Google mandates two years of security updates for phones in new Android contract | Hacker News Reader

Google mandates two years of security updates for phones in new Android contract

theverge.com

22 pointstareqak13 comments

This would be nice. I had planned on getting a Galaxy S9 until Samsung dropped the ball on months of updates at the start of its lifecycle. My Galaxy S7 is running an almost 3 month old update even though its supposed to get it monthly.

Both the manufacturers and the cell carriers are to blame for this farce of android updates. Even a arguably the most well known non-google Android vendor with major flagship phones, Samsung, can't keep their phones up to date. What hope do I have in any android vendor with how poor the updates are for security updates?

Two years? That's it?

The iPhone 6 has been getting both feature and security updates for about 4 years, with the EOL not being for another year or two.

Google needs to do better.

While it is bad, with iPhone prices I get to buy about 3 mid-range pre-paid Android phones, which gets up to 6 years support while having freshly new devices.

Which I don't do, as we in most European countries tend to replace pre-paids only when they die or get stolen.

Yeah I do the same. I buy a ~200 euro/dollar/pounds phone every 2-3 years. I'd love to work out how much money I've saved over the last two decades while always having a decent phone in my pocket.

It's getting more difficult now that Nexus is no more but Xiaomi and the other Chinese manufacturers are stepping up in that game. The Android One progamme is a saviour in that respect.

Well, preference? I still vastly prefer an iPhone to an Android phone.

Good that you can earn enough that it is only a mattter of preference.

For many people 300 euros is already too much.

I could afford an iphone but I find them confusing to use and hate their user-hostile actions.

I don't worry about price on something that I use 10,000 times every day anyway.

People which goal in life is to move beyond a 400 euros month salary usually have other priorities in life than buying an iPhone, regardless how much they might use their smartphone per day.

What I'm saying is I can easily afford an iPhone but prefer Android, unlike the poster I was replying to.

So although I do feel sympathy for those poorer people who can't afford an iPhone, I don't feel sympathy for them because they can't afford an iPhone.

Yeah that’s the ticket; just generate more garbage to deal with

That is what happens when a phone costs more than a desktop computer, or contracts require 50 euros per month just as base price.

Which then require the help of the consumers protection agency to be properly terminated.

That’s what happens when society prioritizes constant participation in a consumer market.

Personally my iPhone 6 Plus with a new battery is plenty. What more can one get out of the new hardware that is that valuable, other than a dopamine kick that fades?

I’m no Luddite; my education is in computer engineering. I love hardware.

And I’m not saying it’s a personal moral failing. It’s an information war that is being won by big money that have described it just as you did your entire life

Original title: "Google mandates two years of security updates for popular phones in new Android contract" (8 characters over).

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