Mobile Phone Thread S2

[Nu-Eclipse]

Wow, what was it previously? 7 is very impressive.

It is impressive, but not that impressive when you realise that Apple have been doing that for iOS devices for years - my iPhone 6s (purchased in 2015) only had software support for it ended last year with the latest iOS update of that time.

Google's excuse for not offering longer support with past Pixel devices - an excuse used by the majority of Android OEMs - was that Qualcomm charged too much money to provide additional years of support for their Snapdragon processors. Google have no such excuse once they moved to using the Tensor processor from Pixel 6 onwards. Google have also recently moved to extend support for Chrome OS on Chromebooks in a similar fashion.

[Nu-Eclipse]

On the 7 it's three years of major OS upgrades and "at least" five years of security updates.

Android 15 next year will be the final OS update that Pixel 6 and 6 Pro users are scheduled to get.

That is disgraceful.

Really and truly, Google should be bringing Pixel 6/6 Pro/6a, Pixel 7/7 Pro/7a and the Pixel Fold in line with Pixel 8/8 Pro and offering 7 years of full support for all of those devices too - they literally have no excuse not to do this now and it would be a huge consumer win for them.

[MartyG]

It's really not been an issue for me tbh, my upgrade cadence is faster than the Android OS release one - it's not as if Google is hiding this fact away, so the consumer can purchase based on that knowledge.

Continuously upgrading the OS isn't always a net benefit anyway - you're stuck with the same hardware limits of those phones which potentially means a slower-running phone as RAM and space requirements are squeezed - a prime example of this was the final Android release on the Nexus 7 tablet - I ended up rolling that back as it just wasn't up to the task.

My Pixel XL is running Android 12 through other means.

[Nu-Eclipse]

It's really not been an issue for me tbh, my upgrade cadence is faster than the Android OS release one - it's not as if Google is hiding this fact away, so the consumer can purchase based on that knowledge.

Continuously upgrading the OS isn't always a net benefit anyway - you're stuck with the same hardware limits of those phones which potentially means a slower-running phone as RAM and space requirements are squeezed - a prime example of this was the final Android release on the Nexus 7 tablet - I ended up rolling that back as it just wasn't up to the task.

My Pixel XL is running Android 12 through other means.

It may not be an issue for you and that's fine, but it would still be a big customer service win for people who really don't want to upgrade their hardware every so often, especially in this current climate.

Like I said, there's no real excuse for Google to not do this and it's been shown to be disingenuous bullsh1t when they used to insist that they couldn't - turns out that they could do this all along.

I also don't buy the net benefit of OS upgrade argument, either. What the hell are Google doing if they're not working to make the OS that they created more efficient and less resource-intensive? Apple seem to be able to improve iOS in that way but Google cannot with Android? Really??

Lastly, custom ROMs have improved significantly but there are still security issues with them. Not every Android user wants to go down that route and in all honesty they shouldn't have to.

[MartyG]

A lot of the systems in Android/Pixel are starting to become more reliant on advanced features of the Tensor chips, particularly the AI cores - it's stuff like this that means upgrading the OS doesn't really make a lot of sense as you're not going to get the full benefits anyway. The security updates are way more important than continued OS upgrades.

Would it be nice - of course it would, but does it impact that many people in a detrimental way? I suspect probably not given how upgrades are pushed on 24/36 month contracts, and if that's something you do want, well you have the option of going with an iPhone (or now a Pixel 8).

[Nu-Eclipse]

A lot of the systems in Android/Pixel are starting to become more reliant on advanced features of the Tensor chips, particularly the AI cores - it's stuff like this that means upgrading the OS doesn't really make a lot of sense as you're not going to get the full benefits anyway. The security updates are way more important than continued OS upgrades.

Would it be nice - of course it would, but does it impact that many people in a detrimental way? I suspect probably not given how upgrades are pushed on 24/36 month contracts, and if that's something you do want, well you have the option of going with an iPhone (or now a Pixel 8).

We'll have to agree to disagree.

I do feel they are important, and Google and the other Android OEMs obviously feel it is important too because they've made more of an effort to stop Android fragmentation across devices when it used to be rampant.

Bottom line is that Google used to lie for years about not being able to provide it. They've now just shown that they could always do it but wilfully chose not to.

[MartyG]

Or that the new Tensor G3 makes it more viable to do.

The CMA research on the Consumer purchasing behaviour in the UK smartphone market shows that it's just not important to most users - and as Google makes up just 2% of the smart phone market, where only 4% of the entire market keeps their phone for more than 4 years, the costs involved really don't make a lot of business sense; as a software engineer you don't want the technical debt of supporting multiple devices if you don't need to.

[wakka]

Only 4% of people keep their phone more than four years?! ****ing hell. There is hardly a fag paper between the phones of 2020 and the ones of 2023.

[Deuteros]

I've just upgraded from a Nexus 4 I bought -- lightly used from this very forum -- in May of 2014! Most people would have changed phones at least twice during that time.

I'll admit, I should have retired it sooner but I'm the kind of person that takes very good care of things and hates being wasteful.

I can't imagine my current Pixel 6A lasting that long.

By the way, [MENTION=42]MartyG[/MENTION], if I'm not mistaken I bought that Nexus 7 from you and it's still going strong!

[CMcK]

Only 4% of people keep their phone more than four years?! ****ing hell. There is hardly a fag paper between the phones of 2020 and the ones of 2023.

It’s probably tied to people having their handset and network provision on the one contract.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Or that the new Tensor G3 makes it more viable to do.

Nope. That's pretty much marketing on Google's part.

Benchmark tests have already shown the latest and greatest Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs outperform Tensor G2 (basically the much-maligned Samsung Exynos in Google disguise) for AI function and machine learning, so I strongly doubt that Tensor G3 is a significant improvement on that.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Updated standard iPad, iPad Air and iPad Mini models rumoured to be announced by Apple this week.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/15/23917926/apple-ipad-air-mini-tablet-m2-a16-bionic-rumor

[Nu-Eclipse]

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admits that canning Windows Phone/Windows Mobile was a bad move.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/24/23930478/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-mobile-windows-phone

[charlesr]

I think it's time to bring back the ngage. Maybe double sided.

[Anpanman]

Loved my Windows phone, gutted when the plug was pulled.