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A comment on Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair. Parent comment

Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by mywacaday on Monday January 11, 2021 @10:40AM (#25730360)
Youtube on my mother in laws Samsung tablet from 2013 has stopped working. It has stopped because it has android 4 and you can't update chrome past V42 and youtube won't load without a later version of chrome. I installed firefox and she has access to youtube through the web for now. The tablet is in immaculate condition physically. if it played youtube in 2013 it should be able to play it now, it cost over €500 at the time. How is this anything else except planned obsolescence. I know there will be comments about security etc but she only needs it for youtube and solitaire.
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Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by ako on Monday January 11, 2021 @11:36AM (#25731328)
That is not planned obsolence. Nobody said this tablet should stop working by 2021. It's simply the result of limiting cost of software development. If you are creating a new version of android, you cant affort to support all devices. If you create a new version of chrome, you cant affort to support all version of android. If you create a new version of youtube, you cant afford to support all versions of chrome, etc, etc.
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Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by delecti on Monday January 11, 2021 @12:39PM (#25732538)
Agreed. I think there needs to be a better term for the reality of the situation, something like "negligent obsolescence". There's no technological limitation preventing Samsung from updating those for a decade or more, they just don't care. A battery degrading over time isn't planned obsolescence, and while not being able to easily replace the battery might be, more likely it's that they just don't bother to put in the slightly extra effort to make the batteries easier to replace. Right to Repair mandates would be a good start in ensuring manufacturers are properly motivated.
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Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by mc32 on Monday January 11, 2021 @11:37AM (#25731359)
While true, Microsoft used to be able to do a much better job of it (and still does, compared to Android).
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Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by burntoutfire on Tuesday January 12, 2021 @02:10PM (#25751841)
> If you create a new version of chrome, you cant affort to support all version of android. If you create a new version of youtube, you cant afford to support all versions of chrome, etc, etc.

Google is making billions per year, they can certainly afford to support all versions of Android. They just choose to pocket the money and screw their customers instead.

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Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by mywacaday on Wednesday January 13, 2021 @11:44AM (#25764489)
Correction I installed Opera.

Anyone know why opera can run on android 4 and the latest Chrome can't/wont?

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Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by asddubs on Monday January 11, 2021 @06:45PM (#25739902)
you should at least have a way to install another OS on it then. So IMO driver blobs are a real part of the problem here
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Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by codethief on Monday January 11, 2021 @10:51AM (#25730521)
I sympathize with your (mother-in-law's) situation! I, too, own a Samsung tablet from that period.

Have you checked whether you could install LineageOS or some other custom ROM on the tablet? That way, you might be able to extend its lifetime by another couple years.

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Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by steerablesafe on Monday January 11, 2021 @11:04AM (#25730740)
Maybe give Newpipe Legacy a try.

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.schabi.newpipelegacy/

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Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by harrygeez on Monday January 11, 2021 @10:50AM (#25730506)
There's a good chance you can find a compatible version of LineageOS. That should extend its lifespan considerably
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Re:Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the Right to Repair by gruez on Monday January 11, 2021 @01:08PM (#25733080)
If you go through the lineageos device list there's literally no samsung tablets from 2013 that's currently supported. If you count the devices that had builds but aren't currently supported you get more devices, but I suspect your odds are still not good considering there's several unsupported models for every supported model.
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