Android users not upgrading their OS to the latest version - Page 4

And here come the Android fans. *sigh* Fragmentation like this is pretty bad if applications start to require the latest version and everyone else is stuck on 1.x or somethin'. Bad enough the OS is on tablets when most applications support only phones.


That always come to my mind when I hear of this kinda news.

longer support life... lol

Think about it. There are two business models running here:
1)Google and their gimmicky a** OS for ads
2) The phone guys needing to sell phones.

This is a great business for them and when it is time release a new Android OS the celly guys won't do it on the previous phone, only the new ones. That is where the BS happens and folks get pissed. All this so-called openness lip service makes me sick. This is about the bottom line. Always has been.

Off topic.
'What about Google discontinuing the N1? I say it was a conspiracy!
Verizon and Google hacked out a freaking scheme to play early adopters and then BAM! Google drops the bomb and Verizon comes up from the rear talking about buy a Droid or Incredible.
OMFG!
And I read where some dooosh went from a Droid, to the N1 and now to the incredible. LOL! And there is talk that the incredible is rebooting itself, by itself. I think HTC(the maker of the N1) is a corrupt POS company and their ways will come to light.

Android reboots itself if something screws up and it isn't Google's fault that it happens. It is the 3rd party implementation that is at fault.

3G iPhones can be upgraded to iPhone OS 4.0, only the original iPhone (2G) cannot be upgraded.

Everyone here is missing the point. Android not only provides choice in different phones and different carriers, it also provides choice in OS versions. If the customer wants a newer OS, they get to choose from a variety of new phones. Just sign a new contract; it's easy.

And this auto-rebooting feature is missing from the iPhone. Android OS is way more advanced.

Me too. I like the freedom to make the wrong choice.

Now that's a great advertising slogan: "Use our phone - it won't kill you".


Other than, of course, the apps that were rejected from the AppleStore because they didn't meet the basic quality requirements - and ended up showing up on Android. Or all the porn apps, of course.


I guess you didn't read the article you're responding to. It's not the people here who are saying Android fragmentation is an issue, it's the users. Your wishing that it weren't true won't change things.

As for the iPhone, you are mistaken. An iPhone 3G will run iPhone OS 4.0 - it just won't be able to take advantage of all the features. That's not the same as for Android - where you might have to spend countless hours just trying to FIND an upgrade that will work for your phone.


I'm sure all sorts of things are possible, but the real world apparently doesn't work that way. Read the article you're responding to. Android is already showing significant fragmentation problems.

Just like how the egg-cooking feature is missing from Android phones.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/16777...s_sort_of.html


Says the man who apparently speaks for all of humanity... Steve, is that you?

Some people like having a big brother who makes their choices for them.

Let's take an example of a traffic flow. In a city with well-planned infrastructure and civic-conscious roadusers, the travelling experience will be pleasant and worthwhile; while in a chaotic city where traffic rules are not being followed and every driver wants to have his own way and the whole traffic situation locked up in a choking grid by selfish motorists, you can imagine the time taken for you to get home to have a well-deserved rest and quality time with your family. This is what you will get from an Android experience.

Wrong. I bought a new phone and it had an older OS at launch. I think it was only one or two versions behind at the time, instead of being now currently 3 or 4 behind, but I was told an update would be available asap. And it was - just not for me. I was never told that I would not be able to USE said update. (And why would I. or most people, think I couldn't?) So I do not have the option to upgrade it. And I can't just "sign a new contract" without it costing a lot of money - both for a new contract AND for another phone.

Regardless, none of this would even matter much to me if 1.5 actually worked. I can get by without the newest "features," but the features it does have should work correctly. There's no excuse for that. (And lesson learned). I will never buy another Android phone. I know there are some great ones out there (or so I hear, it's not like I can actually experience the OS they use), but it's not worth it.

Not exactly, metaphors aside, both platforms have their advantages. If you've ever used Android OS you know it is impressively stable for its versatility. What exactly would make it "chaotic" or a free for all? I do agree a proprietary OS like the iPhone OS is more sable, but also more controlled. A better metaphor would be iPhone OS is like a city with 2MP/H speed limit and your restricted to drive a black or white hybrid Toyota Highlander, while android you have a choice of multiple high performance cars and a higher speed limit, there will be more risk but also more trill on your way home. IMO Apple needs to up the speed limit a little but thats besides the point.

