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I own the Zenfone 8 and it has consistently received updates large and small. It came with fairly clean Android and I get the feeling it's not far behind a Goog

I own the Zenfone 8 and it has consistently received updates large and small. It came with fairly clean Android and I get the feeling it's not far behind a Google phone when it comes to updates. That includes major updates (got upgraded to Android 12 too). It's a really great phone. The only thing I would improve is the fingerprint sensor, but apparently that's been addressed in the next iteration.

Gigachad 4y ago
That phone came out a year ago, it hasn’t even had time to prove it’s supported. Check back with us in 5 years.
- sk0g 4y ago
  What Android phone gets OS updates for 6 years? Even 2-3 is quite good by Android standards.
  - ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
    Pixel phones beginning with the Pixel 6 are guaranteed five years of updates at a minimum.
    - fauigerzigerk 4y ago
      3 years of Android version updates and at least 5 years of security updates. But I have to say, Apple's OS version updates are not always quite what they seem. My 2 year old iPad gets OS updates in name only. None of the major new iPad OS features are supported. That's fine if the hardware just isn't capable of supporting those features. But it sort of muddies the water compared to an Android device that doesn't get a nominal OS bump but still gets security updates and all the new features distributed through Google's Play services.
      - ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
        All security issues are handled on iOS for many years. Yes, feature updates are gated by model because Apple wants to sell new stuff and the new features are a big driver of that. GrapheneOS on Pixel is probably the best bet right now.
        fauigerzigerk 4y ago
        >All security issues are handled on iOS for many years. Yes, absolutely. I didn't mean to imply anything else. Google says Pixel 6 will get "at least 5 years" of security updates. We're going to have to wait and see if that's better or worse than what Apple does.
      - BoorishBears 4y ago
        Are you serious? iOS upgrades give you the entire OS experience and upgraded app support with a few flashy features missing. Compare that to Android where the best case is invisible security updates and guess which causes upgrade anxiety? I'm an Android developer for a living but I use iPhones because the Android ecosystem is currently optimized for generating e-waste. SoC manufacturers generally don't make enough money to want to do more than the bare minimum, so unless you're Google making billions off a hundred other angles you don't do OS updates for more than a few years and maybe pay lip service with security upgrades.
        esteth 4y ago
        He's serious. The new multitasking workflow which is the major feature of iPadOS 16 is not available on non-M1 iPads, for example
        BoorishBears 4y ago
        You mean Stage Manager??? That's a truly terrible example... First off it's not "the major feature of iPadOS 16, it's one call out of many _many_ features: https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-16-preview/ https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-16-preview/ Second, _massively increasing multitasking capabilities_ is being given to the models that have _a massively upgraded SoC_ there's nothing artificial about that limitation. Older iPads cannot not hold 4 arbitrary apps in memory, try it yourself if you want. For anything but the most basic set of apps you'll find something evicted by the time you loop back... Third, "the" major point of an OS upgrade if any is being on the latest development target. Ask Android devs still targeting versions of Android from 2015 about that...
    - sk0g 4y ago
      The Pixel 6 Pro has been update to become a pile of hot trash in my case. The updates have been so bad I'm returning it this weekend, while I received a perfectly functional hone... I'm sure some will appreciate the (security) updates, because the year or so of OS updates I've experienced have been a constant trend towards the worse.
      - ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
        Install GrapheneOS on it and give it another look. https://grapheneos.org/install/web https://grapheneos.org/install/web
        sk0g 4y ago
        There's not a single screenshot of the operating system I could see, and I need to unlock the phone and all so assuming this is a custom ROM. Usually you lose access to things like GPay or certain NFC functionalities, and end up with a not-entirely stable experience anyway. I'd rather a phone that just worked. The half a dozen I had previously at least didn't struggle with the basics!
        ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
