Google Finally Updates Android Distribution Dashboard, Pie Passes 10 Percent (venturebeat.com) 31
After more than six months of no updates, Google has finally updated its Android distribution data. Android Pie, the latest version of Google's mobile operating system, has passed the 10% adoption mark. VentureBeat reports: The Android developer website hosts a distribution dashboard that details the adoption of Google's mobile operating system versions. With over 2.5 billion active Android devices out there, this is useful information that Google used to update on a monthly cadence. For anyone who makes decisions regarding Android, it's incredibly valuable to know how widely (or narrowly) an Android version -- or more importantly, an API level -- has been adopted.
The distribution numbers were last updated in October 2018. In early December, Google added a small note below the chart: "(update coming soon: data feed under maintenance)." Months passed and the company would not explain what was going on, until today, when it finally updated the numbers. In short, Google is blaming a technical glitch, says it has resolved the issue, and is promising to keep the dashboard updated again. But those updates won't come on a monthly cadence anymore -- about quarterly is more likely, Google told VentureBeat. The Android adoption order now stands as follows: Oreo in first place, Nougat in second place, Marshmallow in third, Lollipop in fourth, Pie in fifth, KitKat in sixth, Jelly Bean in seventh, ICS in eighth, and Gingerbread in last. It will be a few more months before Pie can break into the top three.
The distribution numbers were last updated in October 2018. In early December, Google added a small note below the chart: "(update coming soon: data feed under maintenance)." Months passed and the company would not explain what was going on, until today, when it finally updated the numbers. In short, Google is blaming a technical glitch, says it has resolved the issue, and is promising to keep the dashboard updated again. But those updates won't come on a monthly cadence anymore -- about quarterly is more likely, Google told VentureBeat. The Android adoption order now stands as follows: Oreo in first place, Nougat in second place, Marshmallow in third, Lollipop in fourth, Pie in fifth, KitKat in sixth, Jelly Bean in seventh, ICS in eighth, and Gingerbread in last. It will be a few more months before Pie can break into the top three.
What percentage of phones can upgrade? (Score:2)
What percentage of phones can upgrade to pie?
Re:What percentage of phones can upgrade? (Score:4)
What percentage of owners care. Please list for me a killer feature in modern Android I should be excited about. It's not like you're missing something like copy/paste or multi-touch.
Re:What percentage of phones can upgrade? (Score:4)
And as if to prove my point, while scrolling down I see one of the major features of Q is that it's getting Dark Mode. Well all my phones were already dark, since teh first Galaxy S. Custom theming was a thing, and here we are so many years later getting.... a second theme in default Android.
Whoop-de-fudging-do.
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Security updates?
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Nope. Security is 100% decoupled from OS version, just like Windows 7 gets security updates you can very much run Android Nougat from 2 years back and be on the 1st May 2019 security patch level if the vendor is supporting you.
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What percentage of owners care. Please list for me a killer feature in modern Android I should be excited about.
I don't know about "killer features" but Pie has improved power management, support for multiple simultaneous cameras, and DNS over TLS, all of which seem significant if not ground-breaking. Android Q lets you control when apps get location data, and makes a number of privacy and security improvements. If you don't get these updates, will you cry? Probably not. Do you want them, if you are an Android user? Yep.
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I don't know about "killer features" but Pie has improved power management, support for multiple simultaneous cameras, and DNS over TLS, all of which seem significant if not ground-breaking.
A feature every non-google phone has already included, combined with something of limited utility ... which many non-google phones already include, combined with a protocol that is barely used. You and I have very different definitions of ground breaking.
Android Q lets you control when apps get location data, and makes a number of privacy and security improvements.
Yeah people just don't care. A few people here on Slashdot cares. RMS would care but he doesn't use Android anyway. People just don't give a shit and would happily send you their dick picks in exchange for a smiley face.
If you don't get these updates, will you cry? Probably not. Do you want them, if you are an Android user? Yep.
I asked you to excite me. Excitement
The big surprise (Score:3)
The big surprise to me with these numbers is that there are still people out there using Gingerbread (released 10 years ago)
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Cheap prepaid smart phones that nobody actually uses as a smart phone because they are so slow / no ram / no storage.
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These people had dark mode before it was cool.
Re:The big surprise - BATTERIES (Score:1)
Most surprising is that there are batteries out there lasting for 10 years. Way more surprising than holding onto a phone for that long. I've held onto my laptop for 9 years and it still is fine. Heck, I haven't thrown away my old Toshiba laptop - still sitting in a closet - but it boots (with a squeaky drive) and is close to 20 years old - though it's battery probably last for all of 5 seconds.
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Most surprising is that there are batteries out there lasting for 10 years.
Most Android 2.3 phones had removable batteries.
Explain why it is so hard to make money from games (Score:1)
This goes a long way to explain why it is so hard to make money from games on Android. 75% of Android devices can't run a 3D Unity game. 75% of Android devices have not been or can't be updated for 5+ years.
Shit Pie (Score:1)
Android is just a shity experience