Fragmentation is not problem the with Android. Like i said before you could buy an iPhone 3G today, and not be able to upgrade to iPhone 4 in 2 months. The problem with android is while its open source, hardware manufacturers are implementing proprietary interface designs. This poses two problems: these innovations are not going back into the android source but being kept as a competitive advantage for the OEM, and the manufactures now have to modify android's updates which will delay updates to their customers. When receiving updates its up to the manufacturer to get the update out in time. There is only a problem getting android updates to phones that can run it, if the phone's manufacturer is lazy. For example it took a couple months for my droid to get 2.1, but I did eventually.


Who ever you bought it from was misinformed. However you did buy a phone running 1.5, when 2.0 was on other phones. Similar if you bought an iPhone 3G today, was told that iPhone OS 4 came out in 2 months, but then found out you couldn't update. If 1.5 doesn't work or is too buggy then why would you buy it?

I'll preface this by saying I have an iPod Touch and an HTC Hero, and have used the iPhone a bunch.

I'd call this article a little disingenuous as while there has been no updated to the HTC Hero, the phone has only been out what, 7 months? Sure, the update process is more complicated as there are three parties involved (Google -> HTC -> Sprint) rather than one for the iPhone (Apple), but there is supposed to be an update rolling out very soon.

Apps for Android? I've got many of the same apps on my Hero that I do on my iPod. There are not as many apps available for Android, but some things are available earlier. For instance there was no barcode scanner available on the iPhone for a long time, while Android had several. Now there are options on both. In terms of what I like better on Android, one of the main apps is Handcent for text messaging. If I get a text, I get a notification, much like the push notifications from Apple, but I have the option of replying right then and there without interrupting what I was doing. Likewise, being able to start up a (free!) navigation program and use the web browser is nice, as a passenger of course. Multitasking in iPhone 4.0 will bring some of this to the table.

One of most noticeable feature Android has is widgets. I can put a weather widget on my home screen and have temp, precipitation, etc at a glance without opening an app. Likewise I can have my calendar visible on one screen, Facebook updates on another, and "switches" to turn GPS/Bluetooth/WiFi on and off directly from the main screen without going into any other app or control panel. Furthermore, the customization of UI is impressive. I can turn animations on and off, change all the sounds, etc is something I can't do on my iPod. The next most noticiable feature is the contact integration, something Apple is starting to implement, but is still playing catchup on. I can pull names, phone numbers, photos, and birthdays from Facebook, while Apple only pulls the photo.

Overall, I prefer web browsing on the iPod compared to the default Android or aftermarket browsers, but the 2.1 update has done a lot to close the gap. Copy paste is way better with Apple, and I really don't like the dedicated hardware buttons for home/search/etc. That being said, having the dedicated buttons frees up some screen space in a few apps. The media features of Android are pretty weak in my opinion, and syncing to my Mac is possible, but not as elegant, but, I have an iPod for media because I don't want to kill my battery watching a movie and then not be able to make a call.

Getting back to the original article, my Hero is running Android 2.1 now, and I highly recommend it for any Hero user, especially ones that aren't happy with their phones. Check out the Damage Control ROMs and you'll find a completely new experience. I had to root the phone to do it, but at least Sprint doesn't hate me for it and won't threaten to brick my phone because I did. I know you can jailbreak an iPhone, but we all know how much Apple doesn't like that.

Many of the critiques of Androids flaws have some truth to them, but that doesn't make the inherently iPhone better, it's only a better choice for you.

Um, normally, it takes a while to find the bugs based on how you use a device. And yes, it's a great trick of salespeople to promise an update coming 'soon', perhaps just after the return period has expired.

And the hypothetical situation you mention about the iPhone isn't actually happening in reality. Apple is supporting OS 4.0 on the 3G and the 3GS, so even if you buy an iPhone after 4.0 is released, but the phone itself only has 3.0 on it, Apple makes it trivial to update the OS. Sure, you can say, well, OS 5.0 might be different, but based on the actual track record of Apple vs Android manufacturers, Apple is a billion times more likely to support 5.0 on the phone they sold you a month before 5.0 is released than any of the Android manufacturers.

