Android 13 is here and the countdown begins for it to reach your mobile. If we’ve learned anything in 14 years of using Android, it’s that you have to be patient with updates: Google has been promising us faster updates for years it’s not happening, and at the rate we’re going it’s time to accept that it’s going to be like this forever, and nothing happens.
Android is more fragmented than ever, or maybe a little less, and Google has chosen a different path than Apple to keep devices running the operating system: piecemeal updates instead of all-or-nothing from Apple. And it’s not too bad.
Good news! Android 13 is here
We have a new version of Android. It’s called Android 13, its hidden dessert is Tiramisu, it can be downloaded now on Google Pixel 4 or higher and arrives with some improvements over Android 12 more than a great update. The list of novelties is not excessively long but rather small changes here and there.
We have visible changes like Material You themes for more icons or the new media player look, and other changes that go inside in terms of security and privacy, such as the new broken down permissions for photos, audio and documents or the automatic deletion of the clipboard after a certain time.
Android 13 is here and it has a few new features, many under the hood
In the new features there is not much: being able to choose the language of each application separately, news of integration with other devices such as Chromebooks (which are not yet), spatial audio and little else. It’s a bit of an update lightespecially if we compare it with Android 12. Still, of course, we want to have it on mobile, and that’s it.
It will take time to see Android 13 on your mobile
The bad news is that the newspaper library tells us that it will probably take a long time to have android 13 on your mobileUnless you have a Google Pixel or a high-end mobile that is part of the Android 13 beta program and ends up getting the stable version “soon”. Beyond these exceptions, the bulk of Android mobiles will only benefit from number thirteen next year.
Barring a miracle, Android 13 and higher versions will not be majority for a few years
Google gives us distribution data with an eyedropper, but the latest data shows us that Android 12 is only present on 13% of active devices a year after its launch, while Android 13 is already available. Hopefully something similar will happen again with Android 13.
Still optimistic and assuming things are a bit better for Android 13 -and we have no reason to think so- We won’t see Android 13 or higher in droves for a few yearsand this will hardly be noticeable in the Android ecosystem for a simple reason: Google has chosen not to fight fragmentation but to attack it with more fragmentation or, better said, modularity.
And nothing happens or at least not much happens
Android updates are overrated, because Google has been laying the groundwork for some time for them to become less and less relevant. Android is an operating system that varies a lot from mobile to mobile, and it is simply impossible for Google to hit manufacturers with a stick to update their mobiles faster. It’s not as simple as pressing a button and that’s it.
Hay many moving parts in every system update ranging from drivers to layer improvements, testing that everything is working correctly and correctly adopting the new features that have been included with this new release. Google has tried to do its part with Project Treble and similar initiatives to make updates easier, but it’s still a daunting task.
Updating Android is not as easy as pressing a button because every mobile is different and some layers are very different from the AOSP version
If you can’t beat them, join them. The way Google attacked the problem was something special and completely opposite to Apple’s style with iOS. Instead of having an iOS for everyone, Android is different from mobile to mobile, but the way of operating mobiles, safely and more or less up to date has passed modularize the system so that different parts of it can be upgraded separately, without the need to receive a full system update.
Thus, Android mobiles not only receive improvements through system updates -like Apple- but they come to them from an increasing number of fronts. To date, they are:
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Lifetime system updates. Yes, Full Firmware Updates are still the preferred way for important updates, such as a new OS version or OS or Layer fixes and enhancements.
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security updates. These are the monthly updates that include improvements and security fixes. Many phones that don’t get Android updates — or get them very late — get security updates, at least on a quarterly basis.
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Google Play system updates. This is a new invention from Google that is not widely used yet, but allows you to update some critical system components as if it were another application, with the help from Google Play. In practice, this will help us, more and more, to receive new features and fixes without the need for an OTA.
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Google Play Services Updates. Google uses Google Play Services updates a lot. With them, it has been possible for news of recent Android versions to reach previous versions, such as revoking permissions for apps that are not in use.
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App updates. Finally, we cannot forget that on Android all applications, system or not, can receive updates through Google Play. In fact, the vast majority of pre-installed apps on mobile receive updates like this, without the need for a full system update.
In this way, Google is succeed in extending the life of old mobiles So not only do they keep working, but they aren’t left behind when it comes to privacy or security. Thus, it was possible, for example, to deploy the COVID-19 contact tracing system on almost all Android mobiles, regardless of their version. Over time, the Android version becomes more and more irrelevant.
Every Android is a world and to bring order to this huge mess, Google has chosen to update the small fragments that they have in common, which contrasts a lot with iOS, which is the same for everyone
Of course, Apple’s system works very well and is much less messy, but it would be impossible to apply in an ecosystem like Android, where everyone can cut and add within the margins set by the conditions imposed by Google to pre-install its apps. It’s not a perfect system, it’s extremely frustrating, it’s messy, and it causes huge headaches for users, developers, Google, and the manufacturers themselves, but that’s what it’s all about. is and the effort seems to be paying off, well having the latest version of Android is less and less important.
iOS updates with new versions for everything, but on Android many parts can be updated separately making it less important to have the latest version
Basically, there are several reasons why we might want to have the latest version of the operating system, and all of them have been minimized recently, minimizing them. These are the main ones:
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Have the latest news of the latest version. This is the classic reason why we will want to have Android 13, but the truth is that the operating system does not bring a large number of visible improvements, some of them may end up reaching previous versions of one way or another (officially or with apps) and, moreover, it’s relatively common for customization layers to not even include some of these new features.
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Privacy and security improvements. This is an important detail, as each new version usually includes new privacy protections. However, Google ported some of these changes to previous versions through Google Services, and it’s worth remembering that the security patches are separate.
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Application Compatibility. Having an older version of the operating system prevents some apps and games from working for you. However, you do not need to have the latest version. Today the vast majority of apps and games will run smoothly with Android 8.0 from 2017. If you have a modern version, it’s better, but if not, nothing happens either.
Does all this mean that with the KitKat mobile we have in the drawer we have had enough? No. Obviously, if you can get the latest version, the better. But if you stay one or two versions behind, it’s not to throw your hands at your head either. And that’s good, because it’s to be expected that the deployment of Android 13 will go as badly as all the versions that preceded it.