Google Won’t Fix Bug Hitting 60% Of Android Phones

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I guess Google is too busy policing Microsoft's bugs to fix stuff like this. :D

If the affected version [of WebView] is before 4.4, we generally do not develop the patches ourselves but do notify partners of the issue[...] If patches are provided with the report or put into AOSP we are happy to provide them to partners as well.
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Is this a bug or a vulnerability? I mean there were bugs that Microsoft did not fix in its os that existed for 15 years. And Visual Studio has many bugs that say will fix in a future version.
 
It's out of their hands. That's what happens when you relinquish control of your own software. For the most part, updates are at the sole discretion of the phone manufacturers and/or service providers.
 
I previously owned an android phone and I loved it. Then I got bitten by a wireless bug that Google refused to fix for previous versions of android, even though my phone was less than a year old. I switched to Apple, and I'm happy with the change.
 
I read another article about this and it was mentioned that Google wants more control over Android development. Basically they want the service providers to use Google patented solutions and whatever fees are associated with that. The service providers would rather make their customers to buy the next phone from them instead.

Basically neither entity gives a flying F about the end user; aka the "customer".
 
It's not really an issue of "wont", more "cant". The older versions of Android, this bug is build into the OS. The only way to fix it is to update the entire OS, and you'd need the manufacturer to do that. The manufactures would rather you buy a new phone, so basically Google can't do shit about this.

Most people won't care though. Kinda like people on XP...

"Oh, My shit is old an unsecure? But I only use it for banking and email..."
 
Talyrius said:
It's out of their hands. That's what happens when you relinquish control of your own software. For the most part, updates are at the sole discretion of the phone manufacturers and/or service providers.
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Its not about distributing the patch is about creating it. Something Google is quite capable of doing if they wanted.

I found Google now doesn't give a rat's ass about people with lesser or older hardware. If you aren't plunking down for the new shiney, don't bother us.

Here's also a case where Google is expecting someone else to fix Android through the open source project side, but their fanboys in the press villify any version of Android that is forked from that project , other than Googles, or even just blended with different non-google default apps. What a bunch of hypocrits.
 
Jorona said:
It's not really an issue of "wont", more "cant". The older versions of Android, this bug is build into the OS. The only way to fix it is to update the entire OS, and you'd need the manufacturer to do that. The manufactures would rather you buy a new phone, so basically Google can't do shit about this.

Most people won't care though. Kinda like people on XP...

"Oh, My shit is old an unsecure? But I only use it for banking and email..."
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Except XP is/was over 10 years old. Android 4.3 is just about more than 1 1/2 years old.
 
Yep I got hit by this bug. And drive by downloads which patch the phone's OS are not fun. Virus scanners can't pick up the software they install.
 
I don't blame Google for this. How long are they supposed to support obsolete releases?

I blame the handset manufacturers and carriers. They need to update to the latest version of Android for ALL their offered devices within a week or two of launch, not doing so is irresponsible.

We really need to move to the computer model for smartphones and tablets. The hardware manufacturers and carriers need to relinquish all control over handset software.

It ought to be just like with Windows/Linux/BSD/etc on computers OS developer pushes updates straight to handsets without any input or control from handset makers or carriers.

Carriers need to become simple dumb wireless ISP's I can connect the hardware of my choice to, and handset manufacturers need to load their handsets with unmodified operating systems so that the computer update model can work.

Can you imagine if Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. all sold their computers with highly customized versions of Windows, such that Windows Update didn't work, and you had to wait for Dell, HP or Lenovo to update their modified Windows before you got any patch? And then your ISP would ahve to give it's permission before you could update to it?

The model is ridiculous and broken.

Smartphones and tables are essentially less powerful mobile computers and they ought to be treated as such.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041358595 said:
I don't blame Google for this. How long are they supposed to support obsolete releases?

I blame the handset manufacturers and carriers. They need to update to the latest version of Android for ALL their offered devices within a week or two of launch, not doing so is irresponsible.

We really need to move to the computer model for smartphones and tablets. The hardware manufacturers and carriers need to relinquish all control over handset software.
.
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Some releases are highly customized. We're not talking 1 CPU architecture, but DOZENS! So imagine a phone manufacturer making over 200 separate builds on a month basis. Add in QA/Regression and Integration analysis, and you spent a small fortune for the small percentage of people who keep their phone > 2 years.

