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Android 7.1 Nougat's Changelog Reveals Pixel-Exclusive Features Not Available To Nexus Devices (bgr.com)
With the launch of the Google Pixel and Pixel XL yesterday, Google failed to mention the fact that vanilla Android is dead. The Pixel and Pixel XL run Android 7.1 Nougat, custom software made solely for the new Pixel devices and not for past Nexus smartphones. A changelog for Android 7.1 reveals that Nexus smartphones and tablets will not get Pixel-specific features. They won't get the Pixel Launcher or Google Assistant. BGR reports: Google is trying to set the Pixels apart by giving them special features, and it's not like that's an irrational business decision. But the Pixels might change the way Android fans buy devices. Before, you could go for Nexus to get the hottest Android features as soon as Google released Android updates, or you could buy anything else and hope for speedy software upgrade. Now, it seems that you'll have to buy Pixel to get a full Android experience as Google envisions it, or get anything else and never experience Android in its full glory. Some of the Pixel product-specific features, as mentioned in the changelog found by Android Police, include: Pixel Launcher, Google Assistant, unlimited original quality photo/video backup to Google Photos, phone/chat support, and various cosmetic changes.
However, base features like Assistant piss me off. I like vanilla android with a common stock set of features. Making elite features is more of an Apple like move.
Doing it for what will amount to such a small fraction of Alphabets bottom line borders on ridiculous. I am very seriously torn between lust for the new device and disgust. Considering moving elsewhere, but where? Samsung I despise, as well as apple. HTC and LG are just okay, but falling off the update treadmill leaves me highly concerned.
Silence is a state of mime.
Their business is all about collecting as much data as possible to 1) make more money with targeted ads and 2) provide more useful data-driven features to customers to keep them coming back to see more ads. Having new search features hat only work on their phones doesn't fit this model.
It's true today that old Nexus phones also don't get upgrades to the most recent Android versions -- only recent ones do. So the real question is: will future generations of Android only target newer versions of Pixel, or will buying a Pixel guarantee some number of Android updates?
Also, apps like Google's Assistant are not core operating system features. The worrisome sign would be not getting improvements to the underlying OS (such as to battery life or graphics performance), or even worse API incompatibilities for app developers.
Google's "flagship" devices have been missing an SD card slot since day one. Google wants all user date migrated to the cloud where they can sift through it.
So Nexus or Pixel. It doesn't really matter. They're both irrelevant to Android users serious about the data on their devices.
While I understand that the initial release makes the Nexus 5 closer to 3 years, the fact is that my first Nexus 5 was damaged and the second I purchased just before the 5x was out. What I find frustrating about this is that most people think it's just OK that we just scrap 2 year old phones if we want the latest features. It's not as if the hardware can't support most if not all the features.
Nexus was the Google line and today it's Pixel. In two years there will be another. It just boggles my mind how we accept that that it's OK just to scrap this technology. Don't tell me that they are recycled. That has been shown to be a lie. Most of the parts just go to a scrap heap in some third world country and we feel just great about doing our part.
Apple is doing the same and now it's doing it with the Macs. It's not that older hardware can't support it since they are selling slower systems today than some that they will no longer support. The fact is there is no reason for this, other than to push new product.
Not that most people care anyways it's not going into their back yards.
DRM? No thanks, I'll just get it somewhere else...