Updates are one of the main weak points of Android. The early abandonment of their terminals by manufacturers has been a constant that has been tried to be overcome in various ways without much success. There are many reasons behind the fragmentation problem.

There may be laziness or indifference in the face of how unprofitable it is to update devices that are no longer sold in the first place. Second, there may be support and driver issues that make support impossible or very difficult. There may always be exceptions and a mood for change, but today it doesn’t matter too much.

Samsung is already one of those companies that has promised updates for many more years: four, starting with some 2021 models like the Galaxy S21. And again the companyshowed that it can (partially) upgrade much older terminals To fix a problem with GPS.

Remember Galaxy Alpha? Updates. And Galaxy S6 and others too

The company has sent an update that fixes the GPS issue to terminals like the Samsung Galaxy Alpha, Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo, Galaxy S6, S7, S8 and S9, and even some midrange like the 2015 Galaxy J7. Not all were problem terminals with GPS, unlike the original Galaxy S, for example, which was not well positioned due to a physical problem, not a software one.

Seeing the 2014 Samsung Galaxy Alpha update is a milestone. Eight years later, it became a somewhat remembered terminal, but later laid the foundations for the design on which the entire A family and even the Galaxy Note 4 and others were built. It was a somewhat sold mobile for its approach to luxury and really understated standout, so it’s even more surprising to see it updated, because since 2014 Samsung has updated it to a version that was only offered in the same year, Android Lollipop.

Samsung didn’t elaborate on what problem the updates fixed, but they probably caused something irritating enough for them to decide they had to go back eight years.

While it may seem unbelievable, it’s not unprecedented on smartphones. For exactly the same reason, to fix a GPS-related bug, Apple rolled out updates for iOS 9 and iOS 10 in 2019. So owners of iPad 2 and 3, iPad mini and iPhone 4s got iOS 9.3.6 and Fourth generation owners. iPad and iPhone 5, iOS 10.3.4.

The difference in this case is that Apple has been updating for a longer period of time, for example, it’s only been three years since Apple last updated the iPhone 4s. What is shared with Samsung is that in 2019 the iPhone 4s is eight years old.

If it’s been proven for many years that they can upgrade, why don’t they do more?

The brand that has shown it can support a smartphone for many more years is Apple, with seven years on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. iOS 9.3.6 or Android state mentioned above on terminals as old as Galaxy Alpha It might lead us to think that only 6′ Cupertinos manage to give it that much time..

And that would be extremely wrong thinking, because updating a terminal to improve GPS bugs or apply a security patch is great news, but has nothing to do with getting a major update. iOS 9 to iOS 10 or Android 11 to Android 12.

A must-have from a manufacturer like Samsung to switch from one major version to the next. drivers This allows all components to work correctly on a particular version. And it’s not that easy to trust them.

If all the components are yours, you can develop them, but most of your models depend on Qualcomm, for example. Additionally, no matter how well-optimized a terminal is, it’s unlikely that hardware from almost a decade ago could run modern versions of Android or iOS well, considering how the hardware has evolved since then.

What is certain is that after the last time update, there have been many cases where terminals stay forever. insects and problems, without manufacturers offering solutions. This type of update, which ensures that the end of support brings good things rather than slowness, is easily deployed if the manufacturer upgrades it. Y this Samsung case proves it.

via | Galaxy Club, Sammobil