Android Oreo Passes 1 Percent Adoption After 5 Months, Nougat Finally Takes First Place (venturebeat.com) 98
According to Google's Platform Versions page, Android 8.0 Oreo mobile operating system finally has 1.1 percent adoption. Like Android Nougat before it, Android Oreo took five months to pass the 1 percent adoption mark. VentureBeat reports: On the bright side, Nougat this month has passed Marshmallow, meaning the second newest Android version is now the most widely used. The latest version of Android typically takes more than a year to become the most-used release, and so far it doesn't look like Oreo's story will be any different. Google's Platform Versions tool uses data gathered from the Google Play Store app, which requires Android 2.2 and above. This means devices running older versions are not included, nor are devices that don't have Google Play installed (such as many Android phones and tablets in China, Amazon's Fire line, and so on). Also, Android versions that have less than 0.1 percent adoption, such as Android 3.0 Honeycomb and Android 2.2 Froyo, are not listed. The two next-oldest Android versions are thus set to drop off the list sometime this year. The Android adoption order now stands as follows: Nougat in first place, Marshmallow in second place, Lollipop in third, KitKat in fourth, Jelly Bean in fifth, Oreo in sixth, ICS in seventh, and Gingerbread in last. All eyes are now on Oreo to see how slowly it can climb the ranks.
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There's some evidence to suggest the issue still lies with google:
https://twitter.com/essential/... [twitter.com]
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Yet my Nokia 8 has had 8.0 since December, 8.1 late January; HMD > Essential?
Re:Almost half a year .... (Score:5, Insightful)
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I think the issue lies with Android not really having any one entity fully in charge or at least with enough power to dictate terms. Device manufacturers certainly don't mind killing updates, especially since it helps them sell new devices. The carriers also want you to buy a new device so that they can lock you into monthly contract for another two years.
And this, my friends, is the reason why Android tablets flopped and Google is now putting all bets on Chrome OS for their netbooks (Chromebooks) and new tablets. I mean, technically porting a regular Chrome browser to Android (for tablets/netbooks) would probably be easier than implementing an Android VM on Chrome OS to run Android apps on those things, but at least Google can now deliver timely updates.
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Tablets in general have flopped- sales are tanking (more than 20M fewer sold in 2017 vs 2016). This is the 3rd straight year of declining sales. Android tablets aren't doing any worse than the rest of the market. Tablets are rarely updated, and never really interested the majority of the market.
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I'm sure Apple will joke about it during their next phone related event, again. Microsoft would joke about it also if they would have ever had an offering in the mobile space.
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My Lumia 640 packed it in recently so I tried Android (ZTE 7 Plus, Marshmallow). Dear dog, I hated it so much - didn't give a shit about the apps, and the UI experience was so bad. Found a 950 XL in excellent shape on Gumtree, awesome phone and a pleasure to use. Calls, texts, messaging, email, browsing all work perfectly.
And *still* getting regular updates from MS.
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That is because every major update of android pretty much requires new hardware. Either because they are lazy to support old hardware, don't bother trying to allow major software updates, or just rely on the manufacturer (which is obviously lame).
Regardless you are pretty much stuck with whatever major revision came with your end product because only new hardware sales drive adoption of these major releases. Android is a make-it-and-forget-it product, it is the epitome of built-in obsolescence.
Re:Almost half a year .... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's an entertaining story, but they're still producing updates for the 4 year old Nexus 5, if you can find one that doesn't boot loop.
There's a string of manufacturers that abandon their products, looking at you Samsung, but that's not Google's problem.
Just as soon as you find an off-brand Apple phone, we can make some kind of "support life-cycle" comparison.
Re: Almost half a year .... (Score:5, Informative)
My 2012 Samsung Galaxy Note II, a flagship model in its time, hasn't received a version update since 2014 (it runs KitKat). However it still got a security/stability firmware upgrade in 2017, and does get "Security Policy" updates (guessing these are SELinux changes). This isn't ideal for anyone who wants new features, but 5 years of security and stability patches is not so bad.
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My 2012 Samsung Galaxy Note II, a flagship model in its time, hasn't received a version update since 2014 (it runs KitKat). However it still got a security/stability firmware upgrade in 2017, and does get "Security Policy" updates (guessing these are SELinux changes). This isn't ideal for anyone who wants new features, but 5 years of security and stability patches is not so bad.
This is really what we should be expecting - we buy a device with a particular featureset, and to get more is a bonus, but assuming and expecting is unreasonable. What we should get is regular security fixes for the reasonable lifetime of the device.
Many times, major software updates on anaemic hardware is a bad thing for the usability of the device (looking hard at Apple...)
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Yep. That's because it's a Google phone. Easy to make updates when you own the OS. The vast majority of Android phones aren't Nexus phones. It's kind of like suggesting all vehicles get 40 mpg because your 10 year old Honda Civic gets 40 mpg.
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Yep. That's because it's a Google phone. Easy to make updates when you own the OS. The vast majority of Android phones aren't Nexus phones. It's kind of like suggesting all vehicles get 40 mpg because your 10 year old Honda Civic gets 40 mpg.
