While flagship smartphones boast impressive features, spending $1,000 is not a prerequisite for a satisfying Android experience nowadays. If you’re in need of a new smartphone and have a budget of approximately $200, there are numerous excellent options available. Surprisingly, some of the best Android phones under $200 come equipped with features like 5,000mAh batteries, multi-lens camera setups, and the promise of extended software updates.
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And then how long do you get any updates?
I flash custom ROMs, so get updates pretty frequently, but that is beyond most people’s capabilities, for sure. I currently use the OnePlus Nord N200 which i got new for $250 and installed LineageOS 20 (Android 13) on it. You can still tell it’s a $250 phone compared to like $1000 phones but the differences aren’t noticeable enough to cause me issues and make me want to upgrade.
Idk, I bought a used Pixel and use it with GrapheneOS. 150/200€ often, if you repair it yourself its cheaper.
LineageOS is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many components that will likely not get any updates
GrapheneOS is a great project. I had a Pixel 3a XL with Graphene on it and it was a good experience
It has evolved a lot since then
For the uninitiated, what’s Lineage OS? Is that like a FOSS alternative OS?
Yes. Its basically AOSP (android Open Source Project) with just enough stuff to make the device useable and you have to add everything else on top of it. A lot of custom ROMs use LineageOS as their base and build from that point.
Unfortunately IME it’s a no go if you’re using banking or government/authenticator apps. (Your mileage may vary and this may change.)
Not how it should be, but how it is.
I think it depends a lot on the app itself. My banking app works perfectly fine, on it with no Google Play services, but I have seen apps that completely will not open at all, except to give an error message, so I know what you mean. That is not specifically a lineage problem as much as its a google play services problem. Yoi can install gapps and those apps will work, but IMO that defeats the point.
LineageOS is a project making AOSP (Android Open Source Project) usable. This means bundling it together, combining it with the right drivers and kernel for specific phones.
They also maintain many of the AOSP apps (gallery, phone etc) and modernize them, which is awesome as Google abandoned them.
LineageOS is not security focused and often less secure than stock Android. It has no Google Apps by default, which means a lot of proprietary Apps that rely on the backends will not work, at all.
There is the option to install “NIK Gapps” or other names, which is just a bundle of all Google Apps, installed as System apps, just as horrible as stock Android is.
There also is microG, which is also a system app and is not Opensource, as it downloads official Google Binaries.
Every System app can read critical device identifiers that you cannot change, and can access all files, as it doesnt need permissions.
LineageOS is a usable Android, often more up to date than what came with the device, but those Devices never have full support for Custom Operating Systems, like relockable Bootloader or full security features. So in the end you have more updates but partly less security, more privacy or none.
Also the Updates that LineageOS can even supply are very minor. Android devices use the Linux kernel but a special version tailored to that SOC (System on a chip). They would need to make a custom Kernel just for that phone, often newer, as manifacturers of those cheap phones have nonexistent Update lifespans.
They dont do that as its a lot of (unpaid) work.
Then there is firmware which is only delivered by manifacturers and signed with their private keys. No custom OS can do that and firmware security holes are very important and a lot.
So LineageOS is a really nice project if you donate to them but still save money. Abusing their hard work to buy cheap devices and get their longer OS support for free is not cool.
And in the end it is incomplete, insecure and nothing to build upon when buying a new device.
Btw, a ROM is only a small part of the firmware that you cannot change. No custom OS is a ROM.
This is literally a core principle of Open Source. You can charge money if you want, but anyone is fully entitled to distribute your work for free.
It is not and cannot be abuse.
Not saying we shouldn’t donate to worthy causes, but if we’re going to call using free software without paying abuse, then there are many technology users to round up.
That only works if there is support for the phone from developers. For many phones there isn’t any, both because the OEM did not make their source available and no individual Dev was interested in doing support for it.
If you want a new phone that has support you need to research it first.
Phones with Mediatek processors tend to be the worst for this, because the source code often is not released, contrary to the open source license.
That is a good point. I always make sure that my devices can run lineage before buying them because I don’t want to be stuck with a brick.