There is, financially, a high price to be paid, by anyone who wants Android bug fixes. What is someone who doesn’t need high end hardware to do?
Techies are supposed to focus on the latest and greatest, the biggest and fastest. I’ve never been like that. Especially when it comes to cellphones, my computing needs are modest.
It has a 5.2 inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1280×720. Many phones offer more pixels, but this is sufficient for me and fewer pixels should help with battery life. It has 2GB of ram, 16GB of storage, an FM radio, a 4100 mAh battery and its made of metal, not plastic.
On the downside, the Wi-Fi is limited to the 2.4GHz frequency band, it only works with AT&T and T-Mobile and the battery is not removable. Considering the price, it’s good enough for some of us, myself included.
The big Defensive Computing question is software.
The ZenFone 3 ships with Android version 6 Marshmallow and there is no predicting whether Asus will keep up with bug fixes, let alone upgrade the phone to Android 7 Nougat.
Anyone who wants Android bug fixes pretty much has to go with a Google Pixel phone, which currently starts at $650. Ouch. The Pixel hardware specs are better, of course, but for modest needs, like mine, its like purchasing a steamroller to squash a fly.
I used to think that BlackBerry could also be counted on for Android patches, but that assumption was put in question by a June 1st article in the Android Developers Blog that reported on phones “with a majority of deployed devices running a security update from the last two months.”
The only BlackBerry phone on the list was the PRIV, a model with a physical keyboard, which I don’t want. The model I would have been interested in, the low end DTEK50, was not on the list. If the DTEK50 got bug fixes, it would be a bargain at $270. Asus did not have one device on the list.
Of course, the ZenFone 3 is far from the only inexpensive Android phone with good enough hardware.
When The Wirecutter wrote about The Best Budget Android Phones they concluded
If you need a good phone that costs as little as possible, get last year’s Moto G4 Play. It cuts the right corners to keep the price down without making the experience of using the phone unbearable. The G4 Play runs a clean, fast version of Android Marshmallow with a Nougat update (allegedly) on the way. It has a light-but-durable plastic frame and a grippy back panel that hides a removable battery, something you rarely see anymore in phones of any price. The display and performance are both good enough…
The G4 Play is very similar to the ZenFone 3 both in terms of specs and price. The big differences are the plastic vs. metal body and the removable battery.
But, I am done with Motorola.
Recently, The Wirecutter changed their recommended budget Android phone to the Moto G5 Plus which sells for about $230. In most respects its a big upgrade from the G4 Play and the ZenFone 3. While the screen is the same 5.2 inches, the resolution is 1920×1080. The RAM is either 2 or 4 GB, and the storage is doubled to 32 GB. It has a fingerprint sensor, an aluminum back, a 3,000 mAh battery that can not be removed and runs Android 7 Nougat.
But I wouldn’t pay $2 for a Motorola phone.
I have no experience with OnePlus devices, but neither have I forgotten last years scare with Blu phones that shipped with spyware in their firmware. This has left me hesitant to trust new companies with unfamiliar names.
I feel safer dealing with Asus, a company whose products I have purchased many times in the past. This may be unfair to the newcomers, but my priority is Defensive Computing. Plus, there is no warranty included when you buy the OnePlus 3T for $410.
For a bit more money, the next cheapest Android phone that Seifert recommends is the Motorola Z Play. But, again, Motorola.
If you don’t share my aversion to Motorola, then take note of another Wirecutter article, Will a Budget Android Phone Provide Adequate Security Updates? which says
… budget phones tend to be slower at getting all sorts of updates, including major system over-the-air updates and small security patches. Motorola has traditionally been better than most when it comes to keeping its cheaper phones up to date, but you’ ll still only rarely get one of the cumulative monthly security patches.
Is Motorola better than most? My current Motorola phone, the one with the flaky power button is running Android 6.0.1 with bug fixes from January 1,2017. Pretty lame, especially considering how much I paid for it. The only Motorola phones to make Google’s list are the Moto Z and the Moto Z Droid, both high end models.
So, I am left with a stark choice of paying $140 for an Asus phone without bug fixes or $650 for a Pixel with them.
I like Android, but a choice like this requires taking a step back.
Recently, Matthew Miller of ZDNet, writing about the pros/cons of Android vs. iOS, said
And, over at Android Central, Jerry Hildenbrand wrote last week that
Speaking of after-sale support, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten any. Google has abdicated support for their operating system just as Microsoft did with Windows.
Piling on, Hildenbrand adds:
Also thinking along this line is Brad Linder of Liliputing who just a few days ago wrote:
I signed up for Google’s Project Fi wireless service at the end of 2016 … The only phones that work with Project Fi are recent Nexus and Pixel devices. While I’ m a long-time Nexus loyalist, the growing number of $200 – $400 smartphones with strong specs is looking more and more tempting… I managed to pick up a $249 Nexus 5X when they were still available, and it works just fine with Project Fi… I definitely don’ t want to spend $649 on a phone… if my Nexus 5X eventually starts to boot loop or runs into other problems, I’ m not sure what I’ ll do.
Years back, the personal computer industry was surprised by the popularity of netbook computers. They were radical, in that they were low end devices in an industry focused on faster as better. Many people had modest computing needs that the industry was not addressing.
Plus, in at least one respect, the ZenFone 3 is more than bottom of the line. It comes with a fairly high capacity 4100 mAh battery which, along with the relatively low resolution should lead to great battery life.
