[SOLVED] Android support for old phones

Recently looked at the supported list for Android 10 on confirmed and expected devices to get the OS and saw the Note 8, a phone that cost nearly £900 at launch just over 2 years ago is not guanteed support at this time. I’m sure it will get the OS later on, even though it’s for from guaranteed (see the S5), but for a flagship device not to get the OS at launch only 2 generations after its release is an embarrassment.

I’m an iOS guy but wondered how you could fail to be annoyed at how bad the support is on very expensive devices, some people on 36 month contracts will still be paying for a phone that isn’t getting meaningful updates.
 
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I’ve been hit by constant bugs with W10. Its favourite one atm is every time it tried to update it sets the system clock to 2059 and can’t complete the update

As this is the Android & Chrome OS forum, this will be my last comment on this "side spur."

Any issue such as this, particularly if it repeats, strongly indicates one of two things: a hardware issue (less likely, but remotely possible) or a corruption in the existing Windows 10 install of a serious nature. That generally means that Doing a Completely Clean Install of Windows 10 is the best course of action to get a completely stable base installation of Windows 10 to move forward with.

I have two machines that I've been doing Feature Updates on...

britechguy

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how you could fail to be annoyed at how bad the support is on very expensive devices, some people on 36 month contracts will still be paying for a phone that isn’t getting meaningful updates.

For myself, it's because there's been nothing new in Android for a number of versions now that "I just have to have." Like most modern OSes, and ignoring security patches which do still get sent out as OTA patches, the updated versions just add a bunch of "bells and whistles" that I have no use for.

I have never, ever, understood the need to constantly have "the latest and greatest" when you weren't using most of the features "the latest and greatest" had multiple versions ago.

If a tool, any tool, including a smartphone does what I need it to do then I'm perfectly happy.
 
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I find android like windows.

If your PC shipped with Windows 7, you can use it for years while still getting security updates without going to windows 10.
In the same way, you can use an android phone with android 8.1 for years while still getting security updates for years without updating os to Android 9 or 10.

With IOS, security updates come withe newer IOS versions. Its just a different way of doing updates.
 
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For myself, it's because there's been nothing new in Android for a number of versions now that "I just have to have." Like most modern OSes, and ignoring security patches which do still get sent out as OTA patches, the updated versions just add a bunch of "bells and whistles" that I have no use for.

I have never, ever, understood the need to constantly have "the latest and greatest" when you weren't using most of the features "the latest and greatest" had multiple versions ago.

If a tool, any tool, including a smartphone does what I need it to do then I'm perfectly happy.
Tbh I don’t look at android updates much because I’m not using a device but I generally find there’s always stuff I want in updates like the last couple of iOS updates brought better efficiency in 12 and 13 has new a new CarPlay layout, having an alternative to 3D Touch on non-3D touch displays, darkmode and just small quality of life tweeks.
 

britechguy

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@remixislandmusic, I love that analogy and will probably use it myself in the future. It's an excellent way of explaining why one must keep doing Feature Updates on Windows 10. Windows As A Service is a new (kinda) and different way of update delivery, including ongoing patches for security.

And as far as Android goes a very great deal of what was just mentioned by @LordVile is part and parcel of specific apps themselves, which update independently of the Android OS. This is another thing that's different about Android and iOS.

I have never cared for Apple products because, to me, they're overpriced for what they are and Apple locks down everything "tight as a drum." It's a, "You will become one with the Apple Borg," scenario, as far as I'm concerned.

I like the customizability of both Windows 10 and Android far better than the consistency of OSX and iOS.
 
@remixislandmusic, I love that analogy and will probably use it myself in the future. It's an excellent way of explaining why one must keep doing Feature Updates on Windows 10. Windows As A Service is a new (kinda) and different way of update delivery, including ongoing patches for security.

And as far as Android goes a very great deal of what was just mentioned by @LordVile is part and parcel of specific apps themselves, which update independently of the Android OS. This is another thing that's different about Android and iOS.

I have never cared for Apple products because, to me, they're overpriced for what they are and Apple locks down everything "tight as a drum." It's a, "You will become one with the Apple Borg," scenario, as far as I'm concerned.

I like the customizability of both Windows 10 and Android far better than the consistency of OSX and iOS.
As far as desktops go I always find you’re better off using the best OS for the job. As a day to day OS Windows is horrendous. It’s buggy as hell, drivers are a nightmare etc and you don’t even get office anymore you have to subscribe to it. But if I want to game or do some heavy lifting like molecular modelling when I was at uni I’d use my desktop or hopefully the Linux based workstations at the uni for the latter.
 

britechguy

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I’ve been hit by constant bugs with W10. Its favourite one atm is every time it tried to update it sets the system clock to 2059 and can’t complete the update

As this is the Android & Chrome OS forum, this will be my last comment on this "side spur."

