I do miss “back in the day” when I was a kid, where every phone had its own OS and apps, and it was exciting to go through every single option and button on the phone
These days, bar a few small hardware differences, every iphone is the same as the next, and every android is the same as the next.
I much prefer a standardised OS (android,iOS,whatever) but its not exciting anymore
The pixel 8 was exciting because it was the 1st android smartphone which broke the usual 5 years of update cycle and jumped to 7 years. Making other OEMs like Samsung and OnePlus to play catchup.
Pixel 9 appears like a minor improvement in comparison. Hopefully, the SOC provides improved battery life due to better modem, and modern ARM cortex cores.
The pixel 8 was exciting because it was the 1st android smartphone which broke the usual 5 years of update cycle and jumped to 7 years.
The Pixel 8 also has MTE support.
Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are ARMv9 devices supporting hardware memory tagging…Hardware memory tagging is going to provide a massive increase to protection against remote exploitation for GrapheneOS users. It’s the biggest security feature we’ll be shipping since we started in 2014.
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/8439-mte-support-status-for-grapheneos
I was always a cheap Nexus/Pixel A guy that traded up when the new budget phones went for sale on the Play store. I got my 6A for like 150 bucks brand new. When the 8A was announced for 500 dollars and barely better than the 6A I jumped to a refurbished 7 Pro and I’ll probably just keep this phone until something really special comes out or I just abandon carrying a cellphone all together [most likely.]
Google Fi and every banking app ive tried work fine on Graphene, Android auto as well. The only thing that definitely does not work is google pay
I use google pay as much as humanly possible so that’s not an option for me unfortunately.
Will not touch Apple, Samsung or Google HW. Apple & Samsung too expensive. Google because … SQUIRREL … what the fuck, cancel it.
I’m still waiting for a reason to upgrade my 6, so I might skip 9. I think I’d upgrade if we get 20-40x optical zoom. Otherwise, I’m not sure what a more powerful phone will do for me.
