Its not. I’m writing this on a Note 8 with Android 9. It can run 99% of Apps on the Playstore, has an up to date browser and even gets access to new features like Google Lens, Gemini or Quickshare. Would it be nice to have Android 14? Yes. Does it need Android 14? eh not really.

Lack of phone support after 2 years has always pissed me off. There are almost always no limitations when it comes to the hardware. For me I like to average 4 years a phone and hope for 5-6 if I can. I, for one, can’t wait for this method to change.

I also loved the Note 9, I always felt they put a lot into it due to the disaster that the Note 8 was. I also loved the 8, but of course a complete recall doesn’t look very good.

I miss the Note 9. Between the fingerprint scanner on the back, the lack of a camera bump, and a headphone jack, it was a nicer experience than the Note 20 Ultra I have now.

I still have my note 9 in a drawer but moved on to a nest phone because the display started having issues, where it would get a green haze and slowly freeze and become unresponsive.

Favorite phone though, also perfect size.

I still have my note 9. i have 2 other devices that are my dailies so it’s in semi retirement as a nightstand clock. I haven’t had a need to do stuff with it since for all intent and purposes it’s a clock now but I may give lineage a try since I probably won’t do anything else with it.

the only reason I haven’t rooted it is because I had heard rooting breaks nfc payments. I’m trying not to pull my physical wallet out if I can help it and payment is important to me otherwise it would have been done long before now.