Newsletter
Security remains BlackBerry’s USP even as the Canadian company transitions from their own OS to Android. That being the case, the unlocked model of the BlackBerry Priv got its March security update earlier this month, and now it’s the turn of AT&T to follow suit and roll out this month’s security patches to all the Privs on its network. While the unlocked version of the device had received Google’s latest security patches from BlackBerry as early as the first week of this month, it is only now that AT&T is finally rolling out the update. Meanwhile, there’s no indication whatsoever about when the other major carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint will finally get around to rolling out the security patches for this month to the first-ever Android smartphone from the Canadian smartphone maker previously known as Research in Motion (RIM).
While the update is currently rolling out over-the-air (OTA), it might take a while for all users across to get it on their devices. Those who are yet to get the notification can manually check for the update by going into the “Settings” menu, then scrolling down to “About Device”, tapping on “Software Update” and then choosing “Check for Updates”. There’s no word currently on the changelog for the update, but if earlier security patches are anything go by, most such updates generally refrain from going into the specifics regarding the vulnerabilities that are being patched. The report also does not seem to mention how big the update is or how long it might take for it to install, but seeing as it’s just a security patch and not much else, the file size is unlikely to be too large.
The BlackBerry Priv was launched last year by the Canadian vendor as its first ever Android-powered smartphone, and comes with a sliding physical QWERTY keypad that has basically become a de-facto trademark for most BlackBerry devices over the years. The company apparently also intends to launch another Android smartphone later this year, but details regarding a particular device is still sketchy for the most part, although some unconfirmed reports have indicated that it currently has the codename of “Vienna“, just like the Priv originally had the codename “Venice”.