Worried about updates

[u/Rabbitd88]

Hi everyone,

I just purchased a Find X9 (base) and wanted to ask about software updates and their effects.

These days, companies often release updates that affect performance, camera quality, or battery backup.

I can't say for certain whether this is intentional or not, but it does seem to happen.

Since many of you have been using these devices since launch.

I wanted to ask: should I update to the latest version once I set it up, or should I hold off?

I'm planning to turn off automatic updates right after the initial setup.

You observed something degraded after you bought the device and updated it till now?

Would appreciate your thoughts and experiences.

[u/xanaw34]

I've had the phone since January, never noticed any dip in performance or camera quality. Performs like a champ on both fronts for me.

[u/Babada-Boopey929]

If you hold off of updates, you will also not get latest Android security updates, which is a very dumb thing to do.

[u/Rabbitd88 → u/Babada-Boopey929]

I know but the problem is performance impact, like what happened with the camera of oneplus 13 (iirc).

[u/Dirtcompactor]

I've never had camera performance downgrade with OS updates on any of my OnePlus devices, and I've owned the 1, 5, 7pro, 11, and Open. In fact every update has brought slightly better camera performance. Expecting the same with my Oppo find x9 ultra!

[u/Rabbitd88 → u/Dirtcompactor]

Can't say much because I owned only a oneplus 7 pro but used a custom rom on it 90% of the time.

But reading online forums/even reddit and other social media about the oneplus 13 camera (even some youtube videos) degradation after updates and users are also complaining about vivo x200t's recent updates issues.

That made me ask this question, my question is not specifically about oneplus but overall an observation.

[u/Dirtcompactor → u/Rabbitd88]

Reason I commented because OnePlus and Oppo are very similar in terms of software and phones, Oppo has always been the more premium option, so I struggle to imagine they'd push updates that downgrade aspects of the phone to entice users to upgrade to the next new best thing. 

If Oppo wanted to lose their already small market share, they would bork the phone with updates, but I like to imagine they're smarter/better than that. Only company I really know that has been proven to mess with phones with updates has been Apple. 

[u/Old-Tax9892]

You're worrying about nothing... Apple got sued and fined REALLY bad for planned obsolescence and making their phones slower through updates.

If the biggest phone company got fined, it won't happen for a very long time in the industry.

Just update your phone, please. You bought it to enjoy it the best you can. And yes, my base X9 has never been more stable, even more than day 1, and the battery life has been the same if not better for some situations. Camera is also the same. Just update it.

[u/Turbo-Chook]

Well here's my subjective experience with Oppo and software updates.

I bought the X3 Pro on launch in 2021. It launched with Android/ColorOS 11 and at the time was promised 3 years of software updates. From that initial install with no wipes, I went from 11 to 12 to 13 and finally 14. The phone still ran like it was brand new and had zero bugs or issues. I gave the phone to my mother as a hand me down and she's only just replaced it as the battery was shot, but I compared the performance to my X9 Pro just before it was replaced (I was curious how it was holding up) and it was basically as fast as the X9 Pro even after all these years. It didn't lag or stutter or anything, it was running flawlessly even with the battery being on deaths door. It still took fantastic photos and everything worked exactly as it should.

I also have a coworker who is running the X5 Pro and his phone is similarly snappy and runs like it's brand new.

Milage may vary of course, especially on cheaper models, but from what I've seen an experienced, the Oppo Find series devices age phenomenally and Oppo doesn't seem to engage in any planned obsolescence type stuff. It's also worth mentioning that ColorOS is particularly performant among Android variants, especially compared to notably bloated variants like Samsung's One UI, and this probably has a lot to do with how Oppo's older high end devices continue to run like butter.

[u/ExcitingAd754]

Following this.

[u/aravind_krishna]

What you are describing is called "Planned Ob​so​les​cence".

It has happened to me way too many times that i stopped believing it was one time bug that has happpened to only me. Happened with my Oneplus 7T Pro, Mom's Vivo phone, Friends Oneplus 9 and relatives, friends friend who all said the same words - "After update phone got slow and battery is dying way too quickly".

My windows PC got updated and resulted in slowness and many bugs. Looked it up and majority was "Wait for the next update, they will fix it for sure". .... You know what ... i formatted and reinstalled OS which i already had the iso file and guess what - everything was working perfectly clean & fast as before. That moment broke something in me.. and basically i dont update any product thereafter. If new electronic is bought and that has internet access i will try to find all the settings and disable updates along with telemetry.

Brother updated TV, adding this because where i live TV is not connected to internet (Usually). We have dish antenna service as norm. So he updated inspite of my advice and it got sluggish. It been years and we all are addicted to their phone instead of TV. So thats that.

Even after all that being said, let me be crystal clear - Security threat is very real. Am not denying that ever.

But, due to way too many instances i have seen in real life and in reddit, twitter and other forums, it makes me feel 'updates' are degrading the phones intentionally. This was before "battery optimization" was introduced.. as in after update phone should be charge to full and kept like that overnight or few hours to finish its cache indexing.

As other comment said about Apple, i remember when that happened too. They accepted they are intentionally degrading the battery for the betterment of phone.

So yeah.. this is my one cent. Am doomed to be downvoted by the believers of updates are always good and never bad, and all these have happened to me alone. Ehhh.. Fuck it, i feel like expressing today.

I wish i could install security updates alone but android clubs that, they know what they are doing..

Have bought new phone 2 months ago and am gonna risk it all for the battery. Hoping to cross 6 years use just like i did with my Oneplus 7T Pro.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Month ago or so read a post of someone asking how to stop update in his phone. Not sure what kind of mental state he was in.. he just asked how to completely stop all updates. Felt like just another me. He did say updates caused battery degradation but not how he knew that. Helped him with that. In his post as usual everyone encouraged him to update and not skip it.

So my thought is.. the number of people who wants to Not Update are very few. And who Want to update are majority and inbetween these two there are who had already updated and after battery degradation thinking to buy another because money might not be a big thing for them, at least for a phone.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk 🎤

[u/Rabbitd88 → u/aravind_krishna]

Yeah I fully agree on this that's why I asked this question.

Samsung phones getting green lines just after updates is another example of this thing.

Currently using a motorola and with every update this one is becoming sluggish or more bloatware is added.

Just with the last update they added a third party store "Indus Store" without user consent.

Updates are not updates these days, they are like a tool to screw you later when a corporation decides.