New Phone for 170 USD

sts7049 said:
I think Google will be releasing pixel 8 by October, so if you want the latest you should be able to by then. or get the 7 at a discount.

I'm a pixel fan, currently I have a 5 but the 7 isn't quite enough of an upgrade in specs to make me change. maybe I will for the 8.
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This is what I did when Pixel 7 came out: I bought the previous version at a considerable discount and am very happy about it. What I valued the most was a good camera, and even though it is not as good as a latest premium Samsung or iPhone, it is indeed very good for the price. The only thing I would have liked is a micro Sd card slot, but with 128GB of internal space I think I am set for quite some time.
 
steveinbsas said:
I just searched ML for the Samsung AO464G version
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Steve, that sounds like the same Samsung A04 64GB detailed in the OP. Right? So even if the seller has not upgraded, you will be able to upgrade and/or it will push out automatically. Depending on the country, maybe the cell provider. Red responded that the phone has already received the “Android 13-based One UI 5.0 update“, but I figure samsung will auto send the 5.1 update soon. Then sometime over the next year or two the phone will get an update, maybe including Android 14-based (these cheap phones are the slimmed down android-based).

My statement about security during the years when a phone stops getting updates is intentionally exaggerated. Yes there is risk, but it is less if you keep aware, and follow known good advice for secure phone practices. Unless you are directly targeted somehow/some reason. Since any low-tier phone will be slower in two years after the upgrades have further bloated from the original, the best is to remove almost all 3rdparty apps at that time.
 
carride said:
Steve, that sounds like the same Samsung A04 64GB detailed in the OP. Right? So even if the seller has not upgraded, you will be able to upgrade and/or it will push out automatically. Depending on the country, maybe the cell provider. Red responded that the phone has already received the “Android 13-based One UI 5.0 update“, but I figure samsung will auto send the 5.1 update soon. Then sometime over the next year or two the phone will get an update, maybe including Android 14-based (these cheap phones are the slimmed down android-based).

My statement about security during the years when a phone stops getting updates is intentionally exaggerated. Yes there is risk, but it is less if you keep aware, and follow known good advice for secure phone practices. Unless you are directly targeted somehow/some reason. Since any low-tier phone will be slower in two years after the upgrades have further bloated from the original, the best is to remove almost all 3rdparty apps at that time.
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There is actually an OS upgrade of some kind queued up now, but I'm not letting it happen until I get my other phone back from the repair shop. Thirty years of experience with software updates has made me cynical and suspicious; I want to have my backup phone handy in case the update bricks the new one.

I must say that the way this thread has developed is a good example of what I love about this community. I posted a simple bit of information-sharing, and it turned into something really usefully educational
 
I bought an iPhone 6 eight years ago for U$S 700 - it is still going strong, and keeping itself updated. Doesn't sound like a bad investment but then, I'm a card-carrying cell-phone moron.
 
I believe everything up to and including the iPhone 8 will be considered "obsolete" with the next update of iOS (17), which is due to happen soon. Doesn't mean those phones will stop working, of course, just that they won't receive any more updates. In practice (I have an iPhone 10), updates are fewer, the older a phone is.

Also, in practice, you're more likely to run out of useful battery life before the phone becomes useless. My other iPhone 12's battery is closing in inexorably on 80% capacity left after about 3 years of use. I use it hard. The SIL's iPhone 10 is experiencing sudden shutdowns and urgently requires a battery transplant.

It's so much more than you get from Android / Google, and you're not even spied upon and monetized.
 
sts7049 said:
this is one of the funniest things i've read in a long time
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I was restraining myself from saying that. Was, past tense.

For the record, I got my old (A03) phone back, ran the software update on the new A04, and it was updated to Core UI 5.1
 
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