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By George Norman - Software News Editor

Added on 04 Nov 2008(4620 Views)

A little while back we were reporting that the G1 phone, mainly its Android operating system was not exactly what you would call safe, simply because in the Android’s development process Google used vulnerable open source programs. T-Mobile shipped out the devices, security vulnerability and all; meanwhile Google has been working on a patch, which is now distributed over-the-air by T-Mobile.

T-Mobile is playing its cards close to its chest and consequently the only information it has released is that a patch is available; no details on how many people need to update nor if future Android shipments will be sent out with the patch pre-installed or will have to be updated after the purchase.


The whole process is rather simple: G1 users will be prompted that a software update for their Android operating system is available, and they are invited to download it. Once they agree to do so, the procedure will run itself automatically. Early reports state that the update process is going well; no snags, no hiccups, no problems.

According to Charlie Miller, one of the three security researchers credited for discovering the security issues related to Google’s Android (the other two are Mark Daniel and Jake Honoroff), the patch was issued rather quickly, just two weeks after it was reported to Google. Even though the patch updates the WebKit version used by Google when coming up with the Android, there are still some security issues, mainly with the SDK (software development kit).

A spokesperson for Google said that the security issue has been treated with the utmost seriousness, and that both Google and T-Mobile worked hard to release a patch as soon as possible.

Leaving security aside, there are other advantages to patching – the update is said to improve the Androids efficiency, which means that battery life will be consequently extended. If you own a G1 phone but did not receive an automated update message, here is a detailed, step by step tutorial on how to manually update your Android.





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Tags: Google, Android, T-Mobile

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