TMobile and Samsung, why do they take so long for the updates?

[MrMorgado]

I own a Note 4, and i had the note 2 before that one, and it really surprises me how TMobile lacks with the updates for the phones that were launched more than 6 months ago or something like that. In example, Note 4 owners received the 5.0.1 Lollipop update (horrible update btw), but the rest of the world is getting or about to get the 5.1, and I am pretty sure that TMobile is not working on this upgrade for the Note 4, and will never do it either. Same happened with my previous Note 2, received inly one update. Why they do this? I mean, is it every tmobile customer fine with this and it inly looks bad to me? Why havent i seen this concern in any other forum? Does anyone else cares?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[SpookDroid]

Sorry to disappoint you, but TMobile IS working on the 5.1 update for the Note 4. That being said, it doesn't mean it'll be out quickly. Yes, updates have improved with both manufacturers and carriers lately, but it's still not perfect. The first update comes from Google, and then manufacturers have to adapt that to their custom OS's for each of their phone models. Once that's done, carriers further tinker with this because, well, they add their own software and modifications.

Why does it take more time for manufacturers, and furthermore, for carriers to come out with updates and why some 'old' models might be left forgotten? Man power. Google has a team that handles the updates to the OS, but that's a general OS. The reference OS. Manufacturers need to assign a team to apply the update and modify it to fit their custom OSs and specific hardware configurations for their different models. For instance, for Samsung alone, this means at least working on updates for the Note 4, Note 5, Note Edge, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+ as their 'first priority', not to mention the Alpha line, their mid-rangers, tablets, etc. and each and every variant of the same model family (AT&T Note 5, T-Mobile Note 5, Sprint Note 5, International Note 5, etc.). Once it trickles down to the carriers, they also need a team to work on adapting said updates from the manufacturer to their own further additions and modifications. And for carriers this means a myriad of phones from all manufacturers.

In the end, they do have to prioritize which phones they want to focus in first, and usually, those are the newest and greatest top-of-the-line phones.

 

[MrMorgado]

Good, very happy actually now that you kind of guarantee that TMobile is working on the 5.1 for the Note 5, ima trust you since the way you are confirming it sounds like if u work for them. Anyway, i also understand that they have a lot of phones to take care of, and they need to prioritize some of them, but hey, the Note 4 is also top-of-the-line, and it wasnt $100 (and whoever has a Note 4 right now out there didnt paid $100 for them either) they charged us enough to cover the cost of the phone and make profit out of it, that's why i expect a better (and faster) service from them, because they are not doing a favor to anyone that owes a phone from them, we paid for it, and the same goes with TMobile. BTW, this companies make millions (not to say "BILLIONS") of dollars in profit (very important, profit, iam saying "profit", which is not the same as revenue, dont get confuse) each year, so they do have money to invest in "Man Power" as you called it, and hire a few more employees to be able to provide a better (and faster) service. That they saved themselves a few thousands by not hiring a few extra Software Developers (or however the f*** they called it) to be able to offer a better (and faster) product/service , it really freaking bothers me.

 

[SpookDroid]

Full disclaimer, I don't work for TMobile. I've just seen the test builds from a friend, and that was a very early build.

And I get what you mean by the Note 4 being top of the line. It still is even to today's standards... but it's a year-old phone. In tech time, that's old. And now that the Note 5 is out, it's old AND last-gen. I know, horrible truth, but the truth nonetheless, no matter how perfectly capable and still expensive your phone may be.

Also, if you'd prefer to skip the carrier, you can always get a factory unlocked version to get updates straight from the manufacturer. Or go for the Nexus line if you want updates even faster from Google.

You have one more option (but one I haven't dabbled in ages): Custom ROMs.

 

[MrMorgado]

I ve actually been thinking about both options (Nexus or unlocked version), and honestly, i love the Note series, but dont like the way Samsung is going with no replaceable battery or no sd card slot, all of that plus the ton of bloatware in touchwiz, its really driving me away from samsung. Ive read that they say the battery is really good anyway, but hey, mine was also good when i got the phone at first with Android 4.4 (and the phone was super fast also), but after the Lollipop update everything went to hell, battery life sucks and system lags a lot. I hope that it doesnt happend the same for the Note 5 owners.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[SpookDroid]

So far I'm getting about the same battery as I did with the Note 4, and the only thing I'm 'missing' is the removable battery (and not that much, since a portable power pack is even cheaper and just as portable for vacations). I never really used the SD card, and with 100GB of cloud storage included with the Note 5 (or the 50GB included with the Note 4) even less.

On the Note 5 there is hardly any bloat, TBH. And most of it you can disable. It does get rid of the 'classic' Samsung lag, even if you stick to using TouchWiz as your launcher! It's been truly an amazing experience so far, even though it takes some getting used to for the little things that are done differently than in the Note 4.