Goodbye Pixel 4, Hello Pixel 7!
After almost three years, the Pixel 4 I bought is also out of security support, so it’s time for a new one. This time I decided to go all-out on a Pixel 7 Pro, as per Google I’m guaranteed security updates for almost 5 years (almost, as I did not buy it in October). Assuming I don’t drop it or it otherwise ceases functioning, that means I will be shopping for a new phone at the end of 2027… making it a better value than the Pixel 4 was on the face of things, and we’re privileged enough that the price point (on-sale for A$1049) only stings for a month.
I placed my order right around Christmas, but it took until early January to actually ship, and I got it a few days ago. Setup was pretty smooth for the most part, same like the last one… let the wizard copy most of the things across, manually move my authenticators, Signal, etc, and I’m all set.
Immediate thoughts: it’s too big (I opted for the Pro for the better camera, bigger battery, more RAM, etc), which should have been obvious because I thought the Pixel 4 was a bit on the large side. The camera is spectacular, which is saying something because the 4’s camera was rather good already for the most part. It’s too slippery, again, common theme, a case will fix that. Not sure I’m a fan of the bezel-less design on the screen, it’s very easy to tap something on the edges of the screen with my sasquatch fingers just holding the phone.
But mostly, it’ll do the job, so I’m stoked. But what to do with the two (2) Pixel 4s we have? Well, my plan was to get everything off mine, put LineageOS on it and let Sabriena use it while I put LineageOS on hers, then reset mine and Duncan can have it.
But from a cursory look, it seems like it’s quite difficult to almost impossible to get Google Pay Wallet working with non-standard OSes due to all the attestation requirements. I tried re-locking the bootloader, thinking that’d be why but that resulted in a non-booting OS. I’m not quite ready to give up yet, but it is curious to me as why Google Wallet works happily on a phone that’s no longer in security support, but won’t work with an up-to-date aftermarket OS. Does it happen frequently that ROM builders put credit card stealers in their ROMs?
For now, Sabriena’s still using hers with stock firmware, and Duncan still has his busted-to-bits iPhone XR.
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