Which modern Android is the best buy for testing?
I have lived while moving back and forth between Windows and macOS, and in the same way I have switched between iOS and Android depending on the period. Right now, my main device is iOS.
For Android, I have a Sony XZs SO-03J that I bought in 2018. I have started wanting to get a device with a more modern Android OS.
First, this article is for people whose everyday devices are mostly Apple products. If Android is already your main device, you will probably just buy the latest Android phone, and that is the end of the story. If you do not use it day to day, and the main purpose is checking work, then it is nice if it does not cost too much.
When using Android for checking, I think it is best to choose something as standard as possible. Devices with unusual screen ratios or foldable designs are tempting to own, but as reference devices they are somewhat special.
So if the goal is simply a reference device, the first thing to consider is the Pixel series designed and sold by Google. If you have some budget flexibility or a specific Pixel model you want, you can simply buy that Pixel and the matter is settled.
But what if there is no particular Pixel you want, and you want to keep costs as low as possible? If you think only about cheapness, a device so old that it can no longer install the latest OS would be a problem. So it needs to be at least somewhat current. The following help pages are useful references.
Using those pages as reference, the first model range to consider is Google Pixel 8 and later. From that generation onward, seven years of updates from the sales start date are promised. If you buy a refurbished Pixel 8-series device, Amazon lists them from the high 40,000 yen range to the 60,000 yen range. If that level of spending feels acceptable, buying an 8-series or later device is a good choice.
Looking at the release date and update support period for Google Pixel 8, updates are promised until 2030. But in a world changing this quickly, 2030 is quite far away. We do not even know what the world will be like, and in the worst case this profession itself may no longer exist.
If you do not need support that far into the future, I think the Google Pixel 6 series is a good recommendation. In fact, that is what I bought this time. For example, the 6a receives updates until 2027, and if refurbished, it can be purchased from the mid-20,000 yen range. At that price, it feels easy enough to buy casually.
What I bought this time was a Google Pixel 6a. It could be upgraded to the latest Android, the price was low, and the processing speed was decent enough that it did not feel stressful. Even if future OS updates make it feel a little slow, that can still be useful as a simulation of a slower device.