Pixel update question (posted here for quick traffic)

[notforhire]

Do monthly patches, feature drops, and OS upgrades come to Pixel phones directly from Google, or do they get stopped at the border by TMO, AT&T, VZW, etc. for release later?

 

[jhilker]

Do monthly patches, feature drops, and OS upgrades come to Pixel phones directly from Google, or do they get stopped at the border by TMO, AT&T, VZW, etc. for release later?

It's my understanding, even if you bought from a carrier, that the patches, upgrades, etc come directly from Google. That is, the carrier has to do nothing to it before you get it.

 

[notforhire]

It's my understanding, even if you bought from a carrier, that the patches, upgrades, etc come directly from Google. That is, the carrier has to do nothing to it before you get it.

I wondered...though in looking through other threads over the past few years, that isn't clear at all. At least as it relates to Verizon? If Pixels get the updates straight from the source (e.g., Apple), that's an interesting consideration.

 

[B. Diddy]

I've certainly heard of updates being held up on certain carriers, presumably due to carrier-specific bugs that need to be ironed out. People can often circumvent this by sideloading the update, but I wonder if that exposes them to said bugs.

 

[Davidoo]

It's my understanding, even if you bought from a carrier, that the patches, upgrades, etc come directly from Google. That is, the carrier has to do nothing to it before you get it.

I respectfully submit that is not the case. ALL updates may originate from Google, but they ALL have to pass through the carriers for certification, approval, or whatever you want to call it before you can recieve them OTA. And in some cases, the carrier adds things to it. That is why, for instance, a couple of months ago, no one from T-Mobile got the OTA October update until T-Mobile approved it. Everyone else got it near the regular launch date, but no one from T-Mo got it for I think almost 2 weeks later. Doesn't matter if you bought through Google or the carrier, once you put in a carrier SIM, they can all hit the update button and get it when the carrier approves. I'm on Verizon and there were numerous cases over the last 10 years where mine was delayed waiting on VZW approval. Also, you will notice if you look at the download page on Google where you can sideload and not wait, there are lots of examples in certain months where there are different variations of the monthly update for different carriers. Now, when the carrier does approve or certify, this may give the green light to Google for you to be able to pull the OTA, and it comes straight from Google to your device. That part I'm not sure of as to whether it comes from the carrier or Google at that time.

 

[notforhire]

I respectfully submit that is not the case. ALL updates may originate from Google, but they ALL have to pass through the carriers for certification, approval, or whatever you want to call it before you can recieve them OTA. And in some cases, the carrier adds things to it. That is why, for instance, a couple of months ago, no one from T-Mobile got the OTA October update until T-Mobile approved it. Everyone else got it near the regular launch date, but no one from T-Mo got it for I think almost 2 weeks later. Doesn't matter if you bought through Google or the carrier, once you put in a carrier SIM, they can all hit the update button and get it when the carrier approves. I'm on Verizon and there were numerous cases over the last 10 years where mine was delayed waiting on VZW approval. Also, you will notice if you look at the download page on Google where you can sideload and not wait, there are lots of examples in certain months where there are different variations of the monthly update for different carriers. Now, when the carrier does approve or certify, this may give the green light to Google for you to be able to pull the OTA, and it comes straight from Google to your device. That part I'm not sure of as to whether it comes from the carrier or Google at that time.

This is what I was wondering. Google updates to Pixels look nothing like Apple updates to iPhone. I'm not sure why that is, but this clears it up for me. mucho appreciado.