Exactly! I own this device and still use it often...I see no reason to stop using it. It received a security patch just recently, and I don't feel that missing out on further updates will impact watching YouTube videos

Yeah. First world problem, or whatever. But, like my 2013 Moto X, it's irritating to get less than 2 years out of a multiple hundred dollar product that otherwise is fine.

And I would have bought the successor to the Nexus 7, except there was none, really -- nothing comparable and problem free (in addition to the price bump and larger size, the 9 had issues, initially, IIRC).

And... after the Moto X, and observing how quickly my parents' Samsung tablet on Verizon was abandoned, I wasn't willing to get a tablet other than a Nexus, i.e. one receiving support and updates directly from Google.

My point, finally, is that even going Nexus is no longer a way to get reasonable support for a product, it seems. I've gotten pretty tired of Google and company's game of musical chairs, with respect to hardware.

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P.S. I post these comments, occasionally, here on HN also because I know Googlers still swing by and read them.

The only means of feedback I've ever found to Google.

Enough people push enough negativity through Google's version of the reality distortion field, and at least an initiative gets launched. Thing is, Google, you need to stick with it -- one of them -- sooner or later.

The Nexus 5 was released in October 2013 and was on the most up to date version of Android through August 2016. It will continue to get security updates. Plus it will continue to get updates to Google Services (a chunk of what we think of as Android) and the core apps including the default browser. Unlike Apple, Google doesn't really do the 'you get the next version but a bunch of new features are disabled' thing. The fact that Google Services, core apps, Chrome, and other things will continue to get updates does feel vaguely reminiscent of it, though.

> I am not sure why we find this acceptable anyway. When we buy a $300-400 Windows x86 laptop, we also expect it to be upgradable for a decade or so (which is usually possible).

We didn't used to. Not so long ago, keeping the same computer for 10 years would have been a ludicrous idea.

Heck, I got a Dell laptop for considerably more than $400 in 2003, less than 13 years ago. Its screen died 3 years later. I still have it around, but it's not much good without a display.

That's my plan for 7 on my 5. I was hoping CopperheadOS would support it but it looks like they're dropping the 5 too (based on quick google search).

Same problem, except that my loudspeaker is also busted. Headphones only right now.

The damage is possibly my fault as I opened the phone to change the battery (which died in two years), but the lack of an user accessible battery and it's poor battery life are a problem.

I have the exact same issues with my N5. I think I'll have to get myself a headset rather than shouting down the speaker phone.

I'll feel sad not to be on the leading edge for the first time in years (had Nexus 4 before)

Do you have the fun issues where the power button sticks, resulting in an endless boot loop? I've resorted to percussive maintenance, which oddly fixes the problem for months at a time.

Not in the past couple years though, there is really nothing significantly different in the hardware of a Samsung Galaxy s3 and a Nexus 6. Also, one of those laptops was manufactured in the late 90s.

Well, not anymore. Laptops, and computers had huge change from the 70's to the early 2000's.

We're going through the same technology change with mobiles now, but that even seems to be tapering off now.

hmmm http://www.androidauthority.com/android-7-0-snapdragon-800-8...

I ran it myself as a secondary device for phone app testing and didn't have that problem. Maybe as a daily driver I would have had more trouble?

In my experience, the bigger issue was designers assuming everyone has the taller iPhone 5 screen size (or worse, iPhone 6) and burning up 95% of the screen with keyboard + giant fixed header + fixed footer. Some apps would give you space for maybe two lines of content in between all that.

More of a complaint with 3rd party devs on that though.

So - what would you prefer, a slower but secure OS on an older phone, or no updates at all?

Also the "cherrypick" comment is a bit of a dodge - Google already does security patches for older releases (3 years vs. 2).

It would arguably be just as easy to secure one codebase and pare features down for performance.

Comments like this are ridiculous. It wasn't a pared down operating system by any definition. Features just weren't available if you didn't have the requisite hardware.

That's mostly true, but not entirely. When Google released OpenGL 3.0 and 3.1, older Nexus devices couldn't get that.

> Google doesn't cherrypick features for older hardware - it's all our nothing.

well they should.

That is a really cool and simple hack. Take a wireless charging coil + support circuitry and simply tap that into the USB +5V and ground? It all sounds too easy!

I think it is 2 years for major updates (from release), 3 years for security updates (from release), or 18 months for security updates from end of life.

Unless you are unlucky enough to get a device that they can't update due to drivers (Texas Instruments CPU).