The Google Pixel 8 is official with 7 years of updates

kate@lemmy.uhhoh.com to Technology@lemmy.world – 186 points –
The Google Pixel 8 is official with 7 years of updates
arstechnica.com
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Place your bets! What will be the Pixel 8's glaring release flaw?

Still unable to call 911

I absolutely love the irony of this being a known issue, when my Pixel 3 had the exciting issue of occasionally getting stuck in a boot loop, and every loop, it'd call 911.

Great fun staying up till 3am in order to hang up on 911 hundreds of times until the battery ran out.

I still don't like the ridiculously big quick toggle icons and the fact that wifi is hidden behind a second layer of quick toggles.

Also I'm not sure about the warranty process, that's always been their weak spot

I feel like it’s going to be the 7 year commitment. I don’t think they’ll keep it. They’ll find a way to rephrase and reframe and abandon the 7 year updates like they do so many of their announced plans.

Only security updates after 4 years. I'm betting. We won't see Android 20 on this.

Which actually might be okay.

The new features that I give a shit about have mostly plateaued now. I don't care about new releases. As long as "what I bought keeps working and some cunt next to me on a laptop can't randomly hack my phone" remains in effect I legitimately might not care.

Phones just do the same stuff now, so updates don't really matter beyond security. That's a problem for the pixel 8 too.. I've got a 7a and it's not really got anything my 5 didn't have, other than being bigger and heavier. So I'm not even bothered by the 8.

  1. Too expensive, won't sell
  2. The 8 has too few features compared to the pro. Might as well get a 7pro on discount
  3. Overheating
  4. Won't get 7 years of updates

Battery heating or quick drain issue

Their tizen chips aren't good if you want to game. That'll be about it compared to other high end phones. No SD slot, jack, or swappable battery.

Tizen Tensor

For those who don't know: tizen is Samsung's operating system which they used on phones and watches previously and still use on TVs.

Yeah that was the main reason why I didn't get a Pixel when I was going to change my old phone. I don't game so often but when I do I want to not be slowed down....

Pixel 3 owner here. I'm done with google after this phone dies.

Pixel 7 owner here. I'm very happy with my phone and will gladly get a new pixel when this one dies.

Likewise. The 7 has been the best phone I've ever owned.

My one and only complaint with the 7 pro is the damn finger print reader. I miss the one on the back from my 5 and if you don't have your thumb RIGHT over the right spot on the screen it's easy to get blinded by the light if you are in a dark room. Outside that, love the phone.

Eh, it's been mostly fine, but yes, the fingerprint reader is literally worse than completely useless.

6 pro here and I say the same. Best phone I've had since my s7 active. Everything between that and this was garbage. Well, I did like my lg g8 thinq but it had an unplanned swimming incident. I'm going to get a pixel as my next assuming graphene OS is still able to be loaded.

I'm not happy at all with it, and I miss my P2XL and P4XL everyday because the face unlock and fingerprint sensor on my Pixel 7 is truly dogshit. It pisses me off multiple times a day

Same. Left Oneplus after the 8T (before Oneplus 1, 3 and 6) for a pixel 7. No regret whatsoever.

when this one dies.

Which is a problem for the phone manufacturers.. because everyone's saying that now. Phones all do what we need them to do already, there are no new killer features.

Pixel 6 owner here, I'm probably sticking with pixels forever and will flash them with real Linux when that's more developed, probably like 10 years away

I just got a 3a XL explicitly for flashing Mobian on it... It's extremely rough still, but hey, at least it seems to be relatively stable now.

Hopefully the work Purism puts into Phosh and the GNOME ecosystem pays off.

I got burned on a pixel device and I’ll never go back. In my case the phone was fine but Google botched an update and it took a year to really sort out. I stopped using the phone after two months of near unusable phone functions like answering a call. Much later I tried it again and it worked fine.

So they might do updates for a while but are they shit updates?

Why?

Because the phone is a giant spyware device and Google isn't trustworthy.

I'm curious what phone you're planning to get that isn't a giant spyware device?

I love my p6pro and agree with the second sentiment. I also just think literally every company is spying on me at all times and I'd drive myself mad trying to stop them so why not just lean into it 🤷‍♀️ at least I have good qol in the meantime

I've had a 2XL and a 4a. Both have been great. I'm debating whether to hold out for an 8 or save a few bucks like I did with the 4a and get a used 7 or something.

The upgrades look pretty good for anyone on a 5 or older. Software features were tempting but my 6 Pro gets one more Android update next year so I can probably build off for another couple of years unless my battery craps out sooner.

Hope 7 years of updates becomes the industry standard.

The Pixel 5 was perfect imo. Small size and reasonable battery.

I recently replaced the battery and also flashed LineageOS. Just like new 😁

I replaced the battery on my 5 and it was just like new.. still is.. except it no longer gets security updates, which sucks otherwise it's be my daily driver today.

Yep.

I put my 6pro In the comparison and it's the same or slightly better in a couple of cases.

Will hold off for the 9

That's a really great start with the updates IMO, second only to Fairphone.

I'm personally a little bit skeptical, seeing how Google has a habit of inviting the grim reaper to dine with its products... but hopefully they follow through allowing Pixel owners to enjoy 7 years of OS and security upgrades 👌

They've been good on update promises, even going beyond a couple times

Last year the pixel 7 was $640 unlocked. My pixel 6 trade-in was $490. $100 difference to trade in, of course I did.

This year Pixel 8 is $699. And they are offering $340 for my pixel 7. . 😑

I think that deal was part of a black Friday promotional so it may still happen.

If that's the case. I'll wait. I already have the Pixel 6 A-pods that work just fine. Don't need the pre-order pixel pods.

Edit: I looked at my orders. It was a October 9. Right after it came out. So not black Friday.

Same here.

Hoping they'll offer a better discount + trade in deal later on, maybe Black Friday? Otherwise I may end up skipping the Pixel 8.

TBH my Pixel 7 still works great so it's not a big deal sticking with it but now that I cracked the exterior a nice trade in discount could convince me to upgrade :D

Ya my 7 works just fine. Doesn't seem like a massive upgrade. It would of been nice if they offered at least $490 for the 7 at the very least. Mine is in mint condition, been in a case. No cracks or scratches.

OK, I like the comment here wondering about the thermometer's range: "things with an interesting temperature are generally uncomfortable to hold your hand next to. I'm sure there will be at least one support call because someone tries to measure fire from 1 inch away."

Owned my current Pixel 4 since new, but I think it's time I actually upgrade. Been waiting for the 8 for a while, and as long as I can throw GrapheneOS onto it, I'll be happy to retire the 4. It's been an awesome phone.

What if the Pixel 9 comes out next year and has 8 years of updates? Should I switch to that?

Yeah, that's not going to be getting my money anytime soon. I'm still annoyed that my 6 pro overheats if I try to shoot more than around 3 picoseconds of video (with the video quality being one of the main reasons I bought it). Removing the case I have it in barely helps at all and neither has switching various encoding, etc.