If you want updates on a regular basis, get a Motorolla, or Nexus phone....built and designed by google.
 
BTW: Not all updates are a good thing. Remember what upgrading the iPhone 3 software did...Made it slow and buggy

And if you read the updates on Lollypop, you see people hate it. It's full of glitches and crashes and it's slow. My wife had to hard reset hers to factory defaults 3 times on her Nexus 7 (second gen)
 
There is a bit of misconception here, Google did fix this bug for Android 4.4 and newer. People are claiming that they "didn't fix it", but they're referring to unsupported versions of Android. It's the equivalent to complaining that Microsoft didn't fix a bug in Windows XP.

Yes, Android versions have shorter support cycles than Windows, but it's also free. The issue here is really the same issue it always is with Android, the device makers never release OS updates for their phones. It would be nice if Google did something about this.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
BTW: Not all updates are a good thing. Remember what upgrading the iPhone 3 software did...Made it slow and buggy

And if you read the updates on Lollypop, you see people hate it. It's full of glitches and crashes and it's slow. My wife had to hard reset hers to factory defaults 3 times on her Nexus 7 (second gen)
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I'm running Lollipop on my Nexus 5 without issue so it might be device-specific.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
And if you read the updates on Lollypop, you see people hate it. It's full of glitches and crashes and it's slow. My wife had to hard reset hers to factory defaults 3 times on her Nexus 7 (second gen)
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There are plenty of happy users too.

I suspect that the switch from Dalvik to ART as the default setting is part of the issue, as some older apps that use deprecated calls not compatible with ART will crash.

I also suspect that the extreme customizations some handset makers make are in part to blame as well.

I still propose adopting the computer model for smartphones. A single unified install base with updates pushed from the OS developer, with no input or control from the hardware manufacturer or carrier.

Let the carrier focus on what they do best (mobile networks), let the handset manufacturer focus on what they do best (develop hardware) and keep all of the software work with the software developer.
 
Yep the patching cycle is my biggest complaint of android, its pathetic. I went nexus a long time ago and that's something but it still goes 6 mo without patches, that scares me.
 
Quix said:
There is a bit of misconception here, Google did fix this bug for Android 4.4 and newer. People are claiming that they "didn't fix it", but they're referring to unsupported versions of Android. It's the equivalent to complaining that Microsoft didn't fix a bug in Windows XP.

Yes, Android versions have shorter support cycles than Windows, but it's also free. The issue here is really the same issue it always is with Android, the device makers never release OS updates for their phones. It would be nice if Google did something about this.
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Microsoft supported XP for how long after Vista?

Also even after official support ended when a severe enough bug was found, they did a one-off for it.

This bug is not being able to run crossy roads, its a security hole you can drive a Mack truck through.
 
why should google fix old firmware if the manufacturer's won't apply the fixes?
Besides, goto xda, find a custom firmware that's much more updated than any official release and apply it. Not too hard to do.
 
Hypergreatthing said:
why should google fix old firmware if the manufacturer's won't apply the fixes?
Besides, goto xda, find a custom firmware that's much more updated than any official release and apply it. Not too hard to do.
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I have a cheap low end phone I use to organize and play podcast, my last firmware update was 2 months ago. It may be true they don't upgrade consumers, but it's not universally true that problems aren't patched.
 
Shit like this is why I see staying with apple for the foreseeable future. People out there with 6+ months left on their 2 year contracts for phones bought the day 4.3 became available are being told their phones are too old and the only way to get support for fixes is to upgrade? iPhone 4S's purchased a year and a half before this at least have the option to upgrade to iOS 8!

Apple: We'll upgrade the shit out of your phone (specifically we'll give you updates until your phone is basically crushed under all the new features we added and runs like shit, but hey, free updates).
Google/Android: Better pay for that annual upgrade feature from your cell company because what you got is what you get, hopefully we didn't screw up too badly, but if we did, well, upgrade in 10 months.
 
I thought the patch to 4.4 is 4.5 etc.

