I have learned my lesson about cheap Android phones (Motorola specifically)

Technology
1

I looked at Android OS | endoflife.date and learned my wife and my phones (Motorola Moto G Stylus (2022)) cannot be upgraded to Android 13, and Android 12 is no longer supported — no more security patches. So only three years of support runway.

This is as frustrating to me as old Chromebooks that stopped getting updates.

I ordered two Samsung Galaxy A16 5Gs for us today, it ships with Android 14, it will upgrade to 15 (latest commercial version), 16 (in Beta testing), 17, 18, 19, and 20 are promised for this device by Samsung.

We should be good through 2029.

And the Samsung A16 5G was the same price-point as the Motorola Moto G Stylus (2022)… $200, and $200 three years ago is $219 now. So we saved NO MONEY on Motorola. Inflation-adjusted we paid more and get less useful life out of it. And it was glitchy.

2

Wow, that’s a shame.

My phones (Google, then Moto) seem to last 4 years - one got run over by a truck (I was working on a farm!) and my first Moto battery swelled up after 4 years, so I had to get rid of it. But I thought 4 years was OK for a $240 phone.
I got a 2022 Moto, so far, so good, it’s on Android 12. I never thought to look ahead at how many updates my phone will get. But if I get 4 years from it, I’ll consider that good at $60/year for the phone cost.

3

You have an unsupported phone and are more at risk for malware… Android 12 is EOL

4

I have a Google Pixel 7A. Since Google owns Android they update their phones very well. Even though the 7A was introduced 2 years ago I have Android 15 on it.

5

I am very disappointed with my A16, no AOD.
After several long conversations with support they finally admitted that was not a feature. This was after the 15 day return had run. I do not wear a watch as my old S20FE had AOD.

6

I have been in the Android ecosystem ever since I got a smart phone. I would only buy a pure Android phone with no vendor overlays. I have owned the Nexus line and now the Pixel line and would not buy anything else.

7

I have purchased inexpensive Moto G phones before and never had good luck with them lasting. I have experienced poor Bluetooth connection and the mic went out on one of them. I went with a IPhone 12 a while back and have been very happy with it except for the price of course. I don’t need the best of anything but just want it to work.

8

I’ve had several different apple and android phones. I prefer android because there are many apps I use that are locked out of apple. Motorola was a great company before it was sold to the chinese, then customer support went downhill. LG was good, but didn’t keep up and has fallen of the map. My Samsung S9+ served me through 4 years of security updates, and I still have it as a backup. My current phone is a Pixel 7 with the Graphene operating system flashed on it (the most private and secure OS available) and it is supported for 5 years. Current Pixel phones have a 7 year operating system update guarantee from Google.