"There is still no solution for getting Marshmallow out to the billion+ devices out there."
I can't wait for this one to be solved
I can't wait for this one to be solved
I'm not expecting Marshmallow to roll out to my device at all, and nobody that I know who use cheap android device does.
Honestly, the features of the OS are not worth upgrading. The only thing that suffer is my gaming abilities. I can't play the most recent games on it... I guess. I don't game on my device.
Average Android user don't care if they are not cutting edge. They would be using Apple product if they cared about that at all. The only exception are those users that purchase the high-end products. Those will gladly trade their phones to stay up to date, they are the ones in the statistics that keep up with the latest versions. The average user are using Android because it's "the cheap smartphone".
I will move up the chain if main features start to break. So far, browsers, social media networks and all those things have been backward compatible. When they won't, I'll trade in my phone, pay $50 and get another low budget Android phone.
This meets my expectations for what is reasonable, but I understand others will have a different opinion.
I sure hope you don't mind bringing what is essentially a vulnerability vector into whatever wifi networks you connect to...
Not changing my policy to deny wifi access to Android (or Win10) devices visiting my house.
But if all the other devices are secure, then what is the harm in allowing an insecure device onto the network?
I suppose they could become host an exit node or seed an illegal torrent or something, but you (personally) have indemnity as an impartial carrier in that case, right?
I'd also suggest looking into a segregated guest network.
A billion non-geek, non-HN, non-ArsTechnica device owners are not going to re-flash their phones with a custom ROM. Those consumers will have to get Android updates as a seamless upgrade from their phone carrier, or not at all.
In other words, the "I can't wait for this one to be solved" was not a personal plea for help but instead, a commentary on the old software the 1 billion consumers are stuck with.
This could provide us with:
No more (at least non-google) bloatware
No more needless recreated basic features (AT&T messaging, navigation, Samsung Messaging, etc.)
Can actually update the OS for security problems
The device manufacturers are able to embed their brand's identity into the device. They're members of OHA and they like "needless recreated basic features."
The networks have nothing to say in this in 90% of the world. They're not phone-vendor's customers. They merely want the latest data-gulping phones on their network so they can charge their real customers (people like you and me, which are also the phone-vendor's customers) money for consuming bandwidth.
I get that things are messed up in the US, but don't generalize this to the rest of the world.
Most networks and cellphone operators around the world sell generic phones, with unmodified software, unlockable bootloaders and carrier-provided SIM cards.
And for those phones, which you will find in big parts of the world, having Google responsible for software-updates would work just fine.
That means forcing the manufacturers to release the source of any component not behind a stable ABI, and release at least the binaries of any component behind them such as apps (with a suitable license).
They have two ways of doing this:
1. Make it a condition for bundling Google Apps
2. Relicense Android with GPLv3
The phone manufacturers aren't really in a position to negotiate (can't lose apps), so they should go along.
Once this is done, they can just have the Play Store offer or even require updates to the OS.
Not sure what Google gains from not doing this, it seems they are just gifting users to Apple.
In many countries the choice is between Android and Windows Phone, not iOS.
Specially in countries where people go with pre-paid and the average salary cannot afford the usual iOS contracts.
I do wish the vendors would keep up with security fixes, though. That's the real problem with Android updating, IMO.
^ That is the thread and it was closed, not deleted (a subtle but important distinction)
It's been a while since I've unlocked an HTC for someone else, but I've never had issues with mine.
Even though Verizon has blocked HTCdev access to unlock our bootloaders...
The only option to unlock on these carrier-locked devices is a software exploit that a group of hackers charge $25 to run on your phone.