Google Begins Rolling Out Android 7.0 Nougat

[Cerberus]

Not seeing the regular Nexus 5 among the devices getting the update over the coming weeks, so is this the end of mainline support for the Nexus 5? If yes, then I do have to say I'm somewhat disappointed that it reached official end-of-life in less than 3 years. Google's Nexus line is supposed to be better supported than their partners' devices, but it seems like even Google is, like their partners, a big fan of planned obsolescence as the original Nexus 7 also got it's last official update less than 3 years in.

Precisely the reason why I recently acquired an iPhone instead of Android, you can say what you want about Apple but they update their devices as long as possible, I believe iPhone 4S got iOS 9.3, now that is some serious commitment to updating everything you can. Android devices get dumped fast, especially the low and midrange devices, but even premium phones usually get dumped after 2 years, and even when you get the update you wait for months to get it, for me phones tend to be long term investment and I am not planning to waste good money on a phone that will become "old" in 2 years and wont get any more updates. Plus used iPhones fetch much better prices than Androids, in the case I decide to sell it for any reason. I owned several Androids in the past and was frustrated how quickly they got dumped when it comes to updates.

[Cerberus]

Let the "will my phone get Nougat" games begin!


Nexus 5 is officially left out in the cold indeed. But this is not entirely Google's fault, it's the closed nature of the hardware they use. When the maker of the SoC (or whatever other chip you may have on board) doesn't want to update their drivers, there's not a damn thing Google, Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony or anyone else can do about it. That's (part of the reason) why Apple prefers to keep everything in house and why I won't touch a Mediatek equipped phone. It's also why I could never make sense of people's enthusiasm over Cyanogenmod.

A giant like Google cant pay a SoC manufacturer for new drivers? I totally do not buy that. It is not like they would refuse good money for some new drivers, nobody refuses good money, it is all about planned obsoleteness to make people buy new phones. Every company does it, you want the latest software? Buy a new phone.

[bug77]

Yeah....about those Nvidia Shield devices. Nvidia has officially dropped production of the Shield tablet and there are rumors that the Shield TV is not going to see a new model on the future. The market has whole heartily rejected Nvidia's ARM products. They are out of phones....they are out of tablets, they are hardly in ChromeOS laptops and as I said before they may not come out with a new a Shield TV. You get GREAT support from Nvidia as long as they continue to make products. Which increasingly they are not.

I don't know if it was the market who rejected their products. A Shield Tablet looked pretty sweet to me, but I just couldn't find it in stock anywhere. Whether the chips were difficult to make or Nvidia deemed those products financially non-viable, there could be other reasons they're gone now.

A giant like Google cant pay a SoC manufacturer for new drivers? I totally do not buy that. It is not like they would refuse good money for some new drivers, nobody refuses good money, it is all about planned obsoleteness to make people buy new phones. Every company does it, you want the latest software? Buy a new phone.

A giant like Google can potentially do a lot of things. Doesn't automatically imply they will or should, though.

[Passso]

Yeah....about those Nvidia Shield devices. Nvidia has officially dropped production of the Shield tablet and there are rumors that the Shield TV is not going to see a new model on the future. The market has whole heartily rejected Nvidia's ARM products. They are out of phones....they are out of tablets, they are hardly in ChromeOS laptops and as I said before they may not come out with a new a Shield TV. You get GREAT support from Nvidia as long as they continue to make products. Which increasingly they are not.

Wow what a collection of foggy newsr...

The Shield tablet 2 has been cancelled and will NOT be sold but the K1 is still on the market and supported, so where is the lack of support?
As you may know it is possible that this Shield tablet 2 will be powering the Nintendo NX, so that NVidia prefer associate with Nintendo and merge game libraries than compete.

So what is your problem? That NVidia tried to get in the ARM market, already owned by Qualcomm and others, that makes them the ugly bad guys? I do not get it...

[Passso]

Precisely the reason why I recently acquired an iPhone instead of Android, you can say what you want about Apple but they update their devices as long as possible, I believe iPhone 4S got iOS 9.3, now that is some serious commitment to updating everything you can. Android devices get dumped fast, especially the low and midrange devices, but even premium phones usually get dumped after 2 years, and even when you get the update you wait for months to get it, for me phones tend to be long term investment and I am not planning to waste good money on a phone that will become "old" in 2 years and wont get any more updates. Plus used iPhones fetch much better prices than Androids, in the case I decide to sell it for any reason. I owned several Androids in the past and was frustrated how quickly they got dumped when it comes to updates.

Yes, Apple put upgrades for years. Especially those which make their phone damn slow after 1 year so that you want buy the brand new model :

http://www.theweek.co.uk/59708/does-apple-slow-old-iphones-when-a-new-model-comes-out

[wdb974]

I don't really care that my Nexus 5 won't get any official update. I mean, who are we kidding? We never get actual kernel update to begin with (i.e. if your phone came with kernel 3.0, you're stuck with that branch). Plus, my proximity sensor has completely stopped working since Marshmallow (one of these days, before flashing to a newer ROM, I'll flash to Lollipop, or, better yet, Kitkat to check whether the issue is hardware or software related).

As I have an N7000 that's running Lollipop (and even Marshmallow is available), I'm confident I'll be able to keep my Nexus for a few more years.

[bug77]

I don't really care that my Nexus 5 won't get any official update. I mean, who are we kidding? We never get actual kernel update to begin with (i.e. if your phone came with kernel 3.0, you're stuck with that branch). Plus, my proximity sensor has completely stopped working since Marshmallow (one of these days, before flashing to a newer ROM, I'll flash to Lollipop, or, better yet, Kitkat to check whether the issue is hardware or software related).

As I have an N7000 that's running Lollipop (and even Marshmallow is available), I'm confident I'll be able to keep my Nexus for a few more years.

Well, individual experiences don't really matter. What I'd like to see is a clear statement along the lines of: "we'll keep updating these as long as there are more than 10,000 (or 100,000, or 1,000,000 or whatever) active devices in the wild". But that won't happen because, as explained above, it's not (entirely) Google's decision.

[Deavir]

• Nexus 5X: September 2017
• Nexus 6P: September 2017
• Nexus 9: October 2016
• Nexus 5: October 2015
• Nexus 6: October 2016
• Nexus 7 (2013): July 2015
• Nexus 10: November 2014

Dates above are for OS upgrades.
Security updates are provided for three years from release or 18 months from when they leave the Google Store, whichever is longer.

[bug77]

• Nexus 5X: September 2017
• Nexus 6P: September 2017
• Nexus 9: October 2016
• Nexus 5: October 2015
• Nexus 6: October 2016
• Nexus 7 (2013): July 2015
• Nexus 10: November 2014

Dates above are for OS upgrades.
Security updates are provided for three years from release or 18 months from when they leave the Google Store, whichever is longer.

Fair enough. But the above has planned obsolescence written all over it, while the way I suggested implies support for as long as there's interest in the device.
I know, silly me...

[caligula]

Fair enough. But the above has planned obsolescence written all over it, while the way I suggested implies support for as long as there's interest in the device.
I know, silly me...

You know, you can always start your own business or buy FLOSS hardware.. they just recently published some A20 based hacker hardware that comes with USB->HDMI adapter to fight the planned obsolescence.