Why would I buy it with 1.5 if it's too buggy? Well, I didn't know it was that buggy when I bought it, otherwise I wouldn't have. I read several reviews on it beforehand and none mentioned any problems other than "slight" lag. And you miss the important point - I wouldn't care about being on 1.5 and not being able to update it if 1.5 worked well. There's no reason it shouldn't be more stable, and seeing as it's not, then YES, 7 months is too long to wait for an update. (and who knows if the update will even show up in May, as reported, or even at all). I don't even need 2.whatever- just give me a 1.5.something that runs well. & not that it matters, but I bought it at Best Buy and besides their employees, both Sprint and HTC said an update was imminent at the time - which was in October.

Problem there though, is a 3G will be able to update to iPhone OS 4, so that point is a bit moot.

Seeing as he would be able to update from 1.5 to "the latest OS", it having 1.5 on it was also a moot point, as he was going to update. Sadly, that option isn't available to him. You seem to be missing the point entirely.

The iPhone experience is providing a consistent/expected experience/result at every step of the way. That's the major power of the iPhone "platform".

Thanks - you do get the point. It's actually she though, not he.

I'm pretty sure iPhone 3G will NOT be able able to upgrade to iPhone OS 4:

http://gizmodo.com/5512610/original-...to-iphone-os-4

Its only the iPhone 3GS and the iTouch 3G. Unless they have changed this. So buying an Android 1.5 phone a year ago, and not being able to upgrade now, is pretty similar to buying an iPhone 3G now and not being able to upgrade in 2 months. Its also similar to Windows 6.5 phone now and not being able to upgrade to windows 7. Or buying a palm phone now and having nothing to even upgrade to if you could. I mean if Android's fragmentation is really bad, so is every other mobile OS.

EDIT: NVM iPhone 3G will get touch OS 4 but not all the features like Multi-tasking will not work on iPhone 3G, which is one of the more substantial features. But my point is its up to the hardware manufacturer to get the update out. HTC and Motorola have been pretty good so far. I'm guessing the hero and other early android phone simply can't handle the newer OS. But any phones since the Droid have been getting every update. The fragmentation is actually pretty good considering the variety of different hardware compared to other mobile OSs.

Um, you're really comparing Apple's and oranges... You're comparing Apple's not providing a free, major OS upgrade for 3 year old phones, and not being able to support all the new features of their next major OS on 2 year old phones, to the Android manufacturers not being "able" to support even ONE significant OS upgrade for phones that have been introduced less than six months ago [not announced, but actual initial shipment of phones were made]. Or even a bug-fix revision of Android for their customers. And the manufacturers have no excuses, they just aren't putting in the work.

And that's the problem. They have ZERO incentive to spend time creating OS upgrades or patches for phones they've already sold, when those same engineers could be spending their time adding new features to the latest Android OS for their next model, to help future sales.

Given how spotty upgrades to phones released less than six months ago and that are still being sold new today with less than current versions of Android, who really expects any of these phones to be upgrades to Android 3.0 next year or Android 4.0 the year after that, just to match what Apple is doing [let alone exceeding what Apple does]?

Handset manufacturers don't care about Android. They care about sales and user selling points for their handsets. Does it matter that they released a handset with Android 1.5? No. Do they feel the need to release Android 2.1? No. Look at how long it is taking for HTC to come out with Android 2.1 for Hero and the rest. Again, each handset manufacturer is looking for differentiators. You have HTC Sense, Samsung Touchwiz, etc. which are hard to upgrade whenever Google releases a new version of Android.

Nobody wants to manufacture devices that look and feel the same. Since manufacturers seem to be rather disillusioned about the Android dream, everyone is fragmenting and coming up with their own operating systems instead of leaning of Google's solution which is still not on par with iPhone OS. You have Samsung's Bada, Nokia's Memo, etc. coming up and being pushed heavily. Then there is talk of an "App Store" for the rest of the world that doesn't use an iPhone. Good luck with that and with compatibility issues.

Being jealous of the iPhone isn't a recipe for success. The big handset manufacturers are like dinosaurs trying to deal with empowered consumers demanding more. Do you recall the sorry state of affairs in the smart phone industry before Apple released the iPhone?