I have been using xiaomi phones for a long time now, for most of them the (xda) community eventually had great ROMs that (eventually) worked without problems or with very little.
Though these days I need a working phone so I didn’t bother with my (Mediatek) Note 8 Pro - last time I looked phones with these chips were a lot harder and more dangerous to flash then the Qualcomms I had before (loved my Xiaomi A1 for that tinkering with Ressurection Remix).
So I am looking for an investment - a device I won’t have to replace for another ~6+ years but I really want my device to do mostly what I would expect, without any snooping or other privacy shenannigans - I know xiaomi is probably the worse choice for this but their hardware specs were always the best for the price and were generally easy to flash.
I don’t like pixels - they are too expensive for the hardware it offers, at least in my country.
Thank you for any tips in advance.
Update: iPhone is a no go for me because of the walled garden - I am a software developer by trade and hobbyist, I like to have the possibility of cracking the device open, both HW and SW wise. I am willing to trade the longevity of the device for this.
a device I won’t have to replace for another ~6+ years
This is why you buy a Pixel phone. It’s not for specs on a page, it’s for reliability, the most ROM compatiblity, and 7 years of security updates
Fairphone 5 might work. Software support till 2031 and all the components are “easily” replaceable.
How did I not notice the 5, I have read the specs for 4 at least twice but the 5 has it all (OLED screen, 4k+ MAh battery, 5G support, fingerprint scanner in button, 8/256G), oh yeah…
Literally has an industrial qualcomm chip just for lenghtened support.
Dev = Pixel man. Why go with anything thats not the official development baseline for Android?
I really want my device to do mostly what I would expect, without any snooping or other privacy shenannigans
And then we queue GrapheneOS. Once privacy and security are a concern (should always be) then the desicion is easy, and made already.
oh yeah I am fully aware Pixel is the best choice for all of this, but until my current phone I was always able to pay less for more (Xiaomi) and have the ROM cake too.
the new pixels have 8 years of support so they’ll probably be durable. Maybe change the battery after 4 years and it’ll be as good as new.
Yeah with Xiaomi I really see the phones just for their hardware, better OS is going to be figured out by the community anyways
Fairphone
Ah, I would like to support the brand/idea but the specs are simply sub-par for the price, though it is definitely better with the replace-ability then pixels.
If you’re planning to keep your phone for 6+ years, it will have sub-par specs compared to others during 4+ of those years.
Is what you do on your phone really limited by processing power?
I would say pixel 8 pro, likely the best phone you can get that will have support for 8 years plus. Flash graphineOS or lineage if you don’t care about high security and want Android auto
I’m using the Redmi Note 10 Pro and it has great rom support.
The upcoming Note 13 Pro looks promising.
I was looking at Note 12 Pro (+) both design and HW looks good to me but xda forums for this model seem rather barren, it does seem people are trying to flash Lineage but there wasn’t much else.
The 12 Pro is Mediatek SOC. They don’t open source their chipsets. https://xdaforums.com/t/research-supported-mtk-custom-roms.4265209/
That being said… Check out GSI roms and DSU. I’ve not tried it out tho.
The 13 Pro is a Qualcomm SOC.
I know you say you don’t want a Pixel, but Google is the only company that I know of that offers long term support for their devices. I think with the Pixel 8 they’re offering 6 or 7 years of updates. That’s why I got my Pixel 6 Pro… Then I cracked the screen twice in a year and got it replaced. Then it fell out of my pocket and into the car as I was getting out of a Lyft ride. I have a Galaxy S23 Ultra now.
I know you don’t want to hear it, but if you want a phone that’s (relatively) privacy respecting, reliable as hell, well constructed so it won’t break after just a couple of years, and supported for a long time… you just described an iPhone. You could be the 2022 SE today for $400ish and use it for 3+ years before you have to do anything to it, and even then you’d just have to pay $69 or so for a battery swap. You could also buy a 13 Mini or a 12 Pro for close to the same price and get an OLED screen and a better camera.
The Pixel series is probably your best bet in terms of specs and theoretical support. But I would be very surprised if you were able to use a Pixel for 3+ years without developing a hardware issue. Maybe you’ll be lucky, but I wouldn’t bet on it, personally. My partner’s 4a isn’t even 3 years old yet and it’s clear that Google does not backtest any of their software updates on older hardware either. Hopefully that changes going forward, but Google has a pretty shit record with long-term support. They’ve promised to make replacement parts available for the 8 year lifespace of the 8 series phones, but the phones are glued together and hard to repair, so unless you’re hardcore about DIY, it’s unlikely that you’ll bother with it. Instead you’ll likely end up going to a repair shop, which you could also do with older Pixels today. And both Pixels and their replacement parts are iPhone-level expensive unless you’re playing the carrier incentive game.