Sounds like a case of people not understanding the process or being anal about it, nothing weird about rolling patches along with updates etc. The issue here is who's in control of updating the phone's OS and sometimes hardware limitations perhaps.

Usually that's a carrier or phone manufacturer problem, they lock their old products to sell newer ones or force people out of unlimited plans and such imo.
 
Quix said:
There is a bit of misconception here, Google did fix this bug for Android 4.4 and newer. People are claiming that they "didn't fix it", but they're referring to unsupported versions of Android. It's the equivalent to complaining that Microsoft didn't fix a bug in Windows XP.
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Yep. The manufacturers need to update their phones to 4.4 or newer.
 
This is why i only buy nexus phones. I would switch to apple if they had widgets and i didn't have to use itunes. I really don't like the way google allows fragmentation to happen, especially now that they are in a position where they could force carriers to come around like apple does.
 
I consider this more of a carrier problem.

The damn carriers won't allow updates to smartphones until they test them to make sure they have a solid control over how the users use their internet access. Internet sharing without extra charges is not allowed. Even then, they take forever to actually do the testing. The latest update for Windows phone was over 3 months late. The update for my previous Android phone took over 6 months to get deployed. Before I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile, AT&T delayed the Android 2.1 update for my phone there by almost a year. They're getting a little better as time goes by, but they still take way too long to release the updates to their customers.

So, until the carriers start releasing the updates to their users, the users just have to get by with bugs and security problems. It's not Google's fault.
 
Romale23 said:
This is why i only buy nexus phones. I would switch to apple if they had widgets and i didn't have to use itunes. I really don't like the way google allows fragmentation to happen, especially now that they are in a position where they could force carriers to come around like apple does.
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I can't remember the last time I used itunes, and I have had an iphone as my last two phones. I just use Amazon cloud since I'm a prime member for my music. It'll run in the back ground of games and stream off bluetooth and you can operate it from the lock screen just like itunes.

itunes sucks shit, but I don't have to use it with my iphone.

Widgets, meh, when I had android phones it wasn't a make or break for me.
 
dgingeri said:
I consider this more of a carrier problem.

The damn carriers won't allow updates to smartphones until they test them to make sure they have a solid control over how the users use their internet access. Internet sharing without extra charges is not allowed. Even then, they take forever to actually do the testing. The latest update for Windows phone was over 3 months late. The update for my previous Android phone took over 6 months to get deployed. Before I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile, AT&T delayed the Android 2.1 update for my phone there by almost a year. They're getting a little better as time goes by, but they still take way too long to release the updates to their customers.

So, until the carriers start releasing the updates to their users, the users just have to get by with bugs and security problems. It's not Google's fault.
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Are you referring to the exact same carriers that also carry iPhones for which the updates are pushed by Apple and not the carriers? I'm gonna push back and say it IS the OEM's and Googles fault that they let the carriers walk all over them, instead of standing their ground like Apple and say "No, we're going to upgrade our own phones you can shove this approval bullshit up your ass".
 
-Dragon- said:
Are you referring to the exact same carriers that also carry iPhones for which the updates are pushed by Apple and not the carriers? I'm gonna push back and say it IS the OEM's and Googles fault that they let the carriers walk all over them, instead of standing their ground like Apple and say "No, we're going to upgrade our own phones you can shove this approval bullshit up your ass".
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I remember one thing about my old AT&T phone, a Samsung Captivate. The 2.2 update included a wifi internet tethering option built in. Samsung had the update for the phone ready about a month after the version came out from Google, but AT&T wouldn't allow Samsung to deploy the update until the tethering feature was disabled, and any other apps that could possibly turn it on were also blocked form doing so. It took over 7 months of quibbling before Samsung finally disabled everything they demanded, and another two months before AT&T tested and approved it. It was extremely annoying.

Apple may be able to tell the providers how things are going to work, but they're the only ones in that position. If a phone manufacturer tries to tell AT&T how things are going to go, AT&T just says they won't be carrying their handsets anymore, and that manufacturer loses a major portion of their business. (I suspect HTC tried this once, and that's why their phones are so hard to find. Microsoft might be in a similar situation, considering I have only been able to find three of their phones on any provider right now.) The phone manufacturers are at the whim of the providers because of how few providers there are. I'm just glad the AT&T/T-mobile merger got blocked. That would have made things so much worse.
 
dyzophoria said:
Except XP is/was over 10 years old. Android 4.3 is just about more than 1 1/2 years old.
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I do not think they're comparable at this level. Android, and mobile tech in general, is moving much faster than Windows. Consider this: Android 1.0 was released in 2008 and the latest release is 5.0.1/5.0.2.
 
