dream of DIY. Their rather ignorant and/or lazy mentality towards hardware and software maintenance is the main reason they love the idiot-proof products Apple makes.
If you're a stupid consumer, then you reap what you sow. It's the consumer's fault. It didn't take much for me to be an informed consumer on the topic 10-15 minutes tops. Since when did consumers become entitled to being idiots and require merchants to think for them? That's not only absurd but if you let the merchant think for you, a fool and his money are soon parted. Basically, what's being said here is people get to complain about other people taking advantage of them because they're stupid, ignora
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90% of people who spend the money to pay for an iPhone wouldn't dream of DIY. Their rather ignorant and/or lazy mentality towards hardware and software maintenance is the main reason they love the idiot-proof products Apple makes.
If you're a stupid consumer, then you reap what you sow. It's the consumer's fault. It didn't take much for me to be an informed consumer on the topic 10-15 minutes tops. Since when did consumers become entitled to being idiots and require merchants to think for them? That's not only absurd but if you let the merchant think for you, a fool and his money are soon parted. Basically, what's being said here is people get to complain about other people taking advantage of them because they're stupid, ignorant or uninformed. Maybe they should move back in their parents' basement because obviously the real world is just too much for them.
While I mostly agree with your assessment here, we also need to understand and remember that DIY on technical components often requires not only competence, but patience, which is become more and more rare in the world of instant gratification. Most people have little patience to learn something someone else knows how to do. If they're forced to learn something, it better be quick and easy (hence Apple UI). You can argue that as ignorance, stupidity, laziness, or someone merely wanting to make good use
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While I mostly agree with your assessment here, we also need to understand and remember that DIY on technical components often requires not only competence, but patience,
Dude, it takes 5 MINUTES to change the damn battery and the kit on Amazon costs like 10 bucks. This is like a VERY minor car repair. I'm not talking about replacing a head gasket or seating a motherboard here. We're talking about a little bit more work than changing a damn furnace filter. Are you suggesting people are THAT incompetent these days? They need to call someone for every little stupid thing? No wonder people are broke.
Let me give you an example of this stupid shit. My car's hood struts wen
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It didn't always die at 20%. Only under high load. It's about voltage, not remaining mAh
Senator is pretneding to forget how this works (Score:3)
The corporations give the orders, the Congressmen follow them. Understood?
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The corporations give the orders, the Congressmen follow them. Understood?
And they give SJW's lives purpose and meaning...
Important issues (Score:3)
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Re: Important issues (Score:2)
Good! (Score:2, Informative)
And ask them why we can't change the batteries - like I can on my Samsung.
Or why for no reason at all why I can't go above iOS 9.3.5 on my iTouch5 or iPad 2. And why I can't get the security updates and why my apps are starting to not work. And many new apps only work on iOS 10+. Sorry, I'm not spending another $500 just because a developer is too lazy.
I expect a $500 device to last more than a couple of years and not have forced obsolescence.
Apple's iOS devices are overpriced crap.
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Why would a Senator ask questions he can easily find answers to on the internet?
I have a slow iPhone 6 (Score:1)
that is nearly unusable. I have been pondering since December on buying the X or Galaxy but now I may just have the battery replaced.
Thereâ(TM)s nothing wrong with a 6 and Iâ(TM)m against upgrading just for the sake of it. Also i am happy with touchid, but would not buy a new phone that looks like the old phone.
As it stands currently the iPhone 5 we have laying around with an old iOS and a dying battery is actually faster than he 6 with current iOS.
Apple has normally been good with keeping stuff g
Re: I have a slow iPhone 6 (Score:1)
Fuck, whatâ(TM)s wrong with slashdot on iOS???
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Fuck, whatâ(TM)s wrong with slashdot on iOS???
How long have you been around here?
The Slashdot Mantra is Apple is teh Evilz!
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iOS keyboard substitutes straight quotes for curly quotes. Slashdot handles basic ASCII and that's about it.
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[I have an iPhone 6] that is nearly unusable. I have been pondering since December on buying the X or Galaxy but now I may just have the battery replaced.
Prove it.
Publish your GeekBench Scores or STFU.
