A notable mention is https://ubports.com/en/ which is different from postmarketos in a sense that ubports uses old kernels with heavy patches. That means: good support for things, but difficult future.
PostmarketOS uses the newest kernels and tries to integrate their patches into mainline kernel, so that the reliability is maintained with all kernel developers.
Good luck, phone hardware changes very fast though.
I’m okay with an older phone, I just want basic features to work consistently and well. Maybe support a newer phone every 5 years or so to provide an upgrade path.
Basically, I’m okay with the GrapheneOS strategy of sticking to one product line.
My Xperia z3c from 2014 would be perfectly fine to use right now if Google didn’t absolutely bloat the crap out of their products and it had an easily replaceable battery. If companies would just support their products for longer or release the sources when it’s out of support i probably would have skipped several phone upgrades. But that’s probably exactly why they don’t.
I was just thinking about my moto x play still working. Shame about updates
Same. I still have my previous phone, but I don’t use it anymore because it’s insecure, not because it’s broken. I’m still using a laptop that’s even older precisely because it gets security updates since it runs Linux.
I’d absolutely lay a premium for longer support and it’s a large part of why I got a Pixel this time around, they advertise 7 years of support and I hope to hold them to that.
So does pc hardware but Linux can breathe new life into even an old PC since the bloat does grow at the same rate as the hardware unlike other OSes
New PC hardware is mostly compatible with the old stuff or at least somewhat standardized except at the lowest end. Phone stuff is much worse about that. Idk what a Linux phone would mean anyway.
Yet the performance basically peaked already. They are doing 15% increases at the top end and less for the cheapest phones.
There are significant features being added too. Like satellite messaging in areas with no cell coverage can be pretty worthwhile. You’re right though, most other stuff is meh. I’d like wireless charging for my current phone but can do without it. I have a $250 phone from 2023 and don’t understand why anyone buys a flagship.