Not everything Samsung today has to be about the Galaxy Note9. Overnight Samsung also revealed their Android Oreo update roadmap within the Samsung Members app and it is impressive to see the number of mid-range devices included.
Google may have just released Android 9.0 Pie, but these Samsung devices are going to be receiving the previous version of Android, Oreo, next year (one in December). While at first glance that seems fairly average a closer look will show that most of these devices were released with Android Marshmallow. For mid-range devices to receive two full Android version updates is virtually unheard of (unless the manufacturer is Google).
There are not many manufacturers who continue to support their products this long — we see many promises (and even more in recent times) but very little follow through on said promises. Not all of these devices are available here in Australia but for those that are when they receive Oreo their owners will be in for a nice surprise.
In choosing your next device, how important are not just regular security updates but also full version updates to you?
I find full version updates very important. I hate not running the latest version as they often come with battery life improvements which are very important to me.
Security updates don’t matter too much to me. The way I look at it is it’s like a computer, if you don’t do anything stupid your chances of getting infected are very minimal.
This is the problem with Samsung.
In the year 2019, Samsung should be putting Android Q (10.0) into phones. But no. It’s a travesty that Samsung is only considering putting Android O (Oreo 8.0) into some phones. Security updates are not only important but essential. Remember the WiFi bug that allowed anyone to eavesdrop on your WiFi connection? Google patched that one. But if your phone is from a vendor that doesn’t pass on OS updates or security patches, then you remain vulnerable.
Shame there’s no info on their tablet range readily available beside that tab a 2017 range. i bought a tab s2 ve last year and it would be a shame to see it not get oreo.
Q: “In choosing your next device, how important are not just regular security updates but also full version updates to you”?
A: On a mobile, I would say important for security updates, and as full versions not so much unless it fixes an annoying issue or bugs. On a Wifi tablet I don’t care, I still have my N10 that stopped getting updates years ago. So if it still does what I want then OS updates not important either.