Stick with Last Year's Model
Choose to hang on to a great gadget or technology product that you own, instead of just buying a new one. And tell your story on Facebook or Twitter using the #lastyears tag. Learn More
Recent Cause Activity
Aaahhh, it feels so good to not conform to the social pressure of having the latest everything. I just want to choke when I watch Oprah, Ellen, Or Dr. Oz give away the latest stuff to their studio audiences and the crowds start screaming like world hunger was officially ended. Save your cash, just let other people be the guinea pigs til the bugs and quality control issues are worked out and the price significantly drops on new technology.
Being among the ranks of the unemployed has put a damper on my spending habits. I am already a fiscally conservative, cheap tightwad. Rather than putting out serious dough for a new phone with bloated "iPhonelike" software, iffy hardware, and "look at me" bling, I decided after much deliberation to stick with my trusty Samsung IP830 windows mobile 5 phone. This model was the ridicule of a few online reviewers (Damn that Bonnie Cha!) when it was first offered in the $600-700 price range, but I bought it heavily discounted as a discontinued model in late 2007.
Sure, the 830w's a little up in age and kinda chunky...but that's how I likem...mature with some meat on the bones. In the last couple of days, I just discovered some killer freeware utilities to tweak her internals, making performance much faster and freeing up tons of memory. With a smaller OS consuming less resources, using the same processor as some of the newer phones, she is snappy and rarely freezes. With Skyfire installed on my phone, I can view all flash enabled websites, listen to any internet radio, and view online movies from Joost and Crackle..something the iPhone and Palm Pre can't currently do. Plus I have oldskool multi-tasking with MS office..so it's all good.
Now, there isn't a camera (handy for no-camera zones), but I have my 6 year old Olympus C730 10X zoom digital for taking awesome pics. No wifi..I can get a cheap card if I really feel the need for it...not really, EVDO is plenty good. No "real" GPS..however..I got my trusty 2 year old Magellan Roadmate..taken it with me on several trips and never got lost.
When my phone dies, there is always Ebay where I can purchase the same phone for $30 bucks...HAHAHA
I have to thank my frugal parents who taught me the value of banking my dough and saving up for important life goals and buying necessities and the few non-essential splurges that last..
still have my old NES system, my PS2... just rescently got a new phone cause i broke my old one, and just upgraded my comp from a pentium 3...
I still use my first generation Motorola Q, And just a couple weeks ago, I dusted off the old Sony Betamax SL-F33, hooked it up to my 46" LCD and watched chitty chitty bang bang with my girlfriend
Still using an Olympus FE-280 digital camera. Love the thing to death. Originally purchased because it was 8mp and small for the time. There are better and smaller cameras now but it still does everything I want it to.
I love my palm Centerol, (I think that's how you spell it). whatever! Well it has work find for me, it is my third phone but that's because my 2 year old broke my other two phones. Kids are just wonderful! I learned my lesson not to keep my phone where she can get a hold of it. I have my phone going on 2 years, i'll keep my phone for as long as I can. My husband has a new phone that came out a few months ago and he is always having a problem.
My Phone right now is a Motorola E680i, I still use my DS that I got the first year, I just stopped using a CRT that was older then I was, as my main monitor(still have it for a secondary one) and I still use my C2D E6600, much more too, but that will do :)
Bought a first generation XBox several years ago for a couple of hundred $$ aussie, mod-chipped it, added a bigger hard-drive and installed XBox Media Centre (XBMC) on it.
If you upgrade it occasionally it is still the simplest, best media player around. Still going strong 5 years later. You don't need a lot of computer power to play DVD-quality video.
The only thing you don't get (obviously) is recording off the TV.
I am using a RAZR V3 cell phone. Think it's about 4 years old, prepaid GSM since I live in a remote cell area. One issue a cause like this needs to be aware of is getting obsolete accessories like batteries...I've found that you have to get very lucky to get a good battery from a non-manufacturer of the phone.
I've always believed it was better to enhance an existing piece of technology than to replace one theat is functional. So, I was excited to see and join this cause. And the stellar "last year's models" in my life are the Blackberry Curve, Flip Video, the TiVo and non-digital cable.
Still using a first generation PS2. I try to stay behind the times with games as well. I'm generally 3 years behind with the Madden football games. They cost $5 used, but they're new to me.
