3 ms·

I'm not sure the analogy is all that apt. Sensors can fail all the time for reasons beyond the company's intention or control. Phones on the other hand should

I'm not sure the analogy is all that apt. Sensors can fail all the time for reasons beyond the company's intention or control. Phones on the other hand should be an easy-battery swap away from future usefulness. And that's just from the hardware perspective. There is no functional reason my Nexus 5X should stop receiving security updates next year, other than the fact that Google wants to sell more Pixels (which I will probably buy because going without security updates is cutting off my nose to spite my face).

digi_owl 9y ago
The updates thing may change once Android 8 becomes more common, as they have now taken a clue from their ChromeOS experience and decoupled the UI/app layer from the core OS layer. Thus getting updates out there for the UI layer will not be hampered by having Qualcomm etc drop support for their SOCs 12 months after initial introduction (meaning 6 months before they start showing up in the first devices). And frankly i don't see how much difference there really is between Apple and Google here. Google offer a bunch of compatibility tools etc that allow new APIs to function (up to a point) on older devices. Similarly Apple will regularly leave out big ticket items on their updates for older devices, meaning that if it is something the app dev wants to make use of they can only support the newest Apple is shipping. Never mind that i hear again and again that getting the latest iOS on an older device makes said device slow as a slug.
- scottLobster 9y ago
  I can understand limiting feature updates to newer models, particularly if they demand increased resources, but if the core OS remains more or less the same I don't see an undue burden in supporting security updates for more than 2-4 years, particularly for a company with Google's capital.

3 ms·

I'm not sure the analogy is all that apt. Sensors can fail all the time for reasons beyond the company's intention or control. Phones on the other hand should

by scottLobster 9y ago

digi_owl 9y ago
The updates thing may change once Android 8 becomes more common, as they have now taken a clue from their ChromeOS experience and decoupled the UI/app layer from the core OS layer. Thus getting updates out there for the UI layer will not be hampered by having Qualcomm etc drop support for their SOCs 12 months after initial introduction (meaning 6 months before they start showing up in the first devices). And frankly i don't see how much difference there really is between Apple and Google here. Google offer a bunch of compatibility tools etc that allow new APIs to function (up to a point) on older devices. Similarly Apple will regularly leave out big ticket items on their updates for older devices, meaning that if it is something the app dev wants to make use of they can only support the newest Apple is shipping. Never mind that i hear again and again that getting the latest iOS on an older device makes said device slow as a slug.
- scottLobster 9y ago
  I can understand limiting feature updates to newer models, particularly if they demand increased resources, but if the core OS remains more or less the same I don't see an undue burden in supporting security updates for more than 2-4 years, particularly for a company with Google's capital.