For the general public 4.04 is a ho hum upgrade

[TabGuy]

I was reasonably interested to get the upgrade. I watched the spinning web in the Android's tummy, I saw that it optimized 147 apps, I know that it took about 20 minutes overall. I wasn't terribly impressed but I just wasn't having much trouble with 4.02.

But for the general public I doubt many people even paid attention. I asked my wife if she got the upgrade. She says,"Upgrade, what upgrade?" I asked if she got a screen saying that that something needed to be installed. "Oh, yeah, I got that, I thought it was just an app upgrade." I ask if it had the spinning thingy in the Android's tummy. "I don't know, I didn't pay attention."

Turns out she got the upgrade but couldn't care less.

I ask daughter #1 if she got it. "Yeah, I got it, what does it do for me". I say, "Should improve data connections." "Cool," she says.

I ask daughter #2 if she got the upgrade. "I dunno, how would I tell." "It asks you to do the upgrade," I respond. "I don't remember getting that," she says. I instruct her to do a settings/about phone. Sure enough, she has 4.04. "Oh, yeah, I kinda remember something about that," she confesses, "I didn't pay much attention."

So, with all the hoopla here on Android Central, we're just a bunch of nerds that pay attention to this stuff. No one else really cares.

However, if you ask all three of them if they like their phone, the response is a unanimous, "I love it."

 

[loraque]

Unless you were suffering from one of the bugs resolved, it is not terribly surprising that a 0.0.2 point release is not such a big deal. Is it?

 

[Vance14]

I would go further and say that for most Android users, ANY upgrade has minimal impact. My wife and daughter couldn't have cared less when their phones were upgraded from Froyo to Gingerbread, they just wanted to make sure they could still get to their stuff. And now, with their Rezound and Maxx, neither could tell you what OS they are on, and don't even know what ICS is.

And, in truth, when they DO get ICS, I doubt they will notice much difference with Sense and Wiz on there.

 

[dcastillo]

thats funny, over the weekend i was checking my wifes and my phone for the upgrade, turned out she already had it... figures, I actually want it and dont have it yet... and she has it but had no idea...

 

[turdbogls]

yeah, the forums are probably like not even 1% of the user base for android. Many of them just dont know or care about updates. as long as their phone is working they way they think it should, i think most are pretty happy with their phones.

 

[TabGuy]

I would go further and say that for most Android users, ANY upgrade has minimal impact. My wife and daughter couldn't have cared less when their phones were upgraded from Froyo to Gingerbread, they just wanted to make sure they could still get to their stuff. And now, with their Rezound and Maxx, neither could tell you what OS they are on, and don't even know what ICS is.

And, in truth, when they DO get ICS, I doubt they will notice much difference with Sense and Wiz on there.

Yeah, I've been told that the GB to ICS upgrade on those phones doesn't look any different. No one would know that ICS is underneath.

From a phone company's standpoint I understand that move. Nothing will generate more useless phone calls than a dramatic interface change.

I manage a reasonably large I.T. group that includes development as well as support. When developers tend to want to make dramatic changes I must always ask, "And who will support it?" Developers never think of the consequences and subsequent phone calls from the user base when they make changes. They just think about "cool." I don't have that luxury.

So, when an upgrade occurs and the vast majority of the user base doesn't notice then that's considered a wildly successful update.