Record promise in Android update; exactly 7 years

This decision offers users the opportunity to keep their devices updated for longer and benefit from technological innovations.

In addition to announcing today that the Pixel 8 will get the Gemini Nano, Google also talked about how its 7-year update commitment will work. In the latest episode of the “Making of Google” podcast, in a conversation with Seang Chau, Vice President of Devices and Services Software, details were shared on how to provide updates for up to 7 years.

GoogleHe repeated how he worked with suppliers and partners, the Android team and operators to achieve 7-year updates. One aspect of this is ensuring that “laboratories are equipped to do this type of continuous testing.” Another aspect is to use the same Tensor chip for each generation, because GoogleAccording to , “the chipset probably produces the most complexity when it comes to software updates.”

Also playing an important role is the move to year-round beta programs and Quarterly Platform Releases (QPR):

“Now that we have these beta programs throughout the year, we have a lot more confidence that we’re going to deliver a reliable update for users because we have a lot of beta testers… and we guarantee that the features that we’re moving from annual releases to these quarterly releases will work and work well for our users.”

When choosing a 7-year update after 5 years (3 operating systems + 2 security) updates, Google relies on active user data and a Pixel how long the device was in use, when it was resold, when it was given to family members, etc. He looked at the situations.

“The original we launched in 2016 PixelWhen we saw the trajectory of and the number of people still using the first Pixel, we saw that there was actually a pretty good active user base over about seven years. “So if we want to support the Pixel as people use the device, seven years seems like that number.”

As for what features you’ll get later in the year, Google says it will try to make software-based features that don’t require extra RAM, storage, coprocessor, or “any other hardware capability.”

“…we’re doing our best to bring this feature back to supported products. And we have a history of doing just that. If a feature is software-only, we try to make it available on supported devices.”

Finally, Googleshared more background information on the decision to bring Gemini Nano to Pixel 8. RAM (8GB vs. 12GB) was a really big consideration because the LLM model on the device is very “memory intensive” or intensive.

Google“does a lot of testing and validation to make sure we don’t deliver a much worse experience.”

“Even on the Pixel 8 Pro, we didn’t keep it in memory by default because we didn’t want to break the experience there. When you go to Summarize in the recording app, we do lazy loading of the model. Smart Reply is something that requires models to be constantly in RAM so they’re always available.” Gboard
You don’t want to wait for the model to load in its response, so we keep it constant. And that’s behind the developer option, of course.”