        Google Pay won't work, but everything else has been quite solid for me. Additionally, it is more secure than the stock OS and significantly more protective of your privacy. Every app I've tried to use on it has worked. I recommend you give it a go. If you don't like it, you can always reinstall the stock OS at https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com/ https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com/
        sk0g 4y ago
        My bank decided to abandon their own payment solution in favour of GPay, and the neo-bank or two I do use also uses GPay, while I don't actually have physical cards for these. In short, not using GPay is not an option. > it is more secure than the stock OS Maybe, but I don't trust community maintainers (nor auditing) enough. At least Google has a business entity that backs their services, community ROMs have nothing of the sort. I dabbled in ROMs and the likes previously, but I just want a phone that works like a phone should right now. I've got too many other things to tinker with already.
  - saiya-jin 4y ago
    Pixel 6 and Samsung S22, both 5 years of updates
    - sk0g 4y ago
      At least in the Pixel 6's case, it's 5 years of security updates, not OS updates. IE nothing but the very critical updates beyond 2-3 years.
  - skunkjoe 4y ago
    my Fairphone (3) gets 5 years updates from launch. So approx. 2.5 more to go, still running smoothly :)
  - 28304283409234 4y ago
    My bet is always to see which phone is supported by LineageOS, or other alternatives. Typing this on a Moto G6 (2018). I also have a fully patched Nexus 7 tablet (2013). Technically, there's nothing wrong with them. It's just that the vendors can't bring themselves to do the work. Hopefully some legislation will come into place at some point to enforce this.
    - sk0g 4y ago
      That's a community effort, and from previous experiences some pretty random things can be broken, but if the contributors don't care, they won't even look into it. It's fine, but it's not an alternative to actual updates. In the same way, mods for games aren't an alternative to the developer just fixing issues.
      - mycall 4y ago
        It is a community effort and it is not uncommon for hardware to be traded between members for establishing some driver or interface with. eBay is part of that.
      - 28304283409234 4y ago
        Yet, we are all fine running Debian, or Arch, or Alpine, or Gentoo. All community efforts.
  - goldenkey 4y ago
    My Pixel 4 XL is still on the latest Android, and I still get unlimited Google Photos via the grandfathered contract.
- adrian_b 4y ago
  I own the older Zenfone 6 from 2019, i.e. 3 years old. I has received frequently updates until now, including the change of the major version of Android, from the one with which the phone had been initially delivered.
  - rsa4046 4y ago
    I'm glad you got a good one. I didn't (Zenfone 5z), and after their customer ‘service’, have sworn off ASUS for good. https://www.reddit.com/r/zenfone/comments/ollaq6/i_will_never_buy_another_asus_product_ever/ https://www.reddit.com/r/zenfone/comments/ollaq6/i_will_neve...
- moonchrome 4y ago
  It might be just me - but my phone battery degrades so significantly after 3 years that the phone isn't worth using anymore, so I'm not that bothered about not receiving updates past that window.
  - LarsAlereon 4y ago
    My 5 year old phone is still at 84% battery capacity. I set a charge limit to 80% unless I'm planning to be away from a charger for some time and set it to go to low battery mode at 40%, which discourages me from draining it too low. I wasn't even this careful for the first couple of years that I owned it, and I use the fast charge mode.
  - dmantis 4y ago
    You can change the battery in most phones (there are plenty instructions on youtube how to open the case or do it with some service center), that's much cheaper than buying new phone. On chinese marketplaces there are batteries for almost any phone, might be in your local marketplaces as well, depending on location. The core problem is security updates.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - breakingcups 4y ago
    This is a very solvable problem, at least for me. I only charge when I'm running low on battery and my phone tells me to and I never interrupt the charge cycle once it is plugged in. I've been running a Galaxy S7 since 2016 like that and only now do the first battery issues slowly start to appear.
  - kaoD 4y ago
    That seems like a non-issue, just replace the battery.
iruoy 4y ago
It seems like that phone will get 2 major updates (Android version upgrades?) and 2 years of security updates. Nothing more than any other brand will give you. https://www.androidauthority.com/phone-update-policies-1658633/ https://www.androidauthority.com/phone-update-policies-16586...

