Everyone seems to have their own reason for the slow updates for the G930U and I'd like to chime in with mine. This is 100% speculation and I have no proof to back it up, so take it as such. In theory, the G930U should be updated faster as they have already had the OS updates compiled for the device and sent to the carriers for their individual updates. The carriers add all their bloat and remove features from the Samsung Vanilla update. The carriers have to do all their modifying before they release it, which can be time consuming. Since the OS is already complete before the carriers receive it for modifying, why does the Vanilla variant(G930U) take so long???
I believe firmware is the cause for the delays. The G930V firmware is designed to work great on Verizon, and Verizon doesn't care if it works well on T-Mobile, AT&T, or anyone else. The G930T is optimized for T-Mobile, and they don't care if it works well on Verizon or any others. However, the G930U is programmed to work on "ALL" carriers, so firmware has to work well across multiple carriers. I believe the delays in updates are from Samsung working out as many bugs across all the major carriers before releasing it.
I've come to this conclusion from being on U-firmware PEH, then PG9, and most recently PL2. I am on Verizon service and every update works much better than the last. I have heard the same thing from users on AT&T and T-Mobile. This could realistically be a cause for the slow updates, as they have to optimize the firmware to work across many services, whereas the carrier-specific variants are optimized to work on that one specific carrier.
Maybe I'm just being naive. Does anyone else see this as a viable reason for slower updates for the Vanilla device?
you have very good points and i think it could be, but what about the SM-G930F for example, this device is the international variant and is updated frequently across countries and carriers that use the same exact device. How can samsung update that device almost every month but the US unlocked one can only be updated quarterly? My speculation is that since the US had never had an unlocked samsung device, the US carriers didn't really like the idea of samsung selling an open device in their territory and so maybe they only way they would allow it was if samsung committed itself to quarterly updates for the unlocked S8 in the US. As you, i am also speculating but given the way US carriers work i don't think i may be wrong. i do know the carriers may want that the Unlocked version is optimized but i don't think that process takes months to do.
The 930F uses the Exynos processor, correct? If so, I'd suspect they have a lot more hurdles to jump on the G930U firmware with Qualcomm as another important party. The Exynos processor is made in house, so they don't need outside assistance.
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I'm trying to decide between Sprint's version of the Galaxy S2 and the HTC Evo 3D. The one big knock on the Galaxy S2 I keep hearing is Samsung's lack of support and updates when compared to HTC.
Is this something that has really been problematic for Samsung phones in the past and will it be a huge problem for this phone?
A carrier branded phone is subject to their scheduling for updates. The U.S. carriers typically mandate substantial changes to the hardware and software that add additional layers in the updating and testing process. Samsung's been really good so far in updating the non-carrier version of the SGS2. The UK version got its fourth update in two months yesterday. It'll all come down to Sprint in the long run and I don't see there being a big difference between Samsung and HTC in terms of making updates available to Sprint. At least the SGS2 has an unlocked bootloader making dev support easier.
Samsung Galaxy S2 you can flash latest firmware via ODIN, no root required
As you may know, whenever Apple releases an iOS update, all the iPhone around the world get the same update at the same time. There is no need to go through individual carriers. How come Samsung releases ICS to different countries at different time? Also, why the Samsung in each country makes some modifications and release their own version to their local customers?
Apple releases it at the same time cause its the same hardware. Every single note from a different carrier doesn't have the exact same hardware.
ah was about to ask the same question, but Tjsherod could have answered this, good point
Thanks. Why Samsung does not centralize and perhaps also make the same hardware for different carriers? It may be easier to manage that way. An unlocked iPhone works in different countries regardless of which carrier to use.
Because samsung had to use chips not made by them to be able to sell at the us for compatability of Lte. Since in Europe they make everything themselves its a better option. That's why there's different versions. They do it for a reason. Not just because.
seriously.. you'd think that after you pay full price for an unbranded S7 Edge from Samsung you'd get 'access' to Nougat before more carriers since hey, it's already almost vanilla android and has no carrier bloatware? nope.. zero timeline for us.. here's my latest twitter chain w/SamsungUS Support.. it's almost comical.
https://twitter.com/jimmyselix/status/830191588307501056
can others perhaps chime in on twitter to get the point across?
Samsung doesn't care because they prioritize their new flagships
true.. but i will wear them down..
Back when droid was still a fledgling OS trying to compete fiercely against a few other competitors, the issue of Android updates and their delay came up very frequently as an argument against the OS. The basic bone to pick was that Android updates would rarely be rolled out to devices in a timely fashion. The problem gets even worse when you add in carriers to the picture, as most of the big telecoms insist on every update passing through them.
