cell phone conspiracy

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**Moartiki**

Alright guys, I dont know if its just me, but Im starting to believe all cell phones are made with an expiration date, it always seems all phones turn to crap after a year or two of usage, for example my phone is malfunctioning extremely bad turning off and on, constantly restarting. Also, I cant have it in my pocket for more than 2 seconds without it turning off.

this is my phone

What do you guys think? is this some sort of plot cell phone companies have going on to keep business circulating?

,Moartiki

ps. my phone is a piece of crap

**Chowderhead**

P.S, I've had my phone since '06. And it's an LG.

So no Conspiracy there.

**Crablezworth**

Maybe its just lg's. I've had my lg for about 4-5 years, healthy as a mule.

**Necroshea**

Yeah I had a first gen Razr up until about 3 years ago. Now I've got a first gen Iphone. I think it's less about a conspiracy and more about people not being able to take care of there equipment.

**Coolyo294**

My phone stopped working two years after I got it. However, this probably has something to do with me dropping it in a snowbank. So no conspiracy here.

**Nerivant**

There is no phone conspiracy.

I am sending a team to collect you.

They will talk to you about how there is no conspiracy.

Say goodbye to your family. It will be a long talk.

**warpcrafter**

I've had mine for two years, and it's a cheap LG pre-paid phone that has been dropped so many times that it looks like it's been in combat. It doesn't have the greatest sound, but then again it never did. Perhaps, now that smart phones are getting cheaper and you can get one at Wal-Mart without having to commit to a plan I might upgrade, but it would not be until after X-mas. you might be right though, lots of things are made, not intentionally to fail after a specific date but very cheaply. There's no future in making a product that will last forever.

**Easy E**

Everything is designed to break.

There is no profit margin if nothing broke.

**juraigamer**

Used my previous phone for 5 years.

Phone is the keyword, not these keyboard nonsenses or touchscreens that break if a baby cries near them.

**AustonT**

My dare started doing the startup shutdown boogie. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of the carrier software and the phone itself. Little water damage (sweat) and they head downhill fast.

**KingCracker**

Easy E wrote:Everything is designed to break.

There is no profit margin if nothing broke.

Exactly why that old expression "they dont make it like they used to" comes into play. I bought a 1964 Ford Fairlane when I was 18. It had been sitting in a swamp for the last 8 years, with the gas from 8 years ago still in it. It had about 5 mouse nests, inside the engine.....yes INSIDE the engine. The tires were all flat, it was in sad shape. We took the nest out of the carburetor and started cranking it over, and I swear to you it started up, ran like gak, but started up, and I drove it out of the spot it was in, for the last 8 years.

Try that with a modern car, and see where that gets you

It was funny though, for a few minutes youd randomly see nests/chewed up mice shooting out of the exhaust

**Leigen_Zero**

It's a concept in manufacturing that has been around for many many years:
Planned obsolescence

In a nutshell, that phone was built with crappy parts that burn out quickly in order to push you to buy a brand new shiny phone when it breaks, and that brand new shiny phone is built with crappy parts so it only lasts the 6-7 months until the even brander, newer, shinier phone comes out.

The electronics industry is notorious for this, it's why we generate mountains (literally mountains) of e-waste every year.

In addition to wanting your phone to break so you buy a new one, the smaller the form factor of electronic equipment, the shorter the lifespan due to heat dispersal issues, think how much longer a desktop PC will last than a laptop (assuming no upgrades made during lifespan and standard operating use). It's a largely unknown and ignored fact, but using your laptop in bed directly on top of the bedding regularly can shorten the lifespan by up to 2 years, because the heat cannot be ejected properly and so the parts suffer heat damage. Phones are the same, yes they generate much MUCH less heat, but that heat has almost nowhere to go (no heatsinks, no fans, no water-cooled pipe networks) except directly back into those oh-so-small, oh-so-delicate components.

