I put Android 11 on a Samsung Galaxy S2

We put Android 11 on the best Android phone from ten years ago, the Samsung Galaxy S2. Here's what happened!
Please subscribe so you see more videos like this one! phon.es/acsub
And follow us on social media:
Twitter: / androidcentral
Facebook: / androidcentral
Instagram: / androidcentral
LINKS
May contain affiliate links. See Future's disclosure policy for more details: www.futureplc....

[@haziqsembilanlima]

I still remember "can you run Temple Run" was a benchmark 10 years ago as some early android phone is weak or not supporting 3D graphics at all

[@inquisitiveplatypus]

Such a benchmark You're so right

[@ligametis]

My htc wildfire did not have GPU at all, so no 3D graphics, just 2D generated very slowly by slow cpu. At least it was still android.

[@drishalballaney6590]

@@ligametis wildfire were one of the first android phones right?

[@ligametis]

@@drishalballaney6590 second year of android. Android 2.1

[@drishalballaney6590]

@@ligametis aah the good ol' eclair

[@theRaika]

Imagine how fast and less resource intensive KitKat would be on modern phones xd

[@AnujSuresh0606]

That's pretty much the reason why C and C++ are one of the most efficient languages. They were designed with much older hardware in mind and they still have equally good performance even in later revisions.

[@a4andrei]

@@AnujSuresh0606 Not entirely accurate. They were designed to be as close to the hardware as possible while still being portable. That design made them more efficient, especially on older and less powerful hardware.

[@mohamedmostafa-qj5mx]

Kitkat is The best android version ever

[@theRaika]

@@mohamedmostafa-qj5mx true and N isn't bad either

[@mohamedmostafa-qj5mx]

@@theRaika yes but kitkat is less resourceful than lollipop nougat oreo and 10

[@平和-v1z]

I miss replaceable batteries, expandable storage and Audio Jacks... Also: Compact and affordable phones.

[@almed23]

Check out the Nokia C10

[@Eli-si4zf]

My A71 5G has 2/3 of that list

[@Aditya-tt1ws]

Same bro!

[@Aditya-tt1ws]

@@Eli-si4zf It's not compact, not affordable.

[@ratajs]

Replaceable batteries are not good for water resistance (unless it’s sealed and screwed like in some extreme feature phones).

[@leo-ub6nb]

The Galaxy S2, the phone that started my whole Android experience in custom ROMs and mods 🙌 It will ALWAYS hold a place in my heart! Loved that thing! I flashed different ROMs monthly, sometimes weekly if the ROMs were bad.

[@ahsankhushk9213]

How to update samsung note 8 to one ui 2.0 or 3.0

[@bigmemphismook9019]

Mine too Bro. I was a real flashoholic back then. Now I have a S20 ultra and can't even root it

[@matrixcsr]

good to know that I wasn't the only one doing that back in the days

[@x9nafnaf919]

Same bro!!!

[@KiranKumar512]

Me too!!!

[@MobileTechPoint]

Back in those days when you drop your phone: pick up the back panel - then the battery - reassemble - Voila! Not a damn scratch on the phone 😀😀

[@megimargareth4015]

It would leave a scratch tho, since its plastic lol But atleast it wont crack unless your phone was falling face down 😂😂

[@A--lex]

It would scratch amd the back cover would Crack but we wouldn't care because it's plastic

[@snakesolid46]

Lol "back in those days". we used to say that about The Nokia phones (remember those?)

[@armstrong2450]

just use a cover on your current device and you'll be fine.

[@zioxei]

@@armstrong2450 if you wear a case you might as well just use galaxy s2 for that shitty plastic feel

[@Haritsa-N]

It just gives goosebumps to imagine S21 Ultra, a decade from now, getting a new life over Android 22, from XDA

[@Leonvolt28]

Bootloader unlocking is a pain in the ass with most phones these days. Plus if it's an Exynos soc rom development is more difficult.

