Samsung has been releasing security and OS updates to its older and newer Galaxy devices in a timely manner. Although this may be true, seamless updates are not an option when updating a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. Why doesn’t the OEM use this method? Let’s have a closer look.
What is seamless updating?
Modern Android devices, except Samsung Galaxy devices, have A/B seamless updates. This means that you can continue using your device during a software upgrade.
When a Pixel phone begins the update process, it first downloads the necessary files. It can take a while, depending on the size of the update. The update will be installed in the background, so it won’t interfere with what you are doing.
This is where seamless updates begin to play a part. In the past the update installation would take place while the phone was off. It would take a lot of time and it would be slow. This method has the disadvantage that your device is temporarily unusable, making it an expensive paperweight.
Seamless updates allow you to use your phone even while the process is being completed. This is achieved by using two identical partitions on the phone. One (A) is used by the user, and the other (B), is used by Android’s upgrade management tool. After the phone reboots, the updates are automatically moved to the correct partition. This is also a safety feature that allows your phone to quickly recognize any problems and return to an earlier update.
All in all, this reboot takes less time than a complete install. This means that you will have less time to use your device than waiting for the final install.
Samsung doesn’t take advantage of seamless updates.
But there is a side to this coin. Despite the fact that your phone is down less often, it can still take up to 20-30 minutes to update your device. In some cases, it may take even longer. After booting up, there will be an “optimizing period” that can take several minutes.
A Galaxy phone can take between 5 and 15 minutes to update. Although this is five minutes of downtime it takes at least 15 minutes to update a Galaxy phone at full speed with a shiny new version. Additionally, seamless updates, in the beginning, caused more storage to be used than was necessary. Google has since resolving this problem and once planned to force Samsung to implement a seamless updates.
This could be why the major manufacturer has not opted for A/B seamless upgrades. Samsung has not added seamless updates to its S22 devices despite the fact that the method has been in use for many years. It was surprising that the S21 line didn’t use the method, even more when the Galaxy S22+, S22+ and S22 Ultra launched without it.
We are not sure if Samsung will incorporate A/B seamless updates, or if they will keep using the same methods that have worked for years. While we can hope that the next year’s lineup will be as good, it’s possible that Samsung is still using the old “if it’s not broke, don’t fix them” mentality.
