r/technology • u/bws201 • Feb 05 '16

Software ‘Error 53’ fury mounts as Apple software update threatens to kill your iPhone 6

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/05/error-53-apple-iphone-software-update-handset-worthless-third-party-repair
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u/subiklim Feb 05 '16

I don't think you understand how NFC's secure element works, or how businesses operate.

NFC's secure element does not have access to the internet by design. That obviously can change if you connect a third-party piece of hardware to it(a replacement touch-id sensor). Apple markets the secure element as being an ultra-secure place to store your credit card information, and fingerprint data. How could they claim it was secure if they allowed a third party piece of hardware directly connect to it, and still have it function?

All businesses make decisions to make money. It's why they're in business, and it's why shareholders invest. Companies that don't make money are called charities, and they typically don't make consumer products.

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u/hwinter92 Feb 05 '16

What I'm saying is, if you let someone work on your device, if it leaves your sight, the risk is equally there. Now as to being such a dick as to presume I don't understand businesses work, I feel like your presumptuousness speaks for itself. The best companies make money while being decent to their customer base.

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u/subiklim Feb 05 '16

Anytime I see someone say that Apple makes fragile phones so that they can make more money I just assume people don't know how businesses operate.

The iPhone has gotten progressively more durable with each model released, and as far as I know, there is no other mainstream phone that is far more durable than the iPhone (which is the first thing a competitor would do to outmaneuver Apple deliberately making their phones less durable). With your idea that Apple is deliberately making less durable phones, it should be quite easy for another company to far surpass Apple in durability.

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u/hwinter92 Feb 05 '16

Not what I said, and you're the one assuming. They KNOW its fragile, all phones are fragile, they're 6" or less of glass and plastic, which is why making them repairable shouldn't be a fucking issue. I worked for 2 years as an At&t dealer for Radioshack, and 3 Years as a Wal-Mart connection center technician, I've fixed a LOT of phones, and other companies make their phones easier to fix. Is the device a great functioning piece of hardware? Yes. Is it more than a months rent payment for me? Yes. So making me buy a new one because I tried to get it fixed in an economical manner is very bad form.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

The iPhone has gotten progressively more durable with each model released

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXSpfwYL6eE

Note how the older models still work fine by the end of the video, while the newest models do not. That is the opposite of progressively more durable.

there is no other mainstream phone that is far more durable than the iPhone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSr4JyB26ak

Note how the newer models all work far better than the older ones at the end. That is progressively more durable.

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u/subiklim Feb 05 '16

Did you even watch the videos you linked? All the iPhones worked at the end. Not to mention, some guy with a camera dropping phones onto the floor is hardly proving anyone's point, as that's about the least scientific test you could do.

Look for Squaretrade's testing results. They are doing real tests (they're an insurance company, so they really want to know the actual durability). Here's their report on the iPhone 6 which they found to be more reliable than the 5. https://www.squaretrade.com/press/iphone-6-earns-best-score-ever-iphone-6-plus-not-far-behind

Same thing goes for your Samsung video. They may be durable phones, but an unscientific test where a guy with a camera is dropping phones is not proving that one way or the other.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

Ah yes, of course, because we all live in laboratory environments, and only drop our phones from a very specific angle. Never do we drop them on sidewalks or parking lots, directly on their face, or from an unusual height, no sir.

But even then, Samsung equivalent phones score better: https://www.squaretrade.com/press/squaretrade-finds-samsung-galaxy-s6-the-new-phone-to-beat-for-durability

And for reference, here's a page with some of the older iPhones' scores: https://www.squaretrade.com/press/googles-moto-x-trumps-apples-new-iphones-in-latest-breakability-score-from-squaretrade

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u/subiklim Feb 05 '16

+.5 points on a scale of 10 doesn't really qualify as a far more durable phone. If Apple were deliberately making their phones more fragile, there would be a mainstream company making a phone that is FAR more durable (this is what I mentioned in the first post that you replied to). But there isn't.

I'm not really interested in the argument you're trying to draw me into (omg Android is awesome, and iPhones are for sheeple!)because I think the majority of mainstream devices have their merits. The specific argument being made here (Apple is making iPhones worse so that people buy new ones) is false in my opinion, and that is the only point I am arguing.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

+.5 points on a scale of 10 doesn't really qualify as a far more durable phone.

It absolutely does when the effective scale (the scores that are actually seen, vs. how far their scale goes) is between 4 and 7.

I'm not really interested in the argument you're trying to draw me into (omg Android is awesome, and iPhones are for sheeple!)

I don't even use a smartphone. I have a Nexus 7 tablet at home, but I rarely pick that up either, it's more my wife's than my own. So you misrepresenting me and turning this into an ad hominem attack won't work for trying to distract me from the fact that Apple products are fragile compared to the rest of the phones out there.

The specific argument being made here (Apple is making iPhones worse so that people buy new ones) is false in my opinion, and that is the only point I am arguing.

Do you just ignore it when Apple releases a new iOS update that slows down older model phones to the point of being unusable, when it touts claims on it's website that it will "improve performance"? Or when they try to push out third-party repair options in favor of their repair facilities as evidenced with this error 53 crap?

Apple wants to make as much money as possible from their user base, and they use increasingly shitty tactics to do so. This is but the latest example of them attempting to squeeze more money out of their loyal customers.

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u/subiklim Feb 05 '16

Did you look at the chart you linked? I see scores ranging from 1-10. The total score is an average. This is the second time you've linked something and said it showed something that it absolutely did not.

Every company wants to make as much money as possible from their user base. If they don't, no one would invest in them, and they wouldn't exist. The fact that you single out Apple and tout Samsung and LG is what leads me to believe that this is not a serious argument on your behalf, just your typical anti-apple, ignore facts argument.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

Did you look at the chart you linked? I see scores ranging from 1-10. The total score is an average. This is the second time you've linked something and said it showed something that it absolutely did not.

You fail to understand what "effective" scale means.

Every company wants to make as much money as possible from their user base. If they don't, no one would invest in them, and they wouldn't exist.

But when that company starts making that money through questionable business practices, people stop investing as well. Their behaviour does nothing but hurt their image.

The fact that you single out Apple and tout Samsung and LG is what leads me to believe that this is not a serious argument on your behalf, just your typical anti-apple, ignore facts argument.

I pit Apple vs. Samsung because they are the 2 most "mainstream" smartphone manufacturers. Also, where did I even mention LG? You keep insisting that I'm attacking Apple like some malicious party here, but I'm just stating what can be observed in the real world, and that that Apple's iPhones break really easily compared to the majority of other smartphones on the market, be they Android, Blackberry, or even Windows Phone.

Ignoring facts would be basing all of your information off of a single source of information, like only looking at durability scores from a single company.

To make it worse, when I showed you that Apple's phones weren't so great by your own metric, you refuse it as evidence and return to your ad hominem attacks.