The Google Pixel 3 Is Reaching End Of Life

EOL is the acronym they use. It can be decoded as, “They want you to spend more money for no good reason.”. End of life rolls of the tongue easier. The Google Pixel 3 will no longer be included in most updates from Google. That means that as apps are updated, you’re phone will hit snags and lose it’s reliability. It will do this by design. There isn’t really anything wrong with the phone though.

I use a Google Pixel 3 for taking short notes, texting, phone calls, and sometimes I take a photo with it. I don’t enjoy using it for any of these tasks. It fits in my pocket and that is the only reason it’s there. The ergonomics are horrible for any of these tasks. My hearing never has adjusted to cell phone level low quality calls. I don’t write with my thumbs. The lag for taking photos is worse than the first digital cameras and it’s difficult to hold steady.

The replacement will not be much better, just a little faster. The competition in the market seems to produce very similar products.

There is some humor listening to the reviews. “This one plays games well!”, says one. I don’t play games. “This one has a funny little notch!”, says another. Notch away, it will still not do it’s intended use well.

The one use I forgot to mention that I’m very grateful for is the phone’s ability to assist me in the gig economy. It is worth all of this trouble because it can earn it’s keep. I need reliability for this, so I have to spend the money. As much as I dislike this little machine, I have to accept it’s utility and value here.

Maybe the next rectangular wonder mini-computer will be the one. Maybe Google will let it run for 4 years instead of 3. Maybe it push photography to wonders that nobody thought a plastic lens could dream of. I doubt it. You can bet I’ll be looking for some way to squeeze more value of it regardless. I’ll just have to remember that time is short. It will soon be nothing more than a $20 trade-in value brick.