[@RuviaPawz]

More like android 25

[@RuviaPawz]

If it doesn't get replaced with fuschia

[@seeitsayitdoggo]

Tip, turn off animations in developer options. It will make it a lot smoother to use

[@HSBA_-cz2bt]

Lineage has an option -> Remove animations in Accessibility Settings

[@awptimusprime535]

Also, flash pico Gapps package

[@henz6868]

assuming that the s2 is rooted, for a more boost of performance install greenify, L speed and root booster and probably also install a lightweight launcher disable fancy animations and UI transparency

[@EAGYSL]

​@@aDistantLight No this is wrong the second part with the updates to make them appear slower but the decreased animations times since one UI 3 are true.

[@magnoliy08]

or dont install gapps and have a usable phone

[@lustechsource5197]

This is insane! Reminds of the the Windows Mobile HTC HD2 getting ports of Android years after it was discontinued.

[@heythisaintebay]

I was thinking the same thing! Loved my one

[@riskidxer]

HTC HD2 android install up to android 7

[@KofolaDealer]

Same is happening with Microsoft Lumias from 2015

[@riskidxer]

@C-17 Laxman Dhotre Windows 11 doesn't support for Snapdragon S1

[@KofolaDealer]

@@riskidxer it works on Snapdragon 808 and 810

[@paris3331997]

Literally found my old galaxy S3 a few days ago and installed lineage 17.1, was quite a nostalgic experience, and actually works pretty well.

[@inaayat4193]

I wanna learn how to install lineage OS, can you help me with that?

[@paris3331997]

@@inaayat4193 its pretty straightforward, flash Twrp, gind compatible lineage rom and gapps for your device, from twrp do a factory wipe, then flash lineage rom followed by gapps, wipe cache and dalvik, reboot, there are loads of guides online for each device, good luck 😉

[@dan2800]

Still using rn galaxy s3 neo (typing this comment) on stock android 4.4.2 kitkat Yea the 1.5GB ram really helps I will be getting new phone soon cuz powerbutton disintegrated it was in semi 2 pieces for a longg time and it gave up like a week ago

[@inaayat4193]

@@paris3331997 thanks, can you paste the link of the video that you trust?

[@paris3331997]

@@inaayat4193 it depends on what device you want to use

[@wht-rabt-obj]

The SGII was THE phone, when it came out. I loved it.

[@mikehall3976]

My aunt and uncle had a matching pair. They only let them go in 2017.

[@AmongUs-mb4qx]

@@mikehall3976 I helped a lady setup some settings on her Galaxy S2 back in 2018, it was in a pristine condition running Gingerbread 2.3.3, still had play store working back then!

[@themainguy5050]

It's amazingly interesting old phone running modern stuff. What's really sad is there still some current phones that can't even keep up. If Android was optimized more correctly and updated correctly more phones might actually be usable longer.

[@UnrealOG137]

I'm glad Samsung is now providing 3 android versions upgrades and 4 years of security patches for phones that came out in 2019 and later.

[@Ari-hh4bw]

They will get but later due to a lot of model like the a-series / s-series...more product doesnt mean good

[@TAPORZZ1]

The reason there's no support for older Android devices is not because of the phone manufacturers, but because the part suppliers don't provide support (like the processor, which for most devices is Qualcomm's Snapdragon). So it's up to Qualcomm, to provide support for that specific processor. This is why Google's new Pixel 6 with their own Tensor chip will have a guaranteed 5 year upgrades and support. Qualcomm usually provides 2 or 3 years of support at most.

[@JRBowling1997]

@@UnrealOG137 same here its a big step up in updates!!!

[@kektikektus]

@@UnrealOG137 but their performance optimization among A and M series is very inconsistent. It is amazing that Samsung provides 3 major updates for every devices, but their optimization is too poor. Performance varies a lot among their phones with the same SoC. I hope they can take more attention to optimisation instead of releasing phones nearly every month..

[@Jimmyfly215]

So many memories with custom mods on Android.

[@uchihadonaru469]

This was nostalgic!

[@jedits7835]

Which phone use now

[@inquisitiveplatypus]

@@jedits7835 I've been modding my A5 2017 Samsung for years lol

[@SpaceTimeBeing_]

Memories? Go back and use custom roms, there are absolutely secure and privacy friendly custom roms today.

[@cleangoblin2021]

I did custom roms but i like how stable phones are nowadays. Definitely dont wanna keep loosing data because some mofo promises a better performance with the rom

[@LSnium]

Its funny how android phones, even 10 years ago are more customizable and tweakable than iPhones. I was an all out iPhone user for 12 years, and my last iPhone was the iPhone X, now my current is the Samsung Galaxy note 10 plus. And I gotta say Android is 100% better than ios.

