cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/2289548 (!googlepixel@lemdro.id)
According to the comments section, users have been able to sideload them without issues. Play Store has since begun allowing the installs.
Updated: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Google-Pixel-8-Pixel-8-Pro-benchmark-block-lifted.759613.0.html
Google has lifted the block it placed on the ability for users to freely install benchmarking apps on its Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones. The block had been in place during the review embargo period but extended past the on sale period where customers purchasing the devices couldn’t install benchmarks on their new Pixels either.
Seems like someone at Google didn’t hear about the Streisand effect. Now there’s even more scrutiny into the chip benchmark. Great job, Google.
That is insane. Straight up blacklisting popular software because they don’t want people to look too closely at what they purchased. It’s amazing what the public is willing to accept, just such a constant stream of reports about bad behavior from companies that most people can’t find the energy to care.
It was an android 14 compatibility issue and the app has since been updated and runs fine.
The app hasn’t been updated but the Play Store block has indeed been lifted. People were sideloading without issue. Perhaps Google intended for the block to only last until launch to prevent reviewers only.
There is actual compatibility, and official compatibility.
The updated apps likely didn’t have any code changed. (why they still worked when side loaded) Instead, the Play Store listing updated the compatibility filter to include Android 14, so 14 users could now see them in the Play Store.
It’s not an uncommon practice. Many apps might simply have a compatibility filter like “yes if [OS version > X]”. But that can be a problem if some future OS breaks compatibility. Especially in the case of a benchmark app that’s supposed to give comparable results between OS versions. If the new OS tweaks something that doesn’t fully break the benchmark, but causes inaccurate numbers, that would need to be checked before it gets approved.
Android 14 uses new APIs and Google requires everyone to update their SDK to say whether or not it uses the new APIs. If they did nothing it was flagged as an incompatible app, but if they don’t use the APIs it will run fine.
You can usually adjust your app and publish an update without needing to change the app’s targetSdkVersion. Similarly, you should not need to use new APIs or change the app’s compileSdkVersion, although this can depend on the way your app is built and the platform functionality it’s using.
https://developer.android.com/about/versions/14/migration
You can update the SDK without triggering an update to the app and it will be available on the play store.
Occam’s razor applies here.
Ah, so I fell for reactionary bs assuming that a fairly well written article had good information? Dammit. =P Thanks for the info, that sounds a lot more plausible to me.
Terrible move, makes me not want to engage in the entire android ecosystem if they are going to pull this shit
Agreed, let’s just move to checks notes iOS? Oh, they also constantly pull shady, anticonsumer bullshit. There’s no winning for us.
Isn’t this because the minimum SDK level increase requirement in the play store and android 14? This gets rid of older Lapis that are less efficient or secure from modern apps. The benchmarking tools haven’t targeted newer APIs and are thus the ones at fault. Devs need to keep their stuff updated; that’s half the point of the beta period every year for the major version releases.
People seem to be reporting that they were able to sideload without issue and the restriction was subsequently lifted from the Play Store.
People in the business of reviewing Android phones couldn’t possibly know about sideloading. I’m shocked anyone at Google thought this would do anything but make them look bad.
It would probably violate agreements and they’d blacklist the reviewers for future releases. It would also make those reviewers look bad if they don’t respect review agreements and embargos. Other companies might not trust them with preview units.
I agree Google looks absurd here. But if my living was being made reviewing things, I wouldn’t want to risk companies not giving me the early look that reviewers get. Especially when I can just wait till the device comes out and benchmark it then, since there’s no longer an embargo or agreement once a device goes public
A reviewer who’s being ethical would note any such demands from a manufacturer in their review, or refuse to review a product if the demands were too extreme. Banning benchmarks from reviews is pretty questionable, though not unprecedented. I should note that I am a reviewer, though not of phones and I don’t make my living from it. I have encountered and rejected the occasional unethical request (usually manufacturers wanting to screen the review’s content before publication).
Trying to keep people from benchmarking it via the Play Store is the absurd part. They can use a contract for reviewers, but that’s not even going to slow down sophisticated end users.
