Android Orphans: a Sad History of Platform Abandonment 770
MBCook writes "After seeing the announcement that Nexus One users won't get ICS, Michael Degusta made a chart to show how current the OS version on Android phones was over time... and the results are not encouraging."
what's the obsession with the latest version (Score:1, Insightful)
if a device works on a given version of the OS, leave it the hell alone
Like PC's (Score:4, Insightful)
I can install virtually any OS on my PC, why cant the same be done with mobiles?
What? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm so confused. First of all, this doesn't list the Samsung Galaxy, which has stayed updated. Or the S2 for that matter. Did they specifically pick Android devices that are not being updated (there are many, I don't deny that)?
Second of all, the original iPhone 2G, which I have, is definitely not supported by iOS5, or even iOS4 for that matter. What are they smoking?
I can't help but think this is intentionally skewed for Apple...
If there are no more apps for your device (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:what's the obsession with the latest version (Score:5, Insightful)
No standard boot process on ARM (Score:5, Insightful)
Silly fanboys. (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at Apple just releasing new hardware to force you to update! You sheep. Android is a FREE and OPEN platform. Why would anyone be locked down by iOS is beyond me. Keep it up Android and Android hardware suppliers, eventually you'll overrun the dark walled garden that is Apple.
</sarcasm>
(anything else I missed out on the typical Apple Bashing?)
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My Optimus V doesn't technically have the latest released for it but Cyanogenmod and a root (Mind you rooting it took much longer than jailbreaking my iPod Touch) took care of that. But not everyone is this tech savvy, my girlfriend is still waiting on her update. And this is why people buy iOS devices for themselves, friends or family.
Re:Like PC's (Score:5, Insightful)
Because every ARM board is unique, and there is no universal means for an OS to determine hardware capabilities and peripherals.
On the PC we have the BIOS, PCI, ACPI, and a number of other facilities that work well enough that the OS can automatically enumerate the hardware and configure itself to operate on the platform. With ARM devices, even between two boards with the same SoC you'll have peripherals connected via different GPIOs, interrupts on different pins, a wide array of voltage regulators (some more, some less, all connected differently.)
And since everything is stored in a flash chip at a custom location, working with the kernel and bootloader is a lot like working with the BIOS on your pc- if you mess it up, your device is screwed (unless it can cold flash, has a hard ROM for flashing, or accessible JTAG, all of which are extremely rare on consumer level devices.)
But even if you have all of the above taken care of, the complete lack of effort on behalf of Google and the hardware vendors to getting their changes upstream in the kernel generally means that porting newer versions of Android to older devices is a pain in the ass due to needing to rework or sometimes rewrite the drivers. Normally they would be updated and tested by people as the kernel moved forward, but instead they rot in tarballs and zip files out on vendor websites.
Never mind Google's wacky reworking of the file system. I'm sure devices like the Nexus One have plenty of space to store ICS. But their broken layout and insistence on storing applications on that NAND instead of having a higher capacity internal NAND or only storing applications on the SD card is a large part of this problem as well.
Re:What? (Score:1, Insightful)
Probably just another pro-Apple troll post. By the time a handset is truly no longer being supported by Android, chances are good that it's out of warranty and you may as well just unlock it and install a custom firmware.
Unless you were dumb enough to get a phone that was tightly locked down with a custom UI, in which case it kind of serves you right.
Re:If they would publish the damned source (Score:4, Insightful)
What source have "they" (I presume you mean Google) not published? No phone running ICS has been released. Google has explained why they didn't release Honeycomb and they've committed to releasing the source for ICS soon after phones running ICS have been released. Ignorant troll is Ignorant.
$0 tax if you are happy with App Store apps (Score:3, Insightful)
millions of people are.
Re:This ignores hobbiest support (Score:5, Insightful)
most people wipe the stock image as soon as they get it home and put a better build on it.
I do this, you do this, most people do not.
Re:what's the obsession with the latest version (Score:3, Insightful)
A fractured platform is hell for developers and hell for security. By all means, don't worry about it if you don't care about developer relations, having nice apps on your platform, having consistently-behaving apps on your platform, or not giving your CC info to Russian hackers.
Re:Buy Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What a stupid us of statistics (Score:5, Insightful)
She might not want to upgrade, but she *needs* to upgrade, to fix security vulnerabilities.
That's the #1 problem here.
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless you were dumb enough to get a phone that was tightly locked down with a custom UI, in which case it kind of serves you right.
Yes because the majority of consumers clearly should have to concern themselves with researching the concepts of bootloaders and the effects of custom UIs on the inner workings of the OS and impact it will have on future software updates. The only dumb people around here are those with your attitude.
Re:What? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:$0 tax if you are happy with App Store apps (Score:3, Insightful)
And many slaves were happy being slaves, and long term prison inmate loose track of what life is like outside the walls.
It's fine liking apple apps, being forced to only that choice is a well,. false choice.
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Probably just another pro-Apple troll post. By the time a handset is truly no longer being supported by Android, chances are good that it's out of warranty and you may as well just unlock it and install a custom firmware.
Unless you were dumb enough to get a phone that was tightly locked down with a custom UI, in which case it kind of serves you right.
Yeah, only a troll would suggest that it's reasonable for a vendor to support a phone for the entire length of the two-year contract you signed to get it.
Jeeeeezus is Slashdot out of touch with reality. Unlock it and install custom firmware? Seriously? You want to tell your Mom that she has to pay $200 for a phone, then pay $70 a month for the next two years, but after ten months she has to go find and install firmware herself? And anyone who doesn't think that's reasonable is a troll? BUUUUULLLLSHITTT.
