Warn HN: Apple "bricked" my iPhone - Do your research before you "upgrade"

TL;DR - Want to keep your iPhone operating system updated (security patches)? Apple will have you buy a new iPhone sooner than you want.

Yesterday, I thought, battery drainage caused by iPhone OS "upgrades" must be "fixed" by now, so I "upgraded" my iPhone 3GS to OS version 6.1.3.

Boy was I was wrong. That "issue" seems to be strategy: After less than approx. 18 hours in stand-by mode only (absolutely no calls/SMS/MMS/emails/WiFi/bluetooth/screen usage/etc.!), it was dead.

Before the "upgrade", it ran for 3-4 days.

Apple has successfully devalued my iPhone. I will not get a fair price on ebay for it, anymore.

2 things come to mind:

1. Apple has just announced that they now offer you a better price for a new iPhone if you turn your old one in. The catch: You get significantly less than on Ebay (where you also get cash = you're free to leave the platform).

2. A new iPhone is coming out.

Coincidence? Who knows. But it feels like being locked up in an Apple prison:

a) We're neither allowed to replace the battery (which could have helped a tiny bit)

b) nor to downgrade iOS.

So we're just left with trashing our phones and buying new ones.

The parallel to Microsoft's model:

It's an unwritten "contract" between Microsoft (MS) and the hardware and chip vendors (OEMs): MS keeps bloating Windows, so that consumers are forced to buy new hardware on a regular basis. The OEMs return the favor by preserving MS's Windows monopoly by pre-installing it (forcing the consumer to pay for a copy of Windows they don't need).

Result: A hardware-software upgrade cycle that forces us to spend money, when we have no actual need for a new versions of the products. Apple now plays both sides of this game.

But I'm not playing anymore.