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Toot

Written by Attie Grande on 2025-01-07 at 21:43

My dad got the email shown below, and it feels so weird and icky... like phishing but it seems to be legit... apparently he'll get a new battery for free(?!)

Presumably he'll also need to fully backup his phone or risk losing everything?

Has anyone else got this email, and can you comment? #pixel4a

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Descendants

Written by Attie Grande on 2025-01-07 at 21:47

... not to mention the: "hey, you're getting Android 13, and it'll handle your battery better, but your battery will appear to be worse, much worse, so maybe we can give you a new one?"

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Written by Attie Grande on 2025-01-07 at 22:18

We sat on a call with RustDesk open, and did it together...

We picked the "give me $50" option to see what would happen and possibly get a little teeny bit more info beyond "you get $50", only to find that BAM, no option whatsoever to change your mind...

Oh, and btw, you need to sign up for Payoneer(?!) and someone will get in contact in ~3 weeks, and payment might be made in 10-18 days.

The whole thing just feels so icky - compounded by the unexpected and out-of-character benevolent nature.

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Written by Attie Grande on 2025-01-07 at 22:21

Wait, I'm a long-time OnePlus user, and I just got a £50 voucher off the 13 series, which was launched today.

Why are these companies "giving away money"? ... is this possibly a ploy to reduce profit margin slightly while increasing sales?

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Written by big awoo notation on 2025-01-07 at 21:48

@attie@chaos.social oh hey, I got this email too (also, 4as already have 13.)

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Written by big awoo notation on 2025-01-07 at 23:23

@attie@chaos.social because apple got sued for reducing the performance of old phones to protect the battery.

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Written by TheMollusk on 2025-01-12 at 07:37

@attie Yes and it's impossible to make an educated decision without knowing more details about the predicament we're all in.

Like ultimately I probably would take the battery replacement if I knew exactly the timeline, and if I had a better estimation of how the battery would act with or without the new battery.

But with all of those variables unknown, at least I know what $50 is worth. But even then to get the 50 bucks you have to sign up for some shady financial services company.

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Written by SnoopJ on 2025-01-07 at 21:50

@attie I saw someone post about the same the other day, but I don't have a reference handy and cannot comment myself

(except to say that I had a Pixel 3a that spontaneously turned into a brick because they used shitty flash in it, so… seems like they're consistent about "lol fuck you buy a new device" at least)

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Written by TheMollusk on 2025-01-12 at 07:39

@SnoopJ @attie I think it's even more shady than planned obsolescence here. I think there's some kind of battery defect and a potential class action or liability issue they're trying to get out in front of. If they really wanted to make the phones worse with an update they could do it in a much more subtle way.

But to me this is even worse than the predictable planned obsolescence. This is hey we're breaking your phone because we messed up. And you don't even get to decline the update.

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Written by karlnepomuk on 2025-01-10 at 14:00

@attie i got this message too. And i feel u.

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Written by TheMollusk on 2025-01-12 at 07:36

@attie If he is eligible he can get a free battery replacement or 50 bucks or $100 off of Pixel. But yes it's completely shady especially the lack of details, the short notice. Fact that the update is absolutely destroying the experience for many people.

Obviously it's a small niche amount of people still using this phone actively but this is ridiculous on its face. Weirdly the tech media is sometimes covering it like it's a positive. "Oh boy a surprise update that makes my phone worse."

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