Essential Phone and several Sony Xperia phones already picking up May’s Android Security Patch

One of the biggest things I’ve been looking at with Android smartphones, especially in the past several months, is security updates. When OEMs are open about not even trying to deliver these on a monthly basis, I’ll completely write-off those devices. However, there are some shining exceptions is this sea of late updates…

Earlier today, Google revealed this month’s security bulletin, as well as pushing out OTA updates and factory images for its Pixel and Nexus devices. Obviously, those are the devices to buy for updates, but Essential is making it clear they are staying on the bleeding edge, pushing out that same update just a couple hours later.

Announced on Twitter, the Essential Phone is currently picking up an OTA which carries May’s monthly security patch on top of Android 8.1. There aren’t any new features in the update, and the company doesn’t note any bug fixes either, but it’s great to see security patches arriving in such a timely fashion.

If you’re using an Essential Phone, the update should hit your device within the next couple of hours if it hasn’t already, and you can pair that with a camera update that arrived at the end of last week as well.

We're rolling out a new software build that includes May security patches. Check your Essential Phone for the update. pic.twitter.com/aScFKkOD7V

— Essential (@essential) May 7, 2018

Along with Essential, Sony is also already kicking off a rollout of May’s security patch to a handful of its devices. As noted by Xperia Blog, the Sony Xperia XZ, XZs, and X Performance are already picking up this update over OTA as several users report. That’s fantastic to see, although the company still has quite a few more to get through.

9to5Google’s Take

Monthly security patches are, at least in my eyes, becoming a new standard for how we should judge our Android smartphones. For the most part, OEMs are falling massively behind here, sometimes taking months to deliver an update that’s already been replaced with a newer version. There’s no excuse for this anymore, these monthly updates have been going on for years at this point.

This month is just another example that Essential and Sony care about updates, and they’re quick to get them going. (And I’m sure Nokia is just a day or two away.)