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Pixel 3 is EOL anyways as of October 2021. No more software updates and no security patch. Makes sense the hardware is EOL as well. Meanwhile an iPhone SE from

Pixel 3 is EOL anyways as of October 2021. No more software updates and no security patch. Makes sense the hardware is EOL as well. Meanwhile an iPhone SE from 2016 can upgrade to the latest iOS. It just works.

zerocrates 5y ago
As a long-time Android user, it is a little ridiculous how short Google's timeframe for even security support is, on their own hardware. Updates to Android that were supposed to help remedy this problem haven't seemed to make a dent. I'm sure, being Google, they've done all sorts of data analysis and cost-benefit and shown that it's a small group that keep phones that long and that people don't care that much about the support period... but it's just another seemingly penny-pinching situation from them that I think hurts their brand more than it could possibly be saving. I like my 3a a lot, and bought it cheap later in its lifecycle, and it's a little galling to check and see that the support "guarantee" only goes up to next May, and the security timeframe is the same! If they stick to that schedule I'll have only basically their dead minimum of 18 months of support from when they stopped selling a device, or close to it. Is there really that much upside to these cutoffs? If anything, they should be using the Pixel line as a cudgel (or let's be nicer, example) to encourage longer support timeframes from other Android manufacturers.
Nition 5y ago
> Meanwhile an iPhone SE from 2016 can upgrade to the latest iOS. It just works. Which is especially good considering no decent phones in that size have come out since! Edit: I'm downvoted to zero, but there really aren't any. Try this custom search on GSMArena: https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3?nYearMin=2016&nHeightMax=125&sFormFactors=1&nOrder=1 https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3?nYearMin=2016&nHeightMa...
floatingatoll 5y ago
> Meanwhile an iPhone SE from 2016 can upgrade to the latest iOS. It just works. Please don't say things like this here. That part of your comment is inappropriate and incendiary, and contributes at best nothing and at worst drama to this discussion. This particular bit of your comment does not contribute to the problem under discussion, to the potential solutions or work in progress, or to any other related concern. It is not tangentially-related to Android problems or to Pixel problems. It does no benefit to the post topic, "Pixels bricking unexpectedly", to start a flamewar about iPhones. HN does not benefit from conversational arson directed at some random Android device post, that has nothing to do with how you feel about Apple versus Android. There are enough fires on HN as it is. If you feel very strongly that we should consider and discuss your views about the relative hardware warranty times of iPhone versus Pixel, then write a blog post and submit it to HN. Sincerely, another HN reader.
inshadows 5y ago
Planned obsolescence by bricking old hardware?
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  Really? You're going to suggest that Google is the worse perpetrator of planned obsolescence when Apple still slows down phones and uses their flawed design as a scapegoat (and originally did it secretly and lied about it)? Okiedoke. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724
  - SilverRed 5y ago
    They slowed down phones to prevent them from crashing on peak voltage. If you remember the android scene around the same time, the Nexus 6P would just crash constantly when the battery got degraded. If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash. Of course this should have been more visible to notify the user to get a battery replacement. Which it now is and there is a full battery health page. It was also never really secret or lied about. There was a mention in the change logs that no one reads.
    - rzzzt 5y ago
      > If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash. Certainly the average user would choose "no crash _and_ not get slower", conveniently ignoring the either-or nature of the question. (Maybe "get less battery life out of a single charge" if they are trying to come up with an alternative.)
      - foxpurple 5y ago
        That’s not an option. It’s not that the battery was flat. It’s that when the CPU hit peak power consumption the voltage of the battery would drop low enough to cause the CPU to fail. The only option is to limit power draw or to crash.
yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
> No more software updates and no security patch. Makes sense the hardware is EOL as well. No more official updates from the vendor. It does not make sense that hardware should die when aftermarket ROMs are perfectly serviceable.
jfrunyon 5y ago
An iPhone SE from 2016 has about 2 hours of battery life left and is slow as molasses to eke even that little out of it. I know because we have one that my toddler gets to play with once in a while. That's the only thing it's useful for.
- SilverRed 5y ago
  Apple does battery replacements on them for a reasonable price. Might not be worth it for a phone that old. But it is nice that Apple keeps updating devices until virtually no one is using them anymore.
  - jfrunyon 5y ago
    > for a reasonable price Sorry, excuse me while I go burst my sides from laughter. Apple does battery replacements for more than a (entry-level, admittedly) new phone costs. And that new phone includes a battery. ;) Moreover, Apple refuses to do battery repairs if your phone has other problems, even if those problems have absolutely no relation to the battery, like... a cracked screen. (I'm not kidding, but hey, props to them for actually being honest[1] for a change. That's a refreshing surprise.) Personally, I know very few people with Apple phones over a year or two old who don't have a cracked screen. [1] https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/service/battery-power https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/service/battery-powe...
    - foxpurple 5y ago
      The cost of a battery replacement is less than 10% of the cost of the phone and it is something you only really need to do once for a phone. Of course it costs more than some bottom tier android because you are paying someone first world wages to swap the battery rather than having a child labor operated factory in India pump it out. Replacing the battery with a smashed screen is almost impossible without also replacing the screen because you need to use a suction cap to pull the screen off. If it is smashed you need to scrape off all the chunks which removed what is left of the screen. These days the glass on the iPhone is much stronger than it once was so I don’t know anyone with a cracked screen.

