I opted for the battery replacement, but the $50 is an attractive option as well. Apparently the $100 credit won’t work if the device you’re buying is on sale. I had graphene on mine so I had to flash it back to stock.

I have a still working updated 4a which I use for a second phone account I have because it is so pleasant to carry around. I bought it late in the 4a production cycle and I think it must therefore have a battery that is different in some way to that included with earlier models and that is the reason the update did not brick my phone. I think what happened here is Google knew of a flash bang fault in those batteries which touch on wood later ones did not have so sent a targeted update to hash those specific early devices for safety. The question is not did Google intentionally scupper those phones but when did it know about the fault. My guess is it discovered it during production and that is why later models are altered and now remain usable after the update. The upshot of that is Google had some idea they were faulty very early on but chose not to recall them then but instead only disable them very late in their life. This is just speculation of course, I could just have been lucky and Google could have just recently found some fault with aging batteries.

LMAO I bet you can’t name one single feature/product Google released where “transparency” of how it works is a thing, it’s almost like anti-transparancy UX design is something they love on a philosophical level, even for features or products that have absolutely nothing to do with advertising lol

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