They're not unique in this respect, too. WEEE and RoHS compliance is basically mandatory for Europe, so that requires manufacturers to have a safe disposal system in place for their electronics.
Samsung has a program with several local partners(http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/citizenship/usactivit...). Motorola(http://responsibility.motorola.com/index.php/environment/pro...) and Nokia(http://www.nokia.com/environment/recycling/where-and-how-to-...) also have programs to recycle your old electronics.
HTC does not seem to have a consumer recycling program in place, at least with the quick Google searches I've done.
EDIT: I have been corrected, as my Google-fu is weak. HTC does have several programs in place. Thanks!
http://www.htcinc.net/news.cfm?id=56
http://htcpedia.com/news/htc-goes-green-and-lets-you-trade-u...
They will even give you a rebate on HTC phones in some locations if you turn in any old phone. That's not a proper recycling program because it requires the phone to boot, but it does take a lot of old phones out of circulation.
HTC should probably add a recycling section to their main website, the international nature of their website probably makes that problematic because they chose to have all these little local programs rather than one big universal one.
As much as one likes Apple, this is not something that I would call "long term support".
The original iPhone got all updates released for 3 years from its release date.
> 3GS supported for ~2 years
So far, as far as I know iOS 5 runs on 3GS. The 3G is the only one which got a slightly reduced support life so far (no iOS 4.3, for pretty obvious — to 3G owners — hardware-related reasons)
Then you've never owned a smartphone before? If you can find a pre (or even post) iPhone smartphone that gets updates for 3 years+, I would love to see it.
If you've only worked with phones, you might have an inflated view of what "Long Term" means. The servers here, for example, run for 5 years between reboots. http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/today/top.avg.html
I disagree. Apple is bringing smartphone software support out of it's "6 months then give up" cycle. I think that's worth applauding.
> If you've only worked with phones, you might have an inflated view of what "Long Term" means.
Right, I have a warped view of what long term support means because I'm comparing it to other consumer electronics instead of dedicated servers.
I'm sure if you are used to buying cars, seeing your phone's hardware warranty is pretty disappointing too. Expectations are a bitch.
77% of surveyed iPhone 4 users were upgraders! Source : http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/handicapping-apples-iphone-4-d...
I do agree that it's a manufacturer issue - specifically with a revenue model that give no reward for staying up to date (which is also horrible for device security...).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ0abA1fksE www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovUMS3f-QLw
do you rather wait 2seg for an feature to finish executing or not have the feature at all? (as it would be if you had bought an iphone 3G instead of the G1 at the time)
Apple sells one new device each year and supports it well with updates. Google sells one new device each year and supports it well with updates.
The Nexus devices even have an advantage here, in that Google is not the only party that makes android-based operating systems for the series.
Of course the turnover in the mobile phone world is a lot higher than with 'general purpose computers' but imagine if the whole electronics industry had a three year time to replacement.
Pretty sad. Especially since the biggest component of a smartphone is the software. The argument that newer phones have faster hardware is a non-starter for me because I believe that it should be possible to comfortably get the kind of functionality that a typical phone displays to the user out of something a lot more anemic than the kind of hardware found in the average phone.
Manufacturers that push for their users to upgrade their phones before they die due to unfortunate events are all guilty of pollution and resource depletion.
Even if you only play games and such the old phones don't have gyroscopes, compasses, and all the other goodies that newer phones have.
Anecdotally I have a Nexus One and it feels just as dated as an iPhone 3GS (which I previously owned). To me that indicates it's not a problem with any manufacturer, it's the industry moving forward at breakneck speed.
Mobile hardware technology is moving so rapidly that it's almost inevitable to see shorter refresh cycles than you would in a more mature space, i.e., in laptops or desktops.
3 years is the bare minimum time I would expect a mobile phone to be supported, given the prevalence of 3-year lock-in phone contracts. If you enter a contract for 3 years, the expected natural lifetime of that product is 3 years. It doesn't have to have the latest features, but no company should leave the OS a buggy, broken mess and then dump it.
- The original iPhone was released in June of 2007, and had the newest iOS (3.x) available until the release of iOS 4 in June 2010.
- The iPhone 3GS was released in June of 2009, and is still getting OS updates, even to iOS 5 released later this year.
How many Android phones are obsolete in 6 months, never receiving another software update? The impetus to upgrade and chuck the old phone is much higher in their case as obsolescence starts nearly immediately because the manufacturers only make money on the hardware itself.
You'll likely get at least 3 years of OS updates out of Apple, whereas you might get one if you're lucky and the manufacturer still likes the product with Android.