So the process that already took months added on more time delay, with the end result that updates would already be outdated by the time they reached the end user. The Android update situation has slightly improved in a few regards. For one, OEM flagships do get increased attention and accelerated update timelines nowadays, as OEMs try to retain their competitive edge for a few months after the device has launched.
Further, with the introduction of Android security patches as a separate update cycle distinct from the Android OS update, OEMs can incorporate patches and fixes for security vulnerabilities without needing to update the OS for the most part. This gives them more flexibility on how they can incorporate updates as they need not wait for an OS update to be ready just to push forth security patches. With security becoming a recent focus point (not to mention a pressing issue), a dual-pronged approach has worked out very well in favor of Google and BlackBerry doing their best in pushing out regular and timely security updates to supported devices.
Samsung has been doing a good job too, for the most part. Samsung’s Mobile Security Blog is updated periodically to display the latest information such as the Security Patch Bulletin for every month, in addition to the supported devices as well as information on Samsung-specific patches too. The effort is commendable and sets a good standard for the rest of the smartphone industry to follow.
However, what does not set a good standard is Samsung’s partiality against unlocked flagship devices in the USA.
Internationally and generally speaking, all unlocked variants of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge receive regular security updates. Experiences vary with some regions and users getting updates a week or two later than others, but on a general level, most flagships devices from Samsung are on a recent Security Patch.
But in the USA, if you purchased the carrier unlocked phones in the form of the S7 G930U model or S7 Edge G935U model, security updates on your device will come long after carrier variants receive theirs. This time delay extends on to months, as it has come to light that Samsung follows a quarterly update cycle for unlocked Galaxy devices. Users are reporting that the security patch level on unlocked devices is as old as September 2016. In contrast, some US carriers have already pushed the December 2016 carrier update and are in the process of rolling out January 2017 security patches.
To make things worse, the unlocked variants were also left out of the Nougat Beta test.
A primary reason on why the update cycles between the USA variants and the International variants of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge differ is simply because of difference in internal hardware. The International S7 and S7 Edge utilize the Exynos 8890 Octa SoC, while the USA variants of the same make use of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC which has support for CDMA technology that US carriers continue to use. This creates a crucial difference between the two variants, and does not allow for easy comparison of update cycles.
On the other hand, there are no internal hardware differences between the carrier variants in the USA and the unlocked variants in the USA. So their update cycles are comparable due to similarity in hardware. Carrier variants would be expected to be updated slower because of the added middleman who needs to approve the update (i.e. add their own bloatware). But as mentioned, the scenario is quite the opposite!
It is unclear why exactly Samsung chooses to push security updates slower than carrier variants, while adopting a quarterly update cycle for unlocked variants elsewhere. One explanation could be carrier pressure or a collaboration arrangement, whereby Samsung promises to provide quicker updates at the insistence of the carrier. The other line of reasoning could be the low number of unlocked devices in the USA, which predominantly sees contract-based sales of smartphones across OEMs.
Either way, the end result is the same — users who purchased the phone at full retail are at a disadvantage against users who opted for a carrier-based contract. While unlocked users can enjoy their carrier-bloat free experience, they do so while staying on older Android versions and security patches.
With the upcoming Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, we hope Samsung clarifies on its security update policy. While they won’t give us our security update, they certainly can not take away our hope.
still fighting the good fight on twitter... anyone else got the S7 Edge update for the USA SM-G935U models? OTA so far has nothing. i'm done w/samsung unlocked phones; your better off going w/a factory branded one sadly... i plan to move back to either sony or apple depending on iphone announcements (however i will be holding onto s7 edge; it is an amazing phone overal still w/microsdxc and waterproofing and headphone jack).
so.. i think it's working.. finally are going to try to get monthly security updates to unlocked models of S7.. feel free to join the fight.. i will not linger!!
http://wccftech.com/samsung-monthly-security-updates-nougat-unlocked-galaxy-s7/
you rock! and get it!
Desterbance said:
Back when droid was still a fledgling OS trying to compete fiercely against a few other competitors, the issue of Android updates and their delay came up very frequently as an argument against the OS. The basic bone to pick was that Android updates would rarely be rolled out to devices in a timely fashion. The problem gets even worse when you add in carriers to the picture, as most of the big telecoms insist on every update passing through them......
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thank you!! i also do not see how the hell they can't release a proper unlocked nougat rom? what do they give say ATT? give us that and we can make it what it needs to be on our own. god i miss the modaco rom ovens they had for paid members; my nexus one rocked some seriously awesome custom backed stock roms
at this rate i think is better to stay on canadian xac and have faster updates
unitz0mbie said:
at this rate i think is better to stay on canadian xac and have faster updates
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Samsung is always slow to put out updates. Carriers do it much faster.
Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk
Thor2j said:
Samsung is always slow to put out updates. Carriers do it much faster.
Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk
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Umm all updates come from samsung, carriers simply give the go ahead to release the update, everything is still downloaded from samsungs servers. So no att isn't hosting or sending you an update at all.
Samsung never seemed to pay much attention to the unlocked us phones before and it seems to be continuing now, canadian phones have been getting monthly updates since day one, although the monthly updates are a month behind google.
peachpuff said:
Umm all updates come from samsung, carriers simply give the go ahead to release the update, everything is still downloaded from samsungs servers. So no att isn't hosting or sending you an update at all.
Samsung never seemed to pay much attention to the unlocked us phones before and it seems to be continuing now, canadian phones have been getting monthly updates since day one, although the monthly updates are a month behind google.
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so you would stay on canadian?
peachpuff said:
Umm all updates come from samsung, carriers simply give the go ahead to release the update, everything is still downloaded from samsungs servers. So no att isn't hosting or sending you an update at all.
Samsung never seemed to pay much attention to the unlocked us phones before and it seems to be continuing now, canadian phones have been getting monthly updates since day one, although the monthly updates are a month behind google.
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As I said, Samsung is slow to put updates to their phones.
Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk
unitz0mbie said:
so you would stay on canadian?
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Pretty much.
Thor2j said:
As I said, Samsung is slow to put updates to their phones.
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Right, but then the second part that you said about carriers doing it quicker didn't make any sense.
peachpuff said:
Pretty much.
Right, but then the second part that you said about carriers doing it quicker didn't make any sense.
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Carries put out the updates WAY faster, Samsung provides update to carriers, they tweak it and put it out. Takes Samsung forever. Everything I said was true, makes perfect sense.
Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk
I have seen this lately with S8: For example T-Mobile USA, provides updates to fixes and some features about a week or so faster, but a 1 month behind on the security patch, than unlocked version. Then unlocked version a week or so later, gets next security patch and other fixes that T-Mobile released a little earlier. I also believe that if unlocked version is a little late, but it make contain a little more fixes/changes. It would be important to note when/if carriers will be faster on releasing new OS update, such as 7.1.1 or Android 8, which ever comes first for Samsung phone.
Thor2j said:
Carries put out the updates WAY faster, Samsung provides update to carriers, they tweak it and put it out.
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No they don't, all the updates are hosted on samsung's servers, carriers don't push anything to your phone. Carriers don't do any tweaks, samsung does/builds everything for them based on their needs, carriers obviously test the build and some do it faster than others like tmobile but that's it. Reason the unlocked phones get updates late is because they're not a priority, they don't have a contract with a carrier to release updates so they take their time.
Do you really think samsungs allows carriers around the world to manually tweak its software? Carriers simply validate the firmware to make sure features like volte/wifi calling works fine, that's it.
You can download every carrier's firmware with that samfirm software, guess where it connects to? Samsung's servers.
peachpuff said:
No they don't, all the updates are hosted on samsung's servers, carriers don't push anything to your phone. Carriers don't do any tweaks, samsung does/builds everything for them based on their needs, carriers obviously test the build and some do it faster than others like tmobile but that's it. Reason the unlocked phones get updates late is because they're not a priority, they don't have a contract with a carrier to release updates so they take their time.
Do you really think samsungs allows carriers around the world to manually tweak its software? Carriers simply validate the firmware to make sure features like volte/wifi calling works fine, that's it.
You can download every carrier's firmware with that samfirm software, guess where it connects to? Samsung's servers.
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U don't listen so I give up.
Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk
I'd like to understand better how OTA udpates are distributed.
The specific model I'm interested in is TA-1045, as sold by Best Buy (unlocked) in the US (TA-1045 BLACK SKU:6219312), but the principle applies more broadly.
My intention is to buy the phone and later use it in Europe with some European carriers (I do not care about 4G frequencies, but do care about security updates very much).
It seems that OTA updates have to be approved by the carrier, even for unlocked phones, and there's the risk that a given firmware/model will never be approved by a given carrier, so my question:
what are the relevant data needed to determine whether a given model of Nokia 6.1 will receive timely OTAs with a given carrier (perhaps a carrier located in a country it was not originally marketed for)?
(A small unrelated rant is that this situation, with me even asking this question, is abysmal and embarassing for whoever is responsible for the process, either the carriers or the manufacturer, etc.)
Many thanks in advance.
It's trial and error. You won't get a definitive answer on your question. Some carriers approve updates only for models marketed in their region while others approve for all (I guess that depends on specific country regulations). You can take your US sim in Europe and use it for checking for updates, just download them over WiFi.