I’ve been using /e/ OS on a Samsung Galaxy S7 for a few years. I’m happy with it, but my cellular provider has informed me that starting this summer their network will no longer support it (they will be moving to 5G only I guess).
I know that there are variants of many phones that may have important differences where OS support is concerned. So, I’m wondering if my friend’s phone is the same model sold refurbished on the Murena store? I want to make sure that /e/ is supported on the phone before I buy it.
unlike Samsung, Pixel don’t release many variants, or they are all supported,
on the /e/ official Info about Google Pixel 7 - panther page, we see no model restrictions …
i you are not confident, try to install /e/OS before buying the phone.
To add just something minor to what @piero wrote, be aware of provider branded phones. In the past there were Verizon (USA) branded Pixel’s which couldn’t be unlocked.
Yeah I learned my lesson on carrier provided phones. Just don’t use them.
I recently changed carriers and they offered me a top of the line phone for free. I knew better but it was too tempting. I should not have caved.
Now I’m stuck with the carrier phone. I mean the phone is really nice. It’s a whole world above my old phone. It runs like a rocket, but it’s carrier locked, loaded with carrier bloatware, and not /e/os compatible.
I have another phone where I’m currently running /e/os, but it’s an older inexpensive model and I’m not using it as my daily driver. I mean I could use it, but it can’t touch the carrier phone in terms of hardware.
In any case, once I feel I’ve got enough usage out of the new phone, I’m going to buy a higher end unlocked phone compatible with /e/os. Man that’s some serious e-waste.
Yes some carriers allow you to remove the lock and my carrier does, but due to the hardware there’s no point. There’s no custom ROMs for my model and probably never will be.
I could sell the phone, but then I’d have to sell the phone. I just don’t want to deal with it. I’d rather get a reasonable amount of usage out of it and buy a new one. Like I said, it’s a really nice phone and I got it for free. Anything /e/os compatible I could buy right now would be a downgrade.
Yes A GSI release would be better than OEM, but still not Google free. Even so my model is the Motorola Razr+ 2024 (in the US) or Razr 50 Ultra (outside the US) which is not in the list.
Based on the model years I see, it takes some time for a GSI release (if at all). By then I’ll have bought a recent model well supported by /e/os. My phone is sick fast and I don’t want to give that up. After a generation or two /e/os supported hardware should be comparable to my present phone.
