When my phone abruptly died a year ago, I stumbled into the world of degoogling and alternative ROMs for android devices while researching my options. Due to a lack of devices to try it on (so far, I’ve used each phone until it completely gave out) I haven’t messed with this yet, but I love the concept and wanted to share it here. This is just scratching the surface of options, and some of you may have more experience here, just wanted to share a resource for eking more life from devices which are no longer receiving security updates.
Ripping right from https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-install-lineageos-on-android/ : “LineageOS is the most popular ROM for Android devices. It garners vast success due to its near-stock Android experience with no bloatware, and a clean and uncluttered interface. It provides regular security updates and bug fixes that often lack in some stock ROMs. Additionally, it gives you a higher level of customization than the stock Android firmware. Even better, this ROM supports an extensive list of devices, including older ones that no longer receive official updates.”
For me, the security updates are the big thing. With the threat landscape online, I think the way most of use use smart phones, security updates are a critical requirement. Companies don’t really have any motivation to continue supporting legacy devices, though. Long-term support costs them resources and person-hours while providing an alternative to buying their brand new products instead. Some corps offer guarantees that they’ll support security updates for X years as a feature, but after that, they’re more or less incentivized to stop updates as soon as possible. Similar to planned obsolescence, though perhaps a little less underhanded.
To me, LineageOS and other community-based nonprofit alternatives represent a very solarpunk rejection of fast fashion, planned obsolescence, and tech as a quickly-disposable product. Thanks to various Linux distros, I’ve been able to keep computers limping along long after they lost OS support from Microsoft, Apple, or Google, so having a similar resource for phones and tablets is excellent.
This is great until LinageOS drops support as well.
I have two phones with perfectly good hardware, fast enough and with enough RAM to run in theory even the latest Android version, but support has been dropped by LinageOS as well.
This is not to complain about LinageOS… they kept these devices updated long after the supplier dropped support, but I am really annoyed by the entire ecosystem not being able to support perfectly good hardware for at least a decade (something completely normal in other sectors).
It’s definitely a sharp contrast to the width and breadth of Linux distros, where I’m able to bring back laptops from around 2000 with a modern, if lightweight OS. (My only surving phone, a thrashed Droid mini, is similarity excluded). But considering how much more locked-down phone environments are, I’m still a little amazed at the scope of this project. Hopefully they can expand support for more devices and longer times.
Really depends on who maintains them I guess. Also some brands feel a lot more popular/maintained than others. Out of curiosity, which phones did get deopped?
I now have a fairphone and really hope for long support with LOS.
OnePlus2 was dropped (annoying, because the hardware is still good) and Zenfone2 (understandable as it was the only x86 phone supported). And my OnePlus3 isn’t getting newer versions than Android11 any more and will probably be dropped soon. Hardware wise all of these have fullHD screens, high performance 4-8 CPU cores and 4-6gb ram and thus are more than sufficient to run modern Android.
Yeah that feels really bad. I wish I had the knowledge to support a device…
The problem is really not with LinageOS. The issue are closed-source or badly written drivers for some of the internal hardware (camera etc.) that only work with ancient versions of the Linux kernel, and at some point Android drops support for many years old Linux kernels and then LinageOS also has not option but to stop continue supporting those devices.
But knowing why, doesn’t make it any less bad and the device makers are really at fault.
