4/19/2023 0 Comments Pixel 3 dirt 3 backgroundsOnce a phone stops getting them, technophobes might be happy that things stop moving and changing, but far more importantly, the clock starts ticking. I spend a lot of time thinking about the impact of software updates, in part because it’s something a lot of people don’t pay attention to. Customers willing to unlock their bootloader and install a ROM can probably carry on for quite a while, though the security in a situation like that isn't the same, and it's a situation that would require at least maintenance and attention on a customer's part. I should stress that the Snapdragon 845 that's in the Pixel 3 and 3 XL will almost assuredly get community support for a long time. But a phone that’s “left behind” in 2022 is in a better position than one that stopped getting updates in 2017. We’ve reached out to Google to confirm what Pixel 3 owners can expect in that regard, and we’ll be sure to update if we hear back. Pixels and other recent Android devices do have one advantage in that they offer Mainline and APEX modules to update core parts of the Android system separately from the OS itself Google can roll out a lot of fixes and security patches via that method as well as Play Services. As the days tick by, though, it’s just a matter of which vulnerabilities are discovered and how strong of an exploit they provide. There’s no hard and fast rule for when a phone becomes “insecure,” but it’s a sliding scale that builds up as its software is left behind.Īt one point, Google considered quarterly updates good enough for enterprise use, though some companies are too lazy to meet even quarterly updates reliably. But with each new month, it will fall further behind. Admittedly, the most recent update was for an earlier patch level than other currently supported Pixels have, but we’re still in a close-enough window. (I actually have a handful of separate insecure testing accounts specifically for using old phones.)įor customers still using a Pixel 3 - who, I should stress, paid $800 or more for their phone - the handset is still about as secure as other Pixels right now. You might think your phone’s security doesn’t matter, but do you have a banking app installed? How much would it mess your life up if you lost access to your Google, PayPal, or Facebook account? That’s the access your phone provides, and that’s the risk you open when you start using a phone that isn’t updated. They are as much general-purpose computers as our PCs at home. We use them for banking, investing, and we can even pay our taxes from them. In fact, Android’s monthly patches only originated because of one such vulnerability: Stagefright. Monthly patches usually aren’t delivering big new changes (outside things like Google’s Feature Drop updates), but they do fix vulnerabilities ranging from major to minor. We get excited about updates for the new features they deliver, but the majority of Android updates are actually to protect your safety and security. Players getting locked out of content isn’t going to happen that often, but it clearly can happen, and that’s something that developers and publishers need to take into account.Updates aren’t just for new features - they keep you safe This situation also neatly illustrates one of the biggest potential problems with online passes, in that they leave players at the mercy of outside bodies to be able to get full functionality out of their games. Sony hasn’t set a firm date for when the PSN Store will be restored, although it says it is aiming to have it back online by the end of the month. “This in itself would be a longer process that waiting for Sony to bring the PSN Store back online.” “Changing this would require considerable development time and a patch which would need to go through the submission process,” Codemasters said in a statement. While some developers have been able to temporarily remove the online pass stipulation from their PS3 games, Codemasters said that for Dirt 3 the code requirement is “hard-coded” into the game, and altering it would take far too long. PS3 players of the newly released Dirt 3 have been unable to redeem the game’s online pass – which is a requirement if they want to play online – and Codemasters says there’s not a lot it can do about it. While Sony has managed to get PSN back up and running again, the PSN Store is still out of action, and that’s proving problematic in more ways than one. Fixing the problem would take longer than just waiting it out, says the game’s developers.
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