Looking for smartphone (android) recommendations

[andreasmaaan]

Yeah, they kind of hit this one out of the park; the price-to-features of the 4a meant it sold out almost immediately when they launched it a few months ago (at least in a few regions). FWIW, I see both the 4a and 4a 5G in stock in the US store, so you might just be dealing with a temporary regional supply issue. Maybe check Amazon?

Thanks! Checked Amazon and it's selling for around 100€ more than Google's list price. So it must be in very high demand atm I guess :/

 

[stunta]

Nexus/Pixel owner for a few years here. Besides the quick updates, the cameras have been consistently good with amazing computational photography algorithms. I now have the Pixel 5 and my only complaint is the price given the mid-range throttled hardware. 4a is terrific value.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Just to echo the others, the support window for Android OS updates typically is short unless you go with Google or Samsung to a lesser extent, because the updates must be tailored and released by the manufacturer per model. So many models in so many markets means support drops off rapidly. The best-selling and higher-end devices tend to have the longest support periods, which in the Android world seems to average around 2 years.

The longest support period I've seen for an Android device was for a fleet of Google Nexus 7 2013 tablets. They received 3 years of updates from 2012-2015 (Android 4.3-Android 6.0.1).

The shortest support period I've seen for an Android device was for a midrange LG phone. It stopped receiving updates less than 1 year from release date.

 

[LuvTheMusic]

I have a Pixel 3a.Yeah, some nice features -- but several frustrating quirks that make it an annoying phone to use as...well...a phone.

For just cheap and reliable and reasonably good with apps, there's always Moto. Nothing flashy, but both of our old ones still work after years of use.

 

[Morla]

As @esm already pointed out it's only the google phones getting the latest updates first but I would like to add something I got wrong in the past: Some people like to use "alternative" "ROMs" to get their outdated phones a newer android version.

It's a trap! While you can get a newer android that way what you DO NOT get is newer firmware for the chips in your phone because those are issued by the hw vendor and guess what. When that hardware goes out of support - no firmware update anymore.

You might think that wouldn't be an issue but a lot of security bugs are fixed within your wifi/bt/soc firmware which in the past allowed remote execution and generally completely compromising your phone.

Hopefully in the future we get laws that force vendors to provide security fixes regardless of contracts with the phone manufacturer.