The first was a Galaxy S4 I bought in 2013. It had only a decent camera but it got the job done. An update was pushed in summer of 2015 that caused the phone to lock down every time I tried to open my wifi ''more settings'' option. Because I purchased it from Amazon, I could not get any technical support outside of the vendor (who wanted me to hard reset the phone...okay, great, until I get to the configuration screen on first new boot and it locks down because, guess what, it opens wifi more settings to let you select a network).
The second was an HTC One M9 that I bought shortly after that debacle. This phone was very snappy and had a stellar camera on board. It was also surprisingly rugged given that I dropped it at least 8 times on concrete with never more than a few scuffs on the meta. Early this summer I got an OTA update on the phone that broke GPS and MMS. Oh and did I mention one of the updates the prior year made it so you cannot stop the updates from installing--that the phone will restart 24 hours after first receiving the new update, regardless of what you do or who you're on the phone with?
So, I settled for a dumb phone. A $30 flip phone. And when I go on vacation I take a professional camera with me instead.
There is a systemic issue that we are serfs on the lands of tech giants (I think I read that great phrasing from Naval Ravikant). We pay up front for the pleasure of hardware, but are held hostage of usability of the device by the software that actually runs it--just as the land you buy upfront is still at the mercy of governmental bodies allowing you to keep it.
Family and friends look at me funny when I tell them I try to build whatever electronic I want when I am able to. I won't let my music player, fitness tracker, or smart home features be held hostage to 1) the longevity of these companies and 2) their mercy for not bricking my device. And unfortunately many consumers just don't care enough so it will be difficult for us to reach a critical mass of complaints.