In light of Yet More Android vulns:
My 2015 purchased-new Android tablet has never seen a vendor OS update. It runs v5.0.2, not even current at the time, as 5.1.1 was released over six months before. It was obsolete when sold.
None of this information was available to me at the time. I'd purchased the device under sharp time, budget, and information constraints whilst travelling.
#Google #Android #Samsung #security #monopoly
1/
@dredmorbius that's one of the reasons my most recent phone was the #Xiaomi #MiA1 (which essentially is the #Mi5X with #StockAndroid).
Since it is an #AndroidOne device, it came with the promise of frequent OTA updates till at least #Android9 (Pie), even though it was released with #Android7 (Nougat).
It likely won't see an official update to #Android10 (Q), but Xiaomi devices are generally well-supported in the ROM community.
Yeah, #AndroidOne is part of Googles attempts to improve things, getting non-Google devices with 3 years support and monthly updates is a definite plus
Also been changing #Android so some things that were previously OS components are now updated over Google Play, so dont have to rely on phone vendors to push updates
AOSP is open source & anyone can fork it and do what they want. In order to use the #Android ™ brand, the Play store & all Google services the device… 1/2
@dredmorbius
@FiXato
has to pass various compatibility tests.
Other than this Google has limited power to impose stuff on forks of their operating system. To my knowledge this is comparable to other open source OSs
The Samsung fork apparently isnt so great. I hear lots of poorly written code & they added lots of attack surface to kernel & elsewhere. Security and Android version (Oreo, Pie) updates for their non flagship devices are often very sporadic and delayed
Android and iOS are…
2/3
@dredmorbius
@FiXato
…however the two most architecturally advanced consumer computer operating systems
AOSP being open source allows for improved forks.
Device manufacturer support periods are disappointing (max 3 years from launch) and many manufacturers dont support alternative operating systems, or offer second class support (no support for verified boot)
There are however some - Googles Pixels and some Android One devices such as the Xiaomo Mi A2
3/4
@dredmorbius
@FiXato
Theres also a new wave of privacy and security AOSP forks that support Pixels -
#GrapheneOS has some very nice developments. Check out their Auditor app & hardened memory allocator, also recently released their hardened
#CalyxOS does Pixels, yet also is working on support for the Mi A2. Shares some work with Graphene, using its Auditor, also working on a nice device encrypted cloud Backup solution, that Graphene also plans to use.
Both get monthly security updates
@dredmorbius
@dazinism I'm looking forward to Android Q. It not only separates more things nicely so they can be updated individually without vendor involvement, it also gives you an option to boot from an alternate Generic System Image (GSI) so you don't have to overwrite you default OS.
This article gives a deep dive into what to expect [ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/07/android-qa-android-engineers-take-us-on-a-deep-dive-of-android-q/ ]
Doc Edward Morbius ❌
FiXato (fallback)
dazinism
Soh Kam Yung