[apologies - this is a copy of my post on the ROM forum, but thought it was a little broad in nature and could fit out here]
Oh yea - I'm new at it. We've got the best android phone so far [Infuse], and it was killing me that Samsung and ATT tossed it in the desk drawer and forgot about it and 8 others just like it. To make it worse, these devs were ignored in order to babysit a hardware stream, each with severe concessions and lacking capabilities in the name of sales. People like yourself and others that are interested enough to donate time/effort when Samsung left off are to be commended.
Nonetheless it left me in a precarious position - flashing the device myself if I wanted it updated to something newer than a year-old version. After choosing from the dozens of roms available, each demand their own idiosyncrasies and levels of effort/research. True, to you and others who have the experience it's a no-brainer. But I would say this could easily cause some friction within our own ranks - and has even driven some back to the iPhone.
IOS is a much more robust OS than the Linux micro-kernel Android, but Apple suffers from only one choice of hardware (or two if you count the pad). On the other hand, we have a wealth of hw choices and manufacturers - who almost all are now back on their heels with the 4S being introduced. I mean what were they doing the last 12 months ? upgrading n 800mhz processor to a 900mhz and renaming the device?
So now the avg end-user is faced with two daunting issues - fighting the greed/laziness of the Android hardware developers, and the ever-hope that some x.y version of Android will come up to IOS's potential - like ICS perhaps. And if they don?t get a grip on competing with SIRI, they?re cooked - believe me.
The more I look at Android, the more it really wreaks of the same issues that kept Linux out of the limelight for the avg consumer. Only this time we aren?t forced to deal with a bastardized OS like Windows as our only alternative. IOS is a formidable piece of work and it?ll take all the Android community can muster to keep up, much less surpass. Let?s don?t get cocky about this just because we have the nicety of dozens of mediocre hardware choices on our side. IOS 5 is so far ahead of any kernel version of Android we need all the help we can get. Toss in the flippant attitudes of Samsung, Motorola, LG etc ? plus the carriers ? and this is trouble for us Android-owners. These mfgs should be WAY far out in front of the ONE Apple device from a hardware perspective. Instead, we get a dozen new models each month, each with huge issues and lagging specs. That's when we say [down here] that someone needs to take names and kick ass.
I was SO hoping that Google would have forced standards and policies (like Apple did with IOS). Sort of like big-brother that Redhat and others could never do. But I haven?t seen it.
So my comments above were frustrating in nature, and although asinine to you and knowledgeable others, these issues are quite real-world to a large percent of us. Go count the posts (just in this thread even) similar to "I'm lost" or "I've bricked it" ?where do I get primary file xxx.yyy? just trying to bring their damn phones up-to-date. Root file managers, specialty boot binaries we have to search for, licensing/authentication/signature issues with apps, GUI ROM managers, fixing all the apps after the migration, broken cell issues all do NOT bode well for the Android process.
Until we can bring the discipline of one-click control and updates to Android, manufacturers who incessantly place at least ? dozen aggravating/outdated design features in each new model, until then I think we?re screwed. For instance: the iPhone has a Samsung 535 graphics chip, almost 8x faster than the same Samsung chip Samsung is shipping in their own phones. The Samsung Prime has a 531 chip, circa 2007. Inexcusable. I don't care if Steve Jobs did buy them all up from under Samsung - that still leaves us (the consumers) with pitiful hardware.
I think we?ll simply languish in our own mediocrity and pool of manufacturing greed until some authority steps in and slaps us silly. Apple had that discipline built into it?s own bureaucracy. We don?t have that luxury and must do it ourselves. And we SURE can?t count on executives from Verizon and the phone company (ATT) to get a conscious in the near future.
So in the meantime, I was lucky enough to find a ROM with Clockwork that was a one-click flash, now it?s running the latest Infused. A quick format of the internal SD, a reload of all apps and I was in biz.
But believe me ? the ?Infused? rom is not nearly as sexy as the serendipity, nor as fast IMHO. I?m going to switch back to Serendipity here in a min just as a benchmark ? wish me luck. And thanks SO much for your and all other Android developers out there. My complaints may be common, but they?re not meant to be inflammatory by any means ? especially to the android developers out there that are both providing us users with a service, and carrying the torch.
