A two-year study of Android security updates was published today . The research revealed a frightening gap between software patches and the companies that make Android devices. Your phone manufacturer may have lied to you about the security of your device. In fact, it seems that almost all manufacturers do. After a week of Mark Zuckerberg 's congressional hearings and constant reports about Facebook privacy, the study's results may seem less important, but they touch on the same topic: the issue of trust. Facebook is perhaps the least trusted online platform, but Android seems to be something of a peer when it comes to operating systems. It's used by 2 billion people around the world, and it's very susceptible to vulnerabilities that could reveal sensitive details of its users' private lives. The big difference between Android and Apple's iOS has always been trust. Apple, unlike Google, doesn't make money by tracking user behavior, and unlike Android's vast and diverse ecosystem, there's only one iPhone, which is updated regularly. Having just one iPhone allows the company to prioritize, although Apple isn't known for its promptness (when it comes to updates, at least). Android is considered unreliable because it is largely. Here are some of the issues that make the platform unreliable: New versions are slow, if they reach your device at all. Android Oreo has been out for almost eight months, which means we'll see a new major version soon. But LG is still preparing to release the operating system on the 2017 LG G6. Promises of Android device updates are a myth. A market that constantly wants new, bigger chips doesn't let manufacturers promise regular updates, due to incompatibility. So devices often stay with the Android version they bought, or at best, they upgrade one version higher. Chip suppliers, device manufacturers, and Google developers should work together more, but as you can see, there are many parties involved, and the interest requires faster products, new devices, more hardware additions. Google is obviously aware of the situation and for the first time with Android One, it has given assurances of longer support. Android One guarantees updates to new features for at least two years and security updates for at least three years. However, as is the case with most Androids, Android One is only available on a few devices, most of which are quite expensive. Some Android device manufacturers are watching you. This problem is not due to the operating system itself, but it still ruins Android's reputation. Android mobile phone manufacturers usually ship their devices with bloatware, and we have often seen them ship devices with spyware. Blu devices were pulled from Amazon because they allowed remote logins and secretly recorded the user’s text messages and call logs. OnePlus devices transmitted personal data and identifiers to the company’s headquarters without the user’s explicit consent. Android hardware development is chaotic and unreliable. For many, the chaotic pace of new Android devices is part of its charm. But the downside of this speed is the lack of attention to small details and long-term sustainability. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 is the best example of the miserable consequences that can result from a hasty and overly ambitious hardware development cycle. Remember the repeated explosions , or the device’s withdrawal ? Apart from the fact that we hear updates and don’t see updates, apart from the risks they face to our personal data, Android device manufacturers tend to exaggerate what their phones can actually do. They don’t cooperate and despite their great efforts, they continue to feed the old stable reputation of an insecure operating system. The trust problem with Android, like the trust problem with Facebook, is real. Never mind the fact that there are Android device manufacturers that are not involved in privacy scandals. Every rule needs exceptions to confirm it. First published by TheVerge, the “sauces” are ours.
Android the rumor and the lie with the long-awaited updates
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