Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S4 who were hopeful that they would get a taste of the latest release of Android 6 are most likely going to be disappointed, according to reports. The device is most probably not going to be upgraded to this version and it’s not clear what plans the company has for the future of this model, but considering it has already received two successors, it’s probably not reasonable to expect support for it for much longer.
Still, the S4 is quite the capable phone even with its current Android release, and it can still utilize its hardware more or less well. Some users have been complaining about minor bugs on Samsung’s side which the company apparently never bothered to fix, but that usually happens with companies that maintain a regular release line with constant upgrades.
On the other hand, it’s important to keep in mind that getting Android 6 might not even be ideal for users of the device, as the operating system could be a bit too much for its hardware capabilities. This is a common occurrence with Android, even with devices by Google themselves.
Owners of the Nexus 7 probably still remember how the device was upgraded to Android 5 and ran terribly slowly, to the point where many users were considering going with a custom ROM instead of the official release. The situation was indeed quite bad, and it was arguably made worse by Google ignoring the issue for some time.
With that in mind, some users might be better off not getting the new version on the S4 at all. The device might be a bit too weak for the whole Android 6 package, even with he optimizations that Google have reportedly implemented in the operating system. There are claims that Google have done a lot with Android since the last major version and have made the OS much better suited for less powerful devices, but of course there is only so much that they can do without sacrificing the experience of other users with more modern phones.
In any case, there is of course always the option of using a custom ROM as we described above. This is not ideal for some users, and it’s generally only recommended to those who know what they are doing and are a little savvier with technology, as there are some risks attached and the device can easily end up bricked. And it’s been quite a while since that phone came out, so of course there is no point in talking about support from the manufacturer if that happens. Not to mention that rooting a device to prepare it for flashing voids the warranty, further making it an unfavorable choice for users who are afraid of running into permanent trouble.
As for the S4, it’s possible that the ROM community is eventually going to come up with a solution specifically aimed at the device as it often happens. There are various OS packages optimized for phones and tablets with different kinds of hardware specifications, and there are already some pretty good options available for this particular phone, enough to give users plenty of choices when they want to continue using the S4.
But after all, Samsung have come out with some pretty respectable offers after this phone and it might not be a bad idea to consider an upgrade at this point. The S6 is slightly questionable, according to some fans, although still a good device on its own for someone who didn’t own the S5 before that.