Gadgetory

so I think it is fair to say then when it comes to how long most of us have to wait for our Android updates most of you feel something like this why is it that iOS hipsters receive their updates all at the same time but Android users have to wait forever well friends I feel your pain and we are gonna do something about it today yes hello may I speak to Larry Page please yes there is a Larry Page there you know big gummy tooth guy friend of Sergey CEO co-founder kind of guy that Larry Page Thank You Larry hey chase here from Android authority how are you buddy oh you watch my shows love it that's great that's great no you're thinking it Josh listen Larry we got some serious frustrated Android users here and they really want you to work on the fragmentation and pushing of those updates all the way really oh okay I will tell them that but hey what about the iOS users they receive all their update okay okay mr. Page I will tell them I will no I'm not that Jace from Android authority you got a restraining order on I was Joe all righty welcome back Android peeps my name is Jason and today I share what I learned about why Android updates take so long to get out to so many people but first a brief history lesson so guys if you look at the Android version chart below you can see the Android version history it started with Android 1.0 and then Android 1.1 but after that Google called their Android versions by alphabetical code names they started with cupcake donut Eclair Froyo gingerbread honeycomb Ice Cream Sandwich and jelly bean and a now of course KitKat but what I want to draw your attention to is the fact that as of November 2013 some people some Android users are still using Froyo that's like five six versions back that's crazy that's the love of fragmentation that's happening on Android and we're going to talk about why what I learned is that Android has to go through three major processes before that update is finally released to the end-user and here is step one so the first thing that needs to happen is that the chipset makers need to provide what's called a hook or code that allows the operating system to communicate and thus control the hardware components of course those hardware components are a little bit different for every device so that adds time know that but there's different chipset manufacturers you have Qualcomm Texas Instruments Samsung Nvidia etc all of them take their own separate time to build these hooks but it's generally accepted that these folks should take anywhere from four to eight weeks and thus that takes us to the second stage in this stage the software stack is passed on to the manufacturer of the rest of the phone and of course each Hardware is a little bit different it has slightly different components and that software needs to be customized to meet those components add to the fact that they have the carrier related apps that need to be included so they can't just take TouchWiz and slap it on all their devices and push it out those devices are slightly different Samsung has how many different devices and they all have slightly different needs they can't just push it out all at once but Nick dark hollow from Samsung stated that it takes on average six to eight weeks from when they receive the release from Google when they can pass it on to the carrier which is the final step and by far the most time comes welcome to the wonderful world of carrier testing it has been explained to me that it is pain staking ly tedious they have to test not only every phone they plan to offer but every phone that they've already sold to ensure that the OS operates as advertised they have to test not just you know drop testing and hardware testing all that kind of stuff but they have to you know test out the CDMA GSM LTE multiple networks on multiple providers it's very complex so it comes down to the bottom line is if you are a business in the business of selling new phones where do you want to apply most of your limited resources on new phones so if I have you know this old Galaxy Note here I am going to be at the end of the update line if I get the update at all but I know what some of you are thinking you're thinking Jase those Apple lovers are getting their updates roughly all at the same time Tim Cook announces an update and within 2 or 3 weeks everyone seems to have it if they can do it why can't we well the answer is they're not doing it they're going through all the same hoops that Android has to go to it's just that Apple announces those updates at the end of that process whereas Google announces it at the beginning of their release you see Google is the platform of an open source or somewhat of an open source operating system and so they only take it a quarter of the way although manufacturers and the carriers have to take that release update the rest of the way hence the perception that andr takes a really long time but Apple is almost instant well it's not the announcement just happens at different times that's the reason alright guys thanks for watching I had a lot of fun researching this if you found this helpful please kindly give us a like and subscribe if you have any questions put them down in the comments below and I should see you next week on androids Q&A Larry I love your yacht love it