this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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Android

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Now this is nice. Hopefully 3rd party manufacturers can also provide a longer life span for the device.

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[–] [email protected] 125 points 11 months ago (16 children)

I'll believe this in 7 years.

[–] [email protected] 61 points 11 months ago (5 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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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[–] [email protected] 52 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

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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[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Annnnnnnnnnnd Grapheneos....

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Maybe they can reach 10 years now?

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)

inb4 google cancels pixels

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

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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[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

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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[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (4 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

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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[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (3 children)

This will be a great phone to flash custom roms or even Linux.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (4 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

the only thing I need is a samsung dex replacement

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (3 children)

7 years honestly seems excessive but this is a good trend I suppose

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (3 children)

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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[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago

Especially when you consider the lifespan of the battery. I’d like to see battery replacements get easier as well

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Hopefully Google doesn't end up cancelling Pixels before the seven are up!

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

Lol, I don't believe Google for a second on this kind of shit

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro will be supported with seven years of β€œOS, 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!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

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.

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