TL;DR
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Google has made it harder to build custom Android ROMs for Pixel phones by omitting their device trees and driver binaries from the latest AOSP release.
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The company says this is because it’s shifting its AOSP reference target from Pixel hardware to a virtual device called “Cuttlefish” to be more neutral.
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While Google insists AOSP isn’t going away, developers must now reverse-engineer changes, making the process for supporting Pixel devices more difficult.
This would be sad if Pixel phones were worth buying, instead of being far inferior to midrange Motorola devices in battery life and performance while costing well over twice as much.
I mean, you’re getting a lot of downvotes, but I’ve gone Motorola -> Motorola -> Motorola -> Pixel -> Pixel -> Motorola.
Both my Pixels died in less than a year. Each had battery life which, while it did improve over a few weeks as Pixel’s optimization stuff took hold, never reached an entire day. Both were unacceptably fragile. Both failed randomly, just out of warranty.
And the Motorola I’m using now has none of those problems, was cheaper, is faster, has a better battery, has a better screen, and in some ways is more customizable (fuck that unmovable search bar).
Like, really. Motorola is a sleeper brand. Not perfect, but damn good.
Which motorola?
I had a model I can’t remember which was an emergency replacement from my OnePlus 3T years ago, then two G Powers of… Some years, then my Pixel 5a and then 8, and now a Razr 2024.
See? Pixel devices are nothing but a trip to the lemon grove, but people with debilitating chronic ass pain tearfully refuse to accept that they wasted their money on GETBRAND. I take those downvotes as an unofficial census confirming how many people don’t know ball.
You might be a tad zealous, but you’re not wrong.
Anything being less open is sad regardless of your opinion of the hardware.
You must be ignoring the Motorola bloat that makes it’s performance beyond subpar somehow
All of which can be disabled.
People who use stock ROMs choose to suffer, just like people who choose to buy a Pixel that will either come unglued, push components through the display, or just constantly overheat.
I have never had a Motorola smartphone… But Canta is a thing :)