And Apple phones aren't a closed ecosystem where they control the OS and the hardware? What's your point?
Re:Almost half a year .... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would I care? If you buy a Apple phone you get updates, if you buy a Google phone you get updates, otherwise you need to be talking to whoever makes your phone. If your smart TV running embedded Linux doesn't get updates, are you moaning at Linus?
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they're still producing updates for the 4 year old Nexus 5
Google hasn't released an update for the Nexus 5 since Dec 2016. https://developers.google.com/android/ota#hammerhead
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You are correct, they only guarantee 3 years, I'd confused it w/ the 5X on the updates page.
TBH I've never had a Google phone last longer than their patch cycle, but I guess that's just the price of (relatively) cheap phones. I've spent the equivalent of 1 iPhone for my last 4 android phones which lasted me a lot longer than 1 iPhone would, particularly since 2 of the androids died due to dropping...
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I actually like the fact they don't keep pushing new updates which will only inevitably slow down the performance of the phone. My Xperia Z3 came with 5.0 and was updated to 5.1.1 around a year later. Now 3 years on, its still performing decently for me, albeit needing a battery replacement in the next year if I want it to be able to continue lasting an entire day without recharge. Meanwhile my Droid Bionic before that started with 2.3 and was eventually updated to 4.0 and 4.1 ... by which time it was essen
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Really? My phone is a first-gen Moto G. It was a budget phone at release and I got it because I expected to get updates for a long time from a Google-owned manufacturer. Google sold Motorola a few months later, so that didn't work out - I got updates for about a year and the occasional security fix for another year or two (it took six months for them to push out an update for Stagefright, for example).
The phone is now running LineageOS, and is quite happy with an Android install based on 7.1.2. Impro
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Not Google's fault. Upgrade distribution is controlled by the cellular phone company that sold you the phone--and they mostly refuse to push the upgrades, because their slipshod "customization" makes it difficult, and because they want you to upgrade by buying a new phone.
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So how is it Apple (and even Microsoft back with Windows Phone) manages to get updates out to all their handsets on all the carriers at once?
The same way Google gets updates out to all their handsets?
No, they don't. Despite a variety of models across an array of carriers globally Apple manages to get their updates out to everybody at the same time, Google's updates even to the phones they themselves market as Google phones are staggered depending on what phone, what region and what carrier you are on.
Re: Almost half a year .... (Score:2)
Both. It's also Google's fault for allowing the ecosystem to get into this terrible state leaving who knows how many people vulnerable to malware. I don't have to wait for the retailer to push out Dell's version of Windows to my laptop, I get it from Microsoft.
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That's true. As other responders have pointed out, Apple maintains such strict control over their ecosystem that they don't have this problem, Of course, they're able to do this because they leverage the Apple fanbase.
Re: Almost half a year .... (Score:2)
Both platforms are crap for different reasons. I use an Apple phone because I want regular updates and a phone under 5" but sometimes I miss the flexibility of Android. I'm not a fanboi of either.
Finally! (Score:5, Funny)
Android 8 is having another typically slow rollout (Score:2)
There is nothing new to see here folks.
Is Android so fragmented (Score:5, Interesting)
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I found out a while ago that even on Nexus devices (which Google mostly controlled), if there was a change to certain drivers, whatever carrier your sim card was registered to could still block the update by not approving it.
That's some next level bullshit there. If the phone wasn't that popular (eg: Nexus), then it could take forever to get an update. I love Android, and despise Apple, but they're such a joke in that regard.
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that passing 1% is a milestone?
No.
Android "fragmentation" is a non-issue. Even if every Android phone was somehow running the exact same version of the OS, they would still vary greatly in terms of features and performance. Fingerprint sensor or not, SD card or not, phone or non-cellular tablet, quad core or octa core etc.
By that metric, Apple phones are fragmented as well.
In addition, older versions of Android DO get updates and security patches via the Play Store. Years ago Google started moving more and more functionality out into lib
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Also, apps do not immediately drop support for old Android versions like iOS developers do, so running an old version of Android isn't usually noticeable for the end user. They can still download and use the latest apps. Backwards compatibility support & libraries for app developers is generally good in Android, very little effort is needed.
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Re: Is Android so fragmented (Score:1)
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Tell me why I should upgrade again? Android hasn't introduced a killer feature in many years. It's now just re-arranging the deck chairs.
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Yes, it's a joke. Seriously, I've been an Android guy since late version 2 (or was it early 4, I dunno) the progress in this OS has been atrociously bad.
They need to find a way, to make the backend important stuff, roll out to more customers.
There should be an option for ALL phones to use 'stock' Android, somehow (even though the UI is awful in stock)
They NEED to stop adding features for a solid 18 months and fix performance, it's not good, at all, still.
Apple vs Android (Score:2)
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For corporate phones, it's sometimes a requirement that the users cannot upgrade, but that all upgrades be tested and approved before company wide roll-outs.
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.
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Smartphone life cycle (Score:2)
so the manufacturers & carriers were responsible for
the updates (if any) and in their business model, it's not worth the time since people
just toss their phones away about every 12-24 months,
It's more precisely the business model that they *wish* to have.
