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Comment by nickjj | Hacker News Reader

Be careful with the unlimited video storage deal because it's not really unlimited video?

It's unlimited until 2020[0] and then I'm guessing you'll have to pay for it afterwards, and after a few years of taking videos without caring about space, you're probably going to rack up a massive bill or have to spend a ton of time cherry picking what you want to save.

Their plan is pretty smart tho. Most people will be like "screw it, I'll just buy another phone to avoid spending that just to keep my videos".

[0]: https://i.imgur.com/M5LYvrH.png (read the fine print)

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That's insidious if that's the case. I (and probably) many others took it to mean that photos taken through that date would enjoy unlimited storage permanently, not that they would start charging after that date. Would be nice if we could get some clarification.

Parent comment is correct. From footnote #2 from here: https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_2

> Free, unlimited original-quality storage for photos and videos taken with Pixel through the end of 2020, and free, unlimited high-quality storage for photos taken with Pixel afterwards.

That's still not clear. It doesn't say they will start charging for original quality shots taken before 2020. To me it just seems like if you want to keep storing original quality shots taken AFTER 2020, then you will have to pay for that going forward.

Assuming it's just like all of their other storage promotions have been over the last several years.

If you are over your free cap when the promotion ends, you don't lose access to anything, you just can't add anything new.

This. To add more stuff you change the setting. (When changing from "original" to the "high" quality setting, they convert your stuff to the lower quality.)

Source: did it before, probably still works the same way.

No. The photos that I uploaded in "Original Quality" are still original quality, and they remain that. I switched to 'High quality' because I don't have a Pixel, and it hasn't retrospectively changed the previous ones. That is also what Google probably means here.

As I understand it, the media you capture until 2020 is unlimited and will stay that way, and only what you capture afterwards will eat your quota.

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