Google wants to make it easier for you to trade in your old Android and save money
If you’ve been tempted by something on our best Android phones list and want to upgrade your current model, then you might want to trade in to save some money – and it looks like Google has plans to make that process easier.
As noted by Android Authoritychanges being made to the main Android codebase suggest that engineers checking whether a phone works can put it into a special ‘evaluation mode’ and run tests from there.
For safety reasons, it is recommended that Android phones be reset to factory settings before being traded in. That means the person testing them will have to go through the normal Android setup process to view them – for each individual phone.
This new mode, once enabled, would bypass this and mean a phone could be evaluated more quickly – and that would in turn mean you’d get a quicker decision on your smartphone’s trade-in value when you upgrade.
The Android Debugging Bridge
These changes will not be visible to users at all; Android will still look exactly the same. What will change are the options available in the Android Debug Bridge (ADB), a comprehensive software tool used by developers and engineers.
Once connected to the ADB, the new ability to skip the installation process will come into play. This isn’t something you can test yourself unless you go to the trouble of installing the debugging software on Windows or macOS.
We expect the finalized version of Android 15 to make its way to Pixel phones, including the Google Pixel 9, sometime this month, while Samsung Galaxy devices are expected to be upgraded early next year.
In addition, we have already started hearing rumors about what Android 16 could bring. However, it’s not clear whether this Android trade-in update will be associated with a major release, or released separately.