"We're committed to release firmware updates to our devices at least until 2026" - says a company that launched a device with a 3 years old version of android.

Submitted ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Moonrise2473@feddit.it⁩ to ⁨mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world⁩

https://feddit.it/pictrs/image/e5c6e8a5-0429-4832-b23d-9c98f3d06ed5.webp

(it’s a tablet in a smartphone form factor, it doesn’t have cellular connectivity)

For reference, android 14 was announced 6 months before the launch of this device.

It’s a bit surprising that Google still allows device certification with such ancient, unsupported and vulnerable OS.

All the marketing materials don’t say which CPU it’s using except “Qualcomm octa core CPU” - that means nothing as the description could apply to the Snapdragon 415, which was a low end slow system on a chip released ten years ago. Maybe it could explain why they’re using an ancient version of Android - the soc that they’re using it’s a leftover found in some warehouse and it’s already unsupported by the manufacturer; they’re forced to use android 11.

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almost1337@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Not excusing the practice, but I’m pretty sure Boox products use a highly customized version of the android kernel to work better with eInk screens. It’s not as simple as just using the latest AOSP for them. Sadly, this also seems to be standard across all eInk Android tablets, though it looks like at least some Boox products use Android 12, while most of the space is stuck on Android 11.

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- Clusterfck@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yeah, I see both parts of this.
  
  BOOX advertises “Super Refresh” which makes eink almost able to play a YouTube video. There’s a lot of software (and probably hardware) development there.
  
  Google still issues security patches for Android 12 as well.
  
  It could be much worse. At least BOOX issues updates….
  
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itchick2014@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I bought a Boox Palma. The screen cracked on the first day. I wholeheartedly do not recommend them as a company as their customer support response is always “not our fault.” A quick google will find others who had the same experience I did.

I am an IT professional. I have had Kindles and Kobos and have NEVER had a screen break on any device. This company needs to be called out and boycotted.

Per the post…Android itself is old, yes…but they never promised security updates…only updates to the firmware. I don’t have a problem with this. Retroid is similar in that their devices are not current android, though not nearly as bad as Boox. It all depends on how you use a device as to if this is really an issue or not.

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seathru@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Lol “constant firmware updates” as a selling point.

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- Moonrise2473@feddit.it ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Should be the bare minimum
  
  I stopped buying Xiaomi because they switched from “monthly updates for years to come” (until around mi 5-6) to “a single update in the phone lifetime, if you’re lucky” (RIP those idiots who purchased an expensive mix 3 5g and never saw any update) passing from “we gonna push ota updates without testing, you might softbrick LOL”
  
  Although is understandable because they churn out 1 new phone every week, I guess it’s extremely tiring compiling and testing software for all those variants /s
  
  They copy everything from the iPhone, they don’t copy the best part. Just three new models every year, updates for years. Why the opposite? People is going to lose track of what’s better between the mi 13s pro x and the Redmi note 16x pro 5g. Especially when you add more chaos by rebadging that Redmi as poco x33 pro 5g but changing some bits here and there to make software incompatible
  
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  - possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    You missed the joke
    
    Constant would mean it never stops updating ever. How would you use the device then?
    
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devilish666@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
As long as the device itself has decent spec & easy way to unlock the bootloader I don’t care, bc there’s some dude out there on XDA Forums that can help to upgrade the device further

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- Moonrise2473@feddit.it ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I was also thinking like that until I discovered that the only dude on XDA that was packaging all kind of roms for my short lived Xiaomi, was doing it on random servers (hacked servers? He was always complaining on his telegram channel that he couldn’t find VMs with enough RAM or that “didn’t last enough”) and he sold the phone one year before so couldn’t test it. Just running a script and if it compiles, it ships.
  
  After I finished to read his telegram channel I restored the original android 8 firmware and flipped it on eBay…
  
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ExtravagantEnzyme@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
There a software package you can install to root most Boox tablets. Definitely look into it as this will give you way more control over your device.

Here’s a solid video covering the topic: yewtu.be/watch?v=QtpC9RYK0mw

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- Tenthrow@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I don’t totally understand why root isn’t just a configurable thing on Android devices. I get why it might not ship with access to root, but why do you have the hack the damned thing to get access?
  
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  - stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Because it exposes root and system internals. Biggest reason android devices get compromised/hacked and your fun, quirky android becomes a link in a bot net peddling god knows what including attacks against people and other illegal activities and media
    
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  - possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Why would you want root? Devices shouldn’t make you want root in the first place. Everything you do should stay within the Android system with poker isolation and permissions
    
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- possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=QtpC9RYK0mw
  
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- SaltySalamander@fedia.io ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported.
  
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  - ExtravagantEnzyme@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Whenever you see that with invidious, just click “switch invidious instance”. But this one should work for you, it just did for me at least: invidious.flokinet.to/watch?v=QtpC9RYK0mw&dark_mo…
    
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Tenthrow@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Damn, I just bought one of these too.

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