21–30 of 134 posts
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My S9 was getting updates as late as a few weeks ago.
What's the latest security update? I just checked S9 I have in a drawer and it's from March 2022.
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It’s my understanding that most Android devices don’t get OEM updates for very long
This is true in the sense that most android devices are small/cheap off brand or Chinese devices sold across low-income markets, like Africa and the Middle East. Any mid- or top-tier Android devices, such as Pixels and Galaxy devices which compete directly with Apple, are usually on a monthly security update cadence for at least 3 years.
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I used to feel that way, but since the S10 series, there are very few things built into the Galaxy line that fall in the description of shitware anymore. McAfee's device protection shit definitely, but other than that, I can't think of any forced crapware on my last 3 unlocked Galaxy devices.
You are lucky to have an Unlocked device. Most people don’t and get the carrier’s kitchen sink of added bloat.
I mean considering the level of shitware samsung install on their phones (and make difficult to remove or disable) it will be hard to tell the difference between the official stuff and straight up honest malware.
I used to feel that way, but since the S10 series, there are very few things built into the Galaxy line that fall in the description of shitware anymore. McAfee's device protection shit definitely, but other than that, I can't think of any forced crapware on my last 3 unlocked Galaxy devices.
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It’s an app signing key. I don’t think it will work for firmware. But I’m not sure. Can someone more knowledgeable about Android’s chain of trust chime in?
Signing your app using this key would allow you to name your app system.uid.android, effectively giving you root for free. You probably won't be able to sign firmware in the Linux sense of the word, but in android world "firmware" is loosely defined and is often used to talk about the android ROM.
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This is true in the sense that most android devices are small/cheap off brand or Chinese devices sold across low-income markets, like Africa and the Middle East. Any mid- or top-tier Android devices, such as Pixels and Galaxy devices which compete directly with Apple, are usually on a monthly security update cadence for at least 3 years.
3 years of updates is no competition for Apple.
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It’s an app signing key. I don’t think it will work for firmware. But I’m not sure. Can someone more knowledgeable about Android’s chain of trust chime in?
Signing your app using this key would allow you to name your app system.uid.android, effectively giving you root for free. You probably won't be able to sign firmware in the Linux sense of the word, but in android world "firmware" is loosely defined and is often used to talk about the android ROM.
I mean considering the level of shitware samsung install on their phones (and make difficult to remove or disable) it will be hard to tell the difference between the official stuff and straight up honest malware.
I used to feel that way, but since the S10 series, there are very few things built into the Galaxy line that fall in the description of shitware anymore. McAfee's device protection shit definitely, but other than that, I can't think of any forced crapware on my last 3 unlocked Galaxy devices.
I bought a Galaxy A33 the other day for my mother. It came full of crapware. All kinds of Samsung this-or-the-other. Some of the apps can be disabled, but not all. Like parts of Bixby (= Samsung's assistant? no idea) can be disabled if you click through a warning, but others cannot.
There is also a bunch of 3rd party crap pre-installed, like MS Onedrive, Facebook, Tiktok.
And it pushes hard to use Onedrive instead of google drive.
There's also a separate, Samsung store, and some functions seem to require a Samsung account.
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This is true in the sense that most android devices are small/cheap off brand or Chinese devices sold across low-income markets, like Africa and the Middle East. Any mid- or top-tier Android devices, such as Pixels and Galaxy devices which compete directly with Apple, are usually on a monthly security update cadence for at least 3 years.
3 years of support sounds like the bare minimum you can expect, and that is what the most expensive brand offer?
Not as good as an iPhone (5-6 years), but it's improving.