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Comment by programbreeding | Hacker News Reader

I don't have much to add, only to say that I generally agree.

I first started creating custom roms for the Sprint HTC Hero when it came out in 2009. It was my first Android phone and I was in love with everything about it. I was obsessed with getting the next new phone with new features every time a new one came out. I made pretty good money and saved most of it; buying new phones was the one thing I would splurge on.

Now it's 2017 and I have had the same phone for just under 2 years. Previously I wouldn't go 6 months without buying a new phone, so having the same one for 2 years seems like a lifetime. But I just don't feel like I have a reason to get a new one.

It feels like the same thing over and over again.

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I've felt the same way. I went from crappy low-end Android devices when I had no money in school to a Nexus 4 and I haven't seen reason to upgrade since. The only reasons I've done so have been because I cracked a screen and because I wanted to hand down a device to someone else. Been sitting on my OnePlus One for a few years - looking at the market now and not seeing any reason to upgrade still.

Worse, I get worried about some newer devices which may make me less free - the Pixel has a very locked down boot process and the Magisk developer has been struggling to support it. I currently use Android Pay on my rooted device and I'm definitely not willing to pay to lose that freedom.

The N4 was the first phone I sat on for longer than a few months; it was such an amazing phone. The N5 was the next phone I bought and I kept that until my Xperia Z5 because I was not a fan of the N6. I was completely sold on the Nexus line until then.

I completely agree with you on newer devices being worse in some aspects, especially when it comes to rooting.

I always feel like around the 2 year mark my phone feels very different compared to when I bought it. Battery feels worse, everything feels slower, and crashes start to accumulate. Are you not running into this?

I have experienced that as well, but I feel it can usually be remedied by doing a factory reset. I also typically never do in-place upgrades for Android updates. I will download the full OS images (or the RUU/whatever updater is required for that brand phone) and do a full reset and restore. I will say for some reason this seems to be less of a problem on Sony Xperias that I have owned versus LG, HTC, Motorola, and others. But I for sure know what you're talking about.

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