[@ossilong]

everything gets banned in the name of sustainabilty, but megacorps forcing you to buy new stuff to even get security updates is just fine

[@justinJ689]

phones are losing quality over time as well and high end stuff is there in the premium.

[@chydi10]

Poor people’s mentality. It’s obvious you don’t know how to run a business and I don’t think you ever will

[@snakesolid46]

@@chydi10 As much as I hate Apple products, look at Iphones... The ones from 5+ years still get updates, when a Samsung flagship like the Note 8 only got 2 years of software updates and 3 of security ones. There's a difference between running a business and just being greedy as fuck.

[@JxcksonSF]

@@justinJ689 any 2020 entry phone cleans the floor with a flagship like the s2. You all on some bs

[@justinJ689]

@@JxcksonSF well the phone that I brought 3 years ago worked better than the phone I bought last year for the same price. Plus my newer phone's screen started to come off. The phones belonged to the same company. The phones hardware may have gotten better but it feels like they dont last as much

[@adultmoshifan87]

I still have bad memories of being stuck with an iPhone 3GS when iOS 7 came out. I couldn’t update my phone to the new version of iOS! Still, I consider myself lucky to have been able to update it to iOS 6, which even the first iPad, which came out a year after my iPhone at the time, couldn’t be updated to! Luckily, a few months after the iPhone 5S and 5C came out, I was able to get an iPhone 5! It was from the clearence stock which the store had in the back room.

[@KoopaKid660]

The first iPad was obsolete in 2 years?

[@adultmoshifan87]

@@KoopaKid660 Yep, there's an "Old computers did it better" video that says so!

[@Garrettdx1988]

I just bought a GS2 on eBay. I'm getting ready to update it to Oreo.

[@mariocontreras6855]

I'm on Nougat

[@Muhammad4rsalan]

I am on Android 1

[@ZeroKyle]

bruh android 1 isnt supported for youtube

[@Cockalicious]

@@ZeroKyle what about ios 1 on s2

[@ZeroKyle]

@@Cockalicious ios 1 cant be ported to android because its closed source and its not supported for youtube as well.

[@TheAndroidClassroom]

Wow! the good old days of android where you can do what so ever you want with your mobile, really miss those custom ROM era...

[@Anon1370]

me looking at you saying you miss the custom rom era when I have android 11 pixel experience on my poco f1👀

[@TheAndroidClassroom]

@@Anon1370 yes lots of fun first wait for the approval from the manufacture to unlock the bootloader.

[@blisphul8084]

You still can. Magisk hide means you can have root with Android pay, etc. And good phones like OnePlus and Google pixel allow unlocking the bootloader without any hassle.

[@anjanaperera7493]

Oh man I still have my S2 in the locker. This phone came with a super amoled plus display. That was the best at the time in the industry!!!

[@someguy872]

beautiful, i used to own one of those a couple years ago and rooted it so much, Good old times. Even more impressive that Android 11 is running on there and my Oneplus 6T still doesn't have Android 11

[@e.6z1]

just get pixel experience on it, awesome custom rom, and its based on android 11

[@srikarmech]

I just flashed Lineage OS 18.1 in my Lenovo P2 and upgraded successfully for the 5th time.. It is my current device and I am stoked, 5 years of usage can be extracted from android smartphones.. In my case, P2 was supported with 1 OS upsgrade by Lenovo and rest 4 by Lineage OS.. The Custom ROM community has been crucial, in helping me having the best use of my phone...

[@SDRIFTERAbdlmounaim]

for an s2 there's a good middle ground for performance and compatibility if you install roms based on android 5 or 6

[@MrFlauxhol]

Are there Android GO Roms avilable for this phone? It would be interesting to see how they would run on the s2.

[@limpkit2011]

Android GO almost forgotten.

[@pemuda7075]

@Liraz Shalom I don't understand the technicality, but I tried the GSI version on my phone and yes it felt exactly the same as regular AOSP. Load times are the same and apps that are slow are still slow. I don't see any improved performance. The Go version just used less storage, that's all.

