Android versions and options

[wallet7]

While I’m not overly-technical, I would like to know more about different versions and how long their life expectancy is likely to be.

I have an i-mobile IQ 5.7, (a Thai brand, produced in China) Android version 4.3 (Jellybean, which I have just noticed is now not supported any more by Android). I saw that information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history

I bought the phone in 2014. It was my first smartphone, and not knowing anything about Android, I wasn’t aware there were different versions,
in fact I can see now that Jellybean had been released two years previously from when I bought it. I notice KitKat was on the market almost a year before I bought the Jellybean version.

Asking elsewhere I found there is/was something called Android One, which upgrades the OS to the latest version?
Is this currently being produced, and how long will it likely to “upgrade” for?

It’s frustrating that a phone now only seems to have a life expectancy of a couple of years or so.
While mine has been physically well looked after, it now struggles to run newer software, and not being supported any more keeps locking up regularly, needing rebooting daily.
That's the down-side of progress I suppose.

 

[Tim1954]

Generally speaking software versions get support for two years or so as far as updates go. Devices will function for years after that of course but some apps will struggle if they are designed for faster processors. Mostly you can only download apps from play store that will run with your version of Android..
That said, you can root devices and put the latest software on them (I've heard of S3 running Marshmallow), but you need to know your stuff if you try that trick.
Wiping cache partition freshens up the device and cleans out the debris giving you some performance boost.
Memory is the main issue with older devices, most newer apps and software can take big chunks out of your memory (Nougat update was 1.2Gig in my S7).