All the best
Oh yea - I'm new at it. We've got the best android phone so far [Infuse], and it was killing me that Samsung and ATT tossed it in the desk drawer and forgot about it and 8 others just like it. To make it worse, these devs were ignored in order to babysit a hardware stream, each with severe concessions and lacking capabilities in the name of sales. People like yourself and others that are interested enough to donate time/effort when Samsung left off are to be commended.
Nonetheless it left me in a precarious position - flashing the device myself if I wanted it updated to something newer than a year-old version. After choosing from the dozens of roms available, each demand their own idiosyncrasies and levels of effort/research. True, to you and others who have the experience it's a no-brainer. But I would say this could easily cause some friction within our own ranks - and has even driven some back to the iPhone.
IOS is a much more robust OS than the Linux micro-kernel Android, but Apple suffers from only one choice of hardware (or two if you count the pad). On the other hand, we have a wealth of hw choices and manufacturers - who almost all are now back on their heels with the 4S being introduced. I mean what were they doing the last 12 months ? upgrading n 800mhz processor to a 900mhz and renaming the device?
So now the avg end-user is faced with two daunting issues - fighting the greed/laziness of the Android hardware developers, and the ever-hope that some x.y version of Android will come up to IOS's potential - like ICS perhaps. And if they don?t get a grip on competing with SIRI, they?re cooked - believe me.
The more I look at Android, the more it really wreaks of the same issues that kept Linux out of the limelight for the avg consumer. Only this time we aren?t forced to deal with a bastardized OS like Windows as our only alternative. IOS is a formidable piece of work and it?ll take all the Android community can muster to keep up, much less surpass. Let?s don?t get cocky about this just because we have the nicety of dozens of mediocre hardware choices on our side. IOS 5 is so far ahead of any kernel version of Android we need all the help we can get. Toss in the flippant attitudes of Samsung, Motorola, LG etc ? plus the carriers ? and this is trouble for us Android-owners. These mfgs should be WAY far out in front of the ONE Apple device from a hardware perspective. Instead, we get a dozen new models each month, each with huge issues and lagging specs. That's when we say [down here] that someone needs to take names and kick ass.
I was SO hoping that Google would have forced standards and policies (like Apple did with IOS). Sort of like big-brother that Redhat and others could never do. But I haven?t seen it.
So my comments above were frustrating in nature, and although asinine to you and knowledgeable others, these issues are quite real-world to a large percent of us. Go count the posts (just in this thread even) similar to "I'm lost" or "I've bricked it" ?where do I get primary file xxx.yyy? just trying to bring their damn phones up-to-date. Root file managers, specialty boot binaries we have to search for, licensing/authentication/signature issues with apps, GUI ROM managers, fixing all the apps after the migration, broken cell issues all do NOT bode well for the Android process.
Until we can bring the discipline of one-click control and updates to Android, manufacturers who incessantly place at least ? dozen aggravating/outdated design features in each new model, until then I think we?re screwed. For instance: the iPhone has a Samsung 535 graphics chip, almost 8x faster than the same Samsung chip Samsung is shipping in their own phones. The Samsung Prime has a 531 chip, circa 2007. Inexcusable. I don't care if Steve Jobs did buy them all up from under Samsung - that still leaves us (the consumers) with pitiful hardware.
I think we?ll simply languish in our own mediocrity and pool of manufacturing greed until some authority steps in and slaps us silly. Apple had that discipline built into it?s own bureaucracy. We don?t have that luxury and must do it ourselves. And we SURE can?t count on executives from Verizon and the phone company (ATT) to get a conscious in the near future.
So in the meantime, I was lucky enough to find a ROM with Clockwork that was a one-click flash, now it?s running the latest Infused. A quick format of the internal SD, a reload of all apps and I was in biz.
But believe me ? the ?Infused? rom is not nearly as sexy as the serendipity, nor as fast IMHO. I?m going to switch back to Serendipity here in a min just as a benchmark ? wish me luck. And thanks SO much for your and all other Android developers out there. My complaints may be common, but they?re not meant to be inflammatory by any means ? especially to the android developers out there that are both providing us users with a service, and carrying the torch.
All the best
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