It's not a conspiracy, it's a combination of physics and those gakheads in marketing

**mega_bassist**

I have owned my LG for almost three years, and the only problem I've had is the "send" button is getting a little iffy. Other than that, it works like a charm. I plan on my next phone to also be a LG

I'm pretty sure people just beat the crap out of their phone...That's why they "don't seem to last long"

**Aduro**

I swear my iPhone 3G was a lot better/faster when I got it. The GPS is SO SLOW to keep track of me anymore, if it even can, where when I first got the phone it could follow me from one room to another in my house with no problem. I don't wonder if it's the software updates, slowing down the old phones to make the new ones look that much faster by comparison. I know one of the iox versions was Really harsh on the old phones and they had to put out a fix for it.

**Lord Scythican**

Let's see. My LG volt is going on 2 years old. My contract is up November 21st. The battery has really worn out. It needs recharged every 12 hours where it used to be every 3-4 days. I went to get a new battery for the thing and I was told that they do not have any in stock. In addition they cannot order them.

Seems like a planned phone conspiracy to me.

**Ma55ter_fett**

I have never owned a cell phone.

**Aduro**

I will say the battery on my iPhone gives me no troubles at least. If I'm playing games on it, I could kill it in a couple of hours, but just using it to read yesterday it lasted for seven hours of continuous use and was only down to 10%.

**Lord Scythican**

Aduro wrote:I will say the battery on my iPhone gives me no troubles at least. If I'm playing games on it, I could kill it in a couple of hours, but just using it to read yesterday it lasted for seven hours of continuous use and was only down to 10%.

How long have you been using it like this? If it is a newer battery it will be like that for awhile.

**Aduro**

It's an iPhone 3G, a little more than two and a half years old. Or is it three and a half... I'm not sure.

**Phototoxin**

Easy E wrote:Everything is designed to break.

There is no profit margin if nothing broke.

See I think long ago (lilke in the 60's!) when things were largely assembled by hand and more costly to make they were made to last. Now a day's things aren't which is a bit annoying really.

**Howard A Treesong**

Phones take quite a battering, they are carried in pockets and knocked around, in constant use. They give out. With care they can often last a long time.

**FM Ninja 048**

It's a technology thing, how could they make you buy the next thing if your old one still worked fine...

But my iphone 3gs is going to the dogs, constanlty freezing, really slow, restarting, skipping my music. It's quite old though and has been dropped quite a bit

**J-Roc77**

It is called planned obsolescence. Not that it is supposed to break at a certain time bu that you will not have it for a lifetime. Cell phones are made to be replaceable. The average user gets at least a year out of it, then "upgrades" to another phone. Sure you can get 2 or 3 years out of cell phones, however most are not made to withstand many more years of use.

**Jon Touchdown**

It is called, "How many times have you dropped your phone?"

**Avatar 720**

My Nokia still works, and i've had that for almost 10 years. My LG also still works and had that for ~6-7. The Blackberry i've got is my dad's old one, the Pearl 8110, and I have no idea how old it is (gotta be going on 4-5, surely) but I love it.

**kronk**

I wouldn't know about phone life. I keep getting issued a new one every 2 years or so. Kind of annoying to put all of my settings on it again and again.

Also, my last one only lasted 6 months because it took a ride in the washing machine...

Thank God for free work phones!

**lord commissar klimino**

ive never had a phone stay decently working til i can renew....

**Avatar 720**

It might just be a contract curse, I don't have the first idea about phone contracts, so all mine have been PAYG and worked fine.

**Howard A Treesong**

Necroshea wrote:Yeah I had a first gen Razr up until about 3 years ago. Now I've got a first gen Iphone. I think it's less about a conspiracy and more about people not being able to take care of there equipment.

Indeed. People say the same about ipods and iphones, but my ipod is 3 years old and shows no faults and before being given to me was carried with my wife everywhere and used on a daily basis.

**chromedog**

Get a nokia.

I've had mine for 5 years at a time between 'upgrades' and they still work fine as phones (I just don't have my first two phones anymore, one was traded-in, the other sold to a mate).

Going for a new Nokia in the new year. Touch screencrap and all. Might prove the downfall.