Pixel 8 to have seven years of Android updates
Google says it’ll support Pixel 8 series with seven years of Android updates
Now this is nice. Hopefully 3rd party manufacturers can also provide a longer life span for the device.
7 years updates plus 2 battery swaps will take a flagship phone right to the edge of how long you'd want to use it anyway.
I think, 7 years would be amazing, but also good enough. Or to put it differently, after 7 years you get into heavy diminishing returns, since almost all users will be moving on/have severely broken their phone before that.
I've had most of my phones until they where 5-6 years old (I used to buy used, so I had older phones even though I didn't have them for quite that long). After that time, they usually fall apart anyway. (Two of my phones developed frequent random reboots around that time, one wore through the cable connecting both halves of the slider, and one killed died when I tried replacing the battery and accidentally cut through the screen cable).
I think you hit the nail on the head with diminishing returns. I'm usually on a 5-6 year usage period too. I can understand the battery swap helping out but my last few phones have felt so sluggish after 4+ years so I start looking at new phones around year 5. I have a Pixel 7 now and I'm going to wait until end of support and then we'll see what the offerings are then!
When does that mandate kick in? Will it impact the Pixel 8?
Start of an era for Android hopefully, especially with EU's replaceable batteries law coming up. This is what OEMs should copy and not dumb shit done by Apple.
Wasnt the law that you could still build not replacable batteries because of water resistance?
I would love to have that option back again, since batteries are the main part why phones die right now.
Annnnnnnnnnnd Grapheneos....
If it wasn't for wanting google chat for work on my phone I'd be using GrapheneOS on my Pixel 7 Pro.
inb4 google cancels pixels
Usually this is what they say before cancelling it 10 months later
Awesome. This should get the gears going for other manufacturers like Samsung unless they want to be left in the dust by Google and fairphone both.
Samsung moving to four years of OS updates, and 5 years of security updates, is what pushed Google to adopt this new policy, as Google only offered 3 years of OS updates beforehand. So Samsung will probably try match Google again.
Either way, the consumer wins! I like this
Meanwhile every other phone is on some old version of Android. The fuck is going on where every single Android phone can't just upgrade to the latest? Why does the phone maker have to be the one to support the OS? It's like relying on fucking Dell to update Windows on a Dell desktop, for example. Makes no goddamn sense. I should be able to download any new version of Android for my devices and install them.
The only alternative is fucking crApple, and I won't go there. Fuck that pile of trash that you have to beg crApple to do any simple thing or have any simple customization. They control all their own phones and upgrade them, which solves that problem, but I want phones and tablets to work like a real computer. Is that so goddamn hard?
Corporatism my friend.
The issue is Qualcomm who makes the majority of SoCs for phones. Qualcomm, if I am not mistaken controls the support of the phone because the phone uses their chip.
Google is now pulling an Apple move and using their own Silicon (Samsung's Silicone) to bypass using Qualcomm.
I think what's happened is that unlike windows each manufacturer is given the source code to make their own unique version of Android that's incompatible with anything else typically. So once the lifetime of the product has expired as intended that development ceases.
Google has tried to resolve this problem with their android security updates. But this isn't a perfect solution either.
The manufacturer argues that it's not profitable to maintain legacy devices as you're incentivizing the customer to not buy the next model. So as consumers we are asking manufacturers to impact their own profits and capitalistic goals. This is unfortunately hopeless without a regulatory power to force that consumer interest.
The Android eco system is right fucking mess.
Every manufacturer seems to have a unique settings screen that doesn't match anything else, so you search for how to do something on Android, and none of the settings you find exist on your phone.
And don't even get me started on Android development...
IMO, the biggest headlines in the launch. 7 years is crazy timeline to support. But the phones have matured so much that it makes sense people would want to keep the phone for longer period of time
I like to think this is because all the regulation regarding parts and support coming from EU. Right to repair finally got some spotlight and we're starting to see the results. Now just give me a phone with a replaceable battery and I might actually use it for 5 years. Oh, and with a headphone jack.
It is not, Fairphone already does this.
Still crazy I would say for Google. Their market size is lot larger, and they release new phone line-ups every year.
Fairphone is also not available in every country.
This will be a great phone to flash custom roms or even Linux.
as long as you get the right one that can be flashed.
IME most pixels available on the secondary market are bootloader locked.
I buy from Google, so not an issue there.
You're better off buying from them directly anyways.
I had actually considered switching out of Samsung for my next phone. Looks like I might be going with Pixel. Still gonna be expensive, but if they follow through on this, might be worth it. Just need to see how well it handles some things.
the only thing I need is a samsung dex replacement
I'd say I'd need a stylus, but I'm looking at my current phone and I don't use it. And I'm not paying $1800 for a fold.
