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Oral-B bricking Alexa toothbrush is cautionary tale against buzzy tech
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2024
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This article was annoying to read. I think they're misusing the term "bricked", right? Like the toothbrush still works, they just decommissioned the app which allows you to set up the Alexa part?
It's still shitty behaviour and people should still never buy closed source IoT devices, but I really struggled to figure out what the actual story is.
presumably the reason that people paid $230 for a $30 toothbrush was the $200 smart speaker that doubled as charging base. Once that feature is remotely disabled, we can say that the device as a whole (smart speaker that can charge a generic toothbrush, bundled with a generic toothbrush) is essentially bricked
I just wanted to point out that Oral B's basic electric toothbrushes still range from $45-$80, so it's not quite as cheap as you say it is. Your point still stands in its entirety. The only thing that makes this product different from the $45 model is the Alexa functionality, and taking that away makes it effectively not the same product.
Oral-B electric toothbrushes start at 10€ over here — the model with just one speed and only one brush included, that works with 2xAA batteries. I use mine with rechargeable AA and honestly I've forgotten when I got it. Could be 10 years.
Any hardware that couples with a mobile app is potentially a bad idea. Eventually, the company will stop developing that app, which means you just have to use that device without the mobile app. If it’s an RC car without a controller, you’re left with e-waste. If it’s an electric toothbrush, you can probably still use it, but with fewer features than before. Either way, it’s bad news for the user.