My iPhone 6, purchased right when they came out in September, 2014, has 93% Battery Health, and has scored ABOVE the Average CPU Scores for the single and multiple-core scores, and only about 100 pts. below the average "Compute" Score (with no effort to stop any background processes before testing).
So, if there are some "bad" batteries, then maybe there are; just like EVERYONE occasionally has (Hello, Samsung?); if so, then Apple is LOSING MONEY on the $29 batt
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Ok so I have run battery diagnostics and appearently my battery is at 88pct according to Battery Life Doctor.
It would appear my phone is not throttled but that the latest iOS is just too much to handle comfortably for my iPhone 6.
Bought Geekbench just now so here we go, the numbers donâ(TM)t mean anything to me right now:
1547 Single-Core Score
2627 Multi-Core Score
Geekbench 4.2.1 for iOS AArch64
System Information
iOS 11.2.1 on iPhone 6
As I assume I cannot downgrade to iOS 10 Im stuck with a poorly performing phone or will have to buy something new. Changing battery wonâ(TM)t help, so good to know that. Happy i had this conversation, even if it was impolite.
I'm pretty sure the numbers have no real-world "scale"; they're in "GeekBench Units", LOL! But, here is where you can see where your iPhone rates among others of your model:
https://browser.geekbench.com/... [geekbench.com]
And yes, I am afraid that your slowdowns are probably as a result of "An Upgrade too Far". My iPad 2 has been the same way since upgrading to iOS 9. Most things are ok, including some fairly high-demand Apps, but some Text Entry and most Web Browsing activities are positively PAINFUL!!!
My iPhone 6 has bee
Moore's Law (Score:5, Funny)
An Aide for the Senator was quoted as saying: "The Senator believes that Moore's Law is an antiquated piece of legislation that no longer has relevance to today's technology. Instead of fostering growth, Moore's Law has become an impediment to innovation. We need to free the marketplace from these cumbersome regulations and government interference. Therefore, the Senator will be introducing legislation to repeal Moore's Law, and ensure that all software, regardless of language, compiler, or hardware affiliations will be free to continue running as fast as the day it was released on any platform, anywhere, at any time."
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As much as the slowing iPhones annoy me (Score:2)
Because SD voters deserve answers! (Score:2)
And he's not even up for re-election for another 5 years...
Hmmm.. He must think this is important then..
Bovine Scat at its finest (Score:5, Informative)
It is bovine scat that Congress-critters are wasting time about this. There really are more important issues than a stinking smartphone charge IMHO.
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But what I considered most important -- making it through my day's activities on one charge -- was the way it was acting. I'm glad Apple installed this change. I appreciate the change. The only fault that I see is that Apple didn't tell us. The fact that they made the change benefited me. I really don't care that they didn't tell me; it just would have been nice.
Therein lies the problem. For some people, performance is more important than battery life. Apple could have avoided this entire mess if they had simply made it an option that the users could choose, instead of making the decision for them.
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My understanding is that without the change the phone wouldn't just run out of battery sooner, it would completely shut off if the system demanded more voltage than the battery could supply. I doubt many people would prefer that.
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Aka, the battery died.
Usually when someone says the battery died they mean it ran out of charge. That isn't what's happening here. It could be fully charged, or at least nowhere near dead, and still unable to provide the voltage needed. When that happens, the phone shuts off. If you turn it on again, it will boot immediately because the battery is still charged. Maybe you have some other definition of "dead battery".
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I think it's generally agreed by both sides that it would have been ideal if Apple had explained what was going on and provided a switch. The question here is whether lack of such warrants the government getting involved. I would say no.
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I think it's generally agreed by both sides that it would have been ideal if Apple had explained what was going on and provided a switch. The question here is whether lack of such warrants the government getting involved. I would say no.
I'm right there with you. The problem is these days everyone seeks a political solution or a legal solution. Acting ethically would have helped to avoid the entire issue.
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It is bovine scat that Congress-critters are wasting time about this. There really are more important issues than a stinking smartphone charge IMHO.
Maybe it's time to constitute a convention to change the rules to add a branch of government in charge of executing specific actions, rather than making broad decisions. Then Congress could step back and say things like "You people over there who work for us, we think it's bad the companies rip people off, please make sure companies don't rip people off", and they could provide money to fund enforcement.
