Author: Cameron Summerson / Source: howtogeek.com
Non-consistent updates on Android devices have plagued the platform since its initial rise to popularity. Project Treble is Google’s plan to help manufacturers streamline the update process for more timely updates.
Android Fragmentation is the Problem
One of the biggest complaints against Android as an operating system is something generally referred to as “fragmentation.
” The traditional definition is “the process of being broken into small or separate parts,” which directly translates to its negative connotation for Android: there are eight different versions of Android currently in the wild, still in use on various types of hardware.The standard here is, of course, set by Apple with the iPhone. Where Android’s most prolific version is the nearly two-year-old Android 7.x (Nougat), nearly three-quarters of all iOS devices are running the latest version (iOS 11).
By comparison, Android’s distribution numbers are grim, with 28.1 percent of phones running Android 6.x (Marshmallow), and 28.5 percent on Android 7.x (Nougat)—that means over half of the Android phones out there are running a nearly-two-year-old operating system. A meager 1.1 percent are running the latest version—Android 8.x (Oreo). To put it even more bluntly, over 98 percent of Android devices are running outdated software—over 36 percent are running five year old (or older) software. Ouch!
Clearly, there’s a massive disconnect there. The reason for this is multi-faceted, unfortunately, but can generally be attributed to two key points: manufacturers and Google’s update cycle. We’ve gone into detail about this before, so I’ll save you all the details and just point you in that direction if you’re curious about how it’s the manufacturers’ fault.
Project Treble is the Answer
The reason manufacturers have such a hard time pushing out prompt updates is because of all the work that has to go into getting the operating system to communicate with the hardware.
Traditionally, it worked something like this: the OS framework and low-level software were all part of the same code. So when the OS got updated, this low-level software–technically referred…
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