Android phone manufacturers typically stop supporting their devices after 3-5 years.
This means that, for example, the original Pixel is past its expiration datewhich means the Android 13 update will never officially come to the phone.
However, developer Husson Pierre-Hugues got the update to work on the original Pixel phone. This is due to Google’s Project Treble framework, which allowed Pierre-Hugues to load Android 13 on the phone.
It’s far from a perfect upgrade because certain features don’t work, like cellular connectivity, but others do, like WiFi, GPS, fingerprint sensor, etc.
It took me 4 hours to get the Pixel 2016 up and running on the A13 using TrebleDroid GSI and Google’s latest vendor (2019), and this work will get many devices booting the GSI with no additional effort.
Google has made Treble almost perfect, it’s a shame it’s not being put to good use. pic.twitter.com/Ffv7MQKmHX— Husson Pierre-Hugues (@phhusson) October 28, 2022
Unfortunately, if you were thinking about resurrecting your Pixel to install Android 13, it won’t be so easy. This is because in order to use Project Treble, you will need to have some programming knowledge and understand how updates are sent through the framework, which means it is not a method for the average user.
