Best time to buy a new phone is now...

[Smithfield]

Mobile SoCs have been 64-bit-only for OS for a long time now. What that meant was that they can only run a 64-bit host OS, so no more 32-bit version of Android. Good riddance, we did not need 32-bit OSes in even the late 2010s.

 

Unfortunately, Qualcomm (and others) may have went a step too far. 2024 mobile SoCs will not even be able to run 32-bit apps, which is a massive problem! People bought Android devices because they can run legacy software on the go (to a certain extent), either natively (old Android apps) or through emulation.

 

That means that if I upgrade to the Red Magic 8S Pro, it will be my last smartphone. Normally I would be apprehensive about buying a new phone, and suspicious of whether it would last me, but that is not true anymore. There is no upgrade path from the Red Magic 8S Pro that exists in the same form factor. Future phones will not be able to run legacy software that was the reason I even still use Android. Due to that, 2022 flagship smartphones will definitely last for years until something way better comes along.

 

https://www.xda-developers.com/arm-future-chips-32-bit-2023/

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/snapdragon-8-gen-3

https://www.sammobile.com/news/exynos-2400-specs-10-core-cpu-2x-gpu-rdna-2/

 

Will an emulator be made to fix this glaring issue? Or will there be another SoC that retains legacy software support and still remain competitive? Until something like that appears, there is no upgrade path. New Android phones will not interest me in the slightest, and any performance improvement gained by new SoCs are nullified by their lack of ability to run legacy software.

[Levent]

Sounds to me you are making a big deal out of something that isn’t. If you are using an application that was only complied for arm instead of arm & arm64 that means it’s hasnt gotten updated since 2014 and will most likely stop appearing on google play due to SDK limitations google introduces. 
 

4 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

People bought Android devices because they can run legacy software on the go (to a certain extent), either natively (old Android apps) or through emulation.

They did? I personally never saw someone who made that statement.

[Smithfield]

12 hours ago, Levent said:

Sounds to me you are making a big deal out of something that isn’t. If you are using an application that was only complied for arm instead of arm & arm64 that means it’s hasnt gotten updated since 2014 and will most likely stop appearing on google play due to SDK limitations google introduces.

Yes, I require applications that have been abandoned since before 2014. Hell, one of those was Flash. At some point, Android had Flash support. It was removed in Android 4.1, but Flash support can be partially restored in Android 4.1 through 4.4, and Android 4.4 can run in a VM, but only if there is still 32-bit-capable hardware onboard.

[rikitikitavi]

16 hours ago, Smithfield said:

Yes, I require applications that have been abandoned since before 2014

Are you sure there are no alternatives?

16 hours ago, Smithfield said:

one of those was Flash

[Smithfield]

2 hours ago, rikitikitavi said:

Are you sure there are no alternatives?

Ignoring Flash for a second, OpenBOR still has no alternatives, and is still 32-bit-only. How else will I play Project X: Love Potion Disaster on Android?

[E-waste]

There are seriously a lot of fun flash games, teagames and mousebreaker had a lot of fun games.  Like tg motocross, bmx something, billiards games, racing, and lots more.  Sure, there may be similar games available via downloadable software, but I remember having lots of fun with lightining pool.

[Commodus]

On 8/27/2023 at 10:19 PM, Smithfield said:

Yes, I require applications that have been abandoned since before 2014. Hell, one of those was Flash. At some point, Android had Flash support. It was removed in Android 4.1, but Flash support can be partially restored in Android 4.1 through 4.4, and Android 4.4 can run in a VM, but only if there is still 32-bit-capable hardware onboard.

I'll be honest: I don't think it's realistic to expect mobile OS developers and phone vendors to support apps and technologies nearly a decade old. So much has changed since then, and maintaining compatibility that far back is a technical nightmare.

 

Besides, Steve Jobs was right: mobile Flash was a performance hog, buggy and insecure. Obviously modern phones wouldn't have as much of a problem handling it, but there's a good reason Flash died and was replaced by a combination of HTML5 and native apps. Even Adobe urged people to move on years ago.

 

There's also a philosophical element here. If you insist on holding on to apps or features forever, you miss out on new apps and features you might really enjoy. You hurt yourself by refusing to let go. And I've seen this story play out before. The folks who refuse to buy a phone without old feature X or Y seldom get the industry to bend to their will — they just become That Person holding on to a dying seven-year-old phone, making themselves suffer while they wait for the change that never comes.

[Lurking]

The app stores are weeding out apps that don't support newer OS. So this really is a non-issue for 99.999999999999% of users. 

 

Isn't flash a huge security and resource issue? And that is when it still was supported many years ago.