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Android P Drops Support For Nexus Phones, Pixel Tablet (theverge.com)
Google has launched the first developer preview of Android P, the company's new mobile operating system that brings new features and improvements over Android Oreo. Unfortunately, developers will only have a small set of blessed hardware to choose from with Android P: the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 2 XL. Google's Nexus smartphones and Pixel C tablet will not get Android P when it's fully released. The Verge reports: Eventually, Android P will ship on new phones from other manufacturers, along with the handful of handsets that third-parties bother to update, but there are a couple Android mainstays that won't get to enjoy this marvelous future: Google's Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P phones, and the oft-forgotten Pixel C tablet. As Ars Technica confirmed with Google, those devices won't be getting Android P when it's released fully. Also, as Android Police notes, there's no Developer Preview image for the Nexus Player, which came out in 2014, so it might be done getting updates as well. It's 2018, and we're beyond the two years of major OS update support these devices were promised, so this isn't hugely surprising. All three devices will continue to get monthly security updates through at least November of this year, but they'll remain stuck on Android 8.1 for an underlying OS as far as official Google updates go.
Seriously. I bought my wife a Nexus 9 tablet (2015) and 5X phone (2016), with "now you're having the Google experience." (And a little under-my-breath "better you than me," but also with the understanding that at least it's pretty mainstream and "friendly" compared to how I do things. This was an attempt to provide a wife-friendly platform, dammit!)
She's been generally pleased with the devices, but the Nexus tablet has already stopped getting updates. One of the reasons I bought this stuff, is that I thought it'd keep getting updates for a reasonable amount of time!
In hindsight, she might have been better off with .. holy fuck I can't believe I'm saying this .. Samsung.
I learned two lessons:
1) Never buy hardware from Google. They're untrustworthy and do not stand behind their products. Really, they don't. (Anyone care to cite a counter-example?) A shame, too, since they've otherwise been pretty good devices.
2) Don't buy high-end Android stuff. $250 is about the maximum you should ever spend on either a phone or a tablet. Just get mid-range, use it for 3-5 years, toss it, and repeat.
You think I'll ever touch your "Pixel" shit? Only if I'm a stupid person, incapable of learning. Google, you fucked up.
In hindsight, she might have been better off with .. holy fuck I can't believe I'm saying this .. Samsung.
You can't think of some OTHER unmentionable name she REALLY would have been better off with? One that actually does get support for years? One that is actually serious about security so you don't have to play sysadmin with your wife's devices?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Comparing to Apple's stuff doesn't make sense. The real competition is everyone else.
If someone needs Apple, then they have to have Apple and there's no point in comparing features and prices, because "must be Apple" is the one and only bullet point that matters. And if they don't need Apple, then Apple probably doesn't even make the top ten choices. So forget about them.
If you wanna talk competition, you've got Samsung, Asus, LG, etc all the way down to the cheapest Chinese junk (which is sometimes actually pretty good). And Google's disappointing non-committment to fucking NEXUS devices -- their own stuff!! -- is a huge let-down. Nexus devices are not too obscure for your new OS to have drivers, assholes.
Google's behavior on this is inexcusable. They've gotten some money from me, but that won't ever happen again. Nexus was their reputation, and they squandered it.
I was quite happy with my 32-bit iPhone 5 for five years until the App Store recently went 64-bit only. I was on the latest OS for those five years too. It did not feel sluggish at all to me. There were a few new features like ad block that worked only on 64-bit devices, but my old device was supported for a long time by Apple. Spending a little more every four to five years is better than buying cheap every two years IMHO.
They've stopped supporting my Nexus tablet, and now my wife's Nexus phone.
And since I refuse to run a proprietary version of Android with someone's branded shit in it (looking at you, Samsung) ... then I'm afraid Android is pretty much dead to me. Because it comes down to proprietary and obsolete, or Nexus and obsolete.
The reason I bought these Nexus devices is because I expected to get extended support, and a pure build of Android. I realize there was no promise of forever, but this isn't nearly long enough for hardware which works just fine.
Fuck you, Google. If this is the length we get support for our Nexus devices, why the fuck would I buy another one?
Android has become far too much of a moving target, and the market is way too fragmented as every company turns it into a shitty platform to hawk their own crap. Android was a nice idea, but it's just not holding up to its promise. Owning an Android tablet is pretty much pointless to me now, so I'm not replacing mine, just switching back to an iPad.
If Google won't support the Nexus devices, then the entire Android ecosystem is pointless. Every device maker has their own store, their own wallet, and their own crap I have no fucking interest in .. so fuck it, I'm over Android.
I'm not wasting more money on another Android device. Nexus were the only Android devices which made any sense, and if they're abandoning them, then Android has lost all value to me.