And it's been so long since I've gotten to use base android. I won't miss Samsungs UI at all
Yeah, I got the note thinking the stylus would come in handy... but I never actually use it. The few times I've taken pictures I have, but I rarely use the camera. It's one of the last things I'm worried about with a phone. I mostly just play emulators on the bus, social media, YouTube, and that's about it. So as long as games run fine, I'm good. I can use just about anyone for that.
I've been a Pixel user (1, 3, 5, 7 Pro) and Fi customer for as long as it has been available and I've enjoyed every minute of it.
They've cut a few features that I miss, like the rear fingerprint scanner. Being able to comfortably access the Quick Settings menu easily with one hand was awesome. They're definitely relatively sturdy and sexy phones though!
Lol, I don't believe Google for a second on this kind of shit
7 years honestly seems excessive but this is a good trend I suppose
How does it differ from buying a laptop at this point? The price is the same, the capabilities are similar, the form factor can be the same (Fold or tablets in general).
As long as the hardware can keep up with the software, and the manufacturer keeps building products, why should they ever end support? (a la Windows)
I don't really know all the differences but phone OS upgrades need firmware updates as well, which will delay a lot of OS releases and cause old hardware to no longer have security support. I don't think the OS layer is completely separate like it is with desktop computers.
Laptop manufacturers do end support. The OS manufacturer isn't the one who typically controls what hardware vendors will support. In this case Google is both so people tend to conflate the two, but there are plenty of laptops that are no longer supported by the manufacturer.
Computers tend to have user serviceable parts and to be much more tinker able, so it easier to not notice that dell isn't supporting your laptop, you're doing it yourself.
Lenovo didn't update your laptop from windows 8 to Windows 11, you did. If the drivers went funky, you figured out how to fix them.
You can likewise side load your own OS onto the phone long after manufacturer support has ended.
Especially when you consider the lifespan of the battery. I’d like to see battery replacements get easier as well
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro will be supported with seven years of “OS, security, and Feature Drop updates,” meaning buyers should be able to use them until 2030 before their software starts to become outdated.
It’s also a longer support period than what basically all of Google’s mainstream Android competitors are currently offering.
Google has the freedom to offer this longer support period thanks to using its own Tensor processor in the Pixel 8 series, which gives it more control over the hardware that’s gone into the phone compared to most of its Android competitors.
Apple, another manufacturer that also produces its own processors for its phones, offers similarly lengthy support periods.
But that assumes Google is still using the same annual release cadence for Android seven years from now, even before we get into its somewhat flaky history of ongoing support for other services and initiatives.
However, Fairphone has no plans to sell its fifth-generation device in the US and is also only committed to releasing five major Android OS updates.
The original article contains 473 words, the summary contains 174 words. Saved 63%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
As a guy with a OnePlus 7 Pro that has been waiting, I am waiting to see how reparable it is, and this might be the one I have been waiting for, I mean, I have been eying pixel since I got the OP7pro
I'm guessing this is the result of Google using their own hardware.
Because, if they're using chips from other manufacturers, those chip manufacturers may not provide firmware updates or driver updates for extended periods
Also, it was very much needed. I hope they extend the support period for pixel 7 too
This is similar to Fairphone's situation. For the Fairphone 5 they just use an IoT chip with long term support from Qualcomm enabling them to give at least 5 years of feature updates and 8 years of security patches.
I love my pixel 5, but this is very appealing.
REAR
FINGERPRINT
SENSOR
I'm still on the 5 for that feature.
Why they got rid of it, nobody knows...
Are they going to bundle chrome as a system update like apple bundles safari, just so they can say they have longer update cycle?
You can disable auto update of chrome. And you can switch your default browser. And you can install a system wide adblocker. And you can get a chill pill.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. Chrome is already a system app on most android devices. Be it pixel, Samsung, oneplus, etc.
System apps can be updated through Google Play (or any other channel) just fine. The version bundled with the system is just the baseline you can always revert to.
During a system update, the system apps only get updated if you don't already have a newer or same version installed (no automatic downgrades).
It's not Android 4 where the browser actually had to be updated with a system update
Also they specifically said OS updates
Why are you like this?
I'll believe this in 7 years.
Every Pixel so far has been supported for as long or longer than it's official support window. This isn't a free chat app. It costs a lot and it comes with warranties and expectations for true spec sheets.
Also consider that the cost to do the maintenance updates has decreased due to extensive code refactoring and projects like Treble, Mainline, and the Generic Kernel Image. Major work in the platform has been focused on cutting these costs.
Maybe so, but those windows have never been close to this long, so I'll believe it when I see it.
And even beyond seven years free data harvesting too!
Tbh, it's Google. I can actually believe that they stick to their promises.
Ahem https://killedbygoogle.com/
Edit: my tone was tongue in cheek, I hope Google will keep its promise, but you know, they did us a Stadia after all.
You literally still have unlimited Google photos on a Pixel 1. They keep their promises for sure
/s..?