This is definitely a problem but in practice it's not as dire as this article makes it sound. So many of the essential pieces have been factored out into the support libraries and independently upgradable components that Android devices actually get more regular updates in some respects than iOS devices do.
For example, I have to update my entire iPhone OS to get an updated web browser or photo library or keyboard. Google can update all of those every day without a reboot.
As an iOS developer I can't use new OS features until all my users have upgraded. As long as what I need is in the support library I can adopt the latest and greatest for Android right away.
Downside of updating support libraries independently is that it balloons the QA matrix and makes integration bugs inevitable. The iOS approach means the entire OS is properly tested as an entire entity.
To add to this, I have a 6 year old iPad. There are no issues with it except the operating system itself. Hulu won't install since it needs iOS 11 for some reason. iOS won't update to 11 because it's too old. Netflix works and updates just fine.
The iPad is in perfect condition with no hardware issues. It's the software that will make it an ewaste soon.
My Android phone updates all the apps (even many OS services) without any problem.
>As an iOS developer I can't use new OS features until all my users have upgraded. As long as what I need is in the support library I can adopt the latest and greatest for Android right away.
I don't know about the rate and speed of support library from the Top 5 Android manufacturers, which is Samsung, Huawei, BBKs, Xiaomi. I know they do get some regular update, but on all devices? And do those user actually update it?
iOS Users Update are on a much faster cycle. iOS 12 is on 70% of compatible iOS devices within 3 months of release. iOS 11+ on 95% of all compatible iOS devices. That is pretty damn crazy if you ask me Having OS that is only 2 years old on nearly all devices.
Security updates are becoming more dire, but feature updates between versions has been dwindling since the early days. I've had an Android phone continuously since 2011, and while I could detail a laundry list of stuff we got from Gingerbread -> Ice Cream Sandwich or KitKat -> Lollipop, I can't think of many "game changers" from Marshmallow on that made each new update a "must have". Just trying to think of the ones I actually noticed or used:
Nougat: Slightly better battery with doze mode; Built-in Night Light so I no longer need cf.lumen or Twilight
Oreo: A better AutoFill API for my password manager
Pie: Adaptive battery? I lost the ability to record calls when my phone got the Pie update, so I wouldn't really consider that a feature.
So basically, other than having to use a third-party screen temperature app and needing to manually copy-paste passwords, there wasn't much meaningful difference in the experience between my Nexus 7 running Marshmallow and my S8+ phone with the Pie update.
> there wasn't much meaningful difference in the experience between my Nexus 7 running Marshmallow and my S8+ phone with the Pie update.
Reading this on a Nexus 5, running marshmallow. I stopped upgrading when I stopped seeing a reason to, now I just get the old models on the cheap and only occasionally wonder if I'm missing out.
In those moments I'll remember your comment, stop wondering, and continue treating my phone like the sub-$200 commodity that it is. Thanks.
The inability for Android manufacturers to deliver an honest, timely and up to date practice of current security updates (instead of 6 month old fixes) pushed me to a pixel when I was happy with my galaxy note and g6.
The heartbleed bug remaining unpatched for so long really did it for me.
The shining example of Google vs apple for me is the package manager. Since Android D, updating my apps has caused the phone to slow to a crawl. Fps drops heavily, apps are laggy, etc. There is no option to only download updates when charging. Google has done nothing about this for years now.
I still use Android because I need the control. But parts of the platform are just inexcusable (imo) in 2019.
Dont get me wrong, Apple has their own problems as well. But Fps drops aren't one of them (at least on my iPad)
If only apple let me actually have a non-terrible home screen...
I recently swapped to iPhone after being a long time Android user. After using the iPhone for a few months now, I will definitely be going back to Android. Before I owned an Apple device, I was sure that iPhones got first class treatment in app design/development - this has been a resounding disappointment. Instead, there are a few good apps but most of them are just enough to be good enough and not really amazing. Not to mention Apple's total lack of inter-app communication (iOS's default clock app is not good enough, I installed Alarmy so I can skip the next alarm if I wake up early, Alarmy needs to run in the foreground, won't let me access it in lock screen, and if your kid locks your phone out while the alarm is going, gotta wait the full 5 minutes before you can stop it. Personal anecdotes, but little things like this make me wonder why people like iOS so much when it's so limiting.
My apps only update when I connect the charger during the evening. At least I have been under that impression. (Except for Facebook that updates itself outside the play store and then brags about it with an annoying notification..) Is it something that varies between models/makers?
What control does Android give you that you want? (I’m legitimately asking: is there an immediate pragmatic reason, or is it a principled stance against walled gardens?)
