Imagine, for a minute, that you could control your TV with your voice. And what it was calling up wasn't "channels," but apps. Buy Comedy Central. Buy or rent X. Play free web video. Your TV also has FaceTime on it. Kind of an Apple TV with apps and program storage. Multi-tier cable for $200 a month? No, no. Buy what you actually watch. Get a few basic channels from cable, for sports, live news and events.
And if that ever happens... those few basic channels will be hella expensive.
The reason you get 200 channels is because of how they are bundled.
If you get 200 channels for $100 a month... that doesn't mean you could pick a single channel for 50 cents.
It might be worth reading a bit more about the differences in multi-tasking in iOS as compared to traditional multi-tasking, or the sort of multi-tasking which is used in an operating system like Android. There's probably very little (or even no) benefit to 'turning off' any apps at all when you pick up one of your parents' phones.
Beg to differ.
I find that on BOTH my iPhone 4s (one work supplied and one personal) that occasionally some app (or webapp, or website) climbs out of the sandbox (so to speak) and starts running down the battery at an amazing rate. Turning off apps and/or rebooting does the trick.
I don't know why or how it happens, but apparently things do need to be "turned off" at times. Not sure if this occurs on iOS5 as I've only had it for a week.
I recall others on AI reporting this behavior, but it has been a while.
What a foolish argument. Sure, there will always homebrew ways of poorly cramming some OS onto some HW but that isn't how you categorize CE. If the vendor or carrier isn't issuing an update for that device then that's it. Done! Kaput! You can't claim that some guy in Budapest figured out a way to get ICS on the Nexus One (though the speaker and BT don't work and the battery lasts 1/3 the time) and then claim that isn't fragmentation. Consumers aren't going to bother with all that crap. They want a simple solution that works. A solution they can trust. Note the C in CE stands for Consumer, not Coder.
Your assuming that The average customer actually CARES about the version of Android they are on. From my experience, unless they are a heavy internet user in terms of research, this is not the case.
STOP putting words in my mouth, I'm NOT claiming that Fragmentation is non-existant, or not an issue for Android as a WHOLE. I was simply stating that in the case of phones like the Nexus one that since the average customer that bought the thing was most likely some sort of geek, that this would be little to no issue for that particular model.
You also, like so many others seem to happily assume that Rooting is some Ridiculously difficult task that requires immense knowledge of technical know-how and that there is no simpler solution, that you MUST deal with the heart of the phone. An ever increasing number of Android phones are getting 1-click root solutions. Several 1 click root solutions are available on the Official market for free or very cheap. You literally touch the phone and the rooting is done for you, everything else that is done afterwards is no different that if you were regularly customizing your Android phone.
Is Fragmentation an issue? YES IT IS.
Is it something that can't be overcome and is impossible to rectify? NO, Carriers/Google/Manufacturers can choose to upgrade their phones, or customers can themselves via root.
Moto and verizon could easily get ICS on the Droid X for example. Is it gonna happen? No, but does that mean that people can't fix it? Of course not.
That was my message. Fragmentation is an issue, but not something that can't be fixed.
You exist to be a troll. There's not a single thing that you've ever done that points to you existing for any other purpose. You needed to have been banned fifty posts ago.
I only initially replied to you because I was apprehensive of your statement that 2.2 was the only thing you need to get features from several years' newer updates. Which is complete fallacy.
To be fair, Android has separated out much of its OS as separate apps. All Android phones have had maps, email, etc. regularly updated. And also to be fair, all iPhones don't receive all updates in each iOS update. Siri is case-in-point. Only the 4S has that one, officially.
Hardware capability is not the same issue. Of course later phones do more things. I would hope so, it should be inevitable.
The first iPhone didn't have a camera, nor did the first couple of iPod Touches, nor did the first iPad. So, obviously, an update that has to do with taking pictures or making movies isn't going to be implemented on that particular device. Goes without saying, really. Arguably, Siri needs the faster processor (but, to be fair, we don't know that for sure yet).
But, that's not what we are talking about here. So, no, let's be fair...
NEW Android phones don't always ship with the LATEST Android OS.
