Help Me Understand

[Countbunny]

I bought this phone in early August like all of yours it is loaded with Android 2.1.

Google however it seems is no longer innovating or creating anything new for OS ver. 2.1. So no "Voice Actions" , "Tethering", "Android car",New Gmail" and of course the promised speed increase. From what I am reading what Google seems to be headed for with the recent updates is a separation of OS from app. Which means they can continue to innovate without having to roll out a new OS going forward from 2.2. Brilliant!
So the Samsung Galaxy S phone were released behind the curve? Anyone with any insight on why this was done? Also what is the average length of time before a new OS is released from Google? Thanks I am very curious.

 

[voghan]

Google pushes out a new os about every nine months it seems. So far we've seen 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1 and now 2.2. The nexus one sees to be their test phone. It gets all the updates. I don't think 2.2 is very stable because it seems to get a it of patches.

That said, Samsung is working to get all their phones on 2.2 this year. It will happen. The day it does...Google will come out with 2.5. Then we will all hope we get that version.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[Countbunny]

Okay, so what the manufacturers are counting on are Joe and Jane touchscreen. They do not know the difference between 1.5 or 5.5. Just as long as it has a touch screen and they can text and play a few games. Now for the other Android buyer the tweaker,customizer,developer,hacker types these folks would you say a large contingent however, the smaller profit sector. Google innovates it's OS and gives it away for free but the manufacturers have to tweak and polish it to fit their hardware vision. Google's margins are still search/advertising. But, for just sheer mindshare and positive word of mouth you would think the manufacturers would try and set some sort of class standard. I get the open source nature of the Android OS. However, too many Samsung Behold, Galaxy,Motorola Cliqs in the market. The rest of the good devices could suffer from bad word of mouth. Somebody with a brand new android phone running 1.5 gets a bad taste versus his cubicle pal with an IP4. Someone else like myself with a brand new 2.1 device compares his device to a Droid running 2.2!!! It cant be good marketing? There perhaps should be standard for at least what defines the Android top shelf device. Those devices regardless of carrier or manufacturer would all ship with the latest OS offered. Just my .02 worth.

 

[voghan]

It's not the phone manufacturer but actually the mobile service provider that is mostly at fault. Samsung has made their phones easy to root and install roms. They leaked the update and rom cookers built out rom's based on it. T-Mobile wants to test the rom first. Then they decide when it gets rolled out.
My last phone was an HTC hero. Nice phone, almost a year old and sprint/HTC decided it wasn't getting 2.2 officially. Rom cookers built a rom running 2.2 on the hero. Fortunately the hero has a great development community. Vibrant has some nice dev's too.

For the people that really want the most out of their phones....root and install a custom rom. Go out and look at the xda developer forums. Check out bionic 1.3 and try it out. Once you are rooted its easy to flash roms. Nandroid allows you to backup your phone. Root, make a backup then flash a rom. Invest in a nice app backup program like MyBackup that has special features for rooted phones.

This is the answer to manufactures and service providers screwing their customers. Most, like my wife, have no care about android 2.2 or even reading an android forum. Most people are happy with what they have because they don't know better.

 

[Countbunny]

Most, like my wife, have no care about android 2.2 or even reading an android forum. Most people are happy with what they have because they don't know better.

Exactly, and I'll bet this is the greater buying public that they count on. Which lets face it (when) Apple finally rolls out on other carriers in the US this could be bad for Android. Which furthers my point why manufacturers need to become a bit more class compliant. Again I think Google wants things to consolidate too.

 

[z0phi3l]

Exactly, and I'll bet this is the greater buying public that they count on. Which lets face it (when) Apple finally rolls out on other carriers in the US this could be bad for Android. Which furthers my point why manufacturers need to become a bit more class compliant. Again I think Google wants things to consolidate too.

I wouldn't worry about Apple, most people don't like their devices either, like at work, all you saw were IPhones, BBs and a sprinkling of Android (G1, MT3G), NOW all you see are all the different android phones and a sprinkling of iPhones, and the rare BB.

Apple had a chance when the original one was released, Android has better market integration and loyalty, yes some might jump over to an iPhone if it was released on their carrier, but most already know and are wary of the pitfalls involved switching to any iDevice

 

[Countbunny]

Android has better market integration and loyalty

I am sorry but that seems like wishful thinking. Not trying to be insulting.

 

[voghan]

The HTC hero is one of the best selling android phones. Why? Because sprint gave it away free. The power of the free phone is very significant.

 

[Countbunny]

The HTC hero is one of the best selling android phones. Why? Because sprint gave it away free. The power of the free phone is very significant.

Agreed, So did RIM with the Curves. Marketshare is very important to the quarterly bottom line. Mindshare creates continued and growing marketshare.

My idea/opinion is that the manufacturers come to an agreement with Google that at least the top shelf phones ship with the latest OS. That way the consumer knows this is the best right now Android has to offer. They could use the name Nexus as a class designee for the higher end phones. Not necessarily market them with the name. The EvoII,Droid 3,My Touch HD, *Samsung Galaxy HD,G3 would all for instance be classified as Android Nexus devices. The mid to low end and so called feature phones would not adhere to the Nexus classification and would be Android as usual.