Re: Alternate OS for LG V20?

On Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:58:17 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

What the average usable lifespan of lithium batteries in smart phones?

Most last a few years without degradation if they start out big enough.

Since they are not user serviceable by design, the phone becomes useless
because the battery is not replacement, and batteries are chemical, so
they die, and lose capacity before then.  The battery doesn't
catastrophically and immediate die.  It loses capacity over time (can't
hold as many Coulombs).  Built in self destruction.  Lifespan could be 3
to 10 years.  10 years sounds like a long time, but not 3 years.  My car
is 23 years old, and still running very well and in great condition.

The key is to buy a phone with the biggest starting capacity you can get.

My ancient LG V20 has user-serviceable batteries.  It lasted this long
because I could replace the batteries.  I could even carry a spare
battery in my pocket for added up-time rather than lug around a power
bank or hunt and hope to find an outlet.  The LG V20 was introduced in
2016, and 9 years later I'm starting to ponder a replacement -- and
primarily due to the lack or discontinued support of an old Android
version by apps.

Soon the EU rules will require phone makers to make replaceable batteries.

While I will use my old phone a little longer, I am looking at new
phones with new batteries will get updated many years into the future.
I'm not buying an old phone, and then realizing I've reached its end of
lifespan prematurely.  The Moto G52 and G62 came out 3 years ago.
Improvement in hardware has been incremental, and disappointing.
Meanwhile the door keeps moving with new OS versions.

Nothing meaningful has changed in phone design in quite a few years.

For now, I've gone into the Play Store app to disable auto-updating on
all apps.  The only malevolent actions I've ever encountered on my phone
is the covert disabling of apps that, when updated, mandate a later
version of the OS than where they were working just fine before.  Alas,
some apps will disable themselves by ceasing to function if you don't
get their newer version, like no longer communicating with their server,
but then they aren't usable or installable unless I somehow got a newer
version of Android on my phone.

The new rules for Samsung A-series is 6 years of full OS updates nowadays.
(7 years for Samsung S-series and Pixels)