Relatively new Android Phones, that are perfectly CAPABLE of using the LATEST OS, or even the last one or two, do not get upgraded because Google, the manufacturer, the carrier, or all three, JUST DON'T CARE.
My wife bought a Droid X (needed Verizon service before they got the iPhone came out), and it worked for what she needed. One Saturday morning a few weeks ago, the phone seized up for 30 minutes - it had decided that it wanted to update, NOW. Post-update, she can't get to her hotmail account. We've completely zeroed the phone - it won't download hotmail emails beyond the month of July. It's freaking psychotic. So we have to make time to go to the Verizon store and try to get them to fix the $#!%# thing. It's incredible to me.
Why would anybody be willing to spend (in cash or through subsidy repayments) $400-700 on a computing device and never want or need to upgrade the operating system? Even on a mature platform like Windows people expect that and routinely upgrade. Not all of them for sure, but I bet most of them insist upon the capability.
I think we are in a unique period of time right now, where smartphones are advancing so rapidly that a relatively short life is more than enough and most people "buy" a new one within 2 years. As the smartphone platforms mature, I am willing to bet that people will keep them longer and thus insist upon upgrade capability.
At the moment, though, Google and partners are probably doing the sensible thing - assuming their users (NOT customers) will replace their smartphone pretty quickly and thus not care about system software upgrades. By contrast, Apple is acting like the iPhone is something to treasure and hold onto for a long time.
My point was merely the irony of the enduring double-standards here:
When Android users buy a new Android phone, it's because the last one was "garbage", and because they are "stupid".
But when it turns out that nearly 3/4 of iPhone 4S buys already bought an earlier iPhone, it's presented in completely opposite terms.
Personally, I think both OSes have a lot going for them. The only sad thing isn't iOS or Android, but those who mistake either for a religion.
Where you have a point, and everybody is entitled to what they like and don't like, I just can't stand the idea of Droids being good phones on the OS end of things, having owned a few since they first hit the market with the G1. It feels hollow and empty, like the guts are just superficial.
I work in tool retail and handle many products. You can tell the difference between a Ryobi drill and a Black and Decker. Both are drills meant for the same market, both will work, but the Ryobi has the feeling of years of hard work and growth to be better while BnD just feels like years of work to be cheaper. It's the same thing and it shows once you have experienced both. The lack of OS support is just another sign of it.
New Rule: When referring to Android updates categorize them Official or Unofficial.
With that now said, just because the Phone isn't getting updated by Google/Manufacturer/Carrier does NOT instantly mean that that particular phone will NEVER see said version. Case in point, the T-mobile G1 was able to go up to Gingerbread(1.5, 1.6 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3) unsupported by Google or HTC for 3 years before being legacized and abandoned this year by the community. 1 phone duration in canada, almost 2 Entire contracts with a US carrier.
Uhm, that was kind of the entire point of this article. Yeah, there is a user community that ports the versions to phones, but there are only rare phones that the carrier keeps officially updated to anything close to current. If you want to stay current on Android you most likely have to a) make sure Google releases the source code and b) root and update your phone. To do the same w/the iPhone you turn it on and install an update. Done.
Well, depending on how you define out of date, the IPhone comes out with outdated hardware. Now I own a IPhone 4 and love it. However, Steve is wrong, there is no one size fits all. Otherwise, It wouldn't exist. I am in college(Engineering); so a lot of my friends like to mess with coding and stuff. The android is open so they can do this. I do not know anything about that stuff, so a phone that works great and does most of the same thing, IPhone is better for me. (Until they get more than like 20% thinner than the Iphone 4, then ill jump to android, simply cause I don't get Apple's thing with things being 1mm thin. I want to hold something, not air.
What outdated hardware are you talking about? Yes, I could have an A5 chip instead of an A4, or an 8MP camera instead of 5 -- but what makes the phone useful and valueable to me is not how many pixels Apple crammed on the screen or CMOS, it's what I do with the phone.