I don't see an option for this but my Pixel 2 starts automatic updates only when charging. When not plugged in, it checks for updates and provides a notification 'N updates available' but it doesn't auto-update.
> Android devices aren’t kept up to date, leaving their users unable to benefit from advancements in the platform.
What advancements? Both iOS and Android have for a few years reached maturity, not much exciting with each new update. At least not without new hardware, as most updates are to support something physical (notch, fingerprints, face scan etc).
I used to hate my phone not being updated, so switched to a brand of Android that kept them up to date. But lately I don't really mind. Only reason I upgraded to Pie this weekend (after being bugged by the updater for months) was because of a few emojis I couldn't see properly when being sent to me. The update hasn't done anything big. Things are a bit rounder, the clock is now in the wrong corner. Some BLE issues as well, making me regret the update.
Update adoption is getting slower because people (or perhaps just me) are frustrated with updates removing/changing functionality, making the device slower, or causing additional bugs beyond whatever was "fixed".
That's on top of the fact that my carrier refuses to stay on top of updates for my device anyway.
> the fact that my carrier refuses to stay on top of updates for my device anyway.
I don't get why the carrier has to be involved at all. It has nothing to do with them at all so why do they even get a say in when a phone gets an update ?
The biggest problem is that android is not focusing on the low end where most of their users are. They need to make the UX on these older and slower devices _better_ with every update, not worse
Wouldn't that be up to the device manufacturer and in the case of the app themselves, the app devs? Samsung has TouchWiz and LG has (I think it's called) Home. There are 3rd party launchers available to download that will use a smaller footprint.
I had an older HTC phone that was great for dev testing perf on lower end devices. It had a terrible memory leak that caused the phone to run slower overall, and you had to make numerous tweaks to fix it. One of them was to replace the default launcher. It made an immediate difference.
Although I do concede that Google's apps are terrible for lower end devices.
Aside: this headline is poorly worded IMO. It sounds ambiguous with the execution duration of a software update. "Android updates are getting less and less frequent" or "fewer android updates happening in the field" etc might be clearer.
> The reasons for the slowing updates aren’t clear
IMO it is clear: people often "update" by retiring the old device and buying a new one. The metrics in this article are all from Google -- they show market share of android release (out of android devices).
People are refreshing less often because smartphones released in the last few years are: (1) not terribly different from the ones on the shelf now, (2) more expensive than they've ever been. People are spacing out their upgrade cycle because their current phone is good enough and because phones are more expensive.
Not particularly on topic, but OnePlus is a pretty decent choice if you don't want to pay Pixel prices but get an almost stock experience with reasonably rapid OS updates.
This is why Google is devoting more and more resources to the Fuchsia project: to replace Android with an operating system that supports over-the-air (or WiFi) updates like iOS does and Windows Mobile did. It's the only way Google can effectively fight their fragmentation issue: get everyone to upgrade to the latest OS version.
Fuscha is a kernel and has absolutely nothing to do with this. There are plenty of Linux based Oses that don’t have this problem. (This is even more the case with android since the really hairy stuff like GPU drivers aren’t even part of the kernel.)
The problem is that the entire android user space is built as a single monolithic project that gets forked and closed by the OEM and all of the components have to be updated at once.
IMHO: fuscha will probably make things worse: at least with Linux the code needed to boot the device gets published due to the GPL combined with the monolithic kernel architecture making community projects like cyanogenmod (or whatever it’s called now) possible. I seriously doubt that will be the case with fuscha, it will just get forked and closed like the AOSP components do now (which have the same license.)
I haven't read the entire article, but the title and first few paragraphs and images/tables are unfair and misleading. This looks like a stereotypical jab at Android that you would expect from a company like Apple Inc. If you want to compare Apples to Apples (no pun intended) you should compare how fast updates roll out to the first party devices iPhone and Pixel. I've used the first two generations of Pixel now and I've never had an issue receiving updates. Google obviously has less control over what Samsung, LG, Huawei, do and that's not even taking into consideration carriers.
The article is only talking about major upgrades (e.g., going from Oreo to Pie). It is not talking about security updates, which are minor releases. People seem to be mixing up these two things. They are different.
Since updating to Android 9 I've had the weirdest problems. Phone calls will randomly drop (neither I nor the other person is moving, happens on wifi and mobile) in the middle of the call. No apparent connection to internet traffic. I've also started seeing an issue where the phone will call someone and connect but not start playing audio or transmitting audio. Also, if I'm on wifi and then leave wifi (or turn it off), the phone will silently fail to use the mobile network. It will display that it has 4g / 3g / whatever, but data doesn't work and phone calls fail. The only fix is restarting the phone.
