It's the first week of December, so let's check-in and see what shape Android is in today.
There's good and bad news for Google with this month's Android distribution numbers. That's expected, though, every time we take a look at which versions of Android are rising and falling.
These are the percentage point changes:
- Nougat: +0.1%
- Marshmallow: +2.3%
- Lollipop: -0.1%
- KitKat: -1.2%
- Jelly Bean: -0.9%
- Ice Cream Sandwich: -0.1%
- Gingerbread: -0.1%
- Froyo: 0%
We'll start by covering Nougat, which launched publicly in October. Now, two months after being released, it stands at 0.4%. It's an extremely small number, but keep in mind that the Pixel and a handful of non-Google devices (like the LG V20) are alone in running Nougat. Much of the world is still waiting on the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge to receive the software update; therefore, it'll take a bit more time to see Nougat rise meaningfully.
The bright spot in front of Nougat's sluggish movement is the downfall of aging versions of Android. Lollipop, KitKat, Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich, Gingerbread, and Froyo fell across the board. Nougat and Marshmallow, the 2016 and 2015 versions, are the lone two to experience growth in December. This means people are either abandoning Android, which is doubtful, or they're upgrading to newer devices. The latter is likely considering Jelly Bean came out over three years ago and Google is starting to end support for the dust-collecting versions.
Now that a number of companies are working with Nougat and have plans to roll it out in the coming weeks, Google should experience stronger growth in early 2017 for the flagship version of its mobile operating system.
Source: Android Developers
Recalling last year, the numbers have increased more for marshmallow, however, I’m surprised to see how many are still on Kitkat and not surprised at lollipop being where it is.
It shows that most don’t go rushing out for the latest handset, and keep hold and look after the device they have because it can become expensive, especially if you like to purchase the top end devices.
This is why we need to see an increase of the 18 months of support. Google did increase it with the Pixel to 2 years (followed by minor patches for 2 additional years). But it’s far from Apple’s 4 years of support.
Funny enough I just purchased a Google pixel c tablet as it was on offer at £100 reduction in price, as well as the keyboard.
It shipped with 6.0 Marshmallow and it immediately updated to
7.1.1 Nougat, I wouldn’t have bought at the RRP, however, the quality and after care also the move they made for 2 years support for updates (As you mentioned) is very reasonable.
It is unfair I feel that they do it this way, but does make sense from their point of view to increase their aftercare to increase sales. However they have failed to excite the public to buy, and wondered if this was a response to their low sales, or if they do this every year anyway.
If your interested, the sale is on till 9th December for £379 from £479 for the tablet, and the accompanying keyboard for £69 from £119 plus other deals.
Also there are a multitude of accessories for it, I picked up a very decent looking and quality tablet folder for £6.99 and quality tablet 9H scratch resistant screen protector for £8.99, both of Amazon and came quickly, the shipping of Google by DHL was free with the offer and you can follow it’s progress to your home very easily coming from Ireland (I live in UK, no import fee’s).
For all that for under £400.00 is very good value, and you can expect the next update for the next platform update I would assume, even with the keyboard if you required it is still good value compared to some other’s on the market.
Please excuse me if I sound like a sales man with the hard sell, I just wanted to pass on to you a great deal before it soon ends, it’s on the Googleplay store and end’s soon.
The tablet is absolutely soild made solely from aluminium, and feels substantial and quality when held in the hand, the screen is very responsive and clear at 2K and is also the 64GB version sold, not the cheaper 32GB you can also get. Unfortunately their is no SD expansion but I also rent Google Drive for uploading films I can’t fit on my tablet, a 100GB for £1.57 a month. The device runs very fast with a 820 Qualcomm processer and the external speaker is the loudest I’ve heard, I apologise if you wasn’t in the market for one, however, if your interested you can’t go wrong and I wanted to rant on about my new toy it’s that good!
Happy New Year!
If I would ship it abroad, the sale wouldn’t be worth it. I’m not interested in a tablet anyway. But the deal is until 9th January, I’d assume.
This was the very first Google phone, well have to wait some iterations before we can determine how well it sales. – Some people are disappointed that Google don’t offer 4 years of OS updates like Apple, so that’s some people who’s probably not buying it.
I don’t like the terms 2K or 4K, because those are stupid. Resolutions are measured in height: 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080p … then suddenly 4K.
4K stands for that it has 4000 pixels in width; but it only has 3840 pixels. – 2K should therefore be half of that, which is 1920. This is 1080p. But 2K isn’t 1080p, it’s instead 2560×1440. It’s just random and illogical. Can’t we just say 2160p (for 4K) and 1440p (for 2K)?
I would guess that they use the terms 2K and 4K, because they are just more easily recalled, and they sound more sexy in the advertising jargon, but I understand what you are explaining.
I have the Sony premium phone which has the highest pixel rate at 803 psi, however, I didn’t purchase it because of that, just as well really because you cannot really tell the difference much atall being honest at even double that of the pixel, I think it gets to a point anyhow that the eye can’t pick up any difference.
I’ll continue to use “2160p (4K)” and “1440p (2K)” and see if people catch on.
The issue is that people like Angry Video Game Nerd (very prominent in gaming) doesn’t know what 4K is, and he and his friend thought that 2160p was half the resolution of 4K.
We have always counted the height, and we should continue. This is the issue why.
1080p on 5″ is fine, 720p is too low for such closer screen. 1080p or 1440p on 6″, I don’t know which would be better. Too many pixels does drain on the battery somewhat.
Is Angry video Nerd, the guy of youtube? I can see how he made that mistake he did, a lot do I’ve found.
Also, for anything less than a 40 inch TV these hi-res panels are a waste, as you don’t really get the benefit of it.
Depends on how close you sit.
I can see the pixels on my 24″ 1080p computer monitor. Having 2160p would make everything look extra nice.