Any issue such as this, particularly if it repeats, strongly indicates one of two things: a hardware issue (less likely, but remotely possible) or a corruption in the existing Windows 10 install of a serious nature. That generally means that Doing a Completely Clean Install of Windows 10 is the best course of action to get a completely stable base installation of Windows 10 to move forward with.

I have two machines that I've been doing Feature Updates on since the very first version of Windows 10 (1507) without a hitch and two others that started "out of the box" with 1511, were immediately manually upgraded to 1703 (I think, it might have been the later 16XX) and have been doing Feature Updates since without a hitch.

I have had to reinstall a driver or two when the device OEMs updated same but did not supply said updates either to the computer's OEM for their support pages nor to Microsoft for their Great Driver Library in the Cloud.

Windows 10 has been, on the whole, the best Windows experience I've ever had, and I've been around since the days of DOS and DOS alone.
 
Solution
As this is the Android & Chrome OS forum, this will be my last comment on this "side spur."

Any issue such as this, particularly if it repeats, strongly indicates one of two things: a hardware issue (less likely, but remotely possible) or a corruption in the existing Windows 10 install of a serious nature. That generally means that Doing a Completely Clean Install of Windows 10 is the best course of action to get a completely stable base installation of Windows 10 to move forward with.

I have two machines that I've been doing Feature Updates on since the very first version of Windows 10 (1507) without a hitch and two others that started "out of the box" with 1511, were immediately manually upgraded to 1703 (I think, it might have been the later 16XX) and have been doing Feature Updates since without a hitch.

I have had to reinstall a driver or two when the device OEMs updated same but did not supply said updates either to the computer's OEM for their support pages nor to Microsoft for their Great Driver Library in the Cloud.

Windows 10 has been, on the whole, the best Windows experience I've ever had, and I've been around since the days of DOS and DOS alone.
Funnily enough this is a clean install if windows as my last install that I’ve been updating for around 3 years kept BSODing before desktop after I updated it.
 
Ah, the old issue of phones and updates. Yup, Android phones generally get OS updates for 2 years and security updates for an additional year. It just so happens that phones purchased on contract with providers generally have 2 year contracts, and phones generally remain for sale for about a year from release.

This is primarily the reason.

As for Apple, well, they operate a little differently, but generally after 2-3 years an iPhone is ready for replacement anyways. Whether it be wear and tear, dropping of support, battery issues, or what have you, 3 years is about the average life of a phone.

Now, you can take good care of your phone and have it last longer, and there are ways of getting updated OS'es on Android phones at least. You can always flash a custom ROM.

Story time: My second Android phone was the HTC Evo 4G. The thing was a monster when it was released. An absolutely great phone and I loved it. I used it for the length of its contract, then got an Evo 4G LTE. That died a horrible static electric death 7 months after I got it (sort of... long story). So, I went back to the old Evo, which was not getting updates by the time I reactivated it. So, I flashed Cyanogen Mod onto it. Latest OS, updates, and I rode out the second contract on the old Evo and by the end of it, that poor phone was really showing its age. I'd replaced 3 batteries on it and Android simply required more and more power to run. I finally retired it to light duty, 5 years after getting it, and used it as an MP3 player for another couple.

The moral of the story is that flagship hardware can last a long time, but your experience after about 3 years is going to be SUPER rough, to the point that picking up a new phone is generally a good idea. If for no other reason than sanity.

Today I have an original Pixel, and I enjoy the regular updates, but it is past 2 years old and showing its age. The battery life is getting worse and worse and the Wi-Fi doesn't work quite right all the time. It hasn't lived a hard life either... well aside from the cold (no noticeable scratches on the screen!). I expect to get a few more months out of it, more than that and I'll be happy, but it IS in its twilight months for usability, and really that is just down to wear and tear. I have no idea when Google will stop providing updates for it as it has been updated to 10, but that doesn't matter, the phone is just long in the tooth.
 
There are manufacturers that do a great job of quickly pushing out Android updates. If having the latest version is important to you, pick a device from a manufacturer that has a good track record for quickly pushing out updates and supporting phones for a long time. The Google Pixel phones and OnePlus phones are some of the best in this regard. Samsung and LG have a terrible track record for supporting older devices. Choose carefully and it's not a problem...