Someday, I guess.
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The FTC?
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You wanted a phone that could last all day, so you bought the super thin super small battery iPhone. The battery is so small in fact that when it ages the phone starts to crash.
Rather than demand this design flaw be fixed, you accept a loss of performance that helps Apple save money by but replacing your battery/phone for free.
what an incredible waste of taxpayer money (Score:3)
Apple apologized, heavily discounted battery replacement, and promised to modify iOS to show when throttling happens. They also explained they did it for better user experience: the slowdown is to avoid under-powering due to battery age. I would actually have liked to have that feature for my Android that randomly power cycles.
Somehow the congresscritters think they could do better than Apple? These politicians only pretend they do something for the people only to distract people from their own incompetencies.
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I would actually have liked to have that feature for my Android that randomly power cycles.
If your Android has an unlockable bootloader, odds are you can get a kernel which will permit you to change maximum CPU speed — something which is simply not possible with Apple. And odds are also good that the developer can cheaply be induced to roll a special version of the kernel which loads up at a lower cpu speed for you.
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If it's such an amazing feature why didn't Apple notify users about it? Why didn't Apple say when iOS 11 was released "look, your device might get slower, but you could replace the battery to fi
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This is the real problem -- if it was a feature, why wasn't it advertised or even made switchable/adjustable?
It's hard not to see it as deliberate obsolescence at worst or just crummy software engineering at best (ie, not producing builds with battery sucking features handled more efficiently in newer hardware).
But when you find it they were slowing phones deliberately, it makes the whole thing seem like excuse making.
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If you do not understand how your shit works
If you do not understand how Apple works since a couple years ago, keep purchasing whatever they do at whatever the cost.
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Apple apologized, heavily discounted battery replacement, and promised to modify iOS to show when throttling happens. They also explained they did it for better user experience: the slowdown is to avoid under-powering due to battery age. I would actually have liked to have that feature for my Android that randomly power cycles.
Somehow the congresscritters think they could do better than Apple? These politicians only pretend they do something for the people only to distract people from their own incompetencies.
Exactly!!!
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By all means, suck Apple's dick....
By all means, go on being a Hater...
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And they did all this a couple days after Christmas - after the holiday sales rush. After the iPhone 8 was well-established. A $29 battery replacement does nothing for the person who spent $699 on a new phone when they were otherwise happy with their old one.
A class action lawsuit on the part of people who replaced their phone prematurely is probably better than this, but it's not uncommon for state Attorneys General to get involved in larger claims. I don't really know where Congress fits in - but a Sen
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The battery discount announcement [apple.com] was posted on Dec 28, 2017, well within the 14 day return policy [apple.com] for most Christmas shopping. I think you're being absurd for suggesting that Apple is duping their customers on purpose.
And you can still either keep the old phone as a secondary or you might have traded it in for credit [apple.com]. In any case, the credit for trade-in hasn't changed before and after the battery announcement. I don't understand why someone might be having buyer's remorse over getting a new phone. First w
Re: what an incredible waste of taxpayer money (Score:2)
I don't understand why someone might be having buyer's remorse over getting a new phone.
They're excessively expensive. Especially if you don't live in an area with a high cost of living where the relative price is lower.
And even if it's in the return window, most of these phones will have been activated and all the data transferred by then. Not a convenient return by any means - and even with the hardship of the cost, most people would still give up at that point.
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As an old-time and current Android user, let me share with you one reason why I'm seriously considering switching to iPhone, and I'm sure this reason alone is compelling enough to convince current iPhone users that they've made the right choice. It's the service. If you broke your iPhone, sure you'll have to pay to get it fixed, but you can bring it into any Apple store, and you either get it repaired or replaced during your visit. No downtime.
When I broke my Android phone, I had to ship it back to some ser
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With Android, you can go to any local shop and have it done same day or even while you wait. And they'll actually fix your own phone and never hand you someone else's refurbished phone.
With Android comes more choice. Sure, most of these same shops repair iPhones too - but if you pick the wrong part to replace, a future software upgrade could brick your phone.
