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Android’s Monolithic and Bloated Upgrades vs Purism’s Rolling Upgrades
Latest posts by David Hamner (see all)
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Fundamentally, all our Purism devices running PureOS receive regular updates to apps and the core OS the same way. Each component of PureOS can be upgraded individually at any time. In contrast, Android has a read-only root filesystem for day-to-day use. As a consequence, Android phones only see a few upgrades and a limited number of security patches. This makes app upgrades the only upgrade Android users get regularly for more than a few years.
On average, PureOS upgrades are a weekly, if not daily, matter. Each time you upgrade, it takes a few minutes to complete. On Android, upgrades are massive and not component-specific. Meaning they take longer to install and are less frequent. Android phone makers only provide these monolithic upgrades and security patches for a few years on average.
Because software is so complex, bad actors will find errors and security vulnerabilities. In PureOS this is something we can quickly get patched and sent out; with Android, you’ll be lucky to ever see a fix. Once you’re phone no longer gets OS patches, you will inevitably be running known insecure and vulnerable code.
A good example of how Android becomes insecure is rootkits or privilege escalation vulnerabilities. Once a sufficient vulnerability is identified for a particular version of Android, all phones running that version without a security patch are vulnerable and easily cracked into by any app. If you are running an Android phone that has not received security updates this year, your phone is known to be insecure. Moreover, the insecurity is described for all to see.
So, just how bad is privilege escalation? In a nutshell, it means any app can do anything on your phone. It can grab data from any app, alter any app, and spy with the mic, camera, or GPS. All without the user’s consent or knowledge that something has gone wrong.
Android phones aren’t meant to be like a computer. They aren’t meant to be safe or valuable for the hardware’s lifetime. Instead, they are meant to sell the end user a few more years of use and be quickly replaced.
Instead of limiting how many years it’s safe to use our products, our first Purism devices are still useful and updated regularly.
Order your Purism device and keep it running and running and running, all while being far more secure than an Android phone a year or two old.
Purism Products and Availability Chart
| Model | Status | Lead Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Librem Key (Made in USA) | In Stock ($59+) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 5 | In Stock ($999+) 3GB/32GB | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 + SIMple (4 GB Data) | In Stock ($99/mo) | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 + SIMple Plus (10 GB Data) | In Stock ($129/mo) | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 + AweSIM (Unlimited Data) | In Stock ($169/mo) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 11 | In Stock ($999+) 8GB/1TB | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 14 | In Stock ($1,370+) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem Mini | Apr 2024 ($799+) | Shipping April, 2024 | |
| Liberty Phone (Made in USA Electronics) | Apr 2024 ($1,999+) 4GB/128GB | Shipping April, 2024 | |
 | Librem Server | Apr 2024 ($2,999+) | Shipping April, 2024 |
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