Like, I understand the more the merrier, and so I don't hate on the whole Pixel, ROM development thingy, but I just don't understand the appeal of Pixel phones. If you want to be a photographer, get a camera. Other than that, you really don't need that great of a camera on your phone. Given the condition of America and the police state and corporate surveillance, I don't know why anybody with a damn look of sense would put their information on these major platforms, let alone even on the outskirts. Some people make money on social media, but a lot don't. I stick to my guns and I'm on the internet and computers to learn to educate myself, not to dick around with stupid shit. We need something other than Android. And we have to be weary of open source, especially when it's sponsored by Google. Google is a terrorist organization.

That was bound to happen at some point. Buying a Google device to then "degoogle" it never sit quite right with me.

TL;DR

• Google has made it harder to build custom Android ROMs for Pixel phones by omitting their device trees and driver binaries from the latest AOSP release.

• The company says this is because it’s shifting its AOSP reference target from Pixel hardware to a virtual device called “Cuttlefish” to be more neutral.

• While Google insists AOSP isn’t going away, developers must now reverse-engineer changes, making the process for supporting Pixel devices more difficult.

TL;DR

• Google has made it harder to build custom Android ROMs for Pixel phones by omitting their device trees and driver binaries from the latest AOSP release.

• The company says this is because it’s shifting its AOSP reference target from Pixel hardware to a virtual device called “Cuttlefish” to be more neutral.

• While Google insists AOSP isn’t going away, developers must now reverse-engineer changes, making the process for supporting Pixel devices more difficult.

Like, I understand the more the merrier, and so I don't hate on the whole Pixel, ROM development thingy, but I just don't understand the appeal of Pixel phones. If you want to be a photographer, get a camera. Other than that, you really don't need that great of a camera on your phone. Given the condition of America and the police state and corporate surveillance, I don't know why anybody with a damn look of sense would put their information on these major platforms, let alone even on the outskirts. Some people make money on social media, but a lot don't. I stick to my guns and I'm on the internet and computers to learn to educate myself, not to dick around with stupid shit. We need something other than Android. And we have to be weary of open source, especially when it's sponsored by Google. Google is a terrorist organization.

This would be sad if Pixel phones were worth buying, instead of being far inferior to midrange Motorola devices in battery life and performance while costing well over twice as much.

You must be ignoring the Motorola bloat that makes it's performance beyond subpar somehow

Can we have one of those that fit in my pocket, like 6.5" max ?

I mean, you're getting a lot of downvotes, but I've gone Motorola -> Motorola -> Motorola -> Pixel -> Pixel -> Motorola.

Both my Pixels died in less than a year. Each had battery life which, while it did improve over a few weeks as Pixel's optimization stuff took hold, never reached an entire day. Both were unacceptably fragile. Both failed randomly, just out of warranty.

And the Motorola I'm using now has none of those problems, was cheaper, is faster, has a better battery, has a better screen, and in some ways is more customizable (fuck that unmovable search bar).

Like, really. Motorola is a sleeper brand. Not perfect, but damn good.

This fucking sucks. Cyberpunk dystopia

Do you think it may be related to the monopoly issues they are currently facing?

TL;DR

• Google has made it harder to build custom Android ROMs for Pixel phones by omitting their device trees and driver binaries from the latest AOSP release.

• The company says this is because it’s shifting its AOSP reference target from Pixel hardware to a virtual device called “Cuttlefish” to be more neutral.

• While Google insists AOSP isn’t going away, developers must now reverse-engineer changes, making the process for supporting Pixel devices more difficult.

Yeah, I'd totally buy a phone running one of those provided it does all the phone things properly: SMS/MMS, reliable calls, all day battery, etc. I don't need fancy apps, I just need a working phone.

If I can get that, I could probably donate some time porting apps.

Does this mean Graphene is dead? Probably the real reason they would do this is to kill Graphene.

TL;DR

• Google has made it harder to build custom Android ROMs for Pixel phones by omitting their device trees and driver binaries from the latest AOSP release.

• The company says this is because it’s shifting its AOSP reference target from Pixel hardware to a virtual device called “Cuttlefish” to be more neutral.

• While Google insists AOSP isn’t going away, developers must now reverse-engineer changes, making the process for supporting Pixel devices more difficult.

If Pine64 can spec out a reasonably decent prototype of a phone and Purism can sell theirs for 2 grand (not worth it), then somebody else can legit come out with something just the same. Pine64 project and Purism cannot be the only communities that can somehow come out with these kinds of tech. Better yet, more people should be jumping to help out these guys to be free from Google and Apple dominance.

huh, look at that. the thing people were warned about when buying pixel phones happened.

I mean, you're getting a lot of downvotes, but I've gone Motorola -> Motorola -> Motorola -> Pixel -> Pixel -> Motorola.

Both my Pixels died in less than a year. Each had battery life which, while it did improve over a few weeks as Pixel's optimization stuff took hold, never reached an entire day. Both were unacceptably fragile. Both failed randomly, just out of warranty.

And the Motorola I'm using now has none of those problems, was cheaper, is faster, has a better battery, has a better screen, and in some ways is more customizable (fuck that unmovable search bar).

Like, really. Motorola is a sleeper brand. Not perfect, but damn good.

I agree with you, it's insidious.

Given you've got a Pixel phone, you can save at least yourself from this problem by running Graphene or Calyx on it.

I was about to buy one next year… what do you recommend instead?