Android 12 – the main feature is declassified

Updating firmware – is it really necessary in the long term?

As a rule, among the strengths of iOS devices is the fact that Apple updates the operating system constantly and does this for 4-5 years old. And in the case of Android smartphones, this happens less often and in rare cases, the support period exceeds 2 years. Android users have to wait a long time to update their smartphone to the current version of the green robot.

But to say that Android is bad because it is slowly spreading is illegal and erroneous. Google releases the OS code, which manufacturers then adapt to their devices. And it usually takes several months. It is smartphone builders who are primarily responsible for the speed of distribution of the current version of the green robot, and this cannot happen synchronously and quickly for everyone. It takes time to adapt the OS at work on different models.

In the case of iOS updates, this is the release of a finished version of the firmware that does not need testing and adaptation. At the time of its release, it is already ready for installation on iPhones, the number of which is disproportionately less than the number of Android devices. This allows Apple to maintain its smartphones longer and release updates over a five-year period. But is such long-term support really necessary?

Experience shows that new versions of iOS are not always necessary and useful. Often, iPhone owners are looking for ways to roll back to the old version of iOS, which worked faster and more stable than the new OS. Do not write off the fact that hardware becomes obsolete over time and it is rarely possible to breathe a second life into it with the help of software. As a rule, this idea is useless, and users even prefer to change smartphones more often than the same 4-5 years.

However, Google understands that the update rate to a new version of Android leaves a lot to be desired. That is why she called on the help of chipmaker Qualcomm to create a single software layer at the hardware platform level, allowing multiple iterations of Android to run. Smartphone manufacturers do not have to spend a lot of time to adapt the hardware to the new OS.

This project began several years ago with the launch of the Project Treble project, which was designed to simplify the process of transition to the new version green robot. Qualcomm has joined this initiative and this will allow smartphones with new Snapdragon chips to be updated for 3 years, and security updates to be sent out within 4 years. This is a huge and tangible progress in terms of update speed. And why – in the video.

Android 12 – the main feature has been declassified