Re:what's the obsession with the latest version (Score:4, Insightful)
No, like the 3GS which still got iOS5 even though it came out over two years ago (27months). As opposed to the mentioned Nexus One which only came out 21 months ago. So even though the 3GS came out 6 months BEFORE the Nexus One, it still gets the latest update of iOS5 as opposed to the Nexus One NOT getting ICS
Apple supports $currentPhone $currentPhone-1 and $currentPhone-2 with updates. We can see that is NOT the case with the Nexus Phones from Google.
I know you're trying to be smart, mentioning the iPhone 3G since that didn't get iOS 5, but that also was released before even the first Android phone, so it's not a fair comparison.
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless you were dumb enough to get a phone that was tightly locked down with a custom UI, in which case it kind of serves you right.
Yes because the majority of consumers clearly should have to concern themselves with researching the concepts of bootloaders and the effects of custom UIs on the inner workings of the OS and impact it will have on future software updates. The only dumb people around here are those with your attitude.
If you aren't concerned with bootloaders, root exploits, and all the trappings of low level android device operation then why exactly would you give two shits if your handset had an official 2.3 release or if it was "abandoned" on version 2.2? Trying to map the Android software world over to Apple's is amazingly disingenuous, to the point of being a complete troll (and anyone in this thread here to point that out is pretty trollish by relation.) Where are these huge gaps in features, stability, or security that have come from not running the very latest code from Google?
Re:What? (Score:2, Insightful)
Unless you were dumb enough to get a phone that was tightly locked down with a custom UI, in which case it kind of serves you right.
Ah, a fine display of the fraternal feelings amongst the Android community. See, they're not just a set of guttersnipes against iPhone users. They'll also call you names if you bought a different model of Android phone that they don't approve of.
Apple has that one right! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What? (Score:5, Insightful)
There are plenty of people who have never seen a line of source code and have no idea what a bootloader is, that still know enough to be interested in updates to the OSes of both their PCs and mobile devices. Information about major Android releases are found in fairly mainstream tech and news sites.
Example:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/burnette/top-10-features-in-android-23-gingerbread/2143 [zdnet.com]
"User features
1. New on-screen keyboard. The standard keyboard has been greatly improved in Android 2.3, with faster input and more intuitive typing. Even cut-and-paste got a makeover.
2. Streamlined user interface. New color schemes and various UI changes and polish make Android more consistent and simpler to use.
3. Application and power management. Android 2.3 provides better insight into what is running in the background, how much memory and CPU time it is using, and even lets you kill misbehaving apps. Yes, after months of telling us we don’t need a task killer, they give us a task killer. Enjoy your chuckle, iPhone fans.
4. SIP Internet calling. Voice over IP is integrated directly into Android 2.3. Unfortunately you’ll have to get a SIP account from a third party, and the ability might be curtailed on some carriers.
5. Download management. All your downloads from your browser, email, and other apps, can now be viewed and controlled from one place."
You don't have to know about rooting, bootloaders, open-source, or coding to have some understanding of the above points and potentially be interested. There are many levels of technical ability between "I compile my own Android builds for fun!" and "Does this here phone thing have the GeeBees and the Why-Fis and play them Angry Birds"
Re:Cyanogenmod (Score:5, Insightful)
BTW how long do you think handset makers and carriers should be forced to update phone software for?
Let's start with the length of the cell phone contract and work from there. If they're going to sell 2-year contracts, you should reasonably expect that the phone you buy will receive updates during that time. Once the contract expires, people can base their decision to get a new phone or switch carriers on the lack of updates. But when you're still under contract, you've got no choice but to accept the crappy situation, and that's not right.
This story is pointing out a legitimate problem with Android. As of yet, not one single iPhone has been sold that has not been supported for the entire 2-year contract. Meanwhile, 7 of the listed Android phones never ran the latest version of the OS, even when they were sold. I don't really take sides in the Android vs. iOS argument, but this is an area that Google really needs to address.
Re:Silly fanboys. (Score:2, Insightful)
Free and open huh? So you can just download and install Ice Cream Sandwich on all those phones they say don't support it, I guess.
Oh, you can't? So perhaps not so free and open...
Re:Cyanogenmod (Score:4, Insightful)
It's just what happens when you have one party supplying the hardware and another party supplying the software, and both with different priorities.
The Android scenario is closer to the PC scenario in the bad old days before "Windows Update" etc.For example the old computers might still be running an old version of Windows. Is that a problem? Yes. Did Dell/HP/etc care? No. Did Microsoft care? Not back then. Did most users care? No. Not until something goes wrong.
As a recent article says, Apple of today is focused on Product not Profit: http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/10/25/2246209/how-steve-jobs-solved-the-innovators-dilemma [slashdot.org]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/23/steve-jobs-failure_n_1025732.html [huffingtonpost.com]
"My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products," Jobs told Isaacson. "[T]he products, not the profits, were the motivation. Sculley flipped these priorities to where the goal was to make money. It's a subtle difference, but it ends up meaning everything."
When you have separate companies treating the software and hardware as different products, with different vision and priorities, the "whole product" is less likely to be as great.
True comparison for the right questions (Score:4, Insightful)
For a regular consumer a question is what will support be like if he buys an Android phone? What is this like vs. buying a phone with the competition's operating system, iOS?
These are rational questions for a regular customer, and they are answered quite well. It even helps answer a third question: If I buy an Android phone, which brands have the best history of support?
Re:What a stupid us of statistics (Score:4, Insightful)