HMD-Led Nokia is finally releasing Android 11 for its budget Android smartphone Nokia 5.3. This update comes just a few months ahead of the official announcement of Android 12.
To recall, the phone was launched exactly a year back and was one of the last few devices before HMD decided to change the naming convention of its smartphones.
The Android 11 update for Nokia 5.3 is being rolled out in a phased manner to users from the countries like Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan and Vietnam. The company says it will release the update to other regions soon.
Apart from delivering the latest Android OS, the new update weighing about 1.67 GB also adds June 2021 security patch to the phone. Since the phone runs on Android One without any customizations, you do not get any over the top features added by HMD with the OS update.
Analysis: Is Nokia missing the trick – once again?
Nokia was once known to be among the fastest after Google to release OS updates for its phones. In fact, the company often boasted about timely updates on social media and was fast becoming a favourite amongst the purists who wanted the good old Nokia branding, durability and no-gimmick Android experience at an affordable price point.
We’re very excited to announce our #Android11 upgrade roadmap! 🥳 We’ve released over 1000 updates in the past 3 years as part of our Pure, Secure and Up-To-Date pledge, keeping your device safe and protected with the latest Android releases. Here’s to the next 1000! pic.twitter.com/GJ7RsDImfqOctober 8, 2020
However, off late, things haven’t been rosy at all. The company has missed the software update timelines. According to the tweet posted by the company in October last year, the Nokia 5.3 was supposed to get an Android 11 update in Q1 2021.
Unlike other Chinese smartphone makers, HMD doesn’t have a vast portfolio nor does it have a skin running on top of vanilla Android that takes time to customize, hence the delay is unexpected.
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When TechRadar India interviewed HMD Global’s VP Sanmeet Singh Kochhar earlier this year, he highlighted that Nokia’s devices come with enterprise-level security and the company promised 2-year software updates on all its devices.
He also mentioned that the company feels that vanilla Android experience and security makes Nokia devices stand apart from the competition and lets the company charge premium for its devices even though, considering the competition is offering, these devices were subpar in terms of hardware specifications.
Now that the company is faltering on its marquee feature i.e., by delay in the delivery of software updates and Android security patches, most Nokia devices remain susceptible to vulnerabilities.
As the competition has pulled up its socks and a brand like Samsung that was once notorious for delayed software updates is now promising three years of timely updates, Nokia needs to buckle up quickly before it gets too late.
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