Less Than Half of Android Users Have Upgraded to Android 13 or 14! 🤯
Funny, the comment types here are the same as on Youtube:
It's not like the end users typically get any choice... either the service provider makes an update available or they don't.
Your choice is making sure to buy a well supported, timely updated device. If you can't is a different issue. But, if you don't is on you. Vote with your wallet.
Your choice is making sure to buy a well supported, timely updated device.
Sure, that choice is currently available, but it wasn't when many of those devices were purchased. For example, I'm currently using a Galaxy S10e which had just about the best support of any Android phone. Now I'm stuck on Android 12. I actually planned on using it with Lineage, but somewhere between my S7 and the S10e, Samsung stopped using Exynos in their Canadian phones, and I didn't realize it. The hardware is still more than good, and as others have pointed out, with Play Service updates, the software isn't really obsolete either, it's just a concern I'm not getting security updates.
As long as my provider is selling me service for the device then they have a responsibility to support it and provide upgrades. I do vote with my wallet by not being on the upgrade treadmill.
I don't blame the users. There's usually no way to upgrade android versions, so we get stuck unless we replace the phone, and most people can't afford to replace their phones so often. I'd go further and say that people shouldn't be supposed to replace their phones because of a new software version. The android's distribution model is flawed, we should be able to upgrade our phones the same way we upgrade linux distros. If it was possible, then I would blame users for running unmaintained software.
Keep in mind that many Linux users have Laptops with no firmware updates anymore.
But I agree of course, we need laws for that
My 4GB phone was perfectly usable on Android 11. It upgrade itself to android 12 and it's basically can't keep a second app in background anymore.
Google bloat.
My 3gb of ram works fine with background apps and Lineage OS 21. (Android 14)
i'm running 14 on an S4 mini, i think they made some great changes
It looks like 13
If feels more like a feature release
Google really needs to decouple the hardware from the OS. There's no good reason newer Android couldn't be installed on older phones.
Google doesnt do anything here. The OEMs need to port the Android kernel to older hardware.
They often just support one LTS kernel.
But Android even supports the LTS kernel for 6 years now.
Google doesnt do anything here. The OEMs need to port the Android kernel to older hardware.
Wrong. Google had multiple projects like Treble to decouple the software from the hardware. What happened with it?
Google develops Android and thus is responsible for it's update scheme. They already changed it quite a bit in the last years with GSIs and Project Treble but there's still no real seperation that would allow the same drivers and hardware blobs to be used independent of the Android Version or updating the Android version without these needing to be included every time.
That's what needs to change.
The kernel is the problem
The update ecosystem is still continuously being crippled by both the device vendors, and for some fucking reason, the carriers
Why surprised? They're still selling stuff with Android 11
There are so many OEMs that are dropping new phones every week and obviously don't have resources to support the previous phones after 6 months
I bought a brand new Redmi for my mom in September 2022 and the latest update available as of today (security update) is dated July 2022
I'm on 14 but to be honest the only difference I really noticed is GTA Vice City got broken by it I presume it will never be fixed since they seem to have done another version.
So yeah it's really only taught me not to buy apps again I'm not a fan of the restricted folder/file manager restrictions either.
I'm still on 11 because that's it for a Moto G Stylus 2020.
My moto g7 power runs the latest version of Lineage OS
Why is it funny again?
Also stock Lineage OS with just F-droid is the way to go. It is clean and simple.
LineageOS was not fully degoogled before GrapheneOS devs came and did that. I think now LineageOS also has these patches.
They also dont apply hardening, also not for privacy. The webview for example is just Chromium.
There are a ton of features, all listed on grapheneos.org
Many are pretty technical, a lot of them are for very high threat models. I mean, we still all manage to kinda not get hacked. But that may be because we live under governments that are not full dystopia, yet. Or because we are just boring.
GrapheneOS is likely overkill, but I like to have the most security I can get. These guys are doing amazing work, hacking Android at very low levels. For example they found a way to completely disable the USB port, I think using the same mechanism as the "water detection" would use to shut it off.
Or storage and contact scopes, or the hardening everywhere. Pin scrambling.
A lot could be improved, LineageOS has way better AOSP apps for example. These should land in GrapheneOS.
F-Droid is also targeted at very old Android devices. On modern Android, "F-Droid Basic" is better.
It really isn't. F-droid is built for currently supported versions of Android. F-droid basic is just what it sounds like. It is basic and not really usable for me as the layout is goofy.
they don't really need to now that google has moved a lot of the core functions into google play
My phone was on 11 and wasn't receiving security updates so I said fuck it and installed lineage os. Nice experience so far, hoping to make this phone last at least a few more years.
LineageOS has very slow updates. Also they dont have access to all the code they need. I dont even know if they port a newer Kernel to these devices, so they likely still run the outdated, vulnerable kernel they used before.
Also, they dont have access to the Firmware signing keys so they cant deliver firmware updates, which (especially mobile network stuff) causes a ton of security issues.
Sucks...
Lineage OS is updated monthly. Also what are you talking about? The code is all available and under a libre license I might add. From a kernel perspective you can't just port a newer kernel. That's not how Android works. It has been done on some devices but it is very hard and usually very impossible for one reason or another.
From a signing perspective I don't know but usually you get the firmware from the upstream manufacturer such as Qualcomm. From a security perspective phones aren't very good as the modem runs its own software and is a total black box.
I don't understand your motivations
I'd upgrade if given the choice to do so. Lineage is stuck on Android 12 for my device so I guess that's it.
Personally, I am still on 13 using lineage OS. I have been offered Android 14, but in order to do that, I might have to either wipe my device or at least plug it into a computer and neither of which I particularly want to do at the moment. Running Android 13 has been perfectly fine for me.
Didn't lineageOS allow OTA updates like regular android smartphones?
For patches to the same version, yes. But, for upgrades between versions, not yet. At least not that I'm aware of.
Now, GrapheneOS on the Google Pixel can update between versions and security patches to the current version too. So it's fully there, but to my knowledge, lineage does not allow version upgrades.
It is a pretty painless experience. Just download the image onto a SD card and then use the recovery options to flash it. There aren't that many changes to Android this time around. The good news is that you have plenty of time.
I can't think of a single thing that's changed in Android since like Android 9. There's no reason to upgrade.
Just because you cant think of anything, that doesnt say nothing has changed.
Google hides it a bit, but Android 9 is years ago. 5?
Just study the GrapheneOS release notes alone
I doubt you have followed all CVEs fixed in newer Android versions.
I'm still on 11, waiting on reviews for what phones have actually good phone signal. Haven't really run in to any issues so I'm in no rush.
The bad thing about security is, you only notice you are fucked when it is too late ;)
I mean, that's true, but paying $500 for a security update is a bit obscene given the rest of my phone is more powerful than i actually need despite being old and cheap. Until I find one that has very good signal or my current one breaks properly, I'm not burning that money for a device that i literally wont be able to tell is faster.
