Gopro created their own processor chip for the Hero 6 and dropped some of the functionality because of that. Since then there has been 2 new models. There hasn't been a great big hood haa about dropping the photo while viewing functionality which probably goes to show how widely used it wasn't.
if this was such a widely used feature there would have been uproar about it in 2016 and they would have looked at how to reintroduce it. But I guess I could have missed the swathe of "Hero 6 dealkiller - no photo with video" posts that YouTube was awash with.
It's quite common for new version of products to add new features and remove obsolete ones. This releases space in the firmware and helps keep the code tidy and easily maintained rather than having it cluttered with obsolete. I check the specs when going up to the next version to see if any thing I use isn't there as well as the improvements. Especially when there is a fundamental change to the hardware such as custom designed processor involved in the upgrade chain. Going up 3 versions would make that more critical.
