Android system updates policy

stratege1401 · July 4, 2018

Hello all.

Dear Linus team,

My question is relative to ASUS zenpad tablets and their android system ( and by extention all products ).

Today, i have TWO zenpad tablets:
- More than one year ago, i bought a (model designed in september 2016) Z500M witch came with Android 6 and later, was updated to Android 7 and Android 8. Witch is rare enought to be pinpoint.
- A week ago, after stupidly breaking my z500m screen, i bought a fev 2018 Z301MF, witch is ship with Android 7. After an officiel question about Android 8 update to ASUS ( Service No=E1807017067 ), it seem no update plan are made for this Z301MF.

I can't understand why such a brand new hardware is not coming with the latest, most secure, most advance Android system. I can't understand why this Z301MF was build with knowned hardware who are not supported by Andoid 8.

Is this stupidity, is this laziness, or is this disrespect for customers ??

- Stupidity: lack of intelligence during hardware pick-up process ? Also called furniture politic !
- Laziness: lack of willingness to provide high end hardware ? The older the better ?
- Disrespect: with all those news about security holes in hardware/software, distributing an old andoid system is a non-sense on a marketing side? Who the Fxxxx cares, after all you are just a customer.

Last week, Google Makes it Mandatory for OEMs to Roll Out Android Security Updates Regularly. So i would ask what about making Mandatory for OEMs to roll out the latest Android version with brand new hardware ??

After buying the brand new Z301MF, i just feel like having bought the latest microsoft surface with a windows 3.11 on it.

I would like to have some kind of insite explanation for this software politic ?!!!!!! And i think this would be some kind of high value video from your team.

Thanks.

captain_to_fire · July 4, 2018

4 minutes ago, stratege1401 said:

I can't understand why such a brand new hardware is not coming with the latest, most secure, most advance Android system. I can't understand why this Z301MF was build with knowned hardware who are not supported by Andoid 8.

Is this stupidity, is this laziness, or is this disrespect for customers ??

https://www.howtogeek.com/129273/why-your-android-phone-isnt-getting-operating-system-updates-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/08/why-isnt-your-old-phone-getting-nougat-theres-blame-enough-to-go-around/

DrMacintosh · July 4, 2018

22 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

https://www.howtogeek.com/129273/why-your-android-phone-isnt-getting-operating-system-updates-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/08/why-isnt-your-old-phone-getting-nougat-theres-blame-enough-to-go-around/

In other words....This "software update model" has so much bureaucracy in it that it might as well be called the US Government.

stratege1401 · July 4, 2018

Thank you for this incredibly complicate and so nice graphic explanation !!

This answer a part of my question only, unfortunatly.

Your graphic explain the hard process of updating an android phone device over his life span.

In my case, i am just talking about a simple phatblet, using wifi only, technicaly design less than 5 month ago ( Asus design for Z301MF is february 2018, Android O is available since june 2017 ).

The Tablet hardware is:

MediaTek MT8163A witch gets full Android 8 support ( https://www.mediatek.com/news-events/press-releases/mediatek-socs-are-optimized-and-ready-for-android-oreo-go-edition )
ARM MALI T720-MP2 Android 8 support ( https://developer.arm.com/products/software/mali-drivers )

My question is why Android 7 was choosen for such a brand new hardware ?

It is like Boing or Airbus are going back to propellers for the 2018 airplanes ... or microsoft installing windows 3.11 on their hardware instead of windows 10 ( witch, in that case might be better after all ).

This would be a nice video subject for Linus team !