Cramming more pixel density onto that size CMOS just in order to be able to say "10MP Camera" on the spec list isn't going to help me take better pictures or scream "up to date" hardware at me. What tells me Apple is up to date is that they are considering other things about the camera -- lens elements, quality of lens, backlighting, color sensitivity and range, speed of response, etc.... and, sure enough, the software for actually taking a picture, thank you very much.
Because of Apple's model and committment to getting OS updates out quickly to even older devices, because Apple wants me to be happy with the phone I have, then I start to view the Phone as more than a bag of parts. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That approach is unique to Apple; it's refreshing, maybe even a bit magical. On the iPhone, an OS update is giving 2+ year-old phones a new lease of life. People are very happy about that.
OTOH, people shopping for an Android phone are forced to look at spec lists, and they are encouraged to look at the last decimal place in terms of GHZ or RAM or pixels and everything else because those are the only things that differentiate the phones -- it is constant one-upmanship between the handset makers and the individual handsets becuase the makers must provide some candy and diversion in order to sell devices.
The Android OS has become the commodity part, and the handset makers have to find other ways to stand out -- they aren't doing it through better service or customer satisfaction; they are, as the article suggests, creating buyers' remorse and making you unhappy so that you will buy a new phone!
But what good are all these specs, these latest components, this up-to-date hardware, if the features depending on them are barely usable, are not supported, or are non-existent in a device because I can't easily get an OS update (short of being an engineering nerd who loves to root his phone)? From the chart we can see just how out of date most phones actually are.
Also, bear in mind that we don't know what Apple has pulled off inside the A4 and A5 SoC. They have done a lot of in-house custom work on them. Yes, they might have started with an off-the-shelf ARM design to base part of it on, but to call much of Apple's stuff "outdated" is a little disingenuous. Then there are the engineering processes with metal and glass, new ideas for antennas that make room for more battery; and of course, there are the advancements in power management and batterylife itself.
So, just because the stock parts that Apple does include might not be as flashy as the latest and greatest Android phone released last week, it's far more likely that these are design and strategic decisions (and the inevitable trade-offs) that allow Apple to deliver other, more advanced hardware elements than competitors would or could.
Really, your argument is just a deflection from the fact that a lot of true innovation and up-to-datedness is accomplished in the software and in elements that don't make the me-too-spec-list.
You exist to be a troll. There's not a single thing that you've ever done that points to you existing for any other purpose. You needed to have been banned fifty posts ago.
I only initially replied to you because I was apprehensive of your statement that 2.2 was the only thing you need to get features from several years' newer updates. Which is complete fallacy.
We're done here.
But what I said was true. And not a single person has yet to prove otherwise.
Here we go for a third time:
-If there's an app that requires 2.3, it's because it requires NFC/FFC
-If the app doesn't use those 2 features, this means that the app could require anything from 1.6-2.2.
-Every phone in the last 2 years has been 2.2, or currently has an option to upgrade to 2.2
-The only fragmentation that I see is with accessories that go with Android phones
I am not posting to "troll". I'm posting because most people seem misinformed about Android and WP7. I currently own every phone except a Blackberry.
Are people that aren't obsessed about Apple trolls? \
1) upgrading from what? Mostly iPhone 3's or 3G's which are two years old or older. They would upgrade anyway... so, Apple has made them happy, they buy another iPhone. That's the point.
2) Of course they are upgrading... that's how we justify getting iPhones for our wives, kids or other family members. When family start coming out of the woodwork, clamouring for an iPhone you can feel real good about getting a new one, because you know you are making someone else really happy!
3) if the current iPhone is not passed down to family members, it can be sold for a good percentage of its original value, which makes it a good investment, helping toward the purchase of the new model.
So, what was your point?
My dad is getting himself a 4S. It's a replacement for his, wait for it, iPhone 1st Gen 2007! He's an upgrader! Guess what? his 1st gen phone will still be used... one his little grandkids will get it to use as an iPod Touch or in place of some crappy plastic Nokia phone they now have for the bike ride to school. Apps and content will continue to be purchased, and customer satisfaction will continue to be banked by Apple, what, 4 and a half years on.
....it's still behind Froyo (native turn by turn navigation, ...
Well that's a whole revenue stream Google stole from third party developers.
