Gadget Guru
mark lowdon, sunniside
Tech-expert Guru goes to town with your questions this month - figuratively, that is; he doesn’t normally like to leave his house full of smart tech unattended.
AYou’d expect Guru’s position as a noted conspiracy perpetrator to place him firmly on board with the notion of planned obsolescence – the theory that devious engineers in device manufacturer labs squirrel bits of code into newer operating systems in order to cripple older devices and force a hardware upgrade. There’s probably a tiny shred of meat on that bone, but Guru is sure the practice is not as deliberate as it may seem.
Software progresses as hardware progresses, this is a fundamental fact. Users, though, want all the latest whizz-pop features without shelling out. Manufacturers acquiesce in order to deflect the cursing that comes from ‘dropping support’ of relatively young devices, and sluggishness ensues. “The LG G4 and V10 will receive Android Nougat after all,” crows a headline on Guru’s newsreader, almost as if the universe were suggesting that GaGu use facts to back up his belligerent ranting. Let’s see how that upgrade of two-year-old tech goes...
So really, it’s your fault for wanting nice things. Consider planned obsolescence away from the closed ecosystem of Apple phones, too. What’s the guarantee that a Samsung user is going to jump to another Samsung handset when there’s a world of alternative Android devices available? Purposefully giving users an unpleasant experience is bad business.
On to your precise problem. It’s definitely a software thing, probably caused by a newer version of your phone’s OS, so check your phone maker’s website and any associated forums to see if there’s a way you can downgrade. If not, you’ve likely bogged down the phone with apps and the like. Progress through these steps until you see results: delete some apps; back up your personal files and perform a reset of your system files; double-check that backup and do a full factory reset. Or just buy yourself a new phone – you know you want to.
“soft ware progresses as hardware progresses. Users, though, want all the latest Features wit hout shelling out”