So im starting to consider my upgrade for this year and my biggest 'must have' is decent update cycles for both OS and security updates. I'm currently on a nexus 5X so have Google level of these which I love, pixel 2 is high on my watch list but I want to consider other companies too. So what companies are good at releasing up to date security patches and android OS updates? I want stock manufacturer releases not rooted custom ROMs such as lineage. To my mind so far I have this order (from what i've heard and experienced) 1) Google (obviously) 2) OnePlus - Guy at work has the 3T and gets regular OS and security updates and they have a good beta channel if you want that route. 3) Samsung - Ive heard mixed, reasonable update schedule for security and OS but can vary wildly with device. 4)Sony - Semi regular updates for OS but security not that great, they have an experimental track for certain phones (X ending soon XZ premium soon to start) but I believe this is via unlocked bootloader etc which I want to avoid. Also my past Sony phones have been routinely ignored or had planned updates canclled so im a bit wary of them but I like the hardware. So what about the other big players such as HTC/LG and the Chinese companies like Huawei etc? Any input is welcomed (and no i dont want an iphone/Windows phone sorry)
I would personally rate sony higher than samsung. My sony tablet Z got many more updates (to 5.1.1, starting at 4.1.2 per gsmarena), more frequently and further than my note 3 (which maxed out at 5.0, starting at 4.3 per gsmarena) And of course, the tablet z is older than the note 3 by like half a year
Good to know you've had better experiences with Sony. Do they give separate security updates or just big OS updates nowadays do you know? I'm liking the look of the XZ premium and its features but my views on their update policy was putting me off them. Waterproof and stereo speakers are 2 big things on my feature list.
I'm not sure how many they do overall on phones but I got a lot more small patches (x.x.versions) than i ever did on my note 3
same here, but still with the nexus 5, these latest pixel devices disapointed me thought.. my next phone will probably be motorola or something (pixel2?), same dilema as you. Too bad nvidia doesnt make good phones, the software support in shield tablet is crazy! first ever android device to go from 4.4 kitkat >>> 7.0 nougat, insane! not even my nexus 5.
I'm still hoping for a Nokia flagship too as they stated before they released their phones they were sticking as close to stock android as possible for phone update speed. Then I guess its see if they stick to it.
LG is better than Samsung in my opinion in that regard. But have you tried lineage os? Even my old s3 is running android 7.1 with lineage os and it runs better than it ever did. http://www.lineageosrom.com/
I honestly got fed up of rooting so want to avoid that where possible, I have a nexus so current updates arent an issue currently but i'm thinking of other phones when I upgrade if the Pixel 2 is naff/too expensive.
Samsung are better than they used to be, but not great, very fragmented which models and regions get updates and when, there are some people stuck on January updates, where others have Aprils
Yeah id heard similar from others which is sad really, we already deal with carriers delaying things so regional/model delays are just a stupid addition.
They are all terrible in the US unless you have a Nexus device. All the major carriers take months to modify the update to add all of their mostly useless features. And that's only if you have a top end phone. Most of the lower tier phones might get 1 or 2 updates and that's it.
Me too. My mate has always loved Sony products and has always received updates before me (I'm a Sammy user).
Keep in mind it's you service provider as well that can be a hold up for updates. AT&T held up my M8 updates almost 2 months past Verizon and T-mobile for their "validation" while they pushed through Samsung updates.
Samsung and Sony both only do a couple of the top models and nothing else. A big issue for me as well is that like some others, Sony lock the bootloader on network their phones, not a huge issue as lots of companies do it, the issue is that if your phone is sim unlocked then they block you from unlocking the bootloader. In the UK at least this means they are the only company that you can't use custom roms with as all others either don't lock the bootloader or let you unlock it regardless of the sim lock. Xiaomi are one of the best for updates although you'll need to import, ok they might not necessarily update the base Android version (although they are slowly improving) but they keep updating MIUI and provide Android Security updates for phones that are 3-5 years old still which is great!
Im not having a good experience with samsung regarding updates so far. I bought a phone released in January that surprisely had android 6 instead of 7 by default. And now we´re almost in May and still no update. I think that besides the nexus/pixel line, oneplus and motorola take the crown.
Yes ive had this experience with Sony via EE, hence why I now go through carphone warehouse to get an unlocked phone so at least I have all the options.
went from Samsung to Sony and Now so happy to be with Huawei ( mate 9 pro 128gb rom/6gb ram ) now Huawei is an interesting subject when we talk OS updates , basically if you feel your phone is not up to date take it to reddit , there's a guy there uploading official Huawei firmwares for everyone to use , sometimes beta stuff , however he requires the users to pay for credits to be able to use his site. https://www.reddit.com/r/FunkyHuawei/ another group is doing it for free but their way is a bit harder , my only problem is that the phone will hold off messages until i open the app like whatsapp/telegram and then the message floods starts in front of you :infinity::infinity: