Yep. Complete lack of developer support. They really shouldn't have their two interns working on this phone. It's unfortunate because the hardware is nice. The software experience is abysmal. They marketed it as a tinkerer's phone and then proceeded to lock users, who like to tinker and unlock their devices, out of updates (that are plagued with horrible issues). It's been nearly 7 months since they posted the last update on the store page for unlocked devices to download. I wanted to love you Zenfone. I will never purchase an ASUS phone again. I only hope they eventually allow me to update my phone once Android 14 is released.
My experience with the zf8 and zf9 has been completely different. Launching-date issues were fixed within weeks or a couple of months at most. Software is nice and customizable, and updates have been reliable (not Pixel-level, but better than Xiaomi, say). Hardware and size are great. Removing the unlocking option is not a good idea - but phones are not made for tinkerers. (The only annoying thing about the phone have been the forum haters.)
