Monthly security updates will come from Google (for all models), and system updates will be managed by Verizon for Verizon models, and Google for unlocked models bought from Google Store.
Pixels bought at Best Buy are the Verizon models, so system updates for those, too, will be managed by Verizon. Combined with the news that Verizon models will have a locked bootloader and come with Verizon crapware, it’s pretty clear that Americans among us should really, really opt to buy the Pixel outright from the Google Store. Yes, that means higher upfront costs, but you’ll have lower monthly expenses, proper updates, and an unlocked bootloader.
Anybody with even an ounce of common sense should avoid Verizon Pixels like the plague.
enough said…
Status quo for Android, support nightmare again. News at 11.
Status quo for Verizon, support nightmare. (There, fixed it for ya!)
Not quite.
Apparently, Google will be offering financing plans for their unlocked models that are similar in vain to what carriers offer, so there really wouldn’t be much of a difference financially, if any, to get it via Google rather than Verizon.
Not financial, but unless they really go all out in promoting it, how many people will even know to look for it?
Average Consumer doesn’t get the abysmal difference between locked and unlocked. Pixel is in course to Trademark tainting if message not clearly -and costly- conveyed DIRECTLY to the Consumer.
dionicio,
I’m not so sure about that, switching carriers is something lots of normal users might wish to do, and they’ll have to learn about locked phones the hard way. For travelers, prepaid SIM cards are often much more affordable than out of country roaming, but consumers might try them only to find their phones are sim-locked.
It’s a big enough issue that the government has stepped in to make unlocking legal and to encourage carriers to support it:
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/cell-phone-unlocking-faqs
Edit:
I’m not endorsing verizon in any way, but to be fair they are on the FCC’s list of participants, meaning they are supposed to honor requests to unlock all phones within a year without charging a fee.
I went to best buy looking at cellular modems. As alluded to earlier, they were locked to verizon, even those that weren’t subsidized. I asked the associate how easy it was to unlock for another service, and he actually said I could buy the same device unlocked at radio shack, haha.
Edited 2016-10-07 17:03 UTC
But your assuming this status quo hasn’t existed for years, which it has. Enough people cared to get the government involved, but that’s it. What would make you think they care anymore now than they have since then, in regards to Pixel phones they’ve never even heard of?
darknexus,
I don’t understand what you are getting at here? I wasn’t trying to say anything specific to Pixel devices.
Hard locked bootloader cripples the device and you can’t install any other OS on it. Avoid as a plague.
Oh, please. The people who buy subsidized carrier phones don’t give a rat’s you-know-what about locked boot loaders. Those who do care already do their homework and avoid them like the plague.
Pixel is like Nexus, except instead of stock Android you are getting a proprietary fork, instead of timely updates you are at Verizon’s whim, and no unlocked bootloader on the version that will be public facing, not that the target demographic really cares.
Pixel is priced like iPhone, except instead of getting updates for 5 years, you only get 2, and instead of taking your phone to the Apple Store for assistance, you can use Google to figure out what’s wrong. Oh, and the fingerprint reader is on the back, which is also different (reminds me of how in 1995 Microsoft took the apple menu and put it on the bottom with the word “Start”).
It’s like Google went after the worst of both worlds.
Excellent analogy and I completely agree. Let’s hope that the Pixel isn’t the beginning of the end for the pure Android experience that we Nexus users have enjoyed since 2009!
“(reminds me of how in 1995 Microsoft took the apple menu and put it on the bottom with the word “Start”)”
Here I got You… Then I had to read it slowly backwards
Verizon was a terrible, dishonest phone carrier back in the early nineties when it was known as AirTouch and it’s still a terrible, dishonest phone carrier. I never forgot the dishonesty and bogus charges levied against me for the entirety of a three-year contract that felt like it went on for a decade! I’ve never been a Verizon customer since and never will be again. Anyone with half a brain will buy the Pixel directly from Google. Of course that being said, as a loyal Nexus user who has only ever owned Nexus devices, the Pixel seems overpriced compared to the Nexus 6P which I currently own. My relationship with Google will now depend on how it treats its loyal Nexus customers now that it has the Pixel line.
They may be dishonest, but they’re also the only ones with reliable service where I live. That said I bought my phone directly from Apple (unlocked) and Verizon have no contract hold on me, so there’s very little they could try.
So let met get this straight.
The Pixel has its updates controlled by carriers, is locked, and has crapware installed by default?
How exactly is this any better than any other Android device again?
Only the Verizon pixel. Read before commenting, please.
No, I read it, and my comment still stands. This isn’t really any better than most other Android devices. It shows how even the Pixel is at the dubious mercy of carriers.
https://plus.google.com/+jwildeboer/posts/hrAYzi21TAC
TL;DR: When you buy a Google Pixel via Telekom in Germany, THEY will give you updates and THEY are free to make changes to Android.
If you don’t want that and buy at a regular retail store, Bummer. Telekom is exclusive partner, so back to step 1.
“Monthly security updates will come from Google (for all models), ..” [Locked and unlocked].
Of course, it’s just spokesperson chat. But the wording suggest about Google having control of the bottom of the stack.
[Did Any of You said that They have Motorola’s tech expertise by now? THEN -maybe- Google has a word or two about the telecom stack, also.]
IF this speculation turns out to be correct, THEN Google now has full Management over OS Identity and Integrity.
…And that would be a first, for Them. [Which is how it should be. Every actor his own tasks. -just my perspective-].
The wording is clear that security is going to be patched EACH MONTH directly by Google […”will come from Google” (servers?)…]. Locked or Unlocked.
As long as VZW disables that mandatory auto sound leveling feature in nougat and beyond, I’m game.