This is one example of why the App store is so strong and why iPhone users have MORE choice in how they customise their phones.
This is another side of Google's "giving away" barely adequate software that does just enough to provide a platform to display their ads.
There is NO competition among third party developers to provide differentiated navigation software experiences as is found on iPhones because there is no INCENTIVE FOR INNOVATION.
Gingerbread introduced a new keyboard, NFC support, native multi camera support, updated video drivers, a new garbage collector, improved power management, new UI refinements, internet calling via SIP account, downloads management.
This doesn't mean that apps can't run on the previous release (Froyo). Your argument doesn't make any sense.
Android is not fragmented. The only issue you would have would be on a device over 2 years old. And that would only be for a limited number of applications.
How about this CURRENT Android phone, released in June this year.
When will it get I scream, sand witch?
How well will the latest Android java programs run on it?
Well that's a whole revenue stream Google stole from third party developers.
This is one example of why the App store is so strong and why iPhone users have MORE choice in how they customise their phones.
This is another side of Google's "giving away" barely adequate software that does just enough to provide a platform to display their ads.
There is NO competition among third party developers to provide differentiated navigation software experiences as is found on iPhones because there is no INCENTIVE FOR INNOVATION.
It's the best navigation app across all platforms hands down. People couldn't care less about a single text ad on a portion of their initial searches.
3D building rendering, street view, business reviews, phone numbers, store hours, offline maps, 3d voice navigation with real time traffic, mass transit, walking, and even bike routes. Oh, and it's free.
it puts everything else to shame. I haven't seen an Android user use anything else even though there are other alternatives available.
LOL nice find. That phone is in the CM project. So the latest version of Gingerbread (2.3.7) is available.
This has a 500mhz cpu. The hardware is about 3 years old in terms of speed. This will not get ICS, but it will run the newest applications while on Gingerbread
Gingerbread introduced a new keyboard, NFC support, native multi camera support, updated video drivers, a new garbage collector, improved power management, new UI refinements, internet calling via SIP account, downloads management.
This doesn't mean that apps can't run on the previous release (Froyo). Your argument doesn't make any sense.
Android is not fragmented. The only issue you would have would be on a device over 2 years old. And that would only be for a limited number of applications.
You're not making sense. Many current and recent Android phones, let alone 2-yr old phones, are not getting the latest OS updates. So, in terms of some of the updated features you just listed, ones that are basically software/UI/UX improvements and refinements, the latest Android phones might as well be 2+ years old!
Therefore, the developer must target phones running very old versions of Android, regardless if the phone is new or 2+ years old or whatever. The developer must make sure his app runs gracefully or degrades gracefully for those phones on versions of Android without the UI refinements, etc.
In other words, his minimum requirements must be very minimum indeed because of the large number of Android versions in regular use out there by new and old phones alike! That was very clear in the article, and if this doesn't mightily pertain to "fragmentation", then what does?
Many NEW Android phones are using the same version of Android as 2+ yr old Android phones! That is, multiple versions of Android of all vintages are still being put on new phones. And a lack of interest from Google, handset makers, carriers or a combination thereof is not making efforts to get eligible phones updated -- or even LAUNCHED with the latest Android OS. It's a lottery! (if you are a geek, you might be able to update it yourself).
What can we say about 2+ year old versions of iOS? It remains on 4 year old iPhones (my dad still has a first gen iPhone). If developers want to accomodate 3-year old iPhones, they can add support for the version of iOS that is one version immediately previous to the latest version. This will accomodate just about EVERY iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad EVER MADE (the vast majority of the 200 or so million devices).
There were what, four million iPhone 4S sales the first weekend, and by then 20 million downloads of iOS 5 by users of older devices for starters. Then there are the daily sales of every new iOS devices since then. An iOS app developer can pretty safely make iOS 5 the minimum requirement.
Comments
My year and a half old Aria runs the latest release of Gingerbread without issue.
what about the iphone 3g? no ios5? No siri? People can make these stupid arguments all day.
The iPhone 3G was released in 2008.
That would be like the Android G1 getting Ice Cream Sandwich.
