Google shows a list of Android devices with security patches from last 90 days.

biron_w · 21 Sep 2018 at 09:05

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/09/android-and-google-play-security.html

HTC only have 2 devices on the list. LG haven't got many and their flagships from last year - G6 and V20 - aren't on there either. Surprisingly Huawei have got a massive list of devices.

leezer3 · 21 Sep 2018 at 11:13

Well, the list is wrong then, or at least misleading

The G6 got the Aug security patch on unbranded / EU devices at the start of the week.

Don't think the SEA / US variants have it at the minute.

muon · 24 Sep 2018 at 00:05

leezer3 said:
Well, the list is wrong then, or at least misleading
The G6 got the Aug security patch on unbranded / EU devices at the start of the week.

Don't think the SEA / US variants have it at the minute.

To make the list, a majority of the devices need to have been updated in the last 3 months.

I know people that don't always install the update that gets pushed out to them. It is quite a lengthy update process and once a month is quite frequent.

Needs to be more like windows update imo.

Rroff · 24 Sep 2018 at 01:35

muon said:
Needs to be more like windows update imo.

No thank you. It is a shame more Android security patches can't be applied more like older Windows updates though simply installed while in OS and then simple reboot.

The last thing I need is my phone making executive decisions in regard to patches when I might need it - hopefully hence why they've not done it that way - I can only imagine the PR the first time it happened to someone when they were trying to call an ambulance or something :s

biron_w · 25 Sep 2018 at 09:08

Rroff said:
It is a shame more Android security patches can't be applied more like older Windows updates though simply installed while in OS and then simple reboot.

That's why Google introduced Project Treble; so security patches can be applied without updating the main software bit. But it still relies on OEMs actually bothering with updates to start with.

muon · 25 Sep 2018 at 18:45

Rroff said:
No thank you. It is a shame more Android security patches can't be applied more like older Windows updates though simply installed while in OS and then simple reboot.

The last thing I need is my phone making executive decisions in regard to patches when I might need it - hopefully hence why they've not done it that way - I can only imagine the PR the first time it happened to someone when they were trying to call an ambulance or something :s

What's the difference between old and new windows updates? Always been the same for me since XP to 10.

Rroff · 25 Sep 2018 at 18:57

muon said:
What's the difference between old and new windows updates? Always been the same for me since XP to 10.

10 makes executive decisions when it comes to applying updates and increasingly making it harder to prevent that - it would still be annoying if they'd ironed out many of the issues with the older update system but they haven't - with older Windows OSes it was much easier to get a list of updates and just apply what you wanted/needed as well and manually take control so as to work around issues and so on. Even if you blacklist an update in 10 there is a high chance it will be re-applied again come the next round of updates even though you've disabled that update, etc. never mind having far less control (or any) over when the OS reboots or is sitting there potentially spending hours applying updates when you might want to use the system.

For instance my parents were on holiday a few weeks back in shared accommodation which being quite remote had intermittent internet connectivity and a capped allowance (shared with everyone) - try as they might they couldn't prevent Windows 10 from eventually just updating of its own accord on my dad's laptop inconveniencing everyone. (With older Windows they'd have temporarily disabled updates or just installed critical ones).

biron_w said:
That's why Google introduced Project Treble; so security patches can be applied without updating the main software bit. But it still relies on OEMs actually bothering with updates to start with.

It really annoys me how often they (in general not just Android) make a big deal about updates citing the security aspect but then the actual implementation leaves a lot to be desired in terms of efficient and effective end user security - I usually just end up rolling my eyes at the claims.