[@Ignacio.Romero]

Android go is crap

[@collinsgichuhi8255]

@Liraz Shalom Go is missing some features like split screen multitasking

[@silvy7394]

GO is regular Android but with features disabled. Thats it.

[@Chemy.]

amazingly it turned on, but interesting to test in maybe forgotten devices that might run it better

[@ESCO2]

Forgotten devices? You mean devices which have reached end of life status. Absolutely nobody forgot about this device lol

[@pemuda7075]

1:30 oh man, I miss that fastboot screen. back then Samsung was the most popular phones to get custom rom supports. From the cheapest to most expensive models. Now, there is not even a single custom rom for s21. Sad.

[@謝利米]

It probably will have some android 22 custom roms in 2031.

[@prodbydanai]

In my opinion, I believe custom ROMS are for phones more than 5 years old.

[@謝利米]

@@prodbydanai Nope. Custom roms are for devices more than 3 year old because: Less than 3 year old phones are supported by their manufacter syock ROM, so no one will try custom roms on it. More than 3 years phones are discontinued so for the security and new features, they need custom roms.

[@zenu8830]

@@謝利米 lol you haven't been in android custom rom segment long enough if you think people don't flash custom roms on devices that they just bought

[@HuntaKiller91]

So that means galaxy s9 will be reborn with this os🔥😄

[@KarrasBastomi]

Thats my thinking..... Brb checking street prices...

[@ZeroKyle]

Yep!

[@siddharthsekar]

Those were the days of temple run, subway surf, wheres my perry & talking tom

[@drackoz7660]

iPhone: we had updates till 6 years Android: thats cute

[@Ordlnary_Gamer]

but this isint offical and ios is

[@sdvuser]

Isnt official....

[@drackoz7660]

@@sdvuser but at least we can update itself even not official

[@vikas_kr]

@@drackoz7660 not long when major device vendors will ship with unlockable bootloaders

[@midleno8364]

@@drackoz7660 not official, really abysmal performance, and most people won’t know or bother to do this, so this comment is nonsense objectively

[@seb_draghici]

In my opinion you could try setting the animations to 0.5x in the Developer Options or disabling them completely. Maybe this would help with the slowness :)

[@Jhihmoac]

Woww! What was Android 2.3 called? "Gingerbread", or something? I didn't even HAVE Android, nor iOS touchscreen technology ANYTHING back then! I think I was using Android ICS when I had my first smartphone, and that was a cheapie Motorola something... Great big 4 GB storage, 1 whole GB RAM!

[@eeriemyxi]

i still have a Android 2.2 android, first smart phone that came to my home

[@haziqsembilanlima]

btw regarding that sluggish performance, maybe try microG + aurora store + aurora services

[@roly5573]

Great!!! If only Android was as simple, as back then, lol! My HTC Desire from 2010 still works today!!!

[@dj.22zar]

Do you use it as your main phone?

[@roly5573]

@@dj.22zar No...I only keep it and just charge it up occasionally. 👍

[@cptcrogge]

The S4 handles it like a champ

[@captainmcadams]

I literally did this yesterday for shits and giggles an then I see this video on KZbin! Good fun eh… going back to my iPhone 12 though 😁

[@ohdear2001]

@@captainmcadams iPhones are shite though.

[@Cust0mBuilder]

I remember back in 2013 putting Cyanogenmod Android Jellybean on my Galaxy S1 i9000 with modified backplate to accomidate its 5000mAh aftermarket battery. It ran surprisingly good for such an old phone and its aftermarket battery gave it a 5 day battery life.

[@ggz21]

Man, s2 was such a beautiful phone.

[@Kat_Pines]

The fact that it runs today and even with modern android is jaw dropping especially since my s21 ultra lag up and bug several times a day (granted I'm stuck with the exynos variant)

[@lakshyagrover6379]

S2 also has an exynos old exynos chips were littery over powerd

[@bhaskarrijal]

My first phone it was. That Over the Horizon. Nostalgia hits.

