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posted by martyb on Monday August 31 2015, @07:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-about-time dept.

A pretty nice addition to [the third developer preview of the OS formerly known as Android M] is granular control over the permissions [which] each and every app requires upon installing it, giving Android users "meaningful choice of control". Just like in iOS, apps in Android 6.0 Marshmallow will only [allow] you to grant them a certain permission immediately before the app needs it and not in bulk during the installation, [as was the case] in previous Android installments.

[...] Android 6.0 Marshmallow officially introduces API Level 23, which is one of the requirements to have app permissions that can be granted on demand. All Android apps need to be updated [by their developers] so that they support the brand new API0 Level 23 libraries in order to introduce the individual granular app permissions.

SiliconANGLE notes that 6.0 is also getting native fingerprint support, a new power-saving mode, and Android Pay.
They also note

Hardly anyone with an existing Android phone will ever get to use [6.0].

[...] Android-powered devices rely on the manufacturer to update the operating system and the reality is that it rarely happens.

To put it more crudely, the Android update process is f**ked.

[...] [As Android remains open source and free to use,] Google can't force manufacturers to come to the party in terms of upgrades [any] more than it can force manufacturers to stop skinning their Android installs with their own custom user interfaces and software.

Release of Android 6.0 is expected in 2015Q4.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by axsdenied on Monday August 31 2015, @09:53AM

    by axsdenied (384) on Monday August 31 2015, @09:53AM (#230071)

    Get real, everybody has bugs. Some take longer to fix...
    For example Apple took 3 years to fix the FinFisher trojan. I am not sure if even Micro$oft was that bad in the early days of Windows.

    And to correct you, google did release updates for its current nexus lineup (on 5th August the updates were being pushed to Nexus 5 and Nexus 6, the Galaxy S5, S6, S6 Edge, and Note Edge, the HTC One M7, One M8, One M9; LG Electronics G2, G3, G4; Sony Xperia Z2, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z4, Xperia Z3 Compact; and the Android One).
    A further patches also have been released... so much for rushing things.

    And to quote ARS:
    "Nexus devices will receive regular monthly security updates. The updates will roll out for the Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7, Nexus 9, Nexus 10, and Nexus Player and include fixes for the libStageFright issues. Samsung reportedly introduced a revamped update process for many of the Android phones it sells."

    Having a walled garden and full control certainly helps. But it is not google's problem that carriers don't give a crap about you and want you to get a new phone if you want updates.
    And if you know what you are doing you will be running CM or something else that has already been patched for Stagefright as soon as google released the patches.

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  • (Score: 2, Troll) by BasilBrush on Monday August 31 2015, @11:05AM

    by BasilBrush (3994) on Monday August 31 2015, @11:05AM (#230093)

    Get real, everybody has bugs. Some take longer to fix...
    For example Apple took 3 years to fix the FinFisher trojan.

    Pretty stupid to compare a phone OS with a desktop OS. The fact that you didn't compare Android with iOS is pretty revealing - and not in a good way for Android.

    Do you work for Google?

    --
    Hurrah! Quoting works now!
    • (Score: 0, Troll) by axsdenied on Monday August 31 2015, @12:56PM

      by axsdenied (384) on Monday August 31 2015, @12:56PM (#230128)

      Working for google? Wow, we are getting personal now.

      I know I should not feed the trolls but, for the record, I do not work for google. I have an android phone and an iPad. No interest to defend anybody but, while I agree with some of the stuff you said, some of it is just rubbish.

      Pretty stupid to compare a phone OS with a desktop OS.

      So you say that it is reasonable to fix a bug in desktop OS in 3 years but not in phone OS? WOW!!!

      The example of 3 years was the most extreme example I know of. How about an IOS example:
      "fixes an issue that prevented GPS accessories from providing location data"
      That took "only" 3 months to fix (IOS 8.3 -> IOS 8.4).

      Enough said.