Gigachad 4y ago

That phone came out a year ago, it hasn’t even had time to prove it’s supported. Check back with us in 5 years.

sk0g 4y ago
What Android phone gets OS updates for 6 years? Even 2-3 is quite good by Android standards.
- ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
  Pixel phones beginning with the Pixel 6 are guaranteed five years of updates at a minimum.
  - fauigerzigerk 4y ago
    3 years of Android version updates and at least 5 years of security updates. But I have to say, Apple's OS version updates are not always quite what they seem. My 2 year old iPad gets OS updates in name only. None of the major new iPad OS features are supported. That's fine if the hardware just isn't capable of supporting those features. But it sort of muddies the water compared to an Android device that doesn't get a nominal OS bump but still gets security updates and all the new features distributed through Google's Play services.
    - ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
      All security issues are handled on iOS for many years. Yes, feature updates are gated by model because Apple wants to sell new stuff and the new features are a big driver of that. GrapheneOS on Pixel is probably the best bet right now.
      - fauigerzigerk 4y ago
        >All security issues are handled on iOS for many years. Yes, absolutely. I didn't mean to imply anything else. Google says Pixel 6 will get "at least 5 years" of security updates. We're going to have to wait and see if that's better or worse than what Apple does.
    - BoorishBears 4y ago
      Are you serious? iOS upgrades give you the entire OS experience and upgraded app support with a few flashy features missing. Compare that to Android where the best case is invisible security updates and guess which causes upgrade anxiety? I'm an Android developer for a living but I use iPhones because the Android ecosystem is currently optimized for generating e-waste. SoC manufacturers generally don't make enough money to want to do more than the bare minimum, so unless you're Google making billions off a hundred other angles you don't do OS updates for more than a few years and maybe pay lip service with security upgrades.
      - esteth 4y ago
        He's serious. The new multitasking workflow which is the major feature of iPadOS 16 is not available on non-M1 iPads, for example
        BoorishBears 4y ago
        You mean Stage Manager??? That's a truly terrible example... First off it's not "the major feature of iPadOS 16, it's one call out of many _many_ features: https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-16-preview/ https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-16-preview/ Second, _massively increasing multitasking capabilities_ is being given to the models that have _a massively upgraded SoC_ there's nothing artificial about that limitation. Older iPads cannot not hold 4 arbitrary apps in memory, try it yourself if you want. For anything but the most basic set of apps you'll find something evicted by the time you loop back... Third, "the" major point of an OS upgrade if any is being on the latest development target. Ask Android devs still targeting versions of Android from 2015 about that...
  - sk0g 4y ago
    The Pixel 6 Pro has been update to become a pile of hot trash in my case. The updates have been so bad I'm returning it this weekend, while I received a perfectly functional hone... I'm sure some will appreciate the (security) updates, because the year or so of OS updates I've experienced have been a constant trend towards the worse.
    - ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
      Install GrapheneOS on it and give it another look. https://grapheneos.org/install/web https://grapheneos.org/install/web
      - sk0g 4y ago
        There's not a single screenshot of the operating system I could see, and I need to unlock the phone and all so assuming this is a custom ROM. Usually you lose access to things like GPay or certain NFC functionalities, and end up with a not-entirely stable experience anyway. I'd rather a phone that just worked. The half a dozen I had previously at least didn't struggle with the basics!
        ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
        Google Pay won't work, but everything else has been quite solid for me. Additionally, it is more secure than the stock OS and significantly more protective of your privacy. Every app I've tried to use on it has worked. I recommend you give it a go. If you don't like it, you can always reinstall the stock OS at https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com/ https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com/
        sk0g 4y ago
        My bank decided to abandon their own payment solution in favour of GPay, and the neo-bank or two I do use also uses GPay, while I don't actually have physical cards for these. In short, not using GPay is not an option. > it is more secure than the stock OS Maybe, but I don't trust community maintainers (nor auditing) enough. At least Google has a business entity that backs their services, community ROMs have nothing of the sort. I dabbled in ROMs and the likes previously, but I just want a phone that works like a phone should right now. I've got too many other things to tinker with already.
- saiya-jin 4y ago
  Pixel 6 and Samsung S22, both 5 years of updates
  - sk0g 4y ago
    At least in the Pixel 6's case, it's 5 years of security updates, not OS updates. IE nothing but the very critical updates beyond 2-3 years.
- skunkjoe 4y ago
  my Fairphone (3) gets 5 years updates from launch. So approx. 2.5 more to go, still running smoothly :)
- 28304283409234 4y ago
  My bet is always to see which phone is supported by LineageOS, or other alternatives. Typing this on a Moto G6 (2018). I also have a fully patched Nexus 7 tablet (2013). Technically, there's nothing wrong with them. It's just that the vendors can't bring themselves to do the work. Hopefully some legislation will come into place at some point to enforce this.
  - sk0g 4y ago
    That's a community effort, and from previous experiences some pretty random things can be broken, but if the contributors don't care, they won't even look into it. It's fine, but it's not an alternative to actual updates. In the same way, mods for games aren't an alternative to the developer just fixing issues.
    - mycall 4y ago
      It is a community effort and it is not uncommon for hardware to be traded between members for establishing some driver or interface with. eBay is part of that.
    - 28304283409234 4y ago
      Yet, we are all fine running Debian, or Arch, or Alpine, or Gentoo. All community efforts.
- goldenkey 4y ago
  My Pixel 4 XL is still on the latest Android, and I still get unlimited Google Photos via the grandfathered contract.
adrian_b 4y ago
I own the older Zenfone 6 from 2019, i.e. 3 years old. I has received frequently updates until now, including the change of the major version of Android, from the one with which the phone had been initially delivered.
- rsa4046 4y ago
  I'm glad you got a good one. I didn't (Zenfone 5z), and after their customer ‘service’, have sworn off ASUS for good. https://www.reddit.com/r/zenfone/comments/ollaq6/i_will_never_buy_another_asus_product_ever/ https://www.reddit.com/r/zenfone/comments/ollaq6/i_will_neve...
moonchrome 4y ago
It might be just me - but my phone battery degrades so significantly after 3 years that the phone isn't worth using anymore, so I'm not that bothered about not receiving updates past that window.
- LarsAlereon 4y ago
  My 5 year old phone is still at 84% battery capacity. I set a charge limit to 80% unless I'm planning to be away from a charger for some time and set it to go to low battery mode at 40%, which discourages me from draining it too low. I wasn't even this careful for the first couple of years that I owned it, and I use the fast charge mode.
- dmantis 4y ago
  You can change the battery in most phones (there are plenty instructions on youtube how to open the case or do it with some service center), that's much cheaper than buying new phone. On chinese marketplaces there are batteries for almost any phone, might be in your local marketplaces as well, depending on location. The core problem is security updates.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- breakingcups 4y ago
  This is a very solvable problem, at least for me. I only charge when I'm running low on battery and my phone tells me to and I never interrupt the charge cycle once it is plugged in. I've been running a Galaxy S7 since 2016 like that and only now do the first battery issues slowly start to appear.
- kaoD 4y ago
  That seems like a non-issue, just replace the battery.

iruoy 4y ago

It seems like that phone will get 2 major updates (Android version upgrades?) and 2 years of security updates. Nothing more than any other brand will give you. https://www.androidauthority.com/phone-update-policies-1658633/ https://www.androidauthority.com/phone-update-policies-16586...