zerocrates 5y ago

As a long-time Android user, it is a little ridiculous how short Google's timeframe for even security support is, on their own hardware. Updates to Android that were supposed to help remedy this problem haven't seemed to make a dent. I'm sure, being Google, they've done all sorts of data analysis and cost-benefit and shown that it's a small group that keep phones that long and that people don't care that much about the support period... but it's just another seemingly penny-pinching situation from them that I think hurts their brand more than it could possibly be saving. I like my 3a a lot, and bought it cheap later in its lifecycle, and it's a little galling to check and see that the support "guarantee" only goes up to next May, and the security timeframe is the same! If they stick to that schedule I'll have only basically their dead minimum of 18 months of support from when they stopped selling a device, or close to it. Is there really that much upside to these cutoffs? If anything, they should be using the Pixel line as a cudgel (or let's be nicer, example) to encourage longer support timeframes from other Android manufacturers.

Nition 5y ago

> Meanwhile an iPhone SE from 2016 can upgrade to the latest iOS. It just works. Which is especially good considering no decent phones in that size have come out since! Edit: I'm downvoted to zero, but there really aren't any. Try this custom search on GSMArena: https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3?nYearMin=2016&nHeightMax=125&sFormFactors=1&nOrder=1 https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3?nYearMin=2016&nHeightMa...

floatingatoll 5y ago

> Meanwhile an iPhone SE from 2016 can upgrade to the latest iOS. It just works. Please don't say things like this here. That part of your comment is inappropriate and incendiary, and contributes at best nothing and at worst drama to this discussion. This particular bit of your comment does not contribute to the problem under discussion, to the potential solutions or work in progress, or to any other related concern. It is not tangentially-related to Android problems or to Pixel problems. It does no benefit to the post topic, "Pixels bricking unexpectedly", to start a flamewar about iPhones. HN does not benefit from conversational arson directed at some random Android device post, that has nothing to do with how you feel about Apple versus Android. There are enough fires on HN as it is. If you feel very strongly that we should consider and discuss your views about the relative hardware warranty times of iPhone versus Pixel, then write a blog post and submit it to HN. Sincerely, another HN reader.

inshadows 5y ago

Planned obsolescence by bricking old hardware?

jfrunyon 5y ago
Really? You're going to suggest that Google is the worse perpetrator of planned obsolescence when Apple still slows down phones and uses their flawed design as a scapegoat (and originally did it secretly and lied about it)? Okiedoke. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724
- SilverRed 5y ago
  They slowed down phones to prevent them from crashing on peak voltage. If you remember the android scene around the same time, the Nexus 6P would just crash constantly when the battery got degraded. If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash. Of course this should have been more visible to notify the user to get a battery replacement. Which it now is and there is a full battery health page. It was also never really secret or lied about. There was a mention in the change logs that no one reads.
  - rzzzt 5y ago
    > If you asked the average user if they would rather that their phone crash, or have the top speed capped. They would all rather it did not crash. Certainly the average user would choose "no crash _and_ not get slower", conveniently ignoring the either-or nature of the question. (Maybe "get less battery life out of a single charge" if they are trying to come up with an alternative.)
    - foxpurple 5y ago
      That’s not an option. It’s not that the battery was flat. It’s that when the CPU hit peak power consumption the voltage of the battery would drop low enough to cause the CPU to fail. The only option is to limit power draw or to crash.

yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago

> No more software updates and no security patch. Makes sense the hardware is EOL as well. No more official updates from the vendor. It does not make sense that hardware should die when aftermarket ROMs are perfectly serviceable.

jfrunyon 5y ago

An iPhone SE from 2016 has about 2 hours of battery life left and is slow as molasses to eke even that little out of it. I know because we have one that my toddler gets to play with once in a while. That's the only thing it's useful for.

SilverRed 5y ago
Apple does battery replacements on them for a reasonable price. Might not be worth it for a phone that old. But it is nice that Apple keeps updating devices until virtually no one is using them anymore.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  > for a reasonable price Sorry, excuse me while I go burst my sides from laughter. Apple does battery replacements for more than a (entry-level, admittedly) new phone costs. And that new phone includes a battery. ;) Moreover, Apple refuses to do battery repairs if your phone has other problems, even if those problems have absolutely no relation to the battery, like... a cracked screen. (I'm not kidding, but hey, props to them for actually being honest[1] for a change. That's a refreshing surprise.) Personally, I know very few people with Apple phones over a year or two old who don't have a cracked screen. [1] https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/service/battery-power https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/service/battery-powe...
  - foxpurple 5y ago
    The cost of a battery replacement is less than 10% of the cost of the phone and it is something you only really need to do once for a phone. Of course it costs more than some bottom tier android because you are paying someone first world wages to swap the battery rather than having a child labor operated factory in India pump it out. Replacing the battery with a smashed screen is almost impossible without also replacing the screen because you need to use a suction cap to pull the screen off. If it is smashed you need to scrape off all the chunks which removed what is left of the screen. These days the glass on the iPhone is much stronger than it once was so I don’t know anyone with a cracked screen.