A summary of a chat I had with a Google rep. from Google Support:
what happens after I dump my A1 phone and buy a non-A1 phone, will they halt the free storage?
Will all my photos be deleted? Will they shrink them to what Google deems "high quality"/"HD" (16 mp max & 1080 video max)?
"It will not shrink. Also, will not be deleted."
Will stay stored in the cloud for free? Forever?
"Absolutely correct."
At original quality?
"Without any charge, without shrinkage . With the same quality it will be stored."
Even if I never buy an Android phone again?
"That's correct.
Also, you can access those pictures using laptop or computer."
What about within the 2 years of "unlimited" storage, presumably I can take all my photos stored in other locations and upload them on to the A1 cloud?
Or is it only photos I snap with the A1 phone (that is sent by default to the A1 cloud) that get that "original quality" free storage?
"Only photographs which you snap with the A1 device."
How does it differentiate?
If I have on my A1 device many photos taken previously..
"Okay, let'd understand, device comes with the auto detection feature, wherein it automatically detects the click of the device.
It will only save the snaps of the device.
Also, just to inform, sometimes we take backups and then restore in the new device, in that case too, it will not store in the cloud storage the restored photos of other device."
they claim it guarantees Android updates for two years from the release date.
Can someone please explain how that's much different than e.g. Galaxy S phones which also seem to have a two year promise?
I get that A1 phones get updated as soon as they come out with a new version of droid it comes directly from Google,
but Samsung eventually sends the updates to their phones as well. Ok, so I won't get it immediately, but will presumably still get it at some point.
Does Google tend to send updates even after the 2 year guarantee?
"Okay, in this case, Google send the updates for 2 years, however, it send the Security patches for 3 years, to make sure that Google updates, run properly in the device."