Is Android the best phone OS?

[RobC]

There are many annoying things about Android, such as being forced to use Playstore, auto updates, regardless that I disabled them, forced, unremovable apps, with likewise forced updates, etc.

The warranty is over, so I could try to root the phone, and try a different OS. Unless they are worse.

Any experiences with this?

[benjified]

What phone are you using? How old is it? How long are planning to keep it? Between Android and iOS, I prefer the latter, but I heard good things about PureOS.

Eventually the lithium battery will degrade to a point where the phone will become unusable. Depending on the phone , a battery replacement is possible with the right tools. My point being that rooting the phone may be a waste of time unless you foresee having your phone for awhile.

[BRIGGS]

You can disable the playstore and/or disable auto updates.

I've done rooting, unlocked the bootloader, installed a few custom roms, etc.

LineageOS is a stand out.

I wasn't able to keep lineageOS on my phone (Samsung Note 4 n910v). I was not able to connect to LTE. My daily driver needed to be stock, due to the radio firmware (cell tower communications). I suppose I could have installed the radio firmware separately, but I already missed too many days of work, playing around with this.

I learned a lot, over a two week period, working on this project.

[RobC]

What phone are you using? How old is it? How long are planning to keep it? Between Android and iOS, I prefer the latter, but I heard good things about PureOS.

Eventually the lithium battery will degrade to a point where the phone will become unusable. Depending on the phone , a battery replacement is possible with the right tools. My point being that rooting the phone may be a waste of time unless you foresee having your phone for awhile.

It's a Samsung A40 - about 3 years old. Honestly, I keep it as long as it's good enough. I considered an upgrade, but got a big ass 4K TV/monitor instead. Which is far more fun.

Surprisingly, the battery is still doing very well. The only real problem is that memory space is getting small, but more importantly, apps like Opera Mini, laughably is getting slow. Laughable, cause it seems like that shitty trick how some want to make us believe that our phones are aging. Okay, it's not the youngest, and it was only midrange - but more than enough for my needs. All I do is browse; take pics and vids; maybe play retro games like Doom, Diablo, Quake, etc. with a gamepad.

That said, yeah, could be that it's just Opera Mini having crappy updates again. But they do say, that phones like to pretend that they are dying, after a few years. Not sure if a myth. For what it is, this phone is still quite capable.

[RobC]

You can disable the playstore and/or disable auto updates.

I've done rooting, unlocked the bootloader, installed a few custom roms, etc.

LineageOS is a stand out.

I wasn't able to keep lineageOS on my phone (Samsung Note 4 n910v). I was not able to connect to LTE. My daily driver needed to be stock, due to the radio firmware (cell tower communications). I suppose I could have installed the radio firmware separately, but I already missed too many days of work, playing around with this.

I learned a lot, over a two week period, working on this project.

True - that's how I kept my previous phone alive for 7 years! : ) But I also know I missed out on some things... : S

Oh dear, so I guess it's rather a mess to do the whole rooting thing. I hear some can pull it off, but if it's too much effort... dunno... I definitely am sick of some Android things though...

Either way, the buy a new phone every 2 years thing, is a huge no go for me.

[BRIGGS]

True - that's how I kept my previous phone alive for 7 years! : ) But I also know I missed out on some things... : S

Oh dear, so I guess it's rather a mess to do the whole rooting thing. I hear some can pull it off, but if it's too much effort... dunno... I definitely am sick of some Android things though...

Either way, the buy a new phone every 2 years thing, is a huge no go for me.

Yep, my phone is 9 years old.

I'm looking and the galaxy a04, and the rest of the A series, right now. You can get a good phone for cheap these day. Nothing fancy like an s23, but decent:

[RobC]

True - that's how I kept my previous phone alive for 7 years! : ) But I also know I missed out on some things... : S

Oh dear, so I guess it's rather a mess to do the whole rooting thing. I hear some can pull it off, but if it's too much effort... dunno... I definitely am sick of some Android things though...

Either way, the buy a new phone every 2 years thing, is a huge no go for me.

Yep, my phone is 9 years old.

I'm looking and the galaxy a04, and the rest of the A series, right now. You can get a good phone for cheap these day. Nothing fancy like an s23, but decent:

I only got the A40 3 years ago, because of the sAMOLED screen and better camera, and the hardware seemed competent enough.

Seems like the competitors are finally using AMOLED screens, too, so it might be worth looking around. And maybe they even allow uninstalling crap, such as Facebook app. Samsung failed in my eyes in many ways. Including auto updates turning back on.

[BRIGGS]

Yep, my phone is 9 years old.

I'm looking and the galaxy a04, and the rest of the A series, right now. You can get a good phone for cheap these day. Nothing fancy like an s23, but decent:

I only got the A40 3 years ago, because of the sAMOLED screen and better camera, and the hardware seemed competent enough.

Seems like the competitors are finally using AMOLED screens, too, so it might be worth looking around. And maybe they even allow uninstalling crap, such as Facebook app. Samsung failed in my eyes in many ways. Including auto updates turning back on.

I've had the play store reinstall itself multiple times. Fixed by just uninstalling the updates, then disabling it.

[RobC]

I only got the A40 3 years ago, because of the sAMOLED screen and better camera, and the hardware seemed competent enough.

Seems like the competitors are finally using AMOLED screens, too, so it might be worth looking around. And maybe they even allow uninstalling crap, such as Facebook app. Samsung failed in my eyes in many ways. Including auto updates turning back on.

I've had the play store reinstall itself multiple times. Fixed by just uninstalling the updates, then disabling it.

Something like that worked on my old phone, too.

The current one's newest feature: not turning back on without plugging the charger in first.

Sadly, looks like the competitors pull this trick as well. I wonder when somebody will start a trial against these phone brands. At least they should add "the phone will die after 2 years".

I've been looking at watches now with eSIM.

[PhillipOrdonez]

Planned obsolescence is a thing.

Definitely have heard iphones do that whole pretend to be slow after a while so you buy the new version. Ridiculous.

[RobC]

Planned obsolescence is a thing.

Definitely have heard iphones do that whole pretend to be slow after a while so you buy the new version. Ridiculous.

The funny thing is, it's probably legal, as long as it happens outside the warranty time.

[PhillipOrdonez]

Of course it is. Planned obsolescence is pretty much a requirement in this system, and thus the laws are written to uphold the interests of the system.

[RobC]

Of course it is. Planned obsolescence is pretty much a requirement in this system, and thus the laws are written to uphold the interests of the system.

I sure hope this 4k TV I got will last longer than just 2 years! I also hope it was a much better investment than a phone upgrade.