Reality is a bit different. Some old phone remain for use much more longer, usually changing hand several time (second hand market) and eventually ending up in third-world countries.
To everybody can actually afford to re-buy a brand new shining phone every other year. And not a lot of manufacturer can cater to poorer markets with modestly speced phone at bargain bin prices.
But meanwhile, the money that the manufacturer could have made has alrea
What's with that link? (Score:2)
According to Google's Platform Versions page, Android 8.0 Oreo mobile operating system finally has 1.1 percent adoption. Like Android Nougat before it, Android Oreo took five months to pass the 1 percent adoption mark. [venturebeat.com]
Linked as it appears in TFS.
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According to Google's Platform Versions page, Android 8.0 Oreo mobile operating system finally has 1.1 percent adoption. Like Android Nougat before it, Android Oreo took five months to pass the 1 percent adoption mark. [venturebeat.com]
Linked as it appears in TFS.
As opposed to iOS, where iOS 11 adoption is ALREADY at 65 percent:
https://9to5mac.com/2018/01/19... [9to5mac.com]
And no, Apple does NOT FORCE UPGRADES. My iPhone 6 Plus is still running 10.3.3. Apple doesn't even nag me anymore about it.
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Dude, why are you replying to me to argue about iOS adoption? I'm pointing out the link in the summary is to the wrong story and has nothing to do with the topic.
To use one man's words, regarding my post: You're reading it wrong.
Apple and child pornography. (Score:2)
Android Oreo took five months to pass the 1 percent adoption mark. [venturebeat.com]
Yup, indeed, wrong link (about Telegram being pulled out of the appstore due to Child pornography).
Speaking of which :
- How did Apple check the existence of Child pornography ? Wasn't Telegram supposed to be exclusively using end-to-end encryption ? Or did they ask investigating police officers to start chat with CP-distributors ?... (read the Wikipedia article...) Ah okay. end-to-end encryption isn't default and users need to initiate "secret chat" to enable it.
- Telegram is only a communication s
Still selling phones with Android 5 (Score:4, Funny)
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With trillions of unpatched holes. Maybe one day they will invent Windows Update.
I bought a gift a year ago and it was even worse with tablets on physical stores or Amazon. The asymptotic Android 4.4 version apparently just dropped off the map, but it dragged results down for years. Most worrysome is that its old Dalvik runtime is dog slow at best, and infuriating under load. 5 makes things better, but I wouldn't bet on finding it for cheap.
A few hours ago tonight I coincidentally ran into https://www.cnet.com/topics/ta... [cnet.com]
where Samsung tablet's video says "best one it's ever made". It's
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That's because Google has officially stopped supporting Android 4.4. The last monthly security update that supported Android 4.4 was September 2017.
October 2017 deprecated Android 5.0 security updates. Android 5.1 remains supported for now.
Android 4.4 and 5.0 security updates can be backported, but that's it. Google does not support those versions of Android anymore.
So yes, those old Androids are
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They have (for tablets, at least). It's called ChromeOS and it does have timely updates.
Unfortunatelly, ChromeOS would be awful on smartphones so all Google did is create a new partitioning scheme for Oreo devices that has a separated partition for hardware drivers (Project Treble), making Oreo+ updates easier on the manufacturers. Of course, they will probably still prefer selling new devices to updating existing ones, so I'm not really hopeful about that.
Embarrassing (Score:1)
Pathetic effort from Google and their software developers. Stop pointing fingers at manufacturers, and solve the upgrade mess.
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How? With Android being open, both manufacturers and carriers are free to do as they please. Remember, Google is an advertising company. Unlike Apple, their goal with Android was mass adoption to get pervasive (inexpensive) smart phones in as many hands as possible to drive as many Google searches as possible to serve ads to as many eyeballs as possible . Through that lens, they've been very successful.
Neither the fragmentation nor the
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With Android being open, both manufacturers and carriers are free to do as they please.
No they aren't, not in reality.
Android phones without Play Services aren't very useful and to get Play Services you have to abide by Google's rules. They should have made regular updates (pushed directly by Google) a requirement to get Play Services on your phone.
Also, don't Android apps run in a VM, and wasn't one of the biggest advantages of using a VM that apps can be OS and platform agnostic ? So why doesn't Google just update the VM/runtime to the latest API version regardless of the underlying OS vers
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To nerds, stuff like that matters. Joe Sixpack likely has no idea what Play Services is or why he would want it. Joe just cares about calls, texting, maybe e-mail, web browsing, and streaming TV or sports. And the typical phone store drone just wants to make a sale. There are far more many eyeballs to serve ads to like those of Joe than there are of nerds who are savvy enough to install ad-b
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In a way, they already have with Project Treble. Thing is, both of those initiatives run counter to the desires of OEMs (hold back updates to force users to upgrade, baking their own crapware into the system image), so now loads of OEMs are purposely only selling devices with Nougat and an "upgrade" to Oreo specifically to avoid having to implement Treble.
charging issues (Score:1)
Wrong link (Score:1)