I’m not sure why others are shitting on the Fairphone’s hardware. I think it’s incredibly dumb that they killed the aux jack, and the phone is way too big for my liking… but it’s literally built to be easy to repair. And Fairphone has a proven track record of support for their phones. It isn’t perfect, but I’m much more likely to believe that you’d use a Fairphone for 5+ years than a Pixel. If you’re concerned about part availability down the road, just buy a couple of spare batteries, a spare screen, a spare camera module, and a spare USB-C port today.
My partner’s 4a isn’t even 3 years old yet and it’s clear that Google does not backtest any of their software updates on older hardware either.
What’s not working right on it? My 4a runs all the apps for my IoT crap and home automation and its had zero issues. That said, you know theyre being EOL’d next month, so from that point on, who knows. Probably have to go custom ROM on it once the security patches stop.
I’ll probably switch it to GrapheneOS after next month because I think it’s a software issue, not a hardware problem. But my partner can’t use Android Auto even though our car supports it, her phone crashes and becomes unresponsive randomly, and apps frequently drop out of memory when you aren’t heavily multitasking. The phone is perfectly capable of running a browser, music player, and maybe the camera all at once, so it’s frustrating to see this nonsense play out.
The phone is only two years old and runs stock Android. Around 60-70% storage usage on average. No clue what’s causing so many problems, but I’ve heard other 4a users say similar things lately.
Thank you for the long answer. I am somewhat torn between Fairphone and Pixel.
I don’t think I will ever own iPhone - in short I do not like Apple and the whole walled garden thing, though I do agree these are best devices for long-term use especially when it comes to security updates. I am also aware Google is not much better and if I get a Pixel I am definitely flashing it with Lineage.
I’d go with the Fairphone if I were you, as long as you actually care about having the phone long term. I know the Pixel is very shiny and very nice, but Google really does have an awful history of QA. Fairphone isn’t perfect either, but being able to repair things yourself is a huge benefit. Sure the CPU and camera and screen aren’t as nice, but they’re probably nicer than what you’ve currently got, and definitely nice enough unless you’re a tech reviewer who’s constantly looking at the new shinies.
Plus, y’know, it is kind of cool that Fairphone tries to produce their phones without any slavery or labor abuses, and at least makes real attempts at sustainability. When you get burned by Google, you just feel shame because you knew they were going to screw you one way or another. If you get burned by Fairphone, at least you tried to do something better in the world.
I was in the same boat about a month ago. Pixels battery life wasn’t as good and the processor heating made me not consider it.
My previous phone was a Redmi which I had updated to android 13 with custom roms so I ended up getting a poco f5. I have to say that this is probably good enough for me. It doesn’t have NFC but that’s about the only complaint from me. Battery life is solid and the cameras, even though not excellent, are decent and get the job done.
I still haven’t moved to a custom rom yet as I wanted to give the official rom a try but there are a few roms already available which I’ll try later.
Definitely worth the money spent.
7+ gen 2 is a beast!
too sad no lineageos available yet
You should also look at the Motorola edge 40 range. Can all be flashed and last two Motos I had, they still have a decent community with channels on Reddit. Start on xda https://xdaforums.com/f/motorola-edge-40-pro-moto-x40-china.12731/
Thanks, will have a look!
It doesn’t even have to be the edge 40. I think many of the motorola phones have roms and xda subs. The edge 30 or the G82 for example.
If you are under a budget, then I’d suggest Poco F5 or F5 Pro. F5 has got 2y of manufacturer warranty as well + Dolby Vision panel.
You have two options for a phone that will last 6+ years and really it’s only one as tensor won’t last that long
Iphone and pixel.
For 5 years you can go Samsung and potentially OnePlus though that’s also chinese.
If your willing to rely on the community Poco f5 or f5 pro is probably your best bet .
But honestly iphone is gonna have the most longevity both in terms of software support, replacement parts availability and process being able to keep up for that long (a series chips are by far the fastest.)
Furthermore I think it’s quite delusional to think a phone will last that long just due to sheer usage dropping etc but that’s my two cents .
