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There are over a billion outdated Android devices in use

danluu.com

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Re: There are over a billion outdated Android devices in use

#21

Post by matt_wulfeck »

>If we look at the newest Android release (8.0, 8/2017), it looks like you’re quite lucky if you have a two year old device that will get the latest update. The oldest “Google” phone supported is the Nexus 6P (9/2015), giving it just under two years of support.

And 2 years is the best-case scenario. Compare to nearly 5 years for iOS devices (which, as far as I can tell was prompted only by a move to 64-bit SoC). It's beyond me that Google hasn't taken a more extreme approach to keeping their devices up-to-date.

Re: There are over a billion outdated Android devices in use

#22

Post by pasbesoin »

ruytlm wrote: post #10
na85 wrote: post #4

Having to wait and sometimes pray for your vendor to ship an update is why I chose to stick to the Nexus line of phones until it ended. My next device may or may not be a Pixel, but the above coupled with the shitty "value adds" like custom file managers and stuff that Samsung et al tend to cram into their already bloated Android implementations pretty much guarantees I'll never by a Samsung or similar. My wife's Gal…

As a long time Nexus user (back to Nexus S), the clean OS and updates were always the selling points for me. With Pixel now dropping the headphone jack, I'm starting to look elsewhere. Here's hoping I get some more life yet out of my 5X.

Make sure you are regularly backed up. Anecdote, but I bootlooped -- that's with quite gentle care. Friend bootlooped a couple of weeks later.

Re: There are over a billion outdated Android devices in use

#23

Post by flukus »

na85 wrote: post #4

Having to wait and sometimes pray for your vendor to ship an update is why I chose to stick to the Nexus line of phones until it ended. My next device may or may not be a Pixel, but the above coupled with the shitty "value adds" like custom file managers and stuff that Samsung et al tend to cram into their already bloated Android implementations pretty much guarantees I'll never by a Samsung or similar. My wife's Gal…

Updates for 2 years, security patches for 3: http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/08/05/google-announces-new...

That is still way to short, especially if you don't buy it on release day. If you buy a nexus device 12 months after release you've already lost 1/3 of it's effective lifetime.

Re: There are over a billion outdated Android devices in use

#24

Post by rocky1138 »

matt_wulfeck wrote: post #21

> If we look at the newest Android release (8.0, 8/2017), it looks like you’re quite lucky if you have a two year old device that will get the latest update. The oldest “Google” phone supported is the Nexus 6P (9/2015), giving it just under two years of support. And 2 years is the best-case scenario. Compare to nearly 5 years for iOS devices (which, as far as I can tell was prompted only by a move to 64-bit SoC). It'…

They aren't Google devices. They're phones made by companies who downloaded and installed Android on them.

Re: There are over a billion outdated Android devices in use

#25

Post by sbierwagen »

rocky1138 wrote: post #24
matt_wulfeck wrote: post #21

> If we look at the newest Android release (8.0, 8/2017), it looks like you’re quite lucky if you have a two year old device that will get the latest update. The oldest “Google” phone supported is the Nexus 6P (9/2015), giving it just under two years of support. And 2 years is the best-case scenario. Compare to nearly 5 years for iOS devices (which, as far as I can tell was prompted only by a move to 64-bit SoC). It'…

They aren't Google devices. They're phones made by companies who downloaded and installed Android on them.

The Nexus 6P was developed and sold directly by Google: https://www.google.com/nexus/6p/

Re: There are over a billion outdated Android devices in use

#26

Post by scoot »

jasode wrote: post #20
junkscience2017 wrote: post #3

For most users, the phone works and they don't care. For everyone in my family, iOS updates are just an annoyance.

Yes, I think user apathy has to be a big part of it. I have a 2012 iPhone5 with iOS 6.1.3 still on it. I never upgraded it. When iOS 7 came out, all the news reports said it killed the battery. Same with iOS 8, 9, and finally iOS X. Yes, I assume that eventually, iOS point release 7.x.x fixed the battery issue but I don't care to keep visiting news websites to figure out which exact version is finally "safe" to upgra…

It doesn't help that "upgrading" an iOS device is a one-way ticket.

Religiously updating the original iPad effectively bricked it (not literally, but to all intents and purposes) years ahead of its natural lifetime, due to one particular major release that killed performance, reliability and battery life in one fell swoop.

If there no going back, why would you risk going forward?

Re: There are over a billion outdated Android devices in use

#27

Post by adventured »

sizzzzlerz wrote: post #19

I've got a 7 or 8 year old Google Nexus phone. Google stopped updating the OS 5 years ago. The only impact I've noticed is that newer apps won't run on and older OS. For me, however, that really isn't a problem since I use it for making and receiving calls and texts, and checking my email. Right now, I'm in no hurry to lay out hundreds for a new phone, Apple or Android, that will be obsoleted in just a couple years w…

I've got a Samsung S4 laying around that I hadn't used for years (it's 4 1/2 years old). Recently I fired it up just to check some things. As expected, it still runs beautifully for normal Web use across all sites. Other than the small form factor (which some people may prefer), it's easy to see how consumers might stick to older phones.

Re: There are over a billion outdated Android devices in use

#28

Post by Ologn »

amorphid wrote: post #6
Ologn wrote: post #2

> We’ve seen that Android devices appear to be getting more out of date over time. This makes it difficult for developers to target “new” Android API features, where new means anything introduced in the past few years. This used to be more of a problem, but the support library deals with this more nowadays. Not for every change and new feature, but for most of them.

If don't mind answering, I'd love it if you could provide an example or two of features that are implementable enough with support libraries, but would be a pain to build without them.

For a recent example, Google announced at I/O that it had Android architectural components in beta. They were officially release last week, and can be accessed via AppCompatActivity, and to older Android versions via the support library. For example, the method call getLifecycle(), which is associated with these Android architectural components, is new.

Re: There are over a billion outdated Android devices in use

#30

Post by s73ver_ »

weeks wrote: post #18
amorphid wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If don't mind answering, I'd love it if you could provide an example or two of features that are implementable enough with support libraries, but would be a pain to build without them.

https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/layout/recycle... https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/exoplayer.h... RecyclerViews are only implemented in the support libraries, even for newer versions of Android. I haven't used Exoplayer personally but by reputation it does all of the hard media stuff for you.

I don't believe that's the kind of feature being talked about. Rather than new controls, I think they're talking more about new things to do.
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