Moto Won't Commit To Monthly Security Patches
Last year's Stagefright fiasco really shook the Android world to the point that it had Google and manufacturers scrambling to set things right. It has led to Google releasing monthly security updates, which some OEMs, like BlackBerry and Samsung, wear like a badge of pride. Not all companies, however, are able to follow suit and some apparently intentionally do so. The latter happens to include Motorola, a.k.a. the new Moto, who has somewhat made it official that it isn't hastily pursuing a monthly cycle for pushing out security updates, particularly for the new Moto Z and Moto G4.
To be clear, Moto will still release security updates, including the ones that come from Google's monthly cycles. What it won't do, however, is make sure that it pushes those updates out in a similar monthly fashion. Those, instead, will be bundled up with other maintenance or OS updates. Moto does, at least, give its word that it will provide those security fixes as quickly as possible, given the amount of testing and certification the updates need to go through.
Moto isn't the only dissenting voice in this matter. Quite early on, HTC also called the monthly update rhythm to be unrealistic. This is the same HTC that, years earlier, strived to educate consumers on the lengthy process that each update goes through from Google to OEM to carrier to user.
On the one hand, Moto's and HTC's position is understandable. The Android ecosystem is layered in such a way that indeed makes pushing out timely updates almost impossible. Google is only able to accomplish that because it pushes those updates directly and bypasses all other players. And while Samsung does issue monthly updates, those don't always arrive on end users' devices in a timely manner either.
In the past, the old Motorola proved itself a good Android community member, putting out updates quickly. But the culture might be changing there already with the changing of ownership. Only time will prove how fast Moto can indeed act to get those updates for the Moto Z and Moto G4 out the door. Hopefully, Google's planned new partitioning scheme could help improve the situation across all of Android land.
VIA: Ars Technica