If I buy the cheapest possible Android smartphone today, how long can I keep it without having to buy a new one? I'm forced to get a &quot;smartphone&quot;, even though I want nothing to do with them, simply to be able to use as a &quot;digital identification&quot; thing and similar things for companies that refuse to provide a website -- only an &quot;app&quot;. So I'm trying to find the cheapest possible one.
There appears to be only two &quot;kinds&quot;: iPhone (ridiculously expensive beyond words) and Android (less expensive, but infested with Google). Since I don't actually want to use them for their intended purpose, and will only power it on briefly when forced to, I'm going to have to pick an Android one.
The cheapest one I can find where I live is $189. A bit more than I expected. Could've sworn they sold sub-$100 ones not long ago. Either way, what I'm wondering is if they are going to make me keep buying new ones every few years, or if I can just perpetually update that one with new versions of the &quot;Android&quot; OS? Or do new versions eventually require newer phone hardware and refuse to install, leaving me with a rotting brick which eventually stops working?
I have a feeling that these things are made to become obsolete rather quickly. Is that feeling correct?
I have an old Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S, its a phone from 2011. It still working, you can use the browser and make calls ets... The play store don't support it because the android version of this phone is 4... so I can't install new apps from the play store, but I still can download them from the internet. This phone is so weak and old that many apps just wont work on his system...
But you can still use your phone even after 10 years