[@pixelsbymag]

Same

[@preston8872]

I had a Alcatel,ZTE,Galaxy S3,Galaxy J3,Galaxy S7,Motorola G7 Power and iPhone se 2016,iPhone 6 plus,iPhone se 2020. These are the phones I’ve had in the past. I’m wanting to upgrade from current iPhone se 2020 next year in 2022

[@rockybouldr]

5:49 Dream hard. Samsung has literally made the bootloader unlock impossible on their new phones, custom ROMS are not possible. Android 12 will be it's final update on the S20

[@bigmemphismook9019]

If I hadn't got my S20 ultra for half Off I would be highly pissed right now without my Magick, Viper, and Swiftbackup. The lockdown of the Bootloader is the reason I left Samsung after the S6 edge plus. Literally every other phone I've had since has been extremely simple to unlock and root safely.

[@rockybouldr]

@@bigmemphismook9019 except Huawei and Vivo.

[@purpledoge4466]

S21 will die with android 14.My note 10 plus will die with android 12.Anything that came with android 11 out of the box will be supported for 4 years.

[@inquisitiveplatypus]

You guys are my people, so much love for the Android community, especially the old Androids 🙏🏻

[@PackardKotch]

My S2 was already slow on KitKat, i can't imagine how slow it would be if someone booted android 12

[@ZeroKyle]

I dont know.

[@IkariShinji28]

From s2 (2011) to s21 (2021) we really have came so far in only 10 years

[@lowegule135]

Something I take from this... Forget tinkering with your old android phone. Just get new cheap android phone if you are jn budget. No frustration.

[@crystalraider5785]

I once had a Galaxy Pocket as my starting point of learning to root and flash stock firmware on android phones. I remember it was running Gingerbread 2.3 and i had experienced many childhood games in there like the Talking Friends series and the Zenonia series. After a few years, my grandparents abroad gave us their old Galaxy S1 T-Mobile variant and it was when i first flashed a custom rom in a smartphone. I was inspired by a guy here on yt that had Cyanogenmod (aka Lineage OS now) that runs 4.2.2 Jellybean. It was running smoothly and i remember playing old Minecraft PE in it and other newer 3d games at that time. It was a really capable phone even when it's running a rom ahead of its time. I really miss those days.. Someday i wish i can have them once more

[@KoletheCotter]

I love people who just go and do this🤣 *Android every time.*

[@enricomontanari1390]

Galaxy S2, the only Samsung I had. It lasted 5+ years without a problem. What a highlander.

[@DrAdityaReddy]

In 10 years smartwatches will be more powerful than the s21 ultra

[@HearMeLearn]

hopefully anyway

[@kaushikassagur769]

why tf would you need that amount of power on a smartwatch, smartwatch screens are so tiny

[@DrAdityaReddy]

@@kaushikassagur769 10 years back no one would have wanted a screen on a watch because it's so tiny. We never know what's gonna happen in the next 10 years

[@eeriemyxi]

or maybe it will run entirely on cloud

[@MinZilla]

I just recently bought a used S3 mini for 5€ to mainly use for music because it has a headphone jack and a replaceable battery The easily expandable storage is also really nice I might get a prepaid sim card as well to use it as a burner or secondary phone

[@maxroman2010]

I’m about to install some clean rom on my gs9… I can’t comprehend how rubbish the experience is on such a modern device… soooo laggy 🤦‍♀️.

[@tomioka.6703]

Try downloading Lineage OS 17.1 it's better...

[@maxroman2010]

@@tomioka.6703 yea. I’m choosing between it and ArrowOS.

[@tomioka.6703]

@@maxroman2010 well Lineage is more reputable than Arrow...

[@tokuzumi1]

Can you even root the S21? Phones are so locked down today, so it makes me think the root and rom crowd is going to dwindle significantly over the years as the new phones built today become old.

[@d9zirable]

Rooting the s21 triggers green line on amoled. Don't do this

[@LarsRyeJeppesen]

Very informative, Coach

[@outernetisdangerous]

I still remember when this was considered a big phone...

[@YgorCortes]

This is actually much better than I was expecting! I'm definitely surprised

[@JPGT]

If you're using S2 in 2021, I would extremely recommend you to stick with the latest build of CM11 (if 4.4 isn't too old for you - it's totally capable of running majority of apps still today) or LOS 14 Nougat /18 [Android 11] (both are OFFICIALLY supported by community for Galaxy S2, up to 2021)

[@andrewcpu]

I'd love to see GCam running with this camera

[@nihadasadli2642]

Won't run, Camera2 API is not supported by GS2.

