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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.
I don't want the Pixel launcher or assistant. All I thought about during the presentation was how to disable all the crap. I'll gladly keep using my N6 if it means I don't receive all the stupid speech/assistant crap.
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.
Except in the past those exclusive features usually had a reason behind them. Like the hardware didn't support the feature.
No, it was the same thing with the Nexus line as well.
Take the action bar library for instance. When it first came on the scene, it wasn't backwards compatible. The community created its own library for backwards-compatibility. Eventually, Google supported an official version of the backwards compatibility library and the community version was discontinued. There are dozens of other examples like this.
First Google comes up with a new feature, which it implements on the latest hardware and on its latest flagship device. Then later, the real work begins, both the open source community and Google try to bake an adaptation of that new feature into a compatibility library (that hopefully won't run like a dog on the older hardware).
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.
...To buy a Galaxy.
I hear you can get a smokin' deal on them now!
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Samsung has been at odds with Google for years over their Android mandates. Other manufacturers just didn't have the clout to fight like Samsung. This could be just the justification other OEM's need to take up the Tizen, Oxygen, or another OS banner and ween themselves off of Android.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
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...
Yep, my Nexus 4 was not fit for use. It barely worked, and actually did stop working after six months. I'm very hesitant to buy another Nexus phone. Though the Nexus 4 was made by LG, I found other LG phones aren't that bad. The G4 was a pleasure to use until the CPU died--I'm told the CPU dies on nearly all LG G4 handsets.
My conclusion from this admittedly small sample size: there is little Q/A on Nexus phones, and their design and build quality compares poorly to a phone whose production is entirely controlled by an established manufacturer.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.