I have a Nokia 8, which isn't a particularly popular handset and I'm thinking of switching to an old Samsung S8 or something - but it's striking to me how badly the experience has declined since 8. The phone was wonderful with 8!
> That is, half of Android devices were on an OS that hadn’t seen an update in at least 2 years.
This seems quite wrong, older Android versions do receive some security maintenance releases from google. It's of course up to the device vendor if a particular model gets it though.
This is info is a bit hard to find but it seems like KitKat was supported until October 2017, Lollipop until March 2018 and Marshmallow until August 2018. (taken from wikipedia and here: https://www.quora.com/Will-the-Android-5-Lollipop-still-exis...)
So you could be running a phone with KitKat, which was released in 2013 but still got the last update 1.5 years ago.
Those statistics should be broken down by new purchases and updating old devices.
At the time of Android 4.4, many people got an Android device for the first time, so adoption was high. At the time of Android 8, the market is already mature and many people still hold to their old Android 6 device.
Im on a Pixel 2, so I get fast updates. But I almost wish they were slower, or would just stop breakimg things and removing features. My phone, after more than a year of great service, starting dropping calls in my house again. I poked around and realized they removed the option to prefer Wi-Fi calling. So now because it can get a weak cellular signal, it ignores my strong Wi-Fi and I get much crappier services a result. #$&@!
The short life-time of Android phones & the app's questionable privacy policies are the 2 major reasons I'm sticking to iOS, even though I think Apple is a major asshole.
Android is an awesome OS, but the app store feels "unregulated" and I feel like I'm not in control who and what copies my data.
If every manufacturer is encouraging people to buy new phone, why do people even want to upgrade their old phones?
The truth in China is that Xiaomi and Huawei releases their new phones very frequently. Now people are more and more focusing on screen, CPU, RAM, cameras.
[+] [-] cageface|7 years ago|reply
For example, I have to update my entire iPhone OS to get an updated web browser or photo library or keyboard. Google can update all of those every day without a reboot.
As an iOS developer I can't use new OS features until all my users have upgraded. As long as what I need is in the support library I can adopt the latest and greatest for Android right away.
[+] [-] whalabi|7 years ago|reply
You're right about platform features used within apps, many (most? all?) are made available to developers with the support libraries.
However, users will get none of the following until they get Pie (for example)
* ML adaptive battery
* App actions (ML predictive app shortcuts)
* Digital well-being dashboard and limits
* A lot more, as shown on this page (there's a lot of smaller items in the collapsible categories at the bottom): https://www.android.com/versions/pie-9-0/
Each update has a heap of interface improvements, and users miss out on these
[+] [-] setpatchaddress|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] medius|7 years ago|reply
The iPad is in perfect condition with no hardware issues. It's the software that will make it an ewaste soon.
My Android phone updates all the apps (even many OS services) without any problem.
[+] [-] ksec|7 years ago|reply
I don't know about the rate and speed of support library from the Top 5 Android manufacturers, which is Samsung, Huawei, BBKs, Xiaomi. I know they do get some regular update, but on all devices? And do those user actually update it?
iOS Users Update are on a much faster cycle. iOS 12 is on 70% of compatible iOS devices within 3 months of release. iOS 11+ on 95% of all compatible iOS devices. That is pretty damn crazy if you ask me Having OS that is only 2 years old on nearly all devices.
[+] [-] AdmiralAsshat|7 years ago|reply
Nougat: Slightly better battery with doze mode; Built-in Night Light so I no longer need cf.lumen or Twilight
Oreo: A better AutoFill API for my password manager
Pie: Adaptive battery? I lost the ability to record calls when my phone got the Pie update, so I wouldn't really consider that a feature.
So basically, other than having to use a third-party screen temperature app and needing to manually copy-paste passwords, there wasn't much meaningful difference in the experience between my Nexus 7 running Marshmallow and my S8+ phone with the Pie update.
[+] [-] vorpalhex|7 years ago|reply
Though they did generally manage to entirely screw up do-not-disturb and notification settings in a gross attempt at simplification...
[+] [-] __MatrixMan__|7 years ago|reply
Reading this on a Nexus 5, running marshmallow. I stopped upgrading when I stopped seeing a reason to, now I just get the old models on the cheap and only occasionally wonder if I'm missing out.
In those moments I'll remember your comment, stop wondering, and continue treating my phone like the sub-$200 commodity that it is. Thanks.
[+] [-] j45|7 years ago|reply
The heartbleed bug remaining unpatched for so long really did it for me.
