by miki_tyler on 6/30/23, 3:02 AM with 318 comments
by Daegalus on 6/30/23, 4:52 AM
The reason you don't see long term support on Android is because of Qualcomm. Qualcomm wants manufacturers to build on new chips, so they deprecate older chips and stop support. Most manufacturers don't want to hire kernel and hardware devs.
Samsung can pull off longer support because of Exynos and they have a lot of inhouse expertise to extend support on old Qualcomm chips.
It's all money. They don't want you keeping a phone for 5 years.
Apple can do it because they lock you into their walled garden where they can double and triple dip on getting your money.
They also build their own chips.
by jillesvangurp on 6/30/23, 5:23 AM
There is the Google Pixel. But it has limited updates and proprietary software for things like the camera. That camera is really nice though and it's as close as the Android experience Google intended to ship because this basically is Google's version of Android. I have the Pixel 6 and it's fine.
Nokia stays close to that but ships their own camera app. It too has limited updates that run out after a few years. Other than the camera software, it's basically "stock android". I'm not sure there even is a stock version for the camera at this point. There are plenty of alternative camera apps though. I always had a weak spot for open camera, which is nice. My previous phone was a Nokia 7 plus. The camera was not great but otherwise a fine phone.
The fairphone is probably the closest to what you want. But you are buying older hardware and at a premium. And fairphone OS is based on an older version of Android and also limited in time for updates. The updates run out at some point though they are pretty good at keeping the security patches going. Repairability is great though.
In short, long term support is hard to get. No-one seems to be willing/capable of doing that. At best you have phones that become unsupported at some point but at least allow you to install alternative firmware (without any promises or support).
by sphars on 6/30/23, 3:44 AM
by pyrelight on 6/30/23, 11:29 AM
Their phones are really solid but they do lag on OS updates, and their cameras are never good.
by deng on 6/30/23, 6:35 AM
by ShamelessGenius on 6/30/23, 10:38 AM
by everybodyknows on 6/30/23, 4:21 AM
by crote on 6/30/23, 1:34 PM
The best options are:
- Google Pixel
- Motorola
- Nokia
I ended up with a Google Pixel 7. The Motorola Edge 40 was a close contender, but I ended up axing it from the list due to the curved screen edge. My selection criteria were: cleanest Android possible; latest Android version; long-term support; wireless charging; decent IP rating.
My previous phones were a Moto G2 and Nokia 6.1, for comparison. The first one replaced due to the charging port dying and running out of storage, the second one having its screen destroyed by dropping it on a tile floor.
by _trackno5 on 6/30/23, 5:36 AM
Android manufacturers suck in terms of long term support.
Samsung offers the longest support, but their phones are full of bloat. and they recently passed some ToC updates that prevent you from suing them which I find a super anti-consumer move.
If you can compromise on long term support and don’t care much about photos, the Asus Zenfone 10 is probably your best bet
by neilv on 6/30/23, 6:36 AM
https://grapheneos.org/faq#recommended-devices
Note that the particular device unit (not model) must have an unlockable bootloader (so, probably not a unit that was solid by a carrier that disables this):
by rpgbr on 6/30/23, 10:38 AM
by mikece on 6/30/23, 3:43 AM
(Added bonus: you can shed even more bloat by installing Graphene OS, something that requires a Pixel at the moment.)
by ParetoOptimal on 6/30/23, 1:49 PM
It's also trivial to install thanks to their web installer.
Best buy trip to working grapheneOS took under an hour.
by rsv29 on 6/30/23, 4:53 AM
by readingnews on 6/30/23, 1:42 PM
by yankput on 6/30/23, 11:15 AM
The negative is the really really awful camera.
by noman-land on 6/30/23, 5:29 AM
by xwowsersx on 6/30/23, 4:18 PM
by mgbmtl on 6/30/23, 6:20 PM
For example, it makes it easier to disable the search on the home screen, and many other tweaks. I also like being able to hide apps from the list of all apps, but they are still accessible using the search. It helps make the bloatware less visible (ex: I don't use the Youtube app, or most other pre-installed apps).
I use a Pixel 6 with very few features from Google, and happy with it. Long-term support is the only issue, although they do offer 5 years for security updates, which is better than previous Google models.
by LinuxBender on 6/30/23, 5:24 PM
I've not seen any. There are growing collections of debloat scripts that use adb and do not require rooting the phone but it's hit and miss per model as to completeness and not breaking the OS startup. Some vendors lock down their bloat so that rooting is required and in my opinion those should get returned / refunded and the product reviews on sites such as Amazon should warn others rather than rooting the phone. I've returned a few. My uleFone had the least cruft on it and the least lockdown but still uses upwards of 4GB ram after my first pass so I still have a long way to go.
by dagurp on 6/30/23, 10:57 AM
by DeathArrow on 6/30/23, 10:45 AM
by hbcondo714 on 6/30/23, 5:23 AM
by Zufriedenheit on 6/30/23, 3:19 PM
It's the only smartphone assembled in Germany so not sure if its available where you live.
by em-bee on 6/30/23, 11:07 AM
for my mother i installed /e/OS myself, but if she had to get a new phone while i am not around i'd point here to that website and tell her to get one of those.