[@MsMRkv]

You need at least a Galaxy s6 to install that.

[@andrewcpu]

@@MsMRkv ah that makes sense and is disappointing

[@Golem642]

It was still more responsive than my old Wiko sunny 2 on Android 6

[@Scitch87]

Pretty sure if they did a "Legacy" Version of the Galaxy S2 with modern hardware for around $150 it would fly off the shelves. It was a great form factor and would still be great as a device for kids or someone who just needs a phone that can do some "smart" stuff like browsing the web occasionally.

[@MethmalDhananjaya]

I like how Smartphone manufacturers could actually keep those older Smartphone up to date, Also keeping them fully functional like new ones yet didnt, and People never talks about it. because nowadays Smartphone is a Subscription service.

[@krispyhd9484]

Subscription service ?

[@sokool3994]

However, it looks like Android 11 is too taxing to run smoothly on the Galaxy S2. It's usable, but it's not great.

[@tastyprime8955]

That's amazing 😀😀

[@maheen-]

Android Kitkat is a gem. Everything after that looks almost the same.

[@INDIANBEA5T]

S2 be like- ouch that pains i can't handle that 😐😐

[@batorerdyniev9805]

😑

[@KarpowSCX]

It's simply amazing that a mobile phone THIS old can STILL run recent android OS! Yes, it's little bit laggy and slow but bottom line is that it STILL W-O-R-K-S. I am looking forward to update my old Sony Xperia Z1 which is actually quite a bit more powerfull than Galaxy S2, so recent android version should run fairly better on it.

[@SavvySavant]

I remember this phone being pretty much a beast.. Those were the days when Samsung Exynos actually had a lot of street cred with chipset geeks.. It was honestly top notch, especially at gaming and multitasking (compared to the iphone). I remember emulating Sega Dreamcast at full speed in all games and thinking.. Yeah, this is where its at. XDA Developers was also my best friend in those days. It was a modders dream back in the day and the fact that its still supported now is testimony to its overall popularity..

[@kaz3d]

10 years on I still use my S2. As my daily alarm clock mainly but on the odd occasion to surf the web whilst on the loo upstairs (too lazy to get Galaxy Note from downstairs). still has nova launcher and custom icons. Still works as good as it did in 2011. no lag or hangs, only boot up from off takes a few mins to start and settle. Battery life is amazing. charge only twice a week 🤩

[@haziqali9716]

I love how I saw this on the news before I saw this video

[@thebasketballhistorian3291]

2011 Galaxy S2 = Super AMOLED display 2020 iPhone SE = LCD display Let that sink in.

[@modimihir]

Oh man, I had this exact phone and such good memories with it. Thanks for this video!

[@omthakkar7801]

Okay Modiji 👏👏👏👏

[@omthakkar7801]

😁😁😁😁😁

[@hongquan8086]

KZbin algo bring me here and you bring me to a lot of memory. Xda dev and android community is so good.

[@NightWatch0997]

Ah, the dream smartphone of mine back then 🤣. Probably won't ever have or even experience it.

[@skaze93]

Oh wow ! That's something ! I had an old Samsung Bada Wave 2 from a few ( a lot ) years back. Managed to put android 5 on it, debloated it like crazy and used it as an mp3 player for a long time. But damn, Android 11 on s2 is impressive !

[@alfredvondrachstedt7129]

Brings back memories, was my first smartphone. What a coincidence, just did the same to a S5. Lineage really works wonders, the fingerprint reader works better than original, you had to swipe across the button prior.

[@mmorales508]

I got android 11 on my beloved HTC One M9 and it functions perfectly fine and that build quality is 💕💕💕💕💕 if it wasn't for the battery life I would use it daily but I got a Pixel 4 XL for that

[@bub_sy]

Nice. I actually run android 10 on an s2 which we use as an IP camera. Works well!

[@moosc]

I've been following you since the beginning of ac those where the days..

[@ronnie3626]

The fact that it is possible to run Android 11 on such an old device is awesome and I also tried it, but it's just for fun and not really daily usage I think. I downgraded back to Android 2.3.6 to enjoy this Android version on powerful hardware. I really love this device and usw it to listen to music and play games like it was meant to be back then. :)

[@DafterHindi]

Give this man a nobel

[@potatodude5327]

As Someone Who Had An S2 As Their First Smartphone, This Makes Me Really Happy!

