Featured Apple’s CarPlay is finally coming to Toyota

TL;DR It depends on the Android phone you buy.

Want major version updates and security patches? Buy a Pixel. Google now guarantees 3 letter version upgrades.

It used to be only 2 major letter versions, as on Nexus: My 2.5 year old Nexus 6P shipped with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, updated to 7.x Nougat, and is currently on 8.1 Oreo. It still gets monthly security updates.

Don't want a Pixel? Factory unlocked devices are more likely to get major version updates and security patches. Some of the large Chinese manufacturers are fairly good about it as well: Lenovo/Motorola, Huawei, One Plus are a few that come to mind.

Want to buy a device from your carrier? High end Samsung devices are most likely to get major version updates.

Don't count on LG and HTC for updates and patches. Their fortunes have been failing. I wouldn't expect more than the occasional security patch on a high end LG device, based on my experience with the V20.

Devices that don't get upgraded are cheap carrier locked devices. These are burner phones, MVNO phones from carriers like TracFone or Boost, and other prepaid phones with very low specs.

Manufacturers build these devices to the specs the carriers provide. If the carrier wants 1GB RAM and 8GB ROM, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, a Mediatek processor, GSM/UMTS bands 850/1900, LTE bands 1/2/4/5/12, GPS, an 8MP rear camera w/no flash & no OIS, 4MP front camera, format SD card as portable storage only, that's what the manufacturer will build.

That's a phony phone I just invented, but it's not dissimilar from a few I support. The low budget hardware isn't likely to support updates, and after the Android OS, mandatory Google apps and carrier shovelware, there's not much space left for much of anything.

If all you need is to make calls, send texts, and occasionally browse the net, such phones will suffice. Just don't expect much. They aren't designed for more than that.

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That may be so, but you could buy another new Android model after 3 years and still not have paid as much as the cost of your original iPhone!

 

Trouble is, a perfectly working phone - they're just trying to sell new ones - and ... add a pile more into land-fill.

And now, China has (understandably) stopped taking electronic waste for recycling - they're happy to make the stuff though.

 

I just need to hie myself into an authorized Huawei repair shop to have a new battery put into the 6P and it should be good to go for another couple of years.

The LG V20 is a different story. Although the LG chaebol is related to the Samsung chaebol, LG is getting clobbered in the mobile market, almost as badly as HTC.

LG's making the Pixel 2 XL for Google has not gone well for them, and Google "acqui-hired" all the HTC employees that worked on Pixel, but nobody from LG.

My guess is that Osterloh wants to make phones again, but not the way MotoGoogle did. It must have been really expensive to have all of those employees in Chicago designing and engineering phones, not to mention running the old plant in Harvard IL where Motorola used to make old analog StarTACs!

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LG - hmmm. I had a Windows phone - an LG - for 14 months, got it 5½yrs ago. Was a great phone, and loved the solid Windows platform - only had to restart it a couple of times in all that time, unlike the Android S2 which I've got now needs restarting a couple of times a week, or more. The LG died, 6 weeks out of warranty - LG didn't even respond when I contacted them. The S2 Samsung is still going strong, though I replaced the battery recently, almost 4yrs old at the time.

 

No offence, but here's what I don't understand.

Why do people think that cell phones - which are really small computers - are supposed to have 99.99% reliable uptime?

There are so many things that can fail. It's not like plugging an old school landline in and knowing you'll have service unless something really horrible happens, like an earthquake, tornado, or flood takes out the central office.

Wireless carriers do their best to design robust networks, but Mother Nature and buildings are a lot less kind to signal. The operating environment on each user's device is unique to that person once they take it out of the box and start using it.

It's a lot easier to support a lot of servers in a data center than it is to do what I'm doing now, simply because there is no control over the environment.


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And what percentage of the mobile phone market does Apple have? Why would that be your target for what are generally affordable cars?

 

My Nexus 6 I bought new off Google (not 6P) is still working fine and battery is still strong. Removed the SIM to my faster Hwawei P9, but it's great as a small handheld 6" computer with WiFi and internet access with superb screen.

 

From what I understand if Toyota used Android Auto they needed to permit Google to mine the location and other information generated. Toyota does not want to do that.

 

It figures! I hadn't thought of that.

 

Of course we all turn off our iPhones so the 'powers that be' can't track us.

Bob Wilson

 

That would also resolve the perceived need for Android Auto & Apple CarPlay.

That will not work on the higher times that have mobile assistance to track you.

 

I assumed PP was referring to Ggle mining some of Toyota's proprietary information, but who knows...
.. like you say, they probably already know far too much about us as individuals. We're simply a source of advertising/merchandising to the mega corporations.

 

Many people have said that the reason Google bought Android was for the marketing data & opportunities.

 

Did Amazon buy Whole Foods for the kale?

Bob Wilson

 

But to give up connectivity via maybe 60% of the phone users? I know they don't want to allow others to own data. But if it costs them sales, and somebody else already has the data because our phones are on (Except for battery saving reasons, why would it ever be off. And they can have my data, it is up to me to choose where I shop and what I buy and for what reasons and their 5-10% influence doesn't bother me a bit. Witness my posting under my real name since before the Internet. Nothing to hide, so what me worry.)

 

I believe it is called making a profit and moving to local delivery.

Amazon's latest Prime perk: 5% cash back at Whole Foods - Feb. 20, 2018

 

If their poor dealer network does not hurt sales, do you think an entertainment feature will hurt them more? Very unlikely.

 

Not really for Prime customers, for those with the Amazon Prime Visa card. Click bait.

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I believe you need them both. Most articles I read said some Prime customers.