“Perhaps the less we have, the more we are required to brag”
— John Steinback
When I got the update for Android Pie 9.0 on my OnePlus 6 just a couple of days back, I realised how wrong Steinback was! Oh, the sweet, sweet rush of flashing your phone in people’s faces and see them nod, checking out the new updates in my phone and thinking about when their (now outdated) devices will get the same updates. To see their faces contort in the effort to hide their envy is a feeling sweeter than my mom’s Gajar ka Halwa and more satisfactory than knowing that my only sibling isn’t my mother’s favourite child.
Think I’m Cruella? Oh, but honey, I couldn’t have cared less!
It’s not just me who thinks I’m special, ask the developers of Android. According to the latest distribution numbers, the latest version of Android is not even available on 0.1% of phones worldwide.
Let’s read that again — LESS THAN 0.1% OF PHONES WORLDWIDE.
Pie features include gesture navigation, adaptive battery support as well as a refreshed user interface. One of the features enables indoor-style GPS tracking by determining your location within a building. Another feature is ‘Dashboard’ which breaks down phone usage data to show how you spend time on your device. With people spending a lot more time on their phones before sleeping, Android Pie also introduces the ‘Wind Down’ option which fades the screen to grayscale to help you remember to sleep at the selected time.
Android Pie Dashboard (left) and Wind Down mode (right)
According to the numbers, Android Nougat is the most popular version of Android, accounting for 29.3% of the total users. Next comes Android Marshmallow with 21.6% of total Android devices and then Android Oreo with 19.2%. Android Pie doesn’t even appear on the charts because its numbers haven’t reached the requisite 0.1%
Even Android Gingerbread, which released in 2010, shows up on the charts with 0.3% of total Android users. With Google prioritising getting Android Oreo into more devices, Pie being available in a significant number of phones is a future that’s still a few months away.
Perhaps, that’s because Android 9 Pie is only available on Google Pixel devices and a few select (that is, mine) OnePlus 6 devices, even though Pie has been available for nearly two months now. Now, Nokia is also rolling out the updates for the Nokia 7 Plus. Though more manufacturers have announced that they are going to roll out the updates or release phones that have pre-loaded Android Pie.
Till they do, I’ll have my pie and eat it too.
