A friend wants to degoogle his phone, so I suggested the OS I'm currently using. The one we can't talk about... He wants a small/compact phone, so I suggested pixel 4a (not buying second hand though), but I'm afraid that planned obsolescence may kill the phone rather soon. What's your opinion?
Yes, that is too old for a new phone considering it's already past its end-of-life for both official support and your OS. I'm not sure why you'd recommend them to buy new either - a phone like that is only going to be good value if you pick up a used one for cheap. A new model will be massively overpriced for what it is (and may not even be new, just refurbished and repackaged).
I'm using a 4a right now which I bought last year, refurbished. It's a great phone and has a headphone jack.
If you're concerend about updates, install an alternative OS. If you want to degoogle that should be the path anyway.
4a is end of life already, so no firmware updates from Google. GrapheneOS has legacy builds available for it but doesn't recommend using them, and they might go away anytime soon
get a used device which is still properly supported, don't buy brand new e-waste
I bought a used Pixel 5 in Feb for my daily driver. Replaced my Pixel 3 only because the power button was flaky. They both still run great. By my standards, getting two years out of a phone I paid $150 for is better than getting three years out of a $700 phone.
Yes, it's too old. Does not receive software updates anymore. The newer a-series of phones are still quite a bit larger than the 4a but also quite a bit smaller than the 8 or especially 8 "Pro" or whatever the fuck stupid name they're giving phones these days.
I have a Pixel 3a, and I love it. I also have a Pixel 4a and love that one too
I bought a Pixel 5a, and hated it. I think the 4a is the best phone on the market right now. Great price, great support in Lineage, and its not too big and heavy.
After my 6 year old Redmi 4X's screen touch decided to die, I got an opened-not-used Pixel 4a (in perfect condition) at the end of 2022, because it was one of the few small-ish phones that had good modding support (Pixel phones are ofc known to be very good to degoogle). I love it. Feels good, works well, has a great camera (got a GCam mod too), etc. Only downside is the smaller battery (3100 vs 4100 mAh), but honestly it isn't that big of a deal, I can just carry a powerbank on my backpack or, you know, use my phone less.
Back then, it was the perfect choice for me. Now, I don't know, haven't been keeping up with current models.
tangential: I‘m using a oneplus 6 with postmarketOS but depending on your friend‘s it skills, it might not be ready for him yet.
So far its very usable but I suggest someone must want to swim against the current and do things differently. One could say a „pioneer“ type would be ideal for this.
Writing from a 3 years old 4a running CalyxOs: the phone is a perfect choice if you want a small sized phone with a 3.5mm jack and that gets constant updates. The camera might be a little better but I don't take many pictures so I don't mind.
It goes for like $80-120 in my country. For the price it's an interesting deal but it's extremely old so GrapheneOS won't support it. I think you can still find something like LineageOS or crDroid but tbh it's too old for a new daily driver. Lack of firmware updates will kill custom ROMs due to incompatibility with new Android versions eventually (and most likely very soon).
Compact phones are dead now and the last ones don't even seem to support degoogled custom ROMs. You're out of lack with that.
I am far from unbiased as I just switched back to my pixel 4a from my new Sony Xperia. I think the Pixel 4a is a flat out GREAT phone, full stop. It is perfectly sized IMO, has been very reliable, good battery life (though at this point I should look into replacing the battery), and it has a headphone jack. That being said, picking it as a new phone now essentially means going with a custom rom and hoping it stays supported. That's fine and all, but it's not something most people want. Just to be clear, the xperia isn't a bad option per se, I only switched back because the phone came carrier locked when it was supposed to be unlocked and the carrier it was locked to was uncooperative so I refunded it.
Used Pixel 6, 6 Pro, 7 and 7 Pro can be found for reasonable prices these days. One of those in good condition would be a better buy because you'll still get security patches for a while. Last time I looked, the third party OSs for Pixel phones only supported them for as long as Google did.
Random hardware suggestions, using mobile Linux support as a litmus test
Pinephone (Pro): Main downside is that OG Pinephone has extremely anemic hardware, and the charging circuit is not controlled through hardware for some insane reason; hope the kernel devs of whatever OS you put on it knows how to not turn your phone into a bomb. Also Pine64 as a company has gotten flak for their support of Manjaro. Can't deny how good the price is though.
Fairphone 4: Good hardware, but expensive. I don't own it, but it works good on postmarketOS according to the wiki.
Librem 5: Overpriced compared to the earlier members on this list, but you can guarantee the phosh interface will work well considering it was developed by Purism as well.
OnePlus 6 and 6T: I don't know much about these, but they're very popular with the mobile Linux crowd.
As for the pixel, there's work on it but it's still broken at the moment. As for the hardware being too old, I haven't used anything Android in a while, so I don't know how much performance degrades each release, but a mobile Linux distribution should run just as good today as it will 20 years from now, assuming you use the same interface.
Pixel 5 is end-of-life and shouldn't be used anymore due to lack of security patches for firmware and drivers.
I understand if your friend is on a budget and simply can't afford a non EOL phone but, they should really consider a 6th gen Pixel or better if they care at all about their data security.
Pixel 4a was one of the last in the Google lineup with a headphone jack (5a being last). The OEM lost its way after that. This enough to not recommend their devices as far as I am concerned.
The Pixel 5 is not much more expensive and is still a great phone with good battery life and good camera, and the last Pixel small enough to used one-handed. It also has wireless charging which is missing on the 4a.
If your friend isn't gaming or doing anything CPU-intensive the P5 is what I would reccommend today. Everything afterwords has been an incremental upgrade for significantly more money.