Google’s Android Lollipop roll out was quite slow in the beginning and even though it has been picking in the last few months, it is nowhere near the fast adoption of iOS 8. The promises we have from manufacturers and Google to update devices only apply to certain flagship phones or new phones that were recently released. About 95 percent of Android devices now have a security feature that should protect them, Ludwig said.
Advertisement
The moves are a welcome change for Android users who are at the mercy of carriers for patches and other software updates.
Drake said that the vulnerabilities can be exploited by sending a single multimedia text message to an unpatched Android smartphone. But for many of us, an update could be far away, because of the way Android works. It’s bad. Google is a tiny blip compared to all the other manufacturers that utilize run Android.
The LG Nexus 5 (2015) is shown by Jermaine Smit to have three openings on its back: two circular ones for the dual camera, and a square-shaped one that is said to be a fingerprint reader.
Last week’s revelation of the Stagefright Android vulnerability has security-conscious Android users on edge. Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony and Android One have already announced pending patches for the bug, along with a device-specific patch for the Alcatel Idol 3.
It’s been a while since the Nexus 6 was released, and after roughly 9 months of market availability, Google’s first phablet is slowly but surely becoming old news.
According to Dong, “With the recent security issues, we have been rethinking the approach to getting security updates to our devices in a more timely manner”. It has unveiled that, going forward, it will release monthly security updates for the Nexus devices, in addition to the usual platform updates. He says a coordinated system for Android security is long overdue.
You know that monthly Android security update program that Samsung just announced? Google states most popular phones should be ready in August. Security continues to be a top priority and monthly device updates are yet another tool to make and keep Android users safe.
Advertisement
After all, Google has one key advantage that its hardware partners don’t have: Complete control over the software on such devices.
