5 ms·

I doubt many people will buy a $649 phone with run of the mill specs and only 18 months of updates even if it was made by Google (whatever that means). Google

I doubt many people will buy a $649 phone with run of the mill specs and only 18 months of updates even if it was made by Google (whatever that means). Google might not remember but nobody bought the Chromebook Pixel or the Pixel C.

hammock 10y ago
All(?) of the top-end Androids in the Verizon store are priced at $650 and above.
- pjmlp 10y ago
  In countries where we have the joy of buying phones without contracts, the majority of the customer, doesn't go above the 300€ line, when paying the full price out of their pockets.
  - JustUhThought 10y ago
    Cause people be sane.
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    Verizon has at least broken the phone payments out, so a customer can compare the upfront price and a purchase contract. I guess the others have also. Their advertising is still ridiculously misleading. They say the "Verizon Plan" starts at $35 a month, but that's before activating a device (which is $10 for a tablet and $15 for a phone) and taxes/fees. Cheapest phone is going to be ~$55 per month, it's ridiculous that they emphasize the $35 in their advertising.
  - kbenson 10y ago
    The last few years I've not been offered a contract, but the ability to finance the phone. An inversion of the prior contract model, it's more what you expect. There are separate fees for the service, and for the monthly payment for the phone. After X number of months (choosable on purchase, affects per-month phone payment), the phone is paid off and is no longer part of the bill. It's much more straightforward and easy to reason about, and you don't have to immediately try to upgrade when your contract is up so you don't feel like you're paying for more than you're getting.
    - pjmlp 10y ago
      That is the old model we had with pre-paid in Portugal back when mobile phones were introduced, however they were locked to the provider and it was a fight to get them unlocked at the end of the leasing time. Eventually our version of FCC got around making it easy to complain if an operator would make someone's life hard regarding unlocking.
  - tamana 10y ago
    That's great, but they arent buying top-end phones then, and they have lots of optona, so new premium phone announcements aren't interesting.
- blinkingled 10y ago
  That's what people buy - whatever is in the carrier store and whatever they see on TV ads. Besides isn't there a monthly plan most carriers offer? I mean with Project Fi the Pixel phones could be a equally attractive deal for Regular Joe but they would still have to advertise it heavily and offer better value through extended updates.
viraptor 10y ago
Why 18? Nexus line had 3 years of support and still continues to receive security updates after that.
- SCdF 10y ago
  Where do you get that three years of support figure from? The only official numbers I've ever heard was 18 months, which lines up roughly with my experience. I have a N5, which came out (just) less than three years ago, and it is not getting Nougat, which was released a few weeks ago. The last major update it got was around a year ago. AFAICT with Google you're guaranteed to get the next OS version, if you're lucky you'll get the next next one (like N5 did with MM), but that's it. Which, compared to iOS, feels pretty stingy.
  - mkozlows 10y ago
    Two years of major-release support, and three years of security support: http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/08/05/google-announces-new-update-policy-for-nexus-devices-including-monthly-security-patches-for-3-years-and-major-otas-for-2-years-from-release/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/08/05/google-announces-new...
    - SCdF 10y ago
      Right, so still pretty bad compared to iOS: iOS10 just came out and supports the iPhone 5, which was released 4 years ago. I presume if they had some massive security issue they'd backport it to versions of iOS older than 10. (I am no iOS fanboy, but honestly I'm sick of the android expectation of getting a new phone every 2 years, and they seem to be the only ones who are even pretending to give a shit with their old phone support. They still don't give as many shits as I'd like, but I cannot find their better).
      - mkozlows 10y ago
        Don't look at it from the time the phone started being sold, look at it from the time the phone stopped being sold. Android and iOS are very comparable then. The difference is that Apple keeps selling old models (at high prices) for three years.

hammock 10y ago

All(?) of the top-end Androids in the Verizon store are priced at $650 and above.

pjmlp 10y ago
In countries where we have the joy of buying phones without contracts, the majority of the customer, doesn't go above the 300€ line, when paying the full price out of their pockets.
- JustUhThought 10y ago
  Cause people be sane.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  Verizon has at least broken the phone payments out, so a customer can compare the upfront price and a purchase contract. I guess the others have also. Their advertising is still ridiculously misleading. They say the "Verizon Plan" starts at $35 a month, but that's before activating a device (which is $10 for a tablet and $15 for a phone) and taxes/fees. Cheapest phone is going to be ~$55 per month, it's ridiculous that they emphasize the $35 in their advertising.
- kbenson 10y ago
  The last few years I've not been offered a contract, but the ability to finance the phone. An inversion of the prior contract model, it's more what you expect. There are separate fees for the service, and for the monthly payment for the phone. After X number of months (choosable on purchase, affects per-month phone payment), the phone is paid off and is no longer part of the bill. It's much more straightforward and easy to reason about, and you don't have to immediately try to upgrade when your contract is up so you don't feel like you're paying for more than you're getting.
  - pjmlp 10y ago
    That is the old model we had with pre-paid in Portugal back when mobile phones were introduced, however they were locked to the provider and it was a fight to get them unlocked at the end of the leasing time. Eventually our version of FCC got around making it easy to complain if an operator would make someone's life hard regarding unlocking.
- tamana 10y ago
  That's great, but they arent buying top-end phones then, and they have lots of optona, so new premium phone announcements aren't interesting.
blinkingled 10y ago
That's what people buy - whatever is in the carrier store and whatever they see on TV ads. Besides isn't there a monthly plan most carriers offer? I mean with Project Fi the Pixel phones could be a equally attractive deal for Regular Joe but they would still have to advertise it heavily and offer better value through extended updates.

viraptor 10y ago

Why 18? Nexus line had 3 years of support and still continues to receive security updates after that.

SCdF 10y ago
Where do you get that three years of support figure from? The only official numbers I've ever heard was 18 months, which lines up roughly with my experience. I have a N5, which came out (just) less than three years ago, and it is not getting Nougat, which was released a few weeks ago. The last major update it got was around a year ago. AFAICT with Google you're guaranteed to get the next OS version, if you're lucky you'll get the next next one (like N5 did with MM), but that's it. Which, compared to iOS, feels pretty stingy.
- mkozlows 10y ago
  Two years of major-release support, and three years of security support: http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/08/05/google-announces-new-update-policy-for-nexus-devices-including-monthly-security-patches-for-3-years-and-major-otas-for-2-years-from-release/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/08/05/google-announces-new...
  - SCdF 10y ago
    Right, so still pretty bad compared to iOS: iOS10 just came out and supports the iPhone 5, which was released 4 years ago. I presume if they had some massive security issue they'd backport it to versions of iOS older than 10. (I am no iOS fanboy, but honestly I'm sick of the android expectation of getting a new phone every 2 years, and they seem to be the only ones who are even pretending to give a shit with their old phone support. They still don't give as many shits as I'd like, but I cannot find their better).
    - mkozlows 10y ago
      Don't look at it from the time the phone started being sold, look at it from the time the phone stopped being sold. Android and iOS are very comparable then. The difference is that Apple keeps selling old models (at high prices) for three years.