Android Archive

Well, this is interesting. The Dutch Consumentenbond, the largest consumer protection advocacy agency in The Netherlands, today filed a lawsuit against Samsung demanding the company starts properly updating its Android phones. The Consumentenbond had been in talks with Samsung about this issue for a while now, but no positive outcome was reached, and as such, they saw no other option but to file suit.

The Consumentenbond is demanding that Samsung provides two years of updates for all its Android devices, with the two-year period starting not at the date of market introduction of the device, but at the date of sale. This means that devices introduced one or even more years ago that are still being sold should still get two years' worth of updates starting today.

There's actually an official English version of the press release (as a translator, I am genuinely surprised about that).

The Consumentenbond's own research has shown that 82% of the Samsung phones sold in The Netherlands did not get updates to the most recent version of Android in the two-year period, which leads to all kinds of security issues and other problems. While Samsung, which has a smartphone market share in The Netherlands of about 80% (yeah... Sorry about that), is the focus of this particular lawsuit, the Consumentenbond notes that other manufacturers are guilty of the same problems.

It will not come as a surprise to any of you that I sincerely applaud this effort. The Android update clusterfrick is by far the biggest problem in the Android world, and OEMs should be, if possible, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for their negligent practices regarding updating their software. There is an extremely strong mandatory EU warranty policy on all products sold in the EU of at least two years, and Samsung and other Android OEMs are clearly failing to follow this law.

That being said, the minutiae of any possible outcome of this lawsuit are extremely crucial. Not only should Samsung and other OEMs be legally forced to release updates for their smartphones for at least two years (I would personally prefer three or four years, actually, but let's start somewhere), the updates ought to be timely. Every Android smartphone should be updated to the latest version of Android for two years after sale of said smartphone, with each update being released no later than four weeks after code availability from Google.

If this means they have to spend more resources on their development team - so be it. If this means they can no longer sell outdated, crappy hardware because newer Android versions would be too slow - so be it. If this means they have to work more closely with Google to prepare for new releases - so be it. None of that should be the concern of any consumer.

Sony smartphones are the only non-Nexus Android phones I'd even remotely consider buying. Even though they, too, suffer from the ridiculous update situation, they are at least trying to sell a nice, compact, high-end Android phone. In fact, I find it kind of remarkable that some version of the Z5 Compact isn't available in a Nexus configuration.

Speaking of Cyanogen OS:

I feel like a broken record player at this point, but don't trust these guys. Selling out to Microsoft has never done anyone any good.

As promised, Cyanogen has released an update to Cyanogen OS (which is not CyanogenMod) that integrates Cortana into their Android offering.

So, they're going to "take Android away from Google", and then give it to Microsoft? This Microsoft?

OK.

Look - like Microsoft, Google collects data. A lot of it. We all know it, and at least all of us, OSNews readers, make a conscious choice to use Android anyway. While I don't trust Google in any way, there's at least the comfort that they are probably the most closely monitored company when it comes to privacy, and there's little to no risk of the company folding and being up for grabs - meaning, your data will remain within Google, and won't end up in somebody else's, less trustworthy hands just because they happened to buy Google.

Cyanogen Inc., however, is a whole different ballgame. This is a start-up funded by venture capitalists who are clearly looking for a quick buck. They're making a lot of grandiose claims and a ton of ruckus, and as I've said before, I give them a few years before they're acquired by someone else - at which point your data could end up anywhere, completely beyond your control, with little to no oversight.

Venture capitalists - and by extension, those who depend on them - have no interest in you. You are irrelevant. All they care about is cashing in on their investments as soon as possible, everything else be damned.

Don't buy into Cyanogen. Just don't.

If this is what it takes to get those Oracle slimebags off Android's back, so be it.

I think the biggest problem they're going to run into is the black bar at the bottom of the screen, housing the back/home/windows button. Unless they can come up with a way to logically let the back button handle multiple activity stacks, I would suggest getting rid of the bar entirely, or just converting it into an all-out taskbar. They obviously can't have that black bar on 23" desktop displays or whatever.

Android 7 is going to be very interesting!

Google claims this new version contains serious performance improvements - which were sorely, badly needed - and it sports a brand new interface.

Pixel C reviews are pouring in, and they're all virtually the same: pretty awesome hardware, but Android on tablets just isn't any good. The Verge:

Ars:

They're all right, of course. That being said, it's clear the Pixel C isn't really intended as a mass-market product - at least, not right now. No, the real purpose of the Pixel C is to serve as a development device for Google's Android developers, who are currently, by all accounts, working hard not only on combining Android and Chrome OS, but also on bringing more traditional functionality, such as multiwindow, to Android.

Android is movin' on up, and the Pixel C is nothing more than the ladder Google's Android developers need to get there.

This phone would be a lot more interesting if they cut the cloud nonsense, and just focused on delivering this unique design as a high-quality, affordable pure Android phone.

Instant Run allows you to change the code of your program as it's running on your device or emulator, and if it indeed works as advertised, this should be a major boon for developers. TechCrunch claims Google's also improved the emulator in this release, and if there's one thing I know about programming for Android, it's that the emulator was absolutely terrible, so good to know they're working on it.

They're really going all-in on building Android devices with physical keyboards, and you know what? In this mobile landscape of boring sameness and nothingness, these devices are a huge breath of fresh air.

Successful or no, good work. Now all we need is a horizontal slider!

Confusing messaging there.

Within a few years, Google will be competing head-to-head with Apple, with its own line of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and maybe even desktops, all running Android.

Google's Project Zero, which investigates the security of popular software, recently turned its attention to the Galaxy S6 Edge.

I love that Google has Project Zero, and that the Zero team is not afraid of exposing the weaknesses in the company's own products (in this case, Android). Few companies out there would allow this.