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Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

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Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#621

Post by commoner »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #382
1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny that when discussing the topic of "updates" and obsolescence, users focus on the vendor as if they have exclusive control over the situation. Authors of applications may also play a role. For example, when they "update" their applications to only work with newer versions of Android. Depending on the user's application needs, that can shorten the life of a an Android device. Some applications will continue…

Whither the iOS equivalent of https://www.oldversion.com/android/ With open source software for PC, in many cases we (users of open source OS) have the choice to install any version we want. Sometimes I need to I run older Linux programs with older versions of system libraries. We can download these older versions of libraries and programs from an FTP sites or websites that provide a simple directory listing, an "Ind…

Old versions of Android apps are frequently archived on sites like APKMirror and Aptoide.

- APKMirror: https://www.apkmirror.com

- Aptoide (requires app store download, stick with "trusted apps" for security): https://aptoide.com

Also, Aurora Store lets you download older versions from the Play Store through the "Manual download" menu option. You'll need the "version code" (different from version number) of the app version you want to download.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#622

Post by wizhi »

soylentnewsorg wrote: post #478
josephg wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the openness of android, and the explicit permission to root your phone. But iphones have amazing longevity. The iphone 5s you mentioned came out in 2013 - which is 8 years ago now. Back then Obama was still in his first term. Maybe it is way too slow to handle the most recent version of iOS, but I'd rather a phone vendor that releases operating system updates for 8 years than a vendor who releases updates for…

I love the iphone. I get my wife the latest and greatest every two years, and I forget about it. If she had an Android anything, I'd be spending at least an hour per week on tech support. It's absolutely worth the inflated price for me, and the fact that it's extremely limited in possible features is a bonus. Just like I used to love stick, but now an automatic tranny is great, as my enjoyment is the destination not…

>If she had an Android anything, I'd be spending at least an hour per week on tech support.

I highly, highly, highly doubt that.

Considering how static phones honestly are after initial setup, when you've installed the apps you need and configured the few things you need configuring, you never touch anything that's not an app.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#623

Post by otar »

I don’t trust Google Pixel anymore.

I leave outside US and in my country Google has no official dealer. I bought an unlocked Pixel 3 via my friend in US, who shipped it to me.

At first, everything seemed good unless it started to lag in few months. First, battery percentage was stuck at 26% (but the phone was charging), then, received phone calls were having a very bad quality (calls via messengers were good).

So, in conclusion, I couldn’t: 1) understand if the phone was charged or not; 2) always had a bluetooth earpods with me in case I needed to call or receive a phone call.

It appeared that both of the issues were a hardware failures and needed my phone to be shipped back to US to the Google Service Center, which I didn’t do.

When you pay a decent money for a flagship phone, such issues are unacceptable.

Pixel 6 might be an excellent phone, but I’m not risking my $$$ anymore with it.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#624

Post by arendtio »

ablekh wrote: post #560
DCKing wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s all great - but don’t lure people too much into a false sense of security. While your Nexus 6 may run a shiny new version of Android, underneath it runs a crusty old 2017 kernel full of holes of different sizes. The community is great, but vendor support remains important. LineageOS and other projects can’t fix things in kernels they can’t compile - they can only provide security updates for open source compon…

> underneath it runs a crusty old 2017 kernel full of holes of different sizes > LineageOS and other projects can’t fix things in kernels they can’t compile I think that you're wrong on this, that is unless you decided to use term "kernel" above too liberally, referring to all software running on a device. AFAIK, alternative Android images, such as LineageOS, include relevant - and quite up-to-date! - AOSP common ker…

So would you please help me to find an ROM with an up-to-date Android Common Kernel for my i9300 Samsung Galaxy S3?

AFAIK, the only way to run it with working drivers for all hardware components, are ROMs which use the rusty 3.0.101 Linux kernel from back in the day and I think that is what DCKing is referring to. If you want to create a new ROM, you either have to use the old kernel and have an upper Limit of Android 7.x (in this case) or you have to accept, that not all components are supported (e.g. no GPS).

I would be glad if the situation would be different. Maybe it is different for phones you buy today?

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#625

Post by hbbio »

standardUser wrote: post #513

I couldn't wait any longer so I purchased a very expensive Samsung S21 Ultra ($1200) because no Google phone could lure me away from my fading Pixel 2 XL. My mistake, because the Samsung phone had preloaded software that took considerable effort to remove (more than most people could/would deal with). It wasn't the software itself that bothered me, but rather that there were notifications for apps I don't use that I…

You stated the reason why I'll never get any Samsung hardware: bloated software, by design.

I still believe Huawei is missing out big time. When they got banned in the US, they should have *open sourced the whole stack* and put forward a truly open Android platform and let it thrive. They make the best hardware (cameras!) but their limited closed-source environment is a definitive no.

Conclusion: I hope the Pixel 6 will be available in my country soon!

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#626

Post by izacus »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #592
G3rn0ti wrote: post #543

Only problem with Google‘s Pixel phones is they are almost unrepairable. If you break their screens you total the device. For example: The Pixel 4‘s display is connected through the housing for the motherboard and battery. You need to remove quite a lot of screws and components from the phone to access the screen cable. Furthermore, this way you need to remove the seal/glue for both the motherboard housing and the sc…

My dog chewed on my Pixel 4 display and totally broke it. I mailed it off to get repaired. Cost me $299. Not sure how much it usually costs to replace a phone's display, but as the phone was pretty new at the time, I paid it.

That's about the same price I had to pay for broken display on my S10. So it seems it's about standard (and ridiculous) amount of money for a screen replacement.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#628

Post by ksml »

soylentnewsorg wrote: post #562
DCKing wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s all great - but don’t lure people too much into a false sense of security. While your Nexus 6 may run a shiny new version of Android, underneath it runs a crusty old 2017 kernel full of holes of different sizes. The community is great, but vendor support remains important. LineageOS and other projects can’t fix things in kernels they can’t compile - they can only provide security updates for open source compon…

Alright - I'll bite. This is a smartphone, not a windows PC with a bunch of services. There is Zero listening on any port. There is no attack surface for any kernel - the only thing there would be a bug in mms. Please share your source for kernel attacks, on any android version, that's not an attack on an app - but on the kernel. No, this is not a google play attack, or an attack on an outdated app - which are update…

I think you're terribly naive if you think a phone kernel has no attack surface. It is absolutely a security risk to run an outdated kernel. It has nothing to do with whether there are services running for a hacker to connect to; it's about whether it's possible for an attacker to trigger buggy behavior somehow, whether that's sending malformed packets or Bluetooth frames or invoking patterns of syscalls that cause bad things to happen. Heck, here's an obscure bug in Linux on the front page of HN right now, which Android is based on: https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2021/10/how-simple-li... Also, I know GP was specifically talking about upgrading the kernel, but keeping drivers patched is much harder without vendor support, and there's likely to be more attack surface there.

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#629

Post by kkjjkgjjgg »

Their main selling point seems to be that they can take "authentic pictures of people with different skin tones" (translated to English from German by me, as I can't get Google to show me the English page). Google truly is all in on diversity. Wonder how it will work out for them. Nothing against people with different skin tones, but how different will the skin tones of the average people an individual is surrounded with be? I personally don't know people of so many different skin colors that I ever worried about that issue, but perhaps it is different for many people in the US?

Re: Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

#630

Post by wodenokoto »

How do you get to the product page, if visiting from a country that does not have the pixel for sale yet?

Google has this shitty policy that if they aren't selling it to you, you are not allowed to see it, so they redirect you away.

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