Sony knows you want Android Pie, and it’s working on it. It promises to get it to you by November, so long as you own an Xperia XZ2, XZ2 Premium, XZ2 Compact, Xperia XZ Premium, XZ1, or XZ1 Compact. To tide you over before the update actually reaches your phone and you see all your upgraded friends enjoying it, Sony has published an infographic to teach you about phone updates.
It’s not Sony’s fault that updates are slow; blame it on the machine that is a new Android OS rollout. You see, Sony has to optimize the OS for its hardware; add its own personal touches; test it internally; test it externally; make sure it meets certain standards; and ensure the devices actually work with carriers. It’s a tough job being a phone maker, I guess.
This infographic isn’t inaccurate, to be clear. A lot of work goes into updating a phone, but Android device makers have notoriously been terrible about keeping phones current. I appreciate Sony’s effort to explain the process, but ultimately, it doesn’t excuse the company from failing to deliver timely updates or ignoring all but its most recent, high-end devices.
Here’s the graphic if you want to educate yourself on Sony’s plight:
Sony notes that XA2, XA2 Ultra, and XA2 Plus owners will also see the update, but not until 2019. If you’re already done digesting that infographic, feel free to check out our Android Pie review to see what you’re currently missing.
Update August 30 5:45PM ET: This article was originally published on August 17, 2018 and has been updated to include video.
Comments
Step 1: It’s Android.
Step 2: There is no step 2.
By dyslexictom on 08.17.18 3:03pm
nonsense just get a pixel
By NyashaMushambi on 08.17.18 3:19pm
pretty much, here are the steps on pixel phones :
step 1 : install updates
By Robot-Hotdog on 08.17.18 3:46pm
step 2: connect fast-charger and realize it doesn’t fast-charge anymore
By greg2k on 08.18.18 5:22pm
Android: Where Timely Updates are Compromises to Choice
By dyslexictom on 08.17.18 4:04pm
And lose a headphone jack and get a notch? Lol, no.
By Tratia895 on 08.17.18 6:41pm
Android, the freedom platform. Haha
By Mconheady on 08.17.18 9:54pm
"nonsense just get a pixel"
Exactly. Or an Essential or a Nokia.
So people who value timely updates above all already have choices. The rest of us actually prefer some differentiation, even if that comes at the cost of delayed updates. Especially once you realise that Android updates are mostly just curating the innovations already flying on manufacturer skins years earlier.
By merlotisred on 08.18.18 8:07am
Essential isn’t an option at this point given it’s a year old phone with a meh camera and questionable future support. Nokia… well, it’s not the ‘good’ Nokia.
By Aleph Ruehl on 08.18.18 1:46pm
Maybe spend less time on making pretty infographics and more time working on pushing out updates…. Essential has shown it can be done……Android Pie on my PH-1 just hours after Google released it and it’s running just fine
By FilthPig on 08.17.18 3:05pm
Yeah, I’m sure the folks tasked with developing this infographic are exactly the same folks who would be working on developing and publishing software updates.
By silellak on 08.17.18 3:09pm
"It’s just a button you push."
By dyslexictom on 08.17.18 4:04pm
No but the people who are writing the checks for the developers are the same people who are writing the checks for the folks who created this infographic
By MA2756AM on 08.17.18 4:32pm
Yeah, you’re right! The people writing checks should be writing code instead!
By websnap on 08.17.18 5:11pm
As much as I agree with you on that manufacturers should really be doing a lot better, comparing Sony to Essential is a bit of a false equivalency.
By Keesmcqueen on 08.17.18 3:14pm
Essential pushing Pie so quickly after official release really pokes holes in this infographic and the excuses many other companies give.
By BlueLemon on 08.17.18 3:15pm
Essential runs stock android. That is a bad comparison.
By DougB541 on 08.17.18 3:25pm
Maybe other manufacturers should stop using bloated crap?
By tempvergeuserheh on 08.17.18 3:58pm
Amen! More stock Android and less BLOATdriod.
By BlueLemon on 08.17.18 5:48pm
Yep, s pen by Samsung is a bloat.
So that pixel could have extra features and all other are stuck with what google provides to them, the basic barebone android.
By Gareck on 08.18.18 11:16am
Why have other manufacturers at all then if it’s all the same? That’s their point.
By BulletTooth_Tony on 08.17.18 6:09pm
same software doesn’t need same hardware
By niko_217 on 08.18.18 9:31am
Where it matters, it is all the same hardware… so software is the differentiating piece. Unless the FTC and Apple win their court case against Qualcomm, it will remain that way.
By BulletTooth_Tony on 08.18.18 1:11pm
software is, but doesn’t have to be the differentiating piece. that’s the whole point. display types, sizes and quality, notch or no notch, jack or no jack, camera mpix, brightness, sensor size… all these things should be the differentiators, not whether or not it comes with one or three e-mail clients. if they all had the same software they’d have to compete on other things. which they can and do now as well
By niko_217 on 08.18.18 7:20pm
Of all the things you mentioned, none would make a phone different other than a camera. Everyone has the same screen, colors preset slightly differently – immaterial. A notch is the very definition of an immaterial difference and manufactured controversy.
This is why software matters when everything else is made by Qualcomm due to their monopoly abuses. A Samsung wouldn’t ship the thing with their different software and more than 1 app per task if Google didn’t make them include their inferior apps.
By BulletTooth_Tony on 08.19.18 7:57am