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Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

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Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#51
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not as big a problem as you make it out to be due to the availability of alternative Android distributions. A quick search shows that LineageOS 20 already runs well on this device which means it should be possible to keep it up to date for a long time. I'm using a Samsung SIIIneo from 2014 with LineageOS 18.1 (Android 11) for which LineageOS 20 is available as well while Samsung dropped support at Android 4.4…

That’s the first I’ve heard of the S III Neo. What an odd product. Came out 2 years after the original S III, in practically the same chassis, but with a few parts swapped. I wonder why it was made.

Popping some cheaper drop in replacement chips in an already existing product sounds quite cost effrctive to me :)

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#52
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As @hagbard_c pointed out earlier, LegacyOS runs well on it, so you can continue using it when updates cease to appear.

LineageOS?

An open source android distro, forked from CyanogenMod.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#53

This is cool as an option. But, why oh why mustn't we have any 5 inch Android phone on the market? It's not as if there's no demand, as evidenced by iPhone SE on the iOS side. The last real Android choice was the Pixel 4a and beyond that, everything has been mega huge.

As an owner of a Samsung Galaxy S22, which is not small but seemed to me like the only sane size - feature - price balance on the Android market back then: maybe the reason is battery life? I'm really underwhelmed by the one of the S22. I barely get a day out of it. When I'm travelling with Google Maps, I have to carry a power bank. Maybe current android phones are just optimized so bad in comparison to iPhones? And…

Most likely you have the Exynos CPU? I upgraded from a S21 Ultra (Exynos) to a S23 Ultra (Snapdragon).

Battery life is so much better. I use the 80% battery protection option and nearly always make it through the day. Only if I constantly watch videos the battery is flat in the evening.

With power saving and 100% battery I can reach 2 1/2 to 3 days. Loving it.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#54
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not as big a problem as you make it out to be due to the availability of alternative Android distributions. A quick search shows that LineageOS 20 already runs well on this device which means it should be possible to keep it up to date for a long time. I'm using a Samsung SIIIneo from 2014 with LineageOS 18.1 (Android 11) for which LineageOS 20 is available as well while Samsung dropped support at Android 4.4…

That’s the first I’ve heard of the S III Neo. What an odd product. Came out 2 years after the original S III, in practically the same chassis, but with a few parts swapped. I wonder why it was made.

[deleted]

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#55
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even on the Apple side there doesn't seem to be that much demand, as demonstrated by the fact that the SEs are just iterations on old iPhone tooling (currently the iPhone 8) rather than brand new compact designs, and the size of the SE has crept upwards as they moved it to newer tooling. I think the motive behind the SE has more to do with cost optimization than size, it just happens that the cheapest way to make an…

Also, the iPhone minis did not really fly, apparently.

God, I wish "not being wanted by at least 100M people" didn't disqualify products from existing.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#56

I'm curious if people actually use the IR in place of their TV remote as in the promo. For me personally, I think the friction of having to fire up an app first would preclude me from ever using it in earnest.

I used that feature once. Long day on a construction site. Last job was to hook up a PC to a Smart-TV. No remote to be seen. Costumer no longer on site. Jelly 2 to the rescue :-) Felt Swiss Army knifey.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#57

This is cool as an option. But, why oh why mustn't we have any 5 inch Android phone on the market? It's not as if there's no demand, as evidenced by iPhone SE on the iOS side. The last real Android choice was the Pixel 4a and beyond that, everything has been mega huge.

It's hard to rail against market forces, where bigger seems to mean prosperity.

The same model of SUV is always bigger as time goes on, and there seems to be no small pickups anymore.

I've always wondered if modest people buy used devices and cars, and don't have a say in what new ones are like.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not as big a problem as you make it out to be due to the availability of alternative Android distributions. A quick search shows that LineageOS 20 already runs well on this device which means it should be possible to keep it up to date for a long time. I'm using a Samsung SIIIneo from 2014 with LineageOS 18.1 (Android 11) for which LineageOS 20 is available as well while Samsung dropped support at Android 4.4…

If you use apps that require security (like payment apps) you might run into problems here. My company might need to exclude phones like this one soon because more and more CVEs are coming up. Alternative ROMs are often not the solution here because Play Integrity and Key Attestation no longer work. For general messaging and browsing this hardware likely work quite well. Btw I had the Motorola Defy and flashed it eve…

I wouldn't use the phrase "require security" to describe such apps, since to fulfill what they actually require, you often end up being less secure. For example, most such apps will be fine with you running them on a phone with 20 critical CVEs from a year ago, but not on a phone that you unlocked the bootloader of to install a version of Android that fixes said CVEs.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#59
post #6

Part of the problem with this brand is that this "Android 13 Smartphone" will probably stay that forever. Updates are very very minimal. I have their first jelly and it didn't even get the upgrade they promised. Other than that, it's not so bad. Swype-typing makes a small keyboard still useful. But the updates really are the achilles heel here.

They managed to lose all of their records of my purchase of one of their phones, directly from their store.

I couldn't have sent it back for a warranty repair if I'd needed, they deleted my entire account. I even have email confirmations for the order from their system, it's kind of amazing.

That said, I'd still buy another phone from them. This Atom L is years old and still has a three day battery life and no physical damage. The biggest issue with this brand in my experience is simply that it's not compatible with a bunch of phone networks for reasons beyond me.

Verizon, for instance, will simply not work with my IMEI. That's a hard fail for a lot of people, and it prevents me from using it with most of those cheap piggyback carriers too.

https://www.verizon.com/sales/nextgen/byod/enterDeviceIMEI.h...

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#60
post #17
post #9

Guaranteed Security Updates until? Not even mentioned? So it's just e-waste.

As @hagbard_c pointed out earlier, LegacyOS runs well on it, so you can continue using it when updates cease to appear.

LineageOS neither updates the binary blobs nor does it correctly implement secureboot and they don't backport all security updates correctly.
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