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Your old Android phone is getting better about keeping you safe from barely-used apps
'Those permissions granted to you? Yeah, we're gonna need them back...'
Google is alerting app developers to some big coding changes ahead of the planned expansion of Android's permission auto-reset policy. This means more users will have permissions they've granted to apps automatically revoked starting in December. Here's what you need to know as a consumer.
Twitter finally gets around to patching Android app security hole... 22 months later
An attempt to show it cares about security
Twitter has patched its app from a vulnerability within Android that could let a malicious app siphon users' private date — including their direct messages — while bypassing system permissions. Every Twitter for Android user was notified about the security hole which affects users on versions 8 Oreo and 9 Pie.
Until recently, the words "Samsung" and "timely updates" were never uttered in the same sentence, unless you were emphasizing the contradiction between them. The Korean behemoth had a reliable, albeit very leisurely update schedule, pushing Android users who valued prompt access to security patches and new features away. With Android 10, things changed drastically, and Samsung has been impressing us more and more, with both major OTA rollouts and monthly security patches. Whether it's due to a different strategy, new team or leadership, Android's Project Treble, or some magical potion, Samsung is quickly becoming the OEM to beat for Android updates and we can't help but applaud its recent efforts.
Nokia's been talking about giving the 2017 Nokia 2 Android 8.1 Oreo since 2017, with the first beta landing all the way back in June of last year. Today it has been officially released, though there is a catch. You see, the Nokia 2 on Android Oreo suffers a few performance problems, even with a few Android Go optimizations pulled in for it. The Nokia 2 has a mere 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, and a Snapdragon 212 to power it. Together, that's not really enough oomph for Oreo, so Nokia's making this update optional.
Google is continuing to push Android developers to use the latest API features. Last November, all applications submitted to the store were required to target Android 8.0 Oreo or higher — meaning they would have to support runtime permissions and other breaking API changes. As expected, Google is now stepping up the requirements.
[Update: New G6 Play release] Motorola releases Oreo kernel source code for Moto G6 Play and E5 Play
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- Motorola has released another kernel package for 'jeter,' the Moto G6 Play. This one doesn't have a carrier name attached, so it's probably more general-purpose.
Back in April, Motorola introduced six - yes, six - smartphones simultaneously. Three belonged to the Moto G6 line, and the other three were in the Moto E5 family. The company has now published the Oreo source codes for the Moto G6 Play and E5 Play.
Sony is one of the best OEMs around when it comes to updating its smartphones in a timely fashion, but the company's smart TVs are another story. Even though Android 9 Pie was released five months ago, and Android Q is on the horizon, Sony is just now rolling out Oreo to some of its smart TVs.
Porting an operating system to a completely different architecture is a lot of work. As such, it's not surprising that the Android x86 project ― which aims to get Android running on traditional Intel/AMD x86 computers ― usually lags quite a bit behind mainline releases. The team released its first Oreo build last year, and now a stable version is available.
Unexpected device updates give us Android geeks warm fuzzies, and candidates for updates don't get much less expected than budget tablets — but here we are. We've received several reports that Samsung's Galaxy Tab A, released in the spring of 2016, is being updated to Android 8.1 Oreo.
Buckle up, Asus lovers and users, the ZenFone series is starting to get its Android 8.1 update and the first lucky device is the ZenFone 3 Max (ZC553KL). The two-year-old phone had already received Nougat 7.0 a year ago and an update to Zen UI 4.0 last December, but Oreo 8.1 is certainly a nicer milestone to cross and a sign of Asus' commitment to updating most of its product line.
Back in April, one of Jordan's complaints about the Asus ZenFone Max Plus M1 was that it shipped with Android 7.0 Nougat. Seven months later, Asus is rectifying that (sort of) with an update to 8.1 Oreo. It's a little frustrating that manufacturers aren't skipping right to Android 9 Pie, but Oreo has a lot of what's good about Pie, and late updates are better than no updates.
Google rolls out new security features in every version of Android, but some changes only apply for apps that target newer API levels. Thus, Google announced late last year it was cracking down on apps built for older versions of Android. Today is the big day—developers can no longer upload anything to the Play Store without targeting at least API level 26 (Oreo 8.0).
Google's official Android distribution numbers give us an insight into which OS versions are still being used, and serve as a visual representation of the platform's fragmentation. The stats have just been updated again for October, and Android 9 Pie is still nowhere to be seen.
Last year's Moto Z2 Play was a fine device, considering its relatively low price tag at launch. And now, the Verizon variant is finally getting out of Nougat territory with an update to Android 8.0, bringing with it all the Oreo goodness we've come to expect.
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- The ZenFone 4 Max Lite (ZC520KL) is also getting the update to Oreo 8.1 with Zen UI 5.0. Asus says it will take about one week for the OTA to reach all devices.
We're currently on the fifth generation of ASUS ZenFone devices, but that doesn't mean that previous models have been (entirely) forgotten. The ZenFone 4 Max has just begun receiving its update to Android 8.1 Oreo, which also includes ASUS's ZenUI 5.0 skin. This is a few months behind schedule, but at least it's here now.
Android Oreo continues to make its way to lower-end devices. This time, it's the $120 LG K20 on AT&T. The carrier posted a support update that noted Android 8.1 is available for the phone last week. While it's not the latest and greatest, Oreo carries with it some significant upgrades, like picture-in-picture support for certain video sources — and any news is good news for budget phones.
Remember the Moto G5S Plus, the strangely-named almost-flagship that debuted about nine months ago? We haven't heard much about it for a while, but according to Motorola's support page, it's now receiving its Android 8.1 Oreo update. That means that it's skipping 8.0 Oreo, which comes as something of a surprise given Lenovorola's update reputation.
After a beta program with bizarrely strict requirements for entry earlier this year, an update to Android 8.0 Oreo is now available for the ZTE Axon 7 — with more than one catch. The update isn't being pushed over the air, but rather has to be installed from an SD card, and it'll wipe your device.
Asus launched the ZenFone 4 Selfie last year, with the highlight feature being its dual 20MP front-facing cameras. The phone initially shipped with Android 7.1, but just like Asus promised a year ago, it's now receiving an update to Android Oreo.