I don't believe in planned obsolescence. Stuff wears down as you use them. Then they'd inevitably break. Batteries has a limited number of charge cycles. Software are constantly improving themselves so a newer faster hardware to run them is gonna be inevitably needed

Actually, there is one just for your software example : Back in the early days of Windows Vista beta versions (Windows Longhorn), they contained WDDM drivers for the Intel GMA910, allowing to use video acceleration on it. In the final versions, the driver had been dropped and never appeared again in neither Windows Vista or 7, citing the hardware as being too old

Fact remains, that the hardware was satisfactory during the beta testing, and that under Linux the same chipset (and the one before it too, the 865G which is older by ~2 years) perfectly support the same functionality

This was 10 years ago when electronics, especially electronics that run software, had much less ways to build obsolescence into them than they have nowadays, and we were still less dependent on them than we are now

That plan would make your choices of stuff to buy shrink one by one. Pretty soon you wouldn't be able to buy anything. Stuff breaks here and there. No matter who made them or from what decade it was made in. It breaks by either design flaw or carelessness. (Someone dropping their phone and the screen cracks. You just got careless with it. Simply get it fixed. Samsung's Note 7's exploding battery had a design flaw that caused them to explode. That doesn't mean everything Samsung made is garbage. They make good phones for Android devices.)

If a product broke once and got replaced that's fine, but continual breakages is another matter altogether.

IPhones have reliably problems with SIM cards going bad. My phone will randomly say "No SIM" and I'll lose all ability to talk and text. When I do a hard reset, it starts working again.

IPhones have reliably problems with SIM cards going bad. My phone will randomly say "No SIM" and I'll lose all ability to talk and text. When I do a hard reset, it starts working again.

If that's a continuing problem the next time you upgrade your phone, don't get another iPhone.

IPhones have reliably problems with SIM cards going bad. My phone will randomly say "No SIM" and I'll lose all ability to talk and text. When I do a hard reset, it starts working again.

A few older phones have been known to have that problem. I have a very elderly Nokia 6310i which I keep as a spare/backup phone (also it was one of my first phones and I have a soft spot for the snake game on it  ) and that does the same thing occasionally. I suspect it's due to a problem with the clip that holds the SIM in place. Perhaps it's the same with the Iphones.

If that's a continuing problem the next time you upgrade your phone, don't get another iPhone.

What make you think other phones won't have the same thing happen? It might be the SIM card and reader getting dirty somehow. Dirty contacts will make them bellyache. The problem even plagued the gaming consoles when they used carthridges instead of optical media way back since Atari 2600 or even before. Just take it out and clean the contacts on the thing. (Even a simple removal and insertion will be enough most of the time.)

SOmetimes when my phone first starts up it says "No SIM" but after about 10 seconds it's fine, other than that I've never had a SIM card error, I use an ALCATEL IDOL 3, decent phone for what i need, cost me $100 bucks, i dont need that fancy samsung stuff or that Iphone junk...

If a product broke once and got replaced that's fine, but continual breakages is another matter altogether.

Still shouldn't turn away from a brand because of a model being of bad design either at their fault or whoever made the battery for them. Take Samsung. They generally make good phones for Android. Their Note 7 being the bad design. Buy anything from them all you want but avoid their Note 7s.

What kinda phone do you have that haven't cracked when you sat on it? (Too lazy to read back 10+ pages of this thread. Plus I'm on a break at work.)

Edit: found it. 4" screens are tougher than 5.5"+ screens when it come to sitting down on them. Small phones doesn't flex as much compared to bigger ones when they're trying to keep from taking the shape of your seat. Try flexing a piece of glass and see what happen. It's simply nature of glass.

I might have been a bit strong in saying that I wouldn't go back to a manufacturer ever again, but I hear of people being on their fourth or fifth iPhone 6, and still they go back for more. To me there can be such a thing as too much brand loyalty.

It may not be so much a thing of brand loyalty as it is familiarity.  Take my dear sweet old widowed mother for example.  She's in her 70s, and for the past 5-6 years she's been using I-Phone.  it was her first smart phone and trying to learn a new operating system/format can be very stressful for the elderly or those with learning disabilities (I would know, i have my own!) So we'll be sticking with I-Phones for her while I am very happy with the Droid operating system.  Even though I hate google. 

Who needs a cell phone, just get a Sierra wireless aircard/hotspot and then you can use what ever WiFi device you like, there isn't much you can't do with a tablet and add an external antenna with like a 12 db gain and even in areas other don't get service you'll get near full signal strength...

Whats the point ? Tablets run the same operating systems and are made by the same companies as phones

Whats the point ? Tablets run the same operating systems and are made by the same companies as phones

Not all tablets, you can get some of the cheaper ones to run linix and some of the more expensive ones to run windows, and if you want real cheap you can always get a blackberry tablet they are actually pretty solid little units, or step it up and use a laptop or even a raspberry pi..

Some facts and advice I am going to take from the recent posts

I will stick to Samsung since as I know their S8 phone STILL offers the headphone jack so I can use my best MARLEY earphones 

Miss Cuddly (Sammi) Can I suggest the Pixel 2 phone by Google if you think if you don't want another Samsung smartphone? Otherwise I think Samsung are still on the top of quality as my s4 is still working fine after 4 years (will be 5 in the new year of May!!) and I will continue to use it until the day I can no longer do so. Honestly as long as my s4 can run FB, play YT videos of Aphex Twin audio videos, text on SMS, WhatsApp and Viber, run SoundCloud then I am flipping fine and the best thing is that many apps on Google Play store can run happily on my 4 year old S4  also the flipping camera is still meeting my standards especially when going out and about taking pics of lighting that I post here 

As for the portable Apple products I like their iPods, I still use my green coloured iPod Nano 7th Gen, its much better than having a phone size iPod Touch (like iPhone minus calling feature) because all I want to do is to load up my albums of Coldplay, Aphex Twin, The Prodigy and various electronica dance music and being so small its a pleasure to take around along with my s4 phone. I know smartphones can store music too but having it on separate iPod is better for two things

1: You can normally take photos with your smartphone whilst listening on your iPod
2: You save hella lot of space on your phone memory by having iPod as your music device source
3: You don't stress the battery duration of your phone

And with iPods is like a total blessing when coming to situations where unpleasant noises are present such as small children/babies crying, it is so distressing for me  especially on the bus and train. Sometimes going on the top deck of a double decker London bus is the way forward as most mothers have their babies on buggies and they have to stay on the ground deck.

My S3 mini is actually coming up for three years old, and as long as it keeps on going I'm happy. I've never been one for updating their handset as soon as a new 'improved' phone comes out. One of my mottos in life is 'If it 'ain't broke don't fix it.'