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jeroenhdtoday at 7:42 PM8 repliesview on HN

Their hardware is usually fine when it comes to support. Google announces the support lifetime of their devices and sticks to it, with feature updates coming to things like phones even after the support period ended through things like app stores. Just check the support lifetime of the device before buying (early Pixels only had 2 years of support, as was announced at release).

Their cloud services are nothing but hot air but their hardware support has been excellent for the past few years. Easily beats other major manufacturers. I'm still annoyed that Apple won't tell you how long they will support their hardware. Other competitors manage to be even worse.


Replies

notatoadtoday at 8:17 PM

"support" meaning drivers and basic security updates, sure.

but if you buy this for the gemini integration, what are the odds that google actually sticks with that, or two years from now are you going to have a laptop that lags behind the feature set available in the gemini app for mac because they didn't sell enough of these to bother continuing development?

simonjgreentoday at 9:30 PM

Hmmmmmmmm

Nest Secure Google Home Stadia Daydream Glass Nexus Pixel Slate Pixelbook Chromecast Audio OnHub Jamboard

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treexstoday at 7:55 PM

I thought Apple does tell you how long they'll support hardware.

For example: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772

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throwaway030today at 7:58 PM

My Pixel 3A stopped receiving security updates after less than 3 years. I remember Google did this to start using their own chips in their phones.

Two or three years is not even close to the support Apple provides. It sealed the deal for me and I switched to iPhone.

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ahmadyantoday at 9:22 PM

yeah, even on product lines that they kill (like Stadia) they usually do right by the user (eg they refunded everyone, both on hardware and software people bought on the platform).

smallmancontrovtoday at 8:09 PM

> early Pixels only had 2 years of support, as was announced at release

They also announced a promotion for unlimited cloud storage of photos and then shrank and JPEG massacred the photos. That part of my photo library is still visibly trashy to this very day. Every time I browse my photos, I am reminded that google did this.

nullocatortoday at 8:32 PM

What about Nest? It's great that they announced a lifetime and stuck with it I guess? Sucks for anyone who bought into the ecosystem. You'd have to pay me to try and adopt more google products at this point, otherwise it's almost certainly sooner or later going to be deemed a waste of money/time.

Aurornistoday at 8:04 PM

> Their hardware is usually fine when it comes to support. Google announces the support lifetime of their devices and sticks to it

If they announce a support lifetime they stick to it.

For other products they'll just decide they're done with it and give you a little warning period. Maybe some store credit or another bonus depending on the product.