BTW more people need to vote with their dollars, I for one will NEVER buy an Android phone that's not AOSP. They started to do this with the Nexus user experience for like the HTC One and a few other phones, but honestly, even they are slower to get updates than the Google Nexus phones... so that's what I stick with.

Do any of the manufacturers even pen test and secure their modifications on android even half as well as Google? I just can't see HTC or those guys doing that...
 
It's fair to criticize Google for not fixing bugs, and Google does at least have some responsibility in making sure components it used and shipped have vulnerabilities fixed for a certain period of time. But this is more of a problem with the open source nature of patches in older versions of Android, something all users of the code they put on devices should have understood. It's no longer directly supported by Google. While the time period is different, and the code is open vs closed, the situations isn't too different from security problems in an old OS like Windows 2000 or XP. Losing support sucks, but at least patches remain a theoretical possibility on OSS.

I'm not sure why none of the people connected to "millions of eyeballs" have submitted a patch to AOSP yet. Had that happened, there'd be no story. /snark
 
People keep saying "older phones"... we're not talking 4 year old devices, we're talking devices still on contract, still being paid off, they're not not updating android 3.x devices, they're not updating devices they sold starting in July 2013. I think if the phone company feels you still owe them for the phone you're using it's not unfair for the customer to feel that they're due updates to that phone. Two years should be the absolute minimum time people expect to receive updates.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Yep I got hit by this bug. And drive by downloads which patch the phone's OS are not fun. Virus scanners can't pick up the software they install.
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I call BS. The drive by can only download. Not install without your permission. If you were truly infected then it was your fault. Not to mention you would also have to have enabled apps to be installed from Unknown Sources. A setting that much of that "vulnerable" 60% doesn't even know exists.

The patch for this is Android 4.4. Time for the carriers and OEM's to get off their ass and actually support their devices.

That said I expect Google to patch this at this point for 4.1/4.2/4.3 simply because of the backlash they're getting. They could surprise me and not but I bet they roll over instead of making a huge spectacle of OEMs and Carriers not giving a shit. Sad thing is even if they patch it it won't matter. OEMs and carriers won't push the patch to begin with.
 
-Dragon- said:
People keep saying "older phones"... we're not talking 4 year old devices, we're talking devices still on contract, still being paid off, they're not not updating android 3.x devices, they're not updating devices they sold starting in July 2013.
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The device makers understood the terms of using Android, and what happens when they choose not to update versions. It's extremely poor customer service and value for users when a maker doesn't patch or update the OS when it's possible, but that's not primarily a problem coming from Google. The device makers know they would have to take code from AOSP to address these kinds of issues and now it's a matter of waiting for suitable patch(es) to be approved. After that it's up the the device makers and carriers, just like any other phone OS.

tl;dr This process is working how device makers knew these kinds of problems would be handled. Google doesn't directly patch the OS. Chill.
 
*Google doesn't directly patch the OS already installed on devices (besides development units).

/pedantic because Internet.
 
pxc said:
tl;dr This process is working how device makers knew these kinds of problems would be handled. Google doesn't directly patch the OS. Chill.
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Obviously, it's the device makers fault for using Android in the first place. Hopefully they learned that lesson and choose to support something different in the future.
 
This is hilarious. This forum would absolutely shit on Apple if the roles were reversed. Go read some threads when the iPad 1 didn't get iOS 4 (or something).

Instead there is nothing but excuse making.
 
Maybe phones could come with a software guarantee stating they will provide security updates for x amount of time. And not fall behind AOSP by x versions.
 
tazeat said:
Maybe phones could come with a software guarantee stating they will provide security updates for x amount of time. And not fall behind AOSP by x versions.
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pfffftttt, and you actually expect the general"non tech" savvy public to read, let alone understand something like that? :rolleyes: Dream on....
 
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