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Comment by pjmlp | Hacker News Reader

Not really, it would a real attempt if it was actually enforced, but given that Nougat updates to Oreo don't require Treble certification, and the OEMs are the ones expected to deliver any kind of updates, it is pretty useless to change the current state of affairs.

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I mean, Google are requiring it for all Oreo launch devices, which they all must be after the P release (you can't get certification for Nougat after P releases).

It's at least something that'll work long term.

Still if the updates aren't enforced, all we will get are Oreo devices without updates, Treble or not.

Once you have Treble you can get third-party updates (e.g. LineageOS).

That doesn't work for regular phone users.

Regular phone users don't care, which is why we're in this situation at all.

They do care on iOS.

Eh, that might be true today, but I doubt we'll see flagships shipping with Nougat still by the end of the year. I certainly won't be buying any like that primarily for this reason. OEMs will catch up sooner or later. It's a slow process, but don't write off the long game for the short one.

Once P is released they won't even certify Nougat devices anymore.

Experience tells me OEMs won't change their behavior unless legally forced to do so.

Aren't they contractually obligated to comply with CTS / VTS in order to get the Google Play stuff? The Chinese OEMs and Amazon Fire line opt-out, but pretty much the rest of the Android ecosystem opts in.

They are. Even to call their OS 'Android', not just usage of the Google Play Store.

Nowhere in Amazon Fire tablet's page does Amazon use the term Android to describe the device.

CTS/VTS does not require providing updates.

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