Android 11 Aiming For Release In Q3

[geearf]

I'm talking of Treble devices. They have Treble support but in practice some things are still dirty hacks done in the vendor's GSI (or require licensed stuff that the vendor can't place in a generic hardware support partition).

Mind me, it's still great that we can swap GSI, but it's not 100% painless on all devices.

Oh I see, thank you.

[Flaburgan]

just get a fairphone and you will have 5 years of official support and update. And once you're too tired of Android you can install Ubuntu touch on it!

[starshipeleven]

Updating the system components through the play store is bad if you want a Google free phone
Instead they should and they already dkmo work on mainlining open source drivers and frameworks into the Linux kernel so that the maintenance burden gets easier. Then the generic Image will work fine for most phones and the porting for brand specific stuff will become faster too.

I'm not aware of anything low-level (kernel and such) that is updated through the play store. They are updating only the browser and the integration with Google services, and obviously apps, if the phone uses Google apps or the vendor updates them through the Store (Asus does it afaik).

So that's two different things.

[bemerk]

Updating the system components through the play store is bad if you want a Google free phone
Instead they should and they already dkmo work on mainlining open source drivers and frameworks into the Linux kernel so that the maintenance burden gets easier. Then the generic Image will work fine for most phones and the porting for brand specific stuff will become faster too.

[starshipeleven]

Isn't that mostly based on Treble support though?

I'm talking of Treble devices. They have Treble support but in practice some things are still dirty hacks done in the vendor's GSI (or require licensed stuff that the vendor can't place in a generic hardware support partition).

Mind me, it's still great that we can swap GSI, but it's not 100% painless on all devices.

[geearf]

kind of. some things may not work properly or at all (camera and NFC among others)

Isn't that mostly based on Treble support though?

[Viki Ai]

I just wish they would stop picking and picking at the userspace!

While the underlying system is undoubtedly getting better with every iteration, Android's default userland seems to just get worse and worse every release since 7 or 8 as the developers seem incapable of leaving good alone in their constant striving to justify their jobs by adding more and more cruft-features at the expense of the useful functionality which bit-rots away to eventually get dropped.

Seriously! I know how to navigate my data. I don't need a 'smart' interface cluttering my limited screen real-estate with its constant failing to second-guess what I want while the option to just do it myself in 1/4 the time is buried irretrievably!

[bug77]

Oh goodie - maybe I'll get to use it 5 years from now when I get my next phone.

For all the wailing about how people wish desktop GNU/Linux was more like Android, Android's inability to easily update on devices or to install with one image across devices really really really sucks. In fact, I think it would be fair to say that desktop GNU/Linux will be better off if it's never anything at all like Android.

Get an Android One phone. All problems solved.
Updating with one image is a pipe dream, phones use many custom chips, often with only closed source drivers.
The one thing that could improve the ecosystem, imho, is not allowing 3rd party skins and apps by default. You think your proprietary launcher or browser adds some value, put it on Google Play. Maybe add some home screen links pointing at them. This way you can roll out updates to the phone without waiting for your precious launcher to catch up,
Because let's face it, what gives Android a bad name is crapware end users don't really care about.

[starshipeleven]

Can't you use a GSI on almost any phone that supports Treble (officially or not)?

kind of. some things may not work properly or at all (camera and NFC among others)

[S.Pam]

Google should have made it possible to update all system and OS components via the play store.

The fact today is that phones become a security threat after 18 months when vendors stop updates.

I think that security updates should be forced at least 3 years from purchase. The same amount of time you have to complain in EU for a fault in the product.