Category: Android Security Update

While the future of the company may be in question, there is no question that Essential is on top of their game when it comes to updates.  The same day that Google released the July Android Security Update, yesterday, the California company has released their update with the security patches for the Essential Phone.

The new build is OPM1.180104.267 and it is already rolling out to PH-1 owners, bringing the security patch as well as stability improvements for Android Auto.  If you have an Essential Phone, you can manually check for the update in Settings as it should be ready to roll for everyone.

As expected, the July 2018 Android Security Update patches were released this morning by Google.  As a general rule, the Mountain View company releases the monthly updates on the first Monday of the first full week of each month.

This month’s update consists of two patches, one dated July 1, 2018 while the second is dated July 5, 2018.  The first patch consists of 11 patches, 3 of which are considered critical updates.  This July 1st patch is generally aimed at Android as a platform itself while the second patch is more device specific drivers and fixes.

With it being the first Monday of the first full week of June, as expect, the Android team within Google has released this month’s Android Security Update patches.  The full builds along with the OTA builds are now available for those who want to sideload while devices should be getting the update via the System Update settings on their phone later today.

As usual, there are two patches in this month’s update.  The first, date June 1, 2018, consists of 22 total patches, five of which are considered critical.  This patch mostly deals with the base Android platform itself and the patches address things like Media Framework and System level patches.

While the future of Essential is a bit in doubt right now, the company has confirmed their commitment to their first phone, the Essential Phone, for at least 3 years.  The company took to Twitter and clarified that support for the PH-1 will continue with major Android release updates for two years while Android Security Updates will be supported for three years.

Doing the math from the August 2017 release of the PH-1, that means that Android P is likely the last major version of Android for the device while you can expect security patch updates through August 2019.

Good news this morning for readers who have the Samsung Galaxy S8 or one of the Galaxy Note8 phones on T-Mobile.  The May Android Security Update patches for these devices is now rolling out from the carrier.  Samsung isn’t exactly known for getting updates out fast so it is certainly positive that the company has got the May patches ready and T-Mobile is comfortable enough with them to drop them to customers.

For the Galaxy S8, you are looking for firmware G950USQS3CRE2 while for the S8+, you are getting G955USQS3CRE2.  For those of you who have the Galaxy Note8, firmware N950USQU4CRE1 is what you will be getting once the update rolls out to your phone.

Google is taking another step forward when it comes to manufactures and Android security updates.  In a session at Google I/O this week, the company indicated that changes would be coming soon to the OEM agreement for Android, requiring more regular security updates.  While the exact details weren’t laid out in the session nor what is meant by “regular”, it is clear that Google is trying to make sure that manufactures keep devices up to date with the latest security updates.

This also, in a roundabout way, would encourage manufactures to offer the latest versions of Android as the security updates are regular on the new versions.