Pixel Ping!......................
All monitored by Google. I was an Android user for a long time, but if I have to decide between Apple or Google protecting my privacy, it won’t be Google.
I have a Pixel 7.
I’m generally happy with it, although I’m long past being enthusiastic about tech tools.
I need a smart device for MFA for work. My last phone was a Motorola Stylus, which I was quite happy with but Motorola wasn’t releasing any more Android updates for it, and our MFA requires current OS versions.
The Pixel was more expensive than I’d prefer, but had guaranteed updates for longer than any phone in that general category since Google is Android (or Android is Google)
I’m on FI, so I got a discount and could pay monthly. My employer gives me a $50 cell stipend. Since we’re out of cell range at home, which is where I work, I’m almost exclusively using WiFi for calls.
Ends up my FI bill including the phone payment is right around the stipend +/- $5 every month.
Not sure I’d have gotten the Pixel if the company wasn’t paying for it. OTOH, I could have kept my paid-for Stylus indefinitely as long as it worked if it wasn’t for the company requirements. On balance I’m pretty happy with the device overall.
Frankly, if work requirements weren’t a consideration, I’d go back to my old folding RAZR. Loved that device and still would use it. Great as a phone and easy to carry. They can still be had cheap on ebay last time I checked and they support external antennas, which would be handy in the car here in ruralville. I don’t feel the need to be tethered to the Internet in my personal life, although I do admit it is often convenient.
They should offer 10 years. I was forced into throwing away a perfectly good LG phone after 5 years because they stopped upgrading the software to be compatible with company requirements for workspace or some other required software. I replaced it with a $1000+ samsung - ridiculous.
So if your inexpensive battery fails or the builtin esim fails you have to buy a new $1,000 phone.
Another rectangular phone! Wow! Amazing!
The primary purpose of everything G**gle makes, sells or gives away is to record your innermost thoughts.
No other power that ever has existed has been so invested in controlling what you see, read, hear ... and think.