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Say your Google flagship Pixel phone is broken and you want walk-in repair. You can visit one of those locations [google.com]. There are fewer of those than Apple stores, so good luck finding a location near you.
The problem with Android is the illusion of choice. You thought you had choice because there are so many phones to choose from when buying, but in reality the ecosystem is so fragmented such that there is no economy of scale to sustain the customer service infrastructure. Using the wrong part for repair is a wor
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You don't have to go to an "authorized" location. You can go to any phone repair shop. Literally any shop. There are 2 in the town I live in. A few more the next town over. Replacement parts aren't locked down with Android vendors.
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Anecdotally, the nearest third-party shop from where I live had many glowing 5 star reviews for iPhone repairs. They also got a few 1 star bad reviews, but these never mention iPhone specifically, so they could very well be Android. YMMV, but it looks like that particular third-party shop has more iPhone customers than Android overall, and the iPhone customers are generally very happy.
Anyone could lookup these third-party shops closest to them and decide for themselves.
Re: what an incredible waste of taxpayer money (Score:2)
Excessive use of government authority (Score:2)
Since when did the US SENATE become an escalation contact for internal Customer Service issues between Apple and their customers?
overseeing business issues asked Apple to answer questions about its disclosure that it slowed older iPhones with flagging batteries .... the large volume of consumer criticism leveled against the company in light of its admission suggests that there should have been better transparency.
Sounds like Apple made a design decision to limit their costs: a less-performant or more
Battery outta hell (Score:2)
"Couldn't they just replace the battery themselves for $10?"
"No, it must be done at a dealer."
"Why? Is there soldering?"
"No, it's a normal battery plugin, but it is behind a warranty sticker."
"Why?"
"So we could charge a lot more. Android phones do this, too. The real goal is to make people throw up their hands and pay for the overpriced monthly infinite care package."
"What is that?"
"That's where we replace a phone with a returned one from an ever-growing pile of phones we don't know what to do with, as t
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"I see. What does this have to do with slowing down the processor?"
"The batteries degrade like it always did, but we hide it by lying about 100%. At some point battery life sucks. But the customer might sue us for providing a crappy battery life with expensive replacement, and we sure as shit don't want to pay for dealer replacement ourselves, so rather than taking a quality black eye, we lie a second time by slowing the processor. It's not lies because we hide it in the fine print, I hope."
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The voices inside your head aren't as tuned into Apple internal communications as you think.
Could that affect iPhone 4 / iOS6? (Score:1)
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That's just the same old rule - don't upgrade to the last major iOS release available for a given device. They introduce enough features to demand more resources, slowing the whole thing down.
Though there's not much cleanup/maintenance available to be performed on iOS. A restore from backup will refresh the OS and clear any caches and any junk left behind. And not reinstalling every app.
Re: Could that affect iPhone 4 / iOS6? (Score:2)
The inquiry itself is interesting (Score:2)
What I find most interesting about this is that smartphones have become so critical to people's everyday lives in just 10 years, that a Congressional committee is taking steps to grill a major provider of said phones.
I'm an iPhone user and actually do like them. But, I really dislike the system that a duopoly has put in place. First, I can't switch to Android even if I want to without losing all the money I've invested in music, apps, etc. and having to re-buy collections on the other platform. Second, the
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without losing all the money I've invested in music, apps, etc. and having to re-buy collections on the other platform.
Apple sells their music in a lossless AAC format (and have for about 10 years, I think). Android plays them just fine. I never buy a whole lot of apps, they're not usually worth it. I'm not sure what "collections" you're re-buying.
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That was supposed to read DRM-free, not lossless.
Not gaslighted, at least (Score:2)
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The same goes for having a battery life shorter than we expect from a company like Apple that seems to pride itself on quality and customer service.
My iPhone 6, purchased basically on day one of sale, back in September 2014, just showed 93% battery health when I tested it the other day.
If anything, I think that battery life is LONGER than I expect from a secondary battery over 3 years old.
Re: (Score:2)
My mom went to the Apple store yesterday and reports that they didnâ(TM)t change her battery because it was still good but took it in the back to install a âoespecial patchâ and after installation the iPhone 6 is as fast as when it was new. She said many others at the counter at that time were told the same.
Prove it.