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Tech News and Commentary
Dave and the team discuss Walmart checking accounts, Prime Day, new Amazon devices, EV sales, Musk and Twitter’s fight, and more.
Dan in Pennsylvania”I’m looking to purchase an iPhone. I’m considering buying a refurbished phone, and one of the questions that I’ve encountered is the ability to upgrade the operating system. I was wondering if you could give some insight as to what I should be considering when it comes to operating systems, buying anything that’s been refurbished – whether it’s an iPhone or any other device – that would have an operating system that requires it to be upgraded and what should I be thinking so that I have a functional phone for some period of time ahead?”
Dan, any currently supported iPhone (which right now is any iPhone from iPhone 8 forward) you will be able to apply any upgrade that Apple provides regardless of whether or not the phone was refurbished.
Apple even has its own refurbishing program and they dont make a distinction between their own refurbished phones and their new ones.
When it comes to 3rd party refurbished phones you may not have the same warranty, but you will have access to any upgrades that your iPhone model would get if you had bought it brand new from Apple.
If youre worried about longevity, Apple is very good about upgrading older devices, the current oldest iPhone still being upgraded is from 2017, Google for example is no longer upgrading models from 2019.
Obviously, the newer the model, the better your chances are that it will be upgraded for a while but you don’t have to be on the absolute latest version to have the phone last.
John in Fairbanks, Alaska”My wife has limited disability and it’s hard for her to read small print. Wondered what kind of device you would recommend for her to be able to access the Internet for e-mails or searching for things.”
John, any smartphone or computer will be able to increase the font size to allow her to be able to read the screen.
Phones and computers can also be fitted with screen readers, some are available out of the box, some like NVDA or Jaws are third party.
And both smartphones and computers can be controlled with your voice to an extent. Its clunky and not everything can be done but it can be helpful.
If you want to skip screen altogether, the obvious choice are smart speakers. Theyre designed to be spoken to and to respond audibly so a screen is not actually needed.
They are limited, theyre not as powerful as computers, but they can technically read emails and search for information.
If a screen is a possibility, even with a screen reader, its likely going to be a better experience overall, but smart speakers are the easiest new technology to learn if you want to skip devices with screens altogether.
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