The iPhone 3G was released in 2008.
That would be like the Android G1 getting Ice Cream Sandwich.
And that came out almost a half a year after the iPhone 3G. In Android terms that's about as much you get on the market before being discontinued.
Imagine, for a minute, that you could control your TV with your voice. And what it was calling up wasn't "channels," but apps. Buy Comedy Central. Buy or rent X. Play free web video. Your TV also has FaceTime on it. Kind of an Apple TV with apps and program storage. Multi-tier cable for $200 a month? No, no. Buy what you actually watch. Get a few basic channels from cable, for sports, live news and events.
And if that ever happens... those few basic channels will be hella expensive.
The reason you get 200 channels is because of how they are bundled.
If you get 200 channels for $100 a month... that doesn't mean you could pick a single channel for 50 cents.
It won't work like that...
It might be worth reading a bit more about the differences in multi-tasking in iOS as compared to traditional multi-tasking, or the sort of multi-tasking which is used in an operating system like Android. There's probably very little (or even no) benefit to 'turning off' any apps at all when you pick up one of your parents' phones.
Beg to differ.
I find that on BOTH my iPhone 4s (one work supplied and one personal) that occasionally some app (or webapp, or website) climbs out of the sandbox (so to speak) and starts running down the battery at an amazing rate. Turning off apps and/or rebooting does the trick.
I don't know why or how it happens, but apparently things do need to be "turned off" at times. Not sure if this occurs on iOS5 as I've only had it for a week.
I recall others on AI reporting this behavior, but it has been a while.
What a foolish argument. Sure, there will always homebrew ways of poorly cramming some OS onto some HW but that isn't how you categorize CE. If the vendor or carrier isn't issuing an update for that device then that's it. Done! Kaput! You can't claim that some guy in Budapest figured out a way to get ICS on the Nexus One (though the speaker and BT don't work and the battery lasts 1/3 the time) and then claim that isn't fragmentation. Consumers aren't going to bother with all that crap. They want a simple solution that works. A solution they can trust. Note the C in CE stands for Consumer, not Coder.
Your assuming that The average customer actually CARES about the version of Android they are on. From my experience, unless they are a heavy internet user in terms of research, this is not the case.
STOP putting words in my mouth, I'm NOT claiming that Fragmentation is non-existant, or not an issue for Android as a WHOLE. I was simply stating that in the case of phones like the Nexus one that since the average customer that bought the thing was most likely some sort of geek, that this would be little to no issue for that particular model.
You also, like so many others seem to happily assume that Rooting is some Ridiculously difficult task that requires immense knowledge of technical know-how and that there is no simpler solution, that you MUST deal with the heart of the phone. An ever increasing number of Android phones are getting 1-click root solutions. Several 1 click root solutions are available on the Official market for free or very cheap. You literally touch the phone and the rooting is done for you, everything else that is done afterwards is no different that if you were regularly customizing your Android phone.
Is Fragmentation an issue? YES IT IS.
Is it something that can't be overcome and is impossible to rectify? NO, Carriers/Google/Manufacturers can choose to upgrade their phones, or customers can themselves via root.
Moto and verizon could easily get ICS on the Droid X for example. Is it gonna happen? No, but does that mean that people can't fix it? Of course not.
That was my message. Fragmentation is an issue, but not something that can't be fixed.
Please explain how Android is fragmented then.
No.
You're a troll.
You exist to be a troll. There's not a single thing that you've ever done that points to you existing for any other purpose. You needed to have been banned fifty posts ago.
I only initially replied to you because I was apprehensive of your statement that 2.2 was the only thing you need to get features from several years' newer updates. Which is complete fallacy.
We're done here.
Oddly enough I just came across this article which fits perfectly here...
http://theunderstatement.com/post/11...ory-of-support
If I were new to smart phones, and saw that chart, it's pretty obvious which manufacturer's phones I would buy.
To be fair, Android has separated out much of its OS as separate apps. All Android phones have had maps, email, etc. regularly updated. And also to be fair, all iPhones don't receive all updates in each iOS update. Siri is case-in-point. Only the 4S has that one, officially.
