Google says it’ll support Pixel 8 series with seven years of Android updates
www.theverge.com
Two seven-year smartphones.

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

  • doktorseven@lemmy.worldEnglish
    242·
    1 year ago

    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?

    • Prethoryn Overmind@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      1 year ago

      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.

        • vervein@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          I’m no expert but Samsung chip is called exynos. Mali is GPU related and mtk is mediatek? A taiwanese company.

    • Toes♀@ani.socialEnglish
      11·
      1 year 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.

    • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      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…