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If you want a long-lasting phone the best thing I am aware of is to go to https://androidenterprisepartners.withgoogle.com/devices/ https://androidenterprisepar

If you want a long-lasting phone the best thing I am aware of is to go to https://androidenterprisepartners.withgoogle.com/devices/ https://androidenterprisepartners.withgoogle.com/devices/ and you can filter by supported lifetime.

kennywinker 4y ago
I did that, out of curiosity, and I'll summarize what I found in case anybody else is interested: First, it looks like the very best options for long term support is this guy https://androidenterprisepartners.withgoogle.com/device/#!/FABhMZWeIzET1F8PJu5K https://androidenterprisepartners.withgoogle.com/device/#!/F... (Point Mobile PM30) with "Security updates until March 2028". That's 6 years of support, if a little suspicious since it's from a company with a single device on the market. After that it looks like Samsung offers support for their devices until "February 2027", and one other company, Zebra Technologies, offers support until "March 2027". Going to 2026 adds a few more brands (Motorola, Xiaomi, Google Pixel). So the bulk of phones have support for 4 years, there's decent options with 5 years of support, a single device with 6 years, and nothing beyond that. Two data points for contrast: 1. I just bought a 10 year old PC that's still useful, can run the bleeding edge of operating systems, and can be upgraded and repaired easily - I expect it to have another 5 years of useful lifespan ahead of it. 2. The iPhone 6S, released in 2015, is still supported by Apple. That's a 7 year old phone. iOS 13 (released in 2020) dropped support for the iPhone 6/6+ (2014) and 5s (2013) so 6 years and 7 years respectively. A final note: all of this is about software support - none of this is actually about useful lifespan. Two years ago my phone crapped out on me and I used a friend's old iPhone SE (1st generation, 2016) for a couple months - it was trending hard towards a trash can. The battery lasts about 2 years before it needs replacement, the glass screen breaks easily and aftermarket replacements have touch input issues, and running the latest iOS on it had things moving slower than LA traffic. My hope is that phones hit / have already hit the end of easy performance advancement, and a focus on longevity might start to take over. But I don't think that's likely. There is pressure from things like large institutional buyers to make generic PCs last long and be endlessly repairable - it's not really clear that pressure exists or CAN exist under capitalism, for phones.
- kevincox 4y ago
  The state of affairs is definitely dark. However the best way to improve this in the current system is to spend money on the phones that promise and deliver long support lifecycles.
  - KronisLV 4y ago
    > However the best way to improve this in the current system is to spend money on the phones that promise and deliver long support lifecycles. I think a part of the problem here is the fact that I haven't seen a phone advertise this as a selling point, not once in my life. Where's the RHEL equivalent among smartphones? Then again, I've only used mainstream Android devices and Symbian back in the day (which was an amazing time for mobile devices, in my opinion).
    - kevincox 4y ago
      Few do, but there are some of there. For example this list. But in more mainstream marketing the Pixels always have advertised their support lifespan.
    - Fnoord 4y ago
      Because you didn't look into it well enough. Fairphone deliver 5 years support since release. Google do too, with their Pixel series. Its a different ballpark than CAT. But Fairphone are easy to repair due to the modularity.
      - KronisLV 4y ago
        > Because you didn't look into it well enough. But that's just my point! Manufacturers are keen to shove their new fancy camera solutions and how thin their devices are and the notches and so on in my face. Why isn't the same done in regards to the ruggedness (CAT does, other manufacturers have tried with Gorilla Glass at best), battery life (where are the smartphones that will last me a week without being recharged?) or the long support cycles (security updates for the OS, maybe even an unlocked bootloader and open source drivers)? If i'm not overwhelmed with ads about these things (or at least don't see them advertised as one of the first things about the device), then clearly the manufacturers don't really deem it a priority/a selling point? Who knows... It's nice to have options, but having to look for these things yourself reminds me of people talking about the year of the Linux desktop, while the majority of people out there don't even know what Linux is.
shp0ngle 4y ago
Why is fairphone not in the list? From what I understand, they offer very long updates (it’s just not a very good phone for the price, but they try to push updates as long as possible, from what I heard) edit: yep still getting updates 7 years later https://www.gizmochina.com/2022/03/15/fairphone-2-launched-android-5-android-10-upgrade-7-years-after/?amp=1 https://www.gizmochina.com/2022/03/15/fairphone-2-launched-a... also the phones get 4 years of regular warranty. They are available just in Europe though
- kevincox 4y ago
  I don't think this is a comprehensive list. I don't know what the exact requirements are but based on the domain it seems related to Google Enterprise policies.
- notatoad 4y ago
  is fairphone an android partner? i thought they shipped some sort of de-googled AOSP-based operating system
  - shp0ngle 4y ago
    No, they ship proper Android
baq 4y ago
got an iphone se for that reason.

