Gingerbread - Yawn?

**Bushido Brown** · 12-06-2010, 10:40 AM

I know this may not be a popular sentiment, since new OS updates usually send the Android community into a tailspin.

This isn't criticism, I wasn't expecting anything major from a dot one OS increment. I'm just sharing my thoughts on 2.3

**thekarens** · 12-06-2010, 11:19 AM

I think what you and many others don't realize is the tweaks that go on behind the scene. The visual differences might not be much, but the "under the hood" stuff is very cool and does make a big difference. It did with Froyo and it will with Gingerbread as well.

**Bushido Brown** · 12-06-2010, 11:34 AM

2.2 performance upgrades were well documented, and demonstrated. I haven't read anything specific about how 2.3 will run more efficiently. Just a bullet promising improved performance. I'm not let down, just not excited. Almost seems like this could have just been another branch of Froyo.

**plower** · 12-06-2010, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by Bushido Brown

2.2 performance upgrades were well documented, and demonstrated. I haven't read anything specific about how 2.3 will run more efficiently. Just a bullet promising improved performance. I'm not let down, just not excited. Almost seems like this could have just been another branch of Froyo.

I have to kind of agree. I don't remember where I heard it, but I heard long ago that Gingerbread would be a whole UI update that would eliminate 3rd party launchers and a lot of custom bloat that manufacturers put on devices.

I was hoping for, for lack of a better term, a fragmentation killer. Then all the haters wouldn't be able to just throw fragmentation around as an attempt to win their argument.

**thebizz** · 12-06-2010, 12:00 PM

I'm kinda let down by this update also froyo was a big jump from 2.1 this seems like it could be 2.2.2 nothing really huge I guess hunnycomb will be the big update. Though I doubt many of the current phones will get that.

**Jerzyiroc** · 12-06-2010, 12:02 PM

I remember when Android 2.2 came to the Evo people were complaining that "everything looked the same". Well the differences were huge from 2.1 to 2.2. While I'm sure there will be some other nice UI changes that we just haven't been able to see, I hope people aren't expecting their phones to look like something out of the Minority Report or holographic rabbits popping out of their phone. Android 2.3 will surely be a huge jump from 2.2, but it's not always about pretty stuff. I'm sure there will be some massive changes that has nothing to do with "how nice it looks".

**thebizz** · 12-06-2010, 12:10 PM

Oh I know they did behind the seen changes I guess I need to look into the changes more because to me it doesn't look major

**Jesse Potter** · 12-06-2010, 12:27 PM

I think everybody's expectations of a point release are a tad too high. Gingerbread brings plenty of improvements and enhancements..

-UI refinements
-Faster, better keyboard
-Better power management
-Task manager is easier to get to.
-Internet calling -- SIP support!
-Near-field communications (NFC) for purchases and the like
-Better downloads management.

Baby steps people, baby steps. Android got to where it is because of 2 years of small tweaks and improvements with every update. If you're not happy with Gingerbread, try to use a G1 on 1.0 for a week. That's how these things get better. Baby steps.

These updates don't write themselves. I don't even want to think about the amount of hours that went into this update. I for one am perfectly happy with the Gingerbread announcement.

**plower** · 12-06-2010, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by Jerzyiroc

I hope people aren't expecting their phones to look like something out of the Minority Report or holographic rabbits popping out of their phone.

What??!!??

That's exactly what Honeycomb is though right?

**Jesse Potter** · 12-06-2010, 12:33 PM

Also, I highly recommend reading this entire page:

**rem_kujawa** · 12-06-2010, 12:33 PM

Any update is good, it means their tweaking things and making it better.

**keebz** · 12-06-2010, 01:36 PM

I am hoping "Improved Power Management" includes a fix for the Droid Incredible's charging issue (which has been said to be a software/firmware issue). Still, any update is most welcome.

**thebizz** · 12-06-2010, 01:36 PM

Thinking about it now they have done leap baby step then another leap. Think about it 2.0 was a huge jump from 1.6, 2.1 was a baby step 2.2 seemed like a leap, gingerbread seems to be a baby step just adding features that weren't ready for froyo, so looking at it that way hunnycomb will be big

**BSG75** · 12-06-2010, 01:59 PM

I welcome all of the under-the-hood changes. I think we were waiting on the "one-UI-to-rule-them-all" and that was apparently misinformation. Not that I dislike the UI, I was just curious to see what huge improvements were on tap.