[+] [-] listic|7 years ago|reply
Is this applicable to all Pie phones or just your particular one? I wonder why did they do it.
[+] [-] cheeze|7 years ago|reply
I still use Android because I need the control. But parts of the platform are just inexcusable (imo) in 2019.
Dont get me wrong, Apple has their own problems as well. But Fps drops aren't one of them (at least on my iPad)
If only apple let me actually have a non-terrible home screen...
[+] [-] lighthazard|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maaaats|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lsiebert|7 years ago|reply
https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/al2gd4/android_9_in...
[+] [-] lvh|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] juergbi|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] sbwmk|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] maaaats|7 years ago|reply
What advancements? Both iOS and Android have for a few years reached maturity, not much exciting with each new update. At least not without new hardware, as most updates are to support something physical (notch, fingerprints, face scan etc).
I used to hate my phone not being updated, so switched to a brand of Android that kept them up to date. But lately I don't really mind. Only reason I upgraded to Pie this weekend (after being bugged by the updater for months) was because of a few emojis I couldn't see properly when being sent to me. The update hasn't done anything big. Things are a bit rounder, the clock is now in the wrong corner. Some BLE issues as well, making me regret the update.
[+] [-] ebg13|7 years ago|reply
Security?
[+] [-] hopler|7 years ago|reply
and added Night Light to compensate for breaking Twilight/BlueLight etc.
[+] [-] inetknght|7 years ago|reply
That's on top of the fact that my carrier refuses to stay on top of updates for my device anyway.
[+] [-] Aaargh20318|7 years ago|reply
I don't get why the carrier has to be involved at all. It has nothing to do with them at all so why do they even get a say in when a phone gets an update ?
[+] [-] c0vfefe|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] waynenilsen|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zaarn|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] noxToken|7 years ago|reply
I had an older HTC phone that was great for dev testing perf on lower end devices. It had a terrible memory leak that caused the phone to run slower overall, and you had to make numerous tweaks to fix it. One of them was to replace the default launcher. It made an immediate difference.
Although I do concede that Google's apps are terrible for lower end devices.
[+] [-] wyldfire|7 years ago|reply
> The reasons for the slowing updates aren’t clear
IMO it is clear: people often "update" by retiring the old device and buying a new one. The metrics in this article are all from Google -- they show market share of android release (out of android devices).
People are refreshing less often because smartphones released in the last few years are: (1) not terribly different from the ones on the shelf now, (2) more expensive than they've ever been. People are spacing out their upgrade cycle because their current phone is good enough and because phones are more expensive.
[+] [-] gniv|7 years ago|reply
Personally, I think it's due to people keeping their phones longer (and, of course, carriers not passing on the major updates).
[+] [-] barrkel|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikece|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] swiley|7 years ago|reply
The problem is that the entire android user space is built as a single monolithic project that gets forked and closed by the OEM and all of the components have to be updated at once.
IMHO: fuscha will probably make things worse: at least with Linux the code needed to boot the device gets published due to the GPL combined with the monolithic kernel architecture making community projects like cyanogenmod (or whatever it’s called now) possible. I seriously doubt that will be the case with fuscha, it will just get forked and closed like the AOSP components do now (which have the same license.)
[+] [-] matchbok|7 years ago|reply
iOS gets that in a few hours.
[+] [-] oblio|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chenning|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tytso|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aeturnum|7 years ago|reply
I have a Nokia 8, which isn't a particularly popular handset and I'm thinking of switching to an old Samsung S8 or something - but it's striking to me how badly the experience has declined since 8. The phone was wonderful with 8!
[+] [-] BubuIIC|7 years ago|reply
This seems quite wrong, older Android versions do receive some security maintenance releases from google. It's of course up to the device vendor if a particular model gets it though. This is info is a bit hard to find but it seems like KitKat was supported until October 2017, Lollipop until March 2018 and Marshmallow until August 2018. (taken from wikipedia and here: https://www.quora.com/Will-the-Android-5-Lollipop-still-exis...)
So you could be running a phone with KitKat, which was released in 2013 but still got the last update 1.5 years ago.
[+] [-] javitury|7 years ago|reply
At the time of Android 4.4, many people got an Android device for the first time, so adoption was high. At the time of Android 8, the market is already mature and many people still hold to their old Android 6 device.
[+] [-] alexandercrohde|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nfriedly|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tobyhinloopen|7 years ago|reply
Android is an awesome OS, but the app store feels "unregulated" and I feel like I'm not in control who and what copies my data.
[+] [-] liuyanghejerry|7 years ago|reply