Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: The Real Bev Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android Subject: Re: Couldn't Update Message Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2024 19:13:52 -0700 Organization: None, as usual Lines: 57 Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2024 04:13:55 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="54ac3611f63f1f5ce5b0e55e75215da0"; logging-data="3499675"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18ekp2mv84XTggLFnvm49GdmJsSgEC6PV0=" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:68.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/68.0 Thunderbird/68.12.1 Cancel-Lock: sha1:+3EzOwbSoBmLoyGu+dHXn4NahUM= In-Reply-To: Content-Language: en-US Bytes: 4310 On 8/27/24 3:23 PM, VanguardLH wrote: > tb wrote: > >> I have an ASUS Zenfone M1 with Android 8.1.0. >> Frequently I get a "Couldn't Update" message visible in Manage Apps & >> Device -> Updates Available. >> Is it a sign that my cell phone's OS is too old for some app updates? > > I've had apps that worked, and then they updated while requiring a later > Android version than I have (Android 8.0.0). I will never get an OS > update: LG, my phone maker, discontinued the phone back in 2019, and > then they left the smartphone market in 2021. For example, I had a > Great Clips apps to help schedule check-in for a haircut. Suddenly it > starting puking out a message about the OS version not supported. I saw > no changes in their app that would require a later version of Android. > When I notified them, they said they supported Android 9, and up, > despite their app page at the Google Play Store said 8.0, and up. Soon > afterward they updated their app page to say Android 9, and up. Their > app's check on OS version self-crippled their app, so now I have to use > a web browser to use their check-in web site. > > I've had other apps that stopped working when they decided to require a > later OS version. Same thing happened way back on an old phone running > Kitkat (Android 4.4): some car monitoring apps using Bluetooth to an > OBD2 dongle plugged into the car stopped working, but those same apps > worked when I later bought an Android 8.0 phone. > > Eventually old phones running old OS versions get left behind as apps > require later OS versions, even if nothing was really changed in the > apps that the user can view. Anything beyond the current and just-prior > major version of Android is considered legacy hence unsupported. > Android 8.0 (Oreo) was released back in August 21, 2017: 7 years ago. > Requiring a new OS version can render apps unusable despite the phone is > perfectly functioning hardware. If you can't get an automatic OS > upgrade, and if you don't want to root your phone to let you install a > new OS version, you're stuck having to buy a new phone. > > Besides my old phone using an old and unsupported Android 8.0, it also > doesn't support 5G, and sometimes I definitely wish the phone was faster > for Internet speed. I get envious of my friends who can do Web stuff a > *lot* faster than I. Wait, wait, I'm still getting it, wait, I'll catch > up in a moment, or two, for dozen. Just wish the toy mobile computers > weren't so farking expensive. My Pixel2 (born in 2017) runs Android 11 and they're under $100 now. It cost me $60 to have the battery replaced 1.5 years ago. I'd like it to have a telephoto lens, but that's my only gripe. If I REALLY wanted that I could probably buy an acceptable clip-on (the cheap ones are worthless) for it. So far I haven't had any too-old problems with apps, but I seem to remember seeing something that I vaguely wanted that demanded Android 12. -- Cheers, Bev "My life outside of USENET is so full of love and kindness that I have to come here to find the venom and bile that I crave." --R. Damiani