Hardware capability is not the same issue. Of course later phones do more things. I would hope so, it should be inevitable.
The first iPhone didn't have a camera, nor did the first couple of iPod Touches, nor did the first iPad. So, obviously, an update that has to do with taking pictures or making movies isn't going to be implemented on that particular device. Goes without saying, really. Arguably, Siri needs the faster processor (but, to be fair, we don't know that for sure yet).
But, that's not what we are talking about here. So, no, let's be fair...
NEW Android phones don't always ship with the LATEST Android OS.
Relatively new Android Phones, that are perfectly CAPABLE of using the LATEST OS, or even the last one or two, do not get upgraded because Google, the manufacturer, the carrier, or all three, JUST DON'T CARE.
I think we are in a unique period of time right now, where smartphones are advancing so rapidly that a relatively short life is more than enough and most people "buy" a new one within 2 years. As the smartphone platforms mature, I am willing to bet that people will keep them longer and thus insist upon upgrade capability.
At the moment, though, Google and partners are probably doing the sensible thing - assuming their users (NOT customers) will replace their smartphone pretty quickly and thus not care about system software upgrades. By contrast, Apple is acting like the iPhone is something to treasure and hold onto for a long time.
My point was merely the irony of the enduring double-standards here:
When Android users buy a new Android phone, it's because the last one was "garbage", and because they are "stupid".
But when it turns out that nearly 3/4 of iPhone 4S buys already bought an earlier iPhone, it's presented in completely opposite terms.
Personally, I think both OSes have a lot going for them. The only sad thing isn't iOS or Android, but those who mistake either for a religion.
Where you have a point, and everybody is entitled to what they like and don't like, I just can't stand the idea of Droids being good phones on the OS end of things, having owned a few since they first hit the market with the G1. It feels hollow and empty, like the guts are just superficial.
I work in tool retail and handle many products. You can tell the difference between a Ryobi drill and a Black and Decker. Both are drills meant for the same market, both will work, but the Ryobi has the feeling of years of hard work and growth to be better while BnD just feels like years of work to be cheaper. It's the same thing and it shows once you have experienced both. The lack of OS support is just another sign of it.
New Rule: When referring to Android updates categorize them Official or Unofficial.
With that now said, just because the Phone isn't getting updated by Google/Manufacturer/Carrier does NOT instantly mean that that particular phone will NEVER see said version. Case in point, the T-mobile G1 was able to go up to Gingerbread(1.5, 1.6 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3) unsupported by Google or HTC for 3 years before being legacized and abandoned this year by the community. 1 phone duration in canada, almost 2 Entire contracts with a US carrier.
Uhm, that was kind of the entire point of this article. Yeah, there is a user community that ports the versions to phones, but there are only rare phones that the carrier keeps officially updated to anything close to current. If you want to stay current on Android you most likely have to a) make sure Google releases the source code and b) root and update your phone. To do the same w/the iPhone you turn it on and install an update. Done.
Well, depending on how you define out of date, the IPhone comes out with outdated hardware. Now I own a IPhone 4 and love it. However, Steve is wrong, there is no one size fits all. Otherwise, It wouldn't exist. I am in college(Engineering); so a lot of my friends like to mess with coding and stuff. The android is open so they can do this. I do not know anything about that stuff, so a phone that works great and does most of the same thing, IPhone is better for me. (Until they get more than like 20% thinner than the Iphone 4, then ill jump to android, simply cause I don't get Apple's thing with things being 1mm thin. I want to hold something, not air.
What outdated hardware are you talking about? Yes, I could have an A5 chip instead of an A4, or an 8MP camera instead of 5 -- but what makes the phone useful and valueable to me is not how many pixels Apple crammed on the screen or CMOS, it's what I do with the phone.
Cramming more pixel density onto that size CMOS just in order to be able to say "10MP Camera" on the spec list isn't going to help me take better pictures or scream "up to date" hardware at me. What tells me Apple is up to date is that they are considering other things about the camera -- lens elements, quality of lens, backlighting, color sensitivity and range, speed of response, etc.... and, sure enough, the software for actually taking a picture, thank you very much.