[@pixelsbymag]

My first phone

[@breezydev_]

i am actually shocked it runs.I think companies should support lifetime os update

[@heroinbath1877]

Flashing new roms and rooting my phone used to be so much fun. The last phone I tried it on was the pixel 3 but it was more of a headache then it was worth.

[@thegamertap2451]

I still use my kitkat android tab, but its starts to slow down since the late 2020

[@scubeap]

I wish every phone like Mi, Realme, etc could also get stock android. Stick Android custom ROMS for Device with MIUI Mainly.

[@davinp]

Android introduced NFC in 2012, many years before Apple added it to the iPhone

[@iSamYTBackup]

the thing is the s21 will never get a custom rom because samsung will never release the divice binarys to compile a version of android for that phone

[@yussifkarim5523]

This how Samsung could prove years of update but they don't

[@iosifd2409]

Those days when Android and iOS were two separate operating systems with no match , plenty of memories with installing cyanogen mod and lots of Roms on Samsung , or jailbraking iPhones 3G or 3GS and having lots of cracked apps :))))) , those days ended , everything was fun back then

[@bonyfisch]

Now install kitkat on a modern flagship device

[@bazzeil]

Holy crap, it runs about as well as an iphone 12

[@fijiwill2237]

Quit the cap 😐

[@nightfury20101]

longest support from community ever

[@arbaux]

i remember when i put android 9 to galaxy s advance some years ago. it was strange but so satisfying

[@MartinDimitrov0]

5:37 I don't really agree that you are trading compatibility for performance, in fact stock touchwiz jellybean runs just as slow, if not slower than android 11 on the S2. I guess you haven't used it for enough time on the stock rom to notice that. However I would say battery life on android 11 seems one idea worse than on the stock rom. With a battery in fairly respectable health you can't really squeeze more than 2 hours screen on time. That is understandable though, as the cpu is often maxed out during usage and the battery itself is fairly small.

[@yumikumooo]

Call me insane, but I miss Android Gingerbread/Jellybean, especially with the Touchwiz ui on Samsung phones. It wasn't the most pleasant experience sure, with all the bloatware as an example, but it's so nostalgic for some reason

[@foreveralone4015]

Ten years from now Running fuchsia Os 10 on Samsung s21

[@staideystalking1850]

Best Android Version in my opinion is CyanogenMod 13. Not Lagging, Android 6.0 is still supported and it supports SDCard as Internal Storage mode. Everything needed.

[@shady4tv]

10 years... you can run Modern Linux on PC's that are over 20 years old at this point. This is not surprising at all - I think google needs to develop Android like their building for the GS2. Modern Android on Modern hardware would benefit greatly from it.

[@md.faruqulislam4673]

I wish if you test more devices.Loved the video

[@luuketaylor]

So many blasts from the past. That was my first smartphone. Hearing the name Cyanogenmod again. Seeing that awful old UI. Watching the frame drops...

[@AmeyaRanade]

That tells how minimal hardware improvement has happened in phone hardware in last decade. Just making small incremental changes. No real breakthrough.

[@pixelsbymag]

My first and most favorite phone

[@verssus36]

I have just installed LineageOS on my 7 years old Galaxy Note 3 so I could put family link on it and have a mobile device for the kids. I also was surprised how well the software was working, including functioning stylus and NFC. Note 3 has 3GB of RAM which makes him more usable than S2, but it's just good to see that old devices can have second lives.

[@sabarinathpremji.920]

Most beautiful phone,pro grade cameras and true colors with inbuilt macro at that time,was marvellous ...

[@simmcho]

Yet iPhone and newer Android users are screaming over Androids for their updates. A phone is meant to be used for a couple of years, and let's be honest to ourselves that most of us are doing exactly this - using a phone for only a couple of years. Yet I am superbly pleased with the Android Community since I've got my first Android nearly 10 years ago - I believe nobody will let a good ol' flagship left behind without the latest Android for years after its maker shut support down - something you can't do on your iPhone and just a year after you stop receiving updates from Apple all of your apps is gone for good. Yet my banking still supports 4.4 Kitkat :D