[Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra] blackhawk:
Lol, don't get me started🤣 It's easy to be like me over time. Android's are (or were) the easiest OS to use. Almost crash and burn proof. Didn't like where Samsung or Google was going with their products so I dug in with the best Note they ever made and Android 9/10. I'm good for another 2-3+ years as is. The newer Samsung's are less capable, have worse form factor, get worse SOT, have less memory (I have a 1.5tb dual drive device in my hand) and are only marginally faster by milliseconds doing most tasks. Not much bang for the buck even after 3 years. Not buying Samsung's marketing hype.

I had a S4+ running on Kitkat. The last cirmware update for Kitkat blocked the ability to use quick root. That's all it did. No rollback. The Lollipop update completely screws up the S4+, the playlist and contacts format is altered from line to awkward squares although an Edge running on Lollipop retains the line format. Really?

Thanks for that garbage Samsung. Samsung claimed to S4+ lacked the resources to support the line format on Lollipop; it uses less resource than the grid pattern does. Samsung lied to me.

Lesson learned, the hard way.

Then I heard the endless Google scare hype about how one needs to upgrade from 9 to 10, then 11, then 12 and each one was worse then the one before with cpu cycle sucking scoped storage being fully active on 11 and up. Google has wanted to kill expandable storage and force you to use inferior cloud storage. Just like MS they want control through cloud apps. It's an old ploy. Didn't buy the vaccine hype or Google's security scare hype. I use/do what works.

I have 2 N10+'s the newest one is running on 10. The Pie variant is more capable though, far less system apps (about 100) and a very stable platform. This 3yo N10+ is the most stable and longest lived load I ever had with only minimal maintenance. My free 6 yo copy of WPS Office (the ony free none cloud office app that can write Windows Office files) runs on both 9 and 10. I know 11 would not load it, security you know. I simply firewall block WPS Office to neutralize it, but it remains 100% functional.

Security simply isn't an issue with just a few modifications and common sense. I go everywhere on the internet but vet all apps but don't allow updates (apps that pass Playstore can latter download their payload as an update evading Playstore security). I firewall block all apps that don't need internet access and monitor those that do. Karma Firewall's logging feature is fully active on Pie but 10 blocks it. I also disable wifi since I don't need it and bt when not in use, 2 potential vectors for hackers. I hawk the download folder daily for anything I didn't authorize and vet everything before it leaves the download folder. All email is kept in the cloud, I rarely download anything from there especially jpegs and png's. Another vector plugged. I back out of bad websites, close the browser if needed and if needed I will delete the cache or even browser data. Brave browser is my primary browser and it's pretty much bulletproof, so far. No social media or shopping apps are ever installed, they are malware.

No OS can protect you completely if you do stupid things. My critical data is redundantly backed up so even if my SD card (used as a data drive) gets wiped by malware I can recreate it. Pie and 10 are impervious to the worst partition worming rootkits so a factory reset will kill them. If I can't eliminate malware within 2 hours, factory reset. So far that hasn't happened.

You get the idea; upgrades/updates do more damage and waste more of your time than malware. As long as the firmware and software are fulfilling their mission I leave it alone. It's almost all play time rather than chasing down loose ends and finding work arounds (if they even exist). Spent a lot of time optimizing this system and it runs like a bat out of hell. Upgrades are nothing but trouble for me.