From a user experience, we don't see a big new user feature. 2.1 had turn-by-turn GPS and 2.2 had Flash. Still, everything that Jesse mentioned is stuff to look forward too. It would be nice to see it on my Incredible.

Oh, one thing that keeps me on Sense, though is the multiple "scenes." I have a running scene, driving scene, house-hunting scene, and some other scenes set up to compliment various live wallpapers. It would be nice if that functionality was built into Android.

**DerekMorr** · 12-06-2010, 04:37 PM

I was hoping to see improved HTML5 support. I haven't seen any so far from trying out the browser in the emulator. In fact, the webkit build is unchanged from 2.2.

**Kevin O'Quinn** · 12-06-2010, 04:44 PM

Any performance and/or battery improvements are welcomed. Anyone on an EVO knows this to be true.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2

**ottscay** · 12-06-2010, 05:00 PM

I'm going to come down squarely on the side of "people aren't seeing the importance of the under-the-hood" changes. NFC will literally change the way we check in to places, shop, spend money (note those aren't identical), and share information with others...it just won't be obvious for much of the next year. Likewise, the work they did to expand the API to expose stuff for gaming and media content is laying the groundwork for major advances (/cough Playstation phone and Google Music), and their support of built in VOIP stacks and native video chat support will become huge in the next 6-12 months.

I suppose in a way people may never appreciate it, since outside of the music and gaming products we'll see in the next couple months (which themselves may be seen as separate projects) the other items won't come to fruition for end users until after Honeycomb is out, Still, getting them ready now so developers and major business partners can start to implement these large-scale changes to how we use mobile devices was a major undertaking. Honeycomb may have all the flash and sex appeal, but Gingerbread is absolutely huge in terms of building infrastructure for the long term.

**Chris Kerrigan** · 12-06-2010, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by iamlilysdad

Any performance and/or battery improvements are welcomed. Anyone on an EVO knows this to be true.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2

I feel as if it's anyone with Sense would know this. :P

But in all seriousness, there are a lot of changes under the hood so hopefully we will see some improvement on battery life across all devices running Gingerbread.

**_JKK_** · 12-06-2010, 05:11 PM

At the rate these 'smaller' .x increments are hitting Android, I'm happy.

After all, all these small updates add up. Comparing Android 2.2 and 2.0 shows that a lot has been done as far as small quirks that made the latter OS slightly harder and more annoying to use.

Overall, I'm happy with it. The keyboard should be an improvement.

**RichieHD#AC** · 12-06-2010, 05:13 PM

My hope is they optimized Android for the Hummingbird. That way, any rom that goes to my Vibrant will run better. (in theory, of course)

**icebike** · 12-06-2010, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by ottscay

I'm going to come down squarely on the side of "people aren't seeing the importance of the under-the-hood" changes. NFC will literally change the way we check in to places, shop, spend money (note those aren't identical), and share information with others...it just won't be obvious for much of the next year.

Actually NFC and Voip/SIP are really the only things of interest.

I think you make far too much of the "under the hood" changes.

NFC? Ok this is cool.
Keyboard? NO Big deal. I don't know a single person using the stock keyboard.
Text Selection? Probably get sued by Apple. Nothing new there.
Sip calling? Quote: SIP and internet calling features on specific devices is determined by their manufacturers and associated carriers. So its going NOWHERE except on the Nexus.
Downloads management - Meh!

The more you look at this the more it should be 2.2.2. It doesn't warrant a whole point release.

**icebike** · 12-06-2010, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by RichieHD

My hope is they optimized Android for the Hummingbird. That way, any rom that goes to my Vibrant will run better. (in theory, of course)

What optimization do you think this requires?

Its the same instruction set. Its still and ARM processor. It still has only one core. And Gingerbread has to work an all android phones, so that means a custom compile for every platform.

Gingerbread itself can't be optimized for one processor over another. That's what compiler options are for.

**fritzy** · 12-06-2010, 06:00 PM

Originally Posted by icebike

The more you look at this the more it should be 2.2.2. It doesn't warrant a whole point release.

You forget the new continuous garbage collection (garbage collection is a big deal in JVMs -- maybe this one uses reference counting). And I also thought that I read somewhere that Gingerbread is 3d accelerated now for all of the UI interaction, which should be a big performance improvement, as well as keeping the CPU closer to idle during UI use.