:/ There’s old and cheap phones that are still supported. Support varies between models. I have a Oneplus 6 running the latest Android, 15, perfectly fine. It has 6 years. The camera is ok, but could be better.
Manufacturers and Google end support for Android phones within 2-3 years of their release (not 2 years since you buy it). Afterwards they don’t get security updates which is quite dangerous given that we do everything on the phones nowadays, and we will do even more.
Note that those old official, unsecure phones are allowed still to do banking and other things. Even if they aren’t secure. The manufacturers don’t care, they want you to buy a new phone every 2 years from them.
And the actually secure phones running LineageOS, with up-to-date Kernel and security patches, with latest Android, sometimes are not allowed to run banking apps or other things in the name of security. Google and manufacturers don’t care about security at all. They just want control.
Check the unofficial builds on XDA. My bet is that it exists. The unofficial builds are rock solid if you’re wondering. I have a 10 year old smartphone that runs Lineage18 flawlessly on an unofficial ROM
Yep, I’ve had to tearfully look away from better (and cheaper) handsets than the one I’m holding for the same reason. If it can’t be repurposed don’t buy it
I would also have a look at the XDA forum. A very large percentage of devices that are not officially supported have unofficial ports (Lineage and others) that run 99% as well as the official ones.
e.g. my old Galaxy S8 was not official supported but one of the staff members of XDA made a port that runs like an absolute dream.
:/ There’s old and cheap phones that are still supported. Support varies between models. I have a Oneplus 6 running the latest Android, 15, perfectly fine. It has 6 years. The camera is ok, but could be better.
Manufacturers and Google end support for Android phones within 2-3 years of their release (not 2 years since you buy it). Afterwards they don’t get security updates which is quite dangerous given that we do everything on the phones nowadays, and we will do even more.
Note that those old official, unsecure phones are allowed still to do banking and other things. Even if they aren’t secure. The manufacturers don’t care, they want you to buy a new phone every 2 years from them.
And the actually secure phones running LineageOS, with up-to-date Kernel and security patches, with latest Android, sometimes are not allowed to run banking apps or other things in the name of security. Google and manufacturers don’t care about security at all. They just want control.
Sorry, I meant that I checked the supported device listings and mine isn’t there. They have similar but newer models.
I also have a somewhat unique processor so even jailbreaking it is a bit crazy.
Check the unofficial builds on XDA. My bet is that it exists. The unofficial builds are rock solid if you’re wondering. I have a 10 year old smartphone that runs Lineage18 flawlessly on an unofficial ROM
Thanks. I just spent some time on XDA and unfortunately there’s scant support for my processor.
No joy today it seems.
Dang. Yeah, every time I look for a new smartphone I check to see what the Lineage and future PmOS support is like
This is a Note 8 and no one has figured out a way to open the Snapdragon bootloader.
Thing is I specifically chose Snapdragon for its performance. Silly me.
Yep, I’ve had to tearfully look away from better (and cheaper) handsets than the one I’m holding for the same reason. If it can’t be repurposed don’t buy it
I would also have a look at the XDA forum. A very large percentage of devices that are not officially supported have unofficial ports (Lineage and others) that run 99% as well as the official ones.
e.g. my old Galaxy S8 was not official supported but one of the staff members of XDA made a port that runs like an absolute dream.