Because of Apple's model and committment to getting OS updates out quickly to even older devices, because Apple wants me to be happy with the phone I have, then I start to view the Phone as more than a bag of parts. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That approach is unique to Apple; it's refreshing, maybe even a bit magical. On the iPhone, an OS update is giving 2+ year-old phones a new lease of life. People are very happy about that.
OTOH, people shopping for an Android phone are forced to look at spec lists, and they are encouraged to look at the last decimal place in terms of GHZ or RAM or pixels and everything else because those are the only things that differentiate the phones -- it is constant one-upmanship between the handset makers and the individual handsets becuase the makers must provide some candy and diversion in order to sell devices.
The Android OS has become the commodity part, and the handset makers have to find other ways to stand out -- they aren't doing it through better service or customer satisfaction; they are, as the article suggests, creating buyers' remorse and making you unhappy so that you will buy a new phone!
But what good are all these specs, these latest components, this up-to-date hardware, if the features depending on them are barely usable, are not supported, or are non-existent in a device because I can't easily get an OS update (short of being an engineering nerd who loves to root his phone)? From the chart we can see just how out of date most phones actually are.
Also, bear in mind that we don't know what Apple has pulled off inside the A4 and A5 SoC. They have done a lot of in-house custom work on them. Yes, they might have started with an off-the-shelf ARM design to base part of it on, but to call much of Apple's stuff "outdated" is a little disingenuous. Then there are the engineering processes with metal and glass, new ideas for antennas that make room for more battery; and of course, there are the advancements in power management and batterylife itself.
So, just because the stock parts that Apple does include might not be as flashy as the latest and greatest Android phone released last week, it's far more likely that these are design and strategic decisions (and the inevitable trade-offs) that allow Apple to deliver other, more advanced hardware elements than competitors would or could.
Really, your argument is just a deflection from the fact that a lot of true innovation and up-to-datedness is accomplished in the software and in elements that don't make the me-too-spec-list.
No.
You're a troll.
You exist to be a troll. There's not a single thing that you've ever done that points to you existing for any other purpose. You needed to have been banned fifty posts ago.
I only initially replied to you because I was apprehensive of your statement that 2.2 was the only thing you need to get features from several years' newer updates. Which is complete fallacy.
We're done here.
But what I said was true. And not a single person has yet to prove otherwise.
Here we go for a third time:
-If there's an app that requires 2.3, it's because it requires NFC/FFC
-If the app doesn't use those 2 features, this means that the app could require anything from 1.6-2.2.
-Every phone in the last 2 years has been 2.2, or currently has an option to upgrade to 2.2
-The only fragmentation that I see is with accessories that go with Android phones
I am not posting to "troll". I'm posting because most people seem misinformed about Android and WP7. I currently own every phone except a Blackberry.
Are people that aren't obsessed about Apple trolls?
73% of iPhone 4S buyers are upgraders
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...4gb_model.html
Yes, but:
1) upgrading from what? Mostly iPhone 3's or 3G's which are two years old or older. They would upgrade anyway... so, Apple has made them happy, they buy another iPhone. That's the point.
2) Of course they are upgrading... that's how we justify getting iPhones for our wives, kids or other family members. When family start coming out of the woodwork, clamouring for an iPhone you can feel real good about getting a new one, because you know you are making someone else really happy!
3) if the current iPhone is not passed down to family members, it can be sold for a good percentage of its original value, which makes it a good investment, helping toward the purchase of the new model.
So, what was your point?
My dad is getting himself a 4S. It's a replacement for his, wait for it, iPhone 1st Gen 2007! He's an upgrader! Guess what? his 1st gen phone will still be used... one his little grandkids will get it to use as an iPod Touch or in place of some crappy plastic Nokia phone they now have for the bike ride to school. Apps and content will continue to be purchased, and customer satisfaction will continue to be banked by Apple, what, 4 and a half years on.
....it's still behind Froyo (native turn by turn navigation, ...
Well that's a whole revenue stream Google stole from third party developers.
This is one example of why the App store is so strong and why iPhone users have MORE choice in how they customise their phones.
