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The only time an Android "upgrade" has given me a better experience was when I updated a tablet from Android 3 to Android 4. Every other time it's been worse pe

The only time an Android "upgrade" has given me a better experience was when I updated a tablet from Android 3 to Android 4. Every other time it's been worse performance and broken workflows.

wtallis 5y ago
I understand the broken workflows thing. But "worse performance" actually sounds a little bit impressive to me (relatively speaking), because it implies you've had multiple Android devices actually get major version upgrades, rather than being abandoned and forcing you to buy a new device to get a newer OS.
- neurostimulant 4y ago
  Some devices are truly loved by the community and kept alive by people tirelessly adding support for those devices in lineageos. For example, galaxy s4 [1], a phone released on 2013 (Android 4.2 jelly bean), is still supported by lineageos 18 (android 11). [1] https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/jflteatt/ https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/jflteatt/
  - josephcsible 4y ago
    But remember that you still don't get security updates to the OEM's proprietary drivers with custom ROMs.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
usrn 5y ago
I'd be tempted to like Android 4 but I think that's when they got rid of the framebuffer requirement for kernels so it meant you had to use Android for graphics and couldn't just replace the userspace with eg debian anymore. EDIT: I've probably used up my quota so here's my reply: Userspace only cares about CPU arc. You can grab a debian rootfs and run it on a kindle/android/rasbpi etc. without even having to recompile things. The kernel however needs drivers and with modern Android many of them have to be rewritten. Replacing the kernel is a development exercise while replacing the userspace is mostly a matter of just installing the right software.
- josephcsible 5y ago
  If you're replacing the whole userspace, why not just replace the kernel too at that point?
  - selfhoster11 5y ago
    Hardware support? Software compatibility?

The only time an Android "upgrade" has given me a better experience was when I updated a tablet from Android 3 to Android 4. Every other time it's been worse performance and broken workflows.

wtallis 5y ago

I understand the broken workflows thing. But "worse performance" actually sounds a little bit impressive to me (relatively speaking), because it implies you've had multiple Android devices actually get major version upgrades, rather than being abandoned and forcing you to buy a new device to get a newer OS.

neurostimulant 4y ago
Some devices are truly loved by the community and kept alive by people tirelessly adding support for those devices in lineageos. For example, galaxy s4 [1], a phone released on 2013 (Android 4.2 jelly bean), is still supported by lineageos 18 (android 11). [1] https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/jflteatt/ https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/jflteatt/
- josephcsible 4y ago
  But remember that you still don't get security updates to the OEM's proprietary drivers with custom ROMs.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

usrn 5y ago

I'd be tempted to like Android 4 but I think that's when they got rid of the framebuffer requirement for kernels so it meant you had to use Android for graphics and couldn't just replace the userspace with eg debian anymore. EDIT: I've probably used up my quota so here's my reply: Userspace only cares about CPU arc. You can grab a debian rootfs and run it on a kindle/android/rasbpi etc. without even having to recompile things. The kernel however needs drivers and with modern Android many of them have to be rewritten. Replacing the kernel is a development exercise while replacing the userspace is mostly a matter of just installing the right software.

josephcsible 5y ago
If you're replacing the whole userspace, why not just replace the kernel too at that point?
- selfhoster11 5y ago
  Hardware support? Software compatibility?