Balancing Hardware Quality and Software Support In Budget Androids

byee · March 21

I am looking to get a $250 phone, and my biggest goal is longevity. I am looking at some phones with great specs (nord n20 5g, moto g stylus 2022 5g) for the price, but neither has software support beyond android 13.

On the other hand, phones with good software support in that price range (a23, a14) have much worse specs for the price.

I don't do much on my phone beyond audio books, web browsing, text, and email, so budget androids have been my go-to for years without a problm. But I do not want a phone that will only last two years either due to a lack of security updates and software support or due to the hardware not being able to keep up with later software releases.

Anyone have any suggestion on how to move forward here? Is there another good option that has decent hardware and good security support?

Thanks!

Dukesilver27- · March 21

You can't have it all, you just need to prioritize.

I have the Oneplus 7 Pro, and I can tell you now that I won't buy another Oneplus phone, software support is utter garbage. Last and final EOL update from Oneplus gave more bugs than it fixed, broke my root, worse battery, and poor optimization. Not to mention that the OTA wasn't available in my country so I had to download the Indian version through a software.

This makes me care more about software support than hardware, so my next phone would either be a samsung or a pixel, no Apple bc F them.