Sorry Google, but five years of Pixel 6 security ups won't be good enough

[admin]

Google Pixel 6 should come with at least five years of full Android ups, not just security fixes.

Sorry Google, but five years of Pixel 6 security ups won't be good enough : Read more

 

[LouisDi]

What do you suppose the overlap between people that care about updates and those that keep their phones five years is? I can tell you in my experience, that audience is very small. I regularly support customers that have 7 year old phones running Android 4.4 and only now care because certain apps have stopped working. On the other side are the customers who care about the updates and ask the day they're released, for their 1 year old phones.

Your piece typifies those written by most tech writers, it makes the assumption that those that write this stuff and those that read it are somehow typical consumers when that's the farthest possible from the truth as the average consumer doesn't know what version of Android their phone runs, doesn't know when they last received a security patch and has never heard of Tom's guide.

 

[guardianali]

This "article" is all kinds of messed up and short sighted.
Making it seem like cause Apple supports 6 years of updates and android doesnt, android is doing bad.

Fact is that the vast vast vast majority of Iphone users are the sheep that upgrade their phones yearly...two max. Its a vanity and status thing. Why do you think they sell so many phones each year. Most of the sales arent growth...its old users buying new phones.

So put it in that context...Android offers 3 years (5 for pixel) of upgrades and patches...Apple users upgrade annually.
And BTW..the only reason apple offers 6 years isnt altruistic. Their OS gets fatter and more bloated each year...hence faster and faster "bionic chips". They entice earlier phones to upgrade cause then their performance tanks and gets sluggish, they are forced to upgrade. Its about money...not being nice.

 

[DaytonaB675]

Is it just me or is Tom's guide like generally whiney and negative. Nothing is good enough nothing is right and there has always to be more and more. Are you kidding? Who's better? Ridiculous. Gladly the success of the device ain't depending on this authors here.

 

[lexter99]

Another iOS reviewer not registering a fundamental difference between iOS and Android.
Virtually everything in Android has long been unbundled from the OS, including most core functionality, Play Services framework, networking overlay functions, AI, system apps etc. Nothing has been unbundled from iOS, it's monolithic, right down to core user apps. That's fine, but it means you have to have a complete iOS update just to update trivial functionality. Which is why their software lifecycle isn't agile. All components of an Android phone get independent updates often every month via simple app updates, no flashing/rebooting required. Vastly less impacting on the user. Also Pixel gets monthly security updates. The Android/Play frameworks are updated in the same way.

Consequently, virtually the only thing that isn't updated this way is the Android UI.

A Pixel phone, that has 5 years of security updates is functionally indistinguishable from an iPhone that has 5 years of full updates.

That's such a fundamental fact and so material to to entire topic of your article, that to not even passingly mention it eliminates any value in your article and tags you as either incompetent to write on this topic, or simply an Apple shill

 

[gdbjr]

Another iOS reviewer not registering a fundamental difference between iOS and Android.
Virtually everything in Android has long been unbundled from the OS, including most core functionality, Play Services framework, networking overlay functions, AI, system apps etc. Nothing has been unbundled from iOS, it's monolithic, right down to core user apps. That's fine, but it means you have to have a complete iOS update just to update trivial functionality. Which is why their software lifecycle isn't agile. All components of an Android phone get independent updates often every month via simple app updates, no flashing/rebooting required. Vastly less impacting on the user. Also Pixel gets monthly security updates. The Android/Play frameworks are updated in the same way.

Consequently, virtually the only thing that isn't updated this way is the Android UI.

A Pixel phone, that has 5 years of security updates is functionally indistinguishable from an iPhone that has 5 years of full updates.

That's such a fundamental fact and so material to to entire topic of your article, that to not even passingly mention it eliminates any value in your article and tags you as either incompetent to write on this topic, or simply an Apple shill

So you are saying it is perfectly fine for a flagship android phone that ships with Android 12 and never gets updated past that version is fine?

 

[misc]

Five years would be great, and four is a step in the right direction. They also need to make battery replacement available for a reasonable price (say £50) and from a reputable service centre. That's the one Apple benefit I'd like to see them copy.