Nexus 6P owner
Patch arrived this morning.
Android's revealed 58 patches, but good luck getting your paws on them: as ever, owners of Nexus devices may already have the February update but OEM customers have to wait. The 58 patches in android's February 6 Android Security Bulletin includes more mopping up of the Stagefright vulnerability that first reared its head in …
Or have sales been so bad that like many Google products and services launched with a wave of publicity that are later quietly axed when sales/users don't meet their loft internal targets?
We deserve to be told the fate of this latest iPhone killer device.
If there are no patches then it seems that it is destined to go the way of the Kin and Zune, oblivion.
Perhaps Google's development and implementation of Android has been so amateurish it seems it is done on purpose.
If you cared to look at Google's "2017-02-05 security patch level - Vulnerability summary" you'd see that almost all of the bugs found were either in drivers coming from hardware manufacturers or in the kernel. None of the drivers was developed by Google, the kernel only amended by Google.
"My Moto G4 ( expected to get Android 7 in Q4 2016 I believe ) has a patch level of July 2016."
I feel your pain. Last unofficial word, is that it got pushed from mid-Dec, to mid-Jan, to Febs-whenever, and now out to March-whatevs. Really getting annoyed by the repeated slips and no security updates either in the meantime. Prior generations of Moto G series got updated pretty quickly.
To keep them relevant, I had to update both my original Nexus7 and Nexus7 2013 to the current LineageOS 14.1 version since Google EoS'd them ages ago, but at least I have Android 7.1.2 now. Installing 3rd party firmware isn't for everyone though.
(I'm not sure why I still hold onto my original Nexus7 since I replaced it a couple of years ago. Well, actually I do know, I'm a hardware hoarder, but am seeking treatment for it. :) )
Consumers should not buy any gadget with complex firmware unless the manufacturer commit to deliver monthly security and bug-fixes throughout the products expected lifetime. Now there are stacks of products that are abandoned by their manufacturer within a year of its RTM, and that is simply unacceptable. Consumers should vote with their money and avoid certain products, but unfortunately there is nobody informing consumers about what they reasonably should expect. Media has become a one-sided mouthpiece for manufactures and re-sellers, praising every new gizmo that hits the market. Instead they should warn consumers to stay away from the vast majority of these products. That may force the manufactures to change their practises.