kennywinker 4y ago

I did that, out of curiosity, and I'll summarize what I found in case anybody else is interested: First, it looks like the very best options for long term support is this guy https://androidenterprisepartners.withgoogle.com/device/#!/FABhMZWeIzET1F8PJu5K https://androidenterprisepartners.withgoogle.com/device/#!/F... (Point Mobile PM30) with "Security updates until March 2028". That's 6 years of support, if a little suspicious since it's from a company with a single device on the market. After that it looks like Samsung offers support for their devices until "February 2027", and one other company, Zebra Technologies, offers support until "March 2027". Going to 2026 adds a few more brands (Motorola, Xiaomi, Google Pixel). So the bulk of phones have support for 4 years, there's decent options with 5 years of support, a single device with 6 years, and nothing beyond that. Two data points for contrast: 1. I just bought a 10 year old PC that's still useful, can run the bleeding edge of operating systems, and can be upgraded and repaired easily - I expect it to have another 5 years of useful lifespan ahead of it. 2. The iPhone 6S, released in 2015, is still supported by Apple. That's a 7 year old phone. iOS 13 (released in 2020) dropped support for the iPhone 6/6+ (2014) and 5s (2013) so 6 years and 7 years respectively. A final note: all of this is about software support - none of this is actually about useful lifespan. Two years ago my phone crapped out on me and I used a friend's old iPhone SE (1st generation, 2016) for a couple months - it was trending hard towards a trash can. The battery lasts about 2 years before it needs replacement, the glass screen breaks easily and aftermarket replacements have touch input issues, and running the latest iOS on it had things moving slower than LA traffic. My hope is that phones hit / have already hit the end of easy performance advancement, and a focus on longevity might start to take over. But I don't think that's likely. There is pressure from things like large institutional buyers to make generic PCs last long and be endlessly repairable - it's not really clear that pressure exists or CAN exist under capitalism, for phones.

kevincox 4y ago
The state of affairs is definitely dark. However the best way to improve this in the current system is to spend money on the phones that promise and deliver long support lifecycles.
- KronisLV 4y ago
  > However the best way to improve this in the current system is to spend money on the phones that promise and deliver long support lifecycles. I think a part of the problem here is the fact that I haven't seen a phone advertise this as a selling point, not once in my life. Where's the RHEL equivalent among smartphones? Then again, I've only used mainstream Android devices and Symbian back in the day (which was an amazing time for mobile devices, in my opinion).
  - kevincox 4y ago
    Few do, but there are some of there. For example this list. But in more mainstream marketing the Pixels always have advertised their support lifespan.
  - Fnoord 4y ago
    Because you didn't look into it well enough. Fairphone deliver 5 years support since release. Google do too, with their Pixel series. Its a different ballpark than CAT. But Fairphone are easy to repair due to the modularity.
    - KronisLV 4y ago
      > Because you didn't look into it well enough. But that's just my point! Manufacturers are keen to shove their new fancy camera solutions and how thin their devices are and the notches and so on in my face. Why isn't the same done in regards to the ruggedness (CAT does, other manufacturers have tried with Gorilla Glass at best), battery life (where are the smartphones that will last me a week without being recharged?) or the long support cycles (security updates for the OS, maybe even an unlocked bootloader and open source drivers)? If i'm not overwhelmed with ads about these things (or at least don't see them advertised as one of the first things about the device), then clearly the manufacturers don't really deem it a priority/a selling point? Who knows... It's nice to have options, but having to look for these things yourself reminds me of people talking about the year of the Linux desktop, while the majority of people out there don't even know what Linux is.

shp0ngle 4y ago

Why is fairphone not in the list? From what I understand, they offer very long updates (it’s just not a very good phone for the price, but they try to push updates as long as possible, from what I heard) edit: yep still getting updates 7 years later https://www.gizmochina.com/2022/03/15/fairphone-2-launched-android-5-android-10-upgrade-7-years-after/?amp=1 https://www.gizmochina.com/2022/03/15/fairphone-2-launched-a... also the phones get 4 years of regular warranty. They are available just in Europe though

kevincox 4y ago
I don't think this is a comprehensive list. I don't know what the exact requirements are but based on the domain it seems related to Google Enterprise policies.
notatoad 4y ago
is fairphone an android partner? i thought they shipped some sort of de-googled AOSP-based operating system
- shp0ngle 4y ago
  No, they ship proper Android

baq 4y ago

got an iphone se for that reason.