this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
31 points (89.7% liked)

Android

17724 readers
16 users here now

The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!

Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.

πŸ”—Universal Link: [email protected]


πŸ’‘Content Philosophy:

Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.


Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: [email protected]

For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: [email protected]

πŸ’¬Matrix Chat

πŸ’¬Telegram channels / chats

πŸ“°Our communities below


Rules

  1. Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.

  2. No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to [email protected].

  3. Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to [email protected].

  4. No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.

  5. No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.

  6. No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.

  7. No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.

  8. No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.

  9. No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!

  10. No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.

Quick Links

Our Communities

Lemmy App List

Chat and More


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Just checked the wikipedia page today and it says that it's "Unsupported".

When did that happened, isn't it currently the most used Android version?

top 27 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (3 children)

When did that happened?

Looks like 4 months ago. https://endoflife.date/android

Isn't it currently the most used Android version?

According to this source, as of Jan 23, no. 10 is at 18.01%, which is beat by both 11 (23.15%) and 12 (25.29%). This is why you buy a phone with good support, and update your OS. They can't support everything forever. Progress happens, security changes, and they can't always backport the fixes, which also takes their talent away from evolving the OS. https://www.statista.com/statistics/921152/mobile-android-version-share-worldwide/

Personally, I get Pixels and install GrapheneOS. They get 5 years of support.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is the way, although I wonder if Graphene OS utilises any of the ML capabilities the pixel devices are capable of, at least in terms of hardware

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Afaik it does, but only if you use the official Google Camera aoo

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Is there anything you miss from Android while using GrapheneOS?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I don't miss Android Auto as I never used it on stock, but I get others do. I miss Google Wallet's tap-and-pay on the off chance I forget my wallet or not wanting to pull it out, but that's a convenience thing and it's not hard to pay with a physical card instead. That's really it for me, to be honest.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

32 bit app support is missing on the Pixel 7, so some older apps will NOT run. Like, at all. No recourse of action other than checking a different app.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

The biggest thing for folks these days is there's no Android Auto support.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I miss the Google employees spying through my camera to see how I'm doing

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

5 years of official support, typically custom ROMs keep it alive even longer, basically until it's too hard to keep fixing broken features.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They could keep it alive past five years if they really wanted, but that goes against the goal of the project: namely security. But five years is already longer than most manufacturers do, so it's nothing to turn your nose up at.

"GrapheneOS aims to provide reasonably private and secure devices. It cannot do that once device support code like firmware, kernel and vendor code is no longer actively maintained. Even if the community was prepared to take over maintenance of the open source code and to replace the rest, firmware would present a major issue, and the community has never been active or interested enough in device support to consider attempting this. Unlike many other platforms, GrapheneOS has a much higher minimum standard than simply having devices fully functional, as they also need to provide the expected level of security."

https://grapheneos.org/faq#legacy-devices

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Awesome isn’t it? My 2 year old lenovo tablet is already no longer supported.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's not Google's/Android's fault, it's your device's manufacturer's fault. Nothing stopping Lenovo from releasing updates for 5-10 years if they want, they just want you to believe it's obsolete and hope you'll buy a new one from them. I mean, it's a Lenovo, what did you expect?

The ultimate proof it's manufacturer laziness is that custom ROMs like LineageOS have updates out before the manufacturer does, if ever. I have a Galaxy S7 working just fine on Android 13, upgrade all the way from Android 7. Still runs smoother than the OS it came with too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

It could fall on the chipmakers also. I'm only familiar with Qualcomm, but they provide the kernel and blobs to manufacturers.

The work required to extend the life of an abandoned platform can grow very fast once up stream drops support.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My lenovo laptop is also unsupported(it still receives software updates, I just pushed it off a table)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My wife keeps telling me she's feeling unsupported.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Did you push her off a table, too?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was able to install Lineage on my Galaxy Tab S5e and it went from I think 11 (last supported version from Samsung) to 13. It's cool how these custom operating systems can bring fresh life to a so called old device.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Same with my pixel 2, it was stuck back on android 11, LineageOS has given it a new lease of life.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

As far as I know, google doesn't have an official policy on how long they provide security updates, but it has pretty consistently been 3 years after release.

The only reason old versions are still in use is that most vendors release a phone, give it the bare minimum number of updates, then abandon it when next years shiny new model comes out.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Meanwhile, in 2023, iPhones from 2018 still get the latest iOS. And iPhones from 2015 are still getting security patches.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

iPhones are still better when it comes to updates, but things have been slowly improving. A new Samsung flagship get's you 5 years of support (4 major upgrades + 1 of security updates). A Google Pixel it's also 5 years, but 3 major updates + 2 of security updates. Not as good, but not terrible either.

It's still a problem for old phones, but at least from now on it should be better.

We should also keep in mind that when we talk about iOS/iPhones, we're talking about one company. When we talk about Android updates, there's Samsung (now good), but also Xiaomi and OnePlus (meh), and brands that release phones with already outdated software (really bad). [edit: not to mention different price ranges.] If we're looking at $/€/Β£500+ iPhones, maybe we should compare them to a $/€/Β£500+ Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel?

And iPhones from 2015 are still getting security patches.

The iPhone from 2015 running an old iOS version is not secure. Apple will release an update to WebKit or something like that to fix something being exploited, but most bugs are not fixed. The equivalent on Android would be receiving an update to WebView via the Play Store, which the user wouldn't even notice. And this is even more true on newer Android versions that have critical system modules and features backported via Play Store updates

Apple is better than most Android brands at updating their phones and tablets, but don't make the mistake to assume you're safe using an old iOS version that was recently updated.

They do the same thing on Macs by the way. A machine gets ~7 years of support and they release a security update to old macOS versions from time to time... they get the headlines, people think they're using a secure OS, but even Apple admits that most security fixes are not backported.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Once iOS gets side loading and Foss app stores pop up I will probably jump ship.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Lol this was an interesting ride from, "why don't my games work" to "turns out my phone OS is unsupported." Came across both of your threads independently.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

lmao πŸ˜†

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

13 is the latest Android version. 10's been out of support since 12. And 14 is currently being previewed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

"unsupported" kinda means nothing in that context. 99% of Apps still will run without issues, you can use the latest Chromium and Firefox based browsers, Play Services are all up to date - so really there is nothing to worry about.

In my opinion Android 6 is the latest really "unsupported" version. With a good chunk of Apps not working anymore and the latest Chromium browsers not working anymore either.

load more comments
view more: next β€Ί