When I was little, my grandma had a cool old light blue 50s-looking Volvo with the license plate "11 PLUS" -- a reference to Volvo's promise at the time that the car would last you at least 11 years. Hers lasted far longer! Back in the day, people actually talked about planned obsolescence. These days, we forget that companies make things break on purpose after a while, so we'll buy more. (I'm looking at you, Apple. I know an awful lot of people whose iBooks of the same generation as mine are having graphics card failures.)
Older gadgets I still use: my PS2, my workhorse Palm 600 (way better than the 755 I upgraded to!), an alarm clock which has been around since the 1970s.
I'm choosing to stick with my two-year-old 4GB Zune, instead of buying a new iPod Nano. It doesn't work with my iMac, which is a huge inconvenience (I upload music through my other laptop), but I like the interface and it has FM radio. I think I can hold on to it a bit longer.
My stereo is easily a decade older (maybe more) than me, It's a hand-me-down from one of my dad's friends, who had in his college apartment back in the day. It has 2 large no-name speakers, a record player, and an ancient Kenwood receiver. (I threw the reel-to-reel out a few years ago.) It sounds great plugged into iTunes-- and even better, the volume goes from 1-10, but anything over 1 is too loud for an apartment dweller. I'm sure 2 would register as a 4 on the Richter scale to my neighbors. I look forward to cranking up futuristic music in my future home on this thing.
Also, my Pontiac has about 180000 miles and it's still going strong! (Knock on wood)
I'm tired of the pressure to get the latest and greatest. I have a 2+ year old phone (kept last one 4 years till the screen started to degrade), drive a 14 year old Neon sport and have a W2000 tiny Vaio laptop - the size of today's notebooks. The car and laptop probably need upgrading soon (likely will buy a pre-owned vehicle again for the best value), but I generally keep things a LONG time (I've only owned 3 cars in my 52 years, since I generally keep them 10+ years). Nice to see other folks do too.
Buy used! Keep it cleaned & working! Repair what you have! It can be a dignifying way to live... As in the old Yankee saying(?): "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
I have a first generation 4GB iPod Nano - use it for about 4 or 5 hours a week total, on original battery, and it's still going strong. It was second hand when I bought it. Why do I need any more storage space for photos? Why do I need video? I have a camera that does both tasks for me.
Also have a naff Nokia 2680 - or something - I bought second hand. It had hardly been used. It doesn't do most things modern phones do, but I can text, I can call, and I can send very basic picture messages. And the battery life lasts over a week - it hasn't let me down! No probs there.:)
Also have a bitsa of a PC - I bought a new case, but virtually all bits inside are used or second hand - hard drives from my old computer have been moved across.
As regards video gaming - I did buy a Nintendo Wii - but second hand, and I sold my Gamecube and have kept most of my old Gamecube games and one controller so I can still play them and get my Prince Of Persia fix. I still have a Super Nintendo and a Megadrive too! :)
I finally upgraded my SonyEriccson phone in January - but only because my husband bought me a new phone for my birthday! He's now seeing it was kind of pointless - due to my job, the phone spends every business day switched off inside a locker as I can't take it into my office for security reasons :) On weekends, people contact me at home or online so I can see this phone lasting a really long time... My old phone is still sitting in a drawer at home until I can sneak it out to be recycled or give it away to someone who needs one.
I bought my Palm M130 used on Ebay 6 years ago. I still use it today! Changed the battery once. http://bit.ly/7pLdi
Hi all ! I've been sticking to:
- a 1983 Technics stereo HiFi system
- a 2001 DigiTech RP300
- a 2005 Sony DSC-T1
- a 2005 30GB iPod
- and a 2007 MacBook 2,1 (well, not the HDD, RAM, and SuperDrive, though)
.. Although they're neither the best nor most expensive (even at their respective times), they're indeed awesome when you use them to their maximum capabilities.. viva oldskool !!
I hold onto old cars instead of getting new ones. What bigger gadget is there than that! (And I rock a first gen iPhone)
I still have and use my iRiver H10 20gb. When this baby came out, it was shinnier, had more features (voice recording, FM radio, radio recording, eBook reading) than the iPod (Which, to have radio, required a 70$ ad-on) not to mention cheaper. I love my iRiver and will not part with it any time soon.