After only 3 short years my Google Pixel 4A is EOL. It still works perfectly fine, but since our entire lives run through our phones I don’t feel safe trusting my bank accounts and so on to a phone without security updates. I feel like I wasn’t quite aware how short the supported time would be when i bought it.
So I gotta get a new one. I don’t really have a lot of requirements. I just need the basics: A camera, headphone jack, USB-C charging and F-Droid (so app side loading). I just watch some YouTube, use lemmy and messaging apps, 3fa, email and so on and if there is something to take a video of photo of I like doing that too. I don’t need NFC or high refresh rate or 3 cameras or wireless charging and I don’t play any phone games so pretty much any phone should work, right?
I was thinking of getting something a bit sustainable and long lasting so I looked at Fairphone but the Fairphone 4 is only supported until 2026 which is not really long and also it’s really expensive for just another 3 years. Looks like there will be a Fairphone 5 soonish? But since the 4 didn’t have a headphone jack the 5 probably won’t either?
So since it looks like a ~6 or 7 year lifespan is just not something that’s available I’ve been thinking why not go cheap? Thus I’ve considered getting the Samsung Galaxy A14 (non-5G). Are there any significant differences with the 5G version? The 5G version has good reviews as far as i can see. Feels a little bad to downgrade to a phone that cannot even record 1080p@60 and to go back to USB 2.0 and 15W charging but whatever.
So I’m open to suggestions, either on the longer lasting side or something cheap yet secure for a couple of years.
Changing your phone just because it doesn’t have security updates anymore is a bad idea. Not only those security issues are very likely to be almost impossible to encounter in real life, it will also create more e-waste we definitely don’t need.
As suggested, install a custom ROM if you’re worried, otherwise just enjoy your phone it will still work perfectly for 2+ years.
This is terrible advice for someone that has already voiced security concerns. Custom ROMs are literally the wild west when it comes to security. I have a pixel 6a and no complaints. You can still pick one up on the Google store HERE.
Some are, but there are well updated custom ROMs such as Lineage and Graphene which are decent