Well, I learned something interesting yesterday and the ramifications\n are just starting to hit home. When Android devices update to the \nlatest version of Android, that doesn’t mean what many of us might \nthink. I have a tablet on Android Version 6.01 that reports being \ncompletely up to date; its security update is identified as being a 2017\n version along with a number of other modules dating back 3-4 years all \nreported as completely up to date. How can this be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It turns out\n that Android only updates within its major version, so 6.01 is the \ncurrent (and no longer supported) version for Android 6. Android 7 is a\n completely different product and must be installed (a surprisingly \narcane and complicated install) by the user. A quick search on the \ninternet reveals that Android 10 is available though many sources are \nreporting that Android 8 is the stable and current version for most \ndevices. A quick visit to the manufacturer’s website reveals that \nAndroid 6 is the most recent version of Android that they support on my \ndevice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imagine if your \ncomputer had Windows Vista on it and would not load some applications \nunless you update to Windows 10, but your system won’t pass the \ncompatibility test for Windows 10. Oh yes, this is also a very real \nproblem and one I encounter regularly. The result is that a perfectly \nfunctional device with no reason to replace except that new programs \nwon’t run it. My tablet ran afoul of this problem over the yahoo mail \napp. Nothing changed on my end, the folks at Yahoo produced a new app \nand set their servers to require the new app and the app won’t install \non Android 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, sometime tomorrow I will be learning if I can \ninstall Android 8 on my 2-year old tablet or if it will turn that tablet\n into a decoration, after I backup all the data on it, make enough free \nspace to perform the new OS install. If it works, great and I will have\n learned another valuable skill. If not, well I will have another piece\n of technology that is good for nothing beyond cluttering up may desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n This all reminds me that there really is a reason for fearing change. I\n was reading about Author George R R Martin yesterday and how he still \nuses a DOS machine with Wordstar 4 to write his books; I guess he \nreally has resisted change with success. If well cared for, properly \nmaintained (replacing parts that are prone to wearing out) hi tech \ndevices really can be used for a very long time; but beware of products \nthat require regular updates, they will force you into upgrading your \nentire world of electronics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, I learned something interesting yesterday and the ramifications are just starting to hit home. When Android devices update to the latest version of Android, that doesn’t mean what many of us might think. I have a tablet on Android Version 6.01 that reports being completely up to date; its security update is identified as … Continue reading “Android – when updates aren’t what you expect”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-benediktson-computer","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/benediktson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/benediktson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/benediktson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benediktson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benediktson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/benediktson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197,"href":"http:\/\/benediktson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions\/197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/benediktson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benediktson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benediktson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}