/e/OS is free of bloat, yet easy to use.
by stuckinadrawer on 6/30/23, 5:00 AM
by ludovicianul on 6/30/23, 11:24 AM
by pSYoniK on 7/1/23, 7:45 PM
The 7a has poorer battery life than the 6a/7 so its a poorer choice for my personal use case but ymmv. Otherwise the 6a runs about 3 days for me (got 4 out of it initially but I use my phone very little) or 2 days when driving and needing more usage out of it.
by dtagames on 6/30/23, 1:17 PM
by tinytuna on 6/30/23, 3:35 AM
by tristor on 6/30/23, 3:57 PM
by wanderingmind on 6/30/23, 1:38 PM
by devit on 6/30/23, 11:43 AM
by aborsy on 6/30/23, 12:49 PM
I know in terms of privacy, Google is worse due to built in telemetry (and cloud based chromeos). If there is no security benefit either, then there doesn’t seem to be a major reason to prefer Google’s products over apple’s. Pixels aren’t much cheaper either (particularly considering the shorter support period).
by maxk42 on 6/30/23, 5:12 AM
by nottheengineer on 6/30/23, 5:29 AM
A pixel with grapheneOS, calyxOS or /e/OS would be the next best thing.
by cvalka on 6/30/23, 5:50 AM
by hospitalJail on 6/30/23, 1:05 PM
by chillbill on 6/30/23, 5:14 AM
by djaahk on 6/30/23, 10:11 PM
by ThePowerOfFuet on 6/30/23, 11:25 AM
by lawgimenez on 6/30/23, 3:01 PM
by herbst on 7/1/23, 7:34 AM
by jpmoral on 6/30/23, 11:45 AM
by Saris on 6/30/23, 1:03 PM
They come without really any bloat, but most models are also well supported by LineageOS, GrapheneOS or others if you wanted to get more privacy.
by dimitar on 6/30/23, 4:57 PM
by seized on 6/30/23, 6:52 AM
My Pixel 5 is a perfect phone. Stable (125+ days uptime a few times), fast, no Samsung style bloat.
by OJFord on 6/30/23, 5:05 PM
Or of course a Pixel, though if you don't use all of Google's stuff you might consider they come with more 'pre-installed bloatware'. They'll also probably always be supported by Lineage, so you could install that when official updates dry up, or just from day one to avoid 'bloat'.
by PickledHotdog on 7/3/23, 10:19 AM
by xslvrxslwt on 6/30/23, 7:43 PM
by dimitrisscript on 6/30/23, 5:25 AM
by richliss on 6/30/23, 7:40 AM
by valeg on 6/30/23, 2:09 PM
by codeulike on 6/30/23, 12:06 PM
by dangus on 7/1/23, 1:57 PM
No Android phone is going to give you the same level of long-term support. iPhones have zero bloatware and you can uninstall first party applications. You’ll get OS releases the day they come out regardless of your phone model.
by gizajob on 6/30/23, 7:14 PM
by system2 on 6/30/23, 6:45 AM
by GenericPoster on 6/30/23, 4:45 PM
If you are a nobody, there isn't a need to pay for the "latest and greatest". Security updates are a meme and just a way to add more bloat. Don't download apk's from unknown sources, use an adblocker and that's 99% of all attack vectors closed.
That only leaves pre-installed bloatware, a legitimate issue that can be solved with a few steps. The phone doesn't matter but get something android 10 or higher, their selective permissions are nice but you can go as low as android 6 without too many issues. But you might have app compatibility problems.
During phone setup, don't immediately connect to the internet.
If you can uninstall the apps do that. Otherwise, force stop and clear data of every installed app that you don't think you will ever use. As long as the apps don't open or take up ram or cpu cycles then the phone is functionally 'bloat free'
Remove all of the permissions that don't make sense. Your calendar doesn't need access to your microphone or even contacts.
Turn off all settings that even hint at telemetry including locations.
Once this is done, you can connect to the internet. Download fdroid through the browser and look for a local VPN that is capable of blocking access to apps and has a decent permissions menu. Get that configured and then you are good to go. The local vpn will almost certainly break things the first time you use it. But you can just tweak it and as long as you aren't installing any new apps very often you won't have any problems. Stick with open source apps as much as you can.
And only update Apps when they break or if there is a feature you really want. Don't actually do anything important on your phone like banking but if you have a browser with adblock then that's fine but keep it minimal.
I like this method because it's phone agnostic. I don't have to settle for a pixel or another phone that I need to get root on. If this sounds like too much and you don't want to flash a new OS, then just get an iphone.