Ahead of Android 15's launch, Android 14 is on at least 13% of active devices
Ahead of Android 15's launch, Android 14 is on at least 13% of active devices
We’re likely just a couple of weeks away from the launch of Android 15, at least if we’re assuming new...
Article refrains from drawing conclusions, instead presenting the data. Android is doing better at moving users to newer versions, but the overwhelming majority of users don't have the current Android OS version nor the previous version, combined.
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Tell Nokia to release android 13 or 14 for my device and I'll gladly run it.
Yeah, unlike Windows this isn't a user choice. It comes down to manufacturer support. I don't know what you do to make this better, especially in the context of newer Android updates being lighter on major user-facing features.
I'm also unclear on the exact technical details but there's probably a reason that lineageos and the other free androids out there are not easily installable but have to be customised to each device.
I'm pretty sure that reason is mostly manufacturers being dicks about this. So it could probably be fixed by mandating some kind of interoperability. OTOH the governments are probably happy that not more people are using degoogled devices
Whose mandate? Are you going to make a law saying you can't customize Google's base Android?
It's an open source OS, manufacturers offer crappy support because they want customizations and proprietary software but don't want to have to spend a bunch of engineering time to keep pace with Google's reference spec. Samsung does, but that's because they're the literal largest phone manufacturer on the planet.
But Google can't be out there saying you don't get to use Android code if you don't offer timely support for a decade. There's a reason years of security updates are now a declared selling point, the only force to drive it is market pressure. At most you could regulate that you HAVE to support swapping OSs on phones, but you can't just target that at Android and not Apple, and Apple would buy themselves a nuke to fight against that one.
I read it as a law that the bootloader has to be unlockable so that the phone can be serviced by the end user past the manufacturers end of support
What Android version did your phone come with? I have a Nokia G20 that I use as a spare phone. It shipped with Android 11 and updated till 13.
I believe it shipped with 10 and I'm currently sitting on 12. Last security updates are from December 2023 so I'll probably have to switch sooner than later...
It's a Nokia 5.4
Edit: to be fair that's not too bad compared to other android vendors. It's actually pretty good. But being the cleanest pig in the mudpit isn't really the goal I want to achieve. I'd rather be actually clean.
HMD is now retiring Nokia branding for its own series of smartphones. They are launching the Crest lineup which, while in the same price range as the 5.4 or G20, doesn't offer any claimed Android upgrades.
The worst OEM I encountered was a company called Techno. Fantastic hardware for the price, but they delivered not a single Android upgrade, only security updates. Ironically, they even make foldables which are obviously much more expensive. I won't be surprised though if even they received Aryabhatta's number of upgrades.
Techno makes smartphones which have good hardware specs, marred by bad software support. For the equivalent Samsung or Nothing phone you would be paying a higher price.
I won't be surprised though if even they received Aryabhatta's number of upgrades.
Lol, I had to google just to make sure it meant zero.
Well I guess it's time to go Fairphone then. It's way more expensive than I'd like but honestly I'm so done replacing my phone because of software issues and not because the hardware wasn't serviceable anymore
I was more intrigued with their earbuds, called Fairbuds. It has user replaceable batteries for both individual buds and the case. While people may ultimately get one or the other reason to upgrade their phone ultimately, most folks just chuck out their wireless earphones because the charging capacity has been seriously reduced.