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Pixel 8 to have seven years of Android updates
(www.theverge.com)
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.
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Just waiting for the EU mandate for replaceable batteries to kick in and we are golden
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!
battery swap helps a lot with sluggish phones if a factory reset doesnt help, phones will supposedly throttle down to save battery when it starts getting bad
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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.
Especially frustrating when Samsung already built phones with replaceable batteries AND water resistance. (The IP rating was lower though)
I hope there is a high rating limit, so they can't just add "survises a droplet" as reason to not have a replaceable battery.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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)
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Especially when you consider the lifespan of the battery. I’d like to see battery replacements get easier as well
Hopefully Google doesn't end up cancelling Pixels before the seven are up!
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Lol, I don't believe Google for a second on this kind of shit
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
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this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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