This is another side of Google's "giving away" barely adequate software that does just enough to provide a platform to display their ads.
There is NO competition among third party developers to provide differentiated navigation software experiences as is found on iPhones because there is no INCENTIVE FOR INNOVATION.
Gingerbread introduced a new keyboard, NFC support, native multi camera support, updated video drivers, a new garbage collector, improved power management, new UI refinements, internet calling via SIP account, downloads management.
This doesn't mean that apps can't run on the previous release (Froyo). Your argument doesn't make any sense.
Android is not fragmented. The only issue you would have would be on a device over 2 years old. And that would only be for a limited number of applications.
How about this CURRENT Android phone, released in June this year.
When will it get I scream, sand witch?
How well will the latest Android java programs run on it?
http://www.gsmarena.com/vodafone_858_smart-3955.php
btw it's 80 bucks on PAYG.
Well that's a whole revenue stream Google stole from third party developers.
This is one example of why the App store is so strong and why iPhone users have MORE choice in how they customise their phones.
This is another side of Google's "giving away" barely adequate software that does just enough to provide a platform to display their ads.
There is NO competition among third party developers to provide differentiated navigation software experiences as is found on iPhones because there is no INCENTIVE FOR INNOVATION.
It's the best navigation app across all platforms hands down. People couldn't care less about a single text ad on a portion of their initial searches.
3D building rendering, street view, business reviews, phone numbers, store hours, offline maps, 3d voice navigation with real time traffic, mass transit, walking, and even bike routes. Oh, and it's free.
it puts everything else to shame. I haven't seen an Android user use anything else even though there are other alternatives available.
How about this CURRENT Android phone, released in June this year.
When will it get I scream, sand witch?
How well will the latest Android java programs run on it?
http://www.gsmarena.com/vodafone_858_smart-3955.php
btw it's 80 bucks on PAYG.
LOL nice find. That phone is in the CM project. So the latest version of Gingerbread (2.3.7) is available.
This has a 500mhz cpu. The hardware is about 3 years old in terms of speed. This will not get ICS, but it will run the newest applications while on Gingerbread
Gingerbread introduced a new keyboard, NFC support, native multi camera support, updated video drivers, a new garbage collector, improved power management, new UI refinements, internet calling via SIP account, downloads management.
This doesn't mean that apps can't run on the previous release (Froyo). Your argument doesn't make any sense.
Android is not fragmented. The only issue you would have would be on a device over 2 years old. And that would only be for a limited number of applications.
You're not making sense. Many current and recent Android phones, let alone 2-yr old phones, are not getting the latest OS updates. So, in terms of some of the updated features you just listed, ones that are basically software/UI/UX improvements and refinements, the latest Android phones might as well be 2+ years old!
Therefore, the developer must target phones running very old versions of Android, regardless if the phone is new or 2+ years old or whatever. The developer must make sure his app runs gracefully or degrades gracefully for those phones on versions of Android without the UI refinements, etc.
In other words, his minimum requirements must be very minimum indeed because of the large number of Android versions in regular use out there by new and old phones alike! That was very clear in the article, and if this doesn't mightily pertain to "fragmentation", then what does?
Many NEW Android phones are using the same version of Android as 2+ yr old Android phones! That is, multiple versions of Android of all vintages are still being put on new phones. And a lack of interest from Google, handset makers, carriers or a combination thereof is not making efforts to get eligible phones updated -- or even LAUNCHED with the latest Android OS. It's a lottery! (if you are a geek, you might be able to update it yourself).
What can we say about 2+ year old versions of iOS? It remains on 4 year old iPhones (my dad still has a first gen iPhone). If developers want to accomodate 3-year old iPhones, they can add support for the version of iOS that is one version immediately previous to the latest version. This will accomodate just about EVERY iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad EVER MADE (the vast majority of the 200 or so million devices).
There were what, four million iPhone 4S sales the first weekend, and by then 20 million downloads of iOS 5 by users of older devices for starters. Then there are the daily sales of every new iOS devices since then. An iOS app developer can pretty safely make iOS 5 the minimum requirement.