Pixel phones get security updates for at least 3 years from when the device first became available on the Google Store, or at least 18 months from when the Google Store last sold the device, whichever is longer.
For Apple, updates often mean some subset of the full operating system updates, or a crippled version.
Whereas Google updates tend to be all of nothing - meaning if your phone does get the update, it gets all of the features of that particular version.
This seems to have changed somewhat with moving a lot of the stuff to Play Service (and now obviously with Project Treble), so you get the best of both world (in theory)...
Eh? Aren't you swapping something here? On Apple you get OS updates with nearly all features for at least 5 years, of course they can't create a NFC device into a phone that doesn't ship with one... I would love to see _any_ Android phone with support for 5 years, that does not come from google directly. it would be a no brainer if something exists in the 200-300€ range. because I don't care which phone I have, it just needs to be long liveable and have a price below 400€. currently I use used iPhones, which I get relativly cheap.
In reality, what we see is a bunch of features bundled together into a single update. If one of those features is NFC functionality, iOS phones will get that update minus NFC (and any other features their hardware doesn't support), while Android phones often just won't get that update at all if any of the features (e.g. NFC) aren't supported by the hardware. This also explains, in a basic sense, why iOS devices get updates for longer periods, while Android devices "fall off" or aren't promised updates for as long.
There's, of course, pros and cons to each of these update strategies, as many times it becomes "mandatory" to update (for security updates, to get maintenance/support, to get some other necessary features, etc), and iOS-style updates have historically been too much for device memory/processing/resources to handle (effectively making the phone so slow you're required to buy a new one[1]), while Androids not getting the update at all also requires you to buy a new one.
Neither approach is foolproof, but I think that's what he's referring to by "Google updates tend to be all or nothing" and "Apple updates often mean some subset of the full operating system updates, or a crippled version".
[1] There's enough resources out there that no single one tells the whole story, but there's plenty at https://www.google.me/search?q=ios+update+made+phone+unusabl... and at least one previous class action lawsuit over iOS updates rendering phones "inoperably slow".
A bit harsh, no? If new software requires hardware, why should that be considered "crippled"?
I find amazing that my 2013 iPhone5 can play games (Hearthstone) that some 2015/2016 Androids can't.
Because I do not own that hardware, so for me uses the software is effectively crippled. I don't care why, only the outcome matters.
I wouldnt even mind not getting new features so much, but this also effectively means that my security updates are tied to new hardware; how is that acceptable?
Not getting the latest just seems lazy and makes me want a flip phone that has good audible support. All of the crap that is getting added is just obnoxious and does little to help me use my phone.
Bonus points if anyone can tell me why enabling bluetooth will make it so my phone can't charge to 100% anymore.
I'm blaming Bluetooth because it has been going to full charge fine for a few weeks and I turned Bluetooth back on to connect some headphones and the pattern repeated.
Also, they stopped updating my Nexus 4 long time ago, something that Apple does not with their devices.
Hence, I am not "succumbing to Google marketing" again. I have now updated to a Moto, which used to be a Google company. Let's see how long it takes to update...
I really don't understand why they so commonly fail to bring best Android devices to markets with most Android penetration - they're practically giving the market share away to Apple's aggressive price cuts lately.
This is why most android high end devices are really tiny market share.
They can't compete with Apple-- AT VOLUME. Apple's supply chain is where they are hugely competitive. This goes for Samsung etc.
So on android, genuinely high end phones are prestige items to make android look good, but the mass of android phones are low end cheap phones that can easily be mass produced.
Apple has been known to buy 10,000 prototype modeling machines and put them into production because they were the only ones on the market that could do a particularly manufacturing step that was needed for that model... google is never going to do that.
In fact, I don't think google has ever made any phones (excluding Motorola) themselves-- all the Pixels are rebrands of other makers devices.
However, it should be mentioned that the pixel was sold in even less countries than the previous generation ..
Google really need to step up its game.
I am not holding my breath though
10 years ago was the original iPhone. How much of a money sink would it have been for Apple to support the original iPhone until now?
What will really kill this is lack of user servicable batteries.
Obviously, OEMs don't want this trend to continue.
But sure I am going far with 10 years.. and phones would need serviceable batteries to last that long.
[0]: http://images.computerhistory.org/storageengine/1966_Ferrite...
And in ten years that iPhone has not changed much, except that the CPU/GPU rapidly caught up to current standards. The only other dealbreaker toward using it today is 3G support, and that's a 9 year old feature. If the iPhone 3G had the same relative performance to 2008 desktops as the current iPhone has to 2017 desktops, it would probably still be viable.
Maybe 10 years is a bit too high, but we're talking about high end phones here. I'd be surprised if the actual hardware wasn't acceptable 7 years down the line.
- iPhone 4s was supported from iOS 5 to 9.
- iPhone 5 receives iOS 10 updates, but will be out for 11, so iOS 6 to iOS 10.
- iPhone 5s will receive iOS 11. That makes iOS 7 to 11.
Despite that, it's been overwhelmingly the best phone I've had: cheap even unlocked, stable, no bloatware, waterproof.
A Nexus 4 was a 2012 phone with 2GB ram, and 8GB storage (entry model) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_4
An iPhone 5 is the comparable year device. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_5 It had entry specs of only 1GB of RAM, but 16GB of storage. The apps would also be native binaries instead of 'java' apps, meaning less storage was needed.
IMO what killed support on the older Nexus phones was /mostly/ the insufficient entry level storage.
This is provably false. The Nexus 6 plenty of storage space (32GB or 64GB) and does not get Oreo. Google's Nexus policy is to provide security updates for 3 years (or 18 months after the device stops selling, whichever is longer):
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/01/google_eol_for_nexu...
Also, the average Android app size is smaller:
https://sweetpricing.com/blog/2017/02/average-app-file-size/
Google chooses not to with AOSP past a timeframe.
I can't imagine them putting in development resources when they could just sell you a new phone.
I am on OnePlus2 and still using version 6 because maintainers do not give a crap about 2 year old phone and it will never get updated at this point.
Flagship my ass.
This is really not a secret at this time anymore and should be taken into account when you succumb to Samsung marketing.
Everybody else will be probably 4-6 months late.