Michael DeGustamust be a maniac , because he ’s hold out and document the pitiful , sad account of neglected Android phones on his blog , theunderstatement . Then he give way and made a chart to avail visualize it all . Once you are able-bodied to take it all in , you ca n’t help but be full of sad …
The proclamation thatNexus One users wo n’t be getting upgradedto Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich led some tojustifiably question Google ’s support of their devices . I look at it a small differently : Nexus One owner are favorable . I ’ve been researching the history of OS updates on Android phones and Nexus One substance abuser have come much , much better than most Android vendee .
I went back and found every Android phone send in the United States(1 ) up through the centre of last year . I then tracked down every update that was let go for each equipment – be it a major OS rise or a minor backup piece – as well as prices and going & discontinuation date . I compared these date & interpretation to the currently ship interlingual rendition of Android at the fourth dimension . The resulting picture is n’t pretty – well , not for Android users :
Other than the original G1 and MyTouch , virtually all of the millions of telephone set represented by this chart are still under contract today . If you thought that entitle you to some bread and butter , think again :
• 7 of the 18 Android speech sound never ran a current variation of the OS .
• 12 of 18 only bleed a current version of the OS for a topic of week or less .
• 10 of 18 were at least two major versions behind well within their two yr contract period .
• 11 of 18 stopped getting any support updates less than a year after loss .
• 13 of 18 stopped getting any support updates before they even stopped betray the equipment or very short thereafter .
• 15 of 18 do n’t run Gingerbread , which embark in December 2010 .
In a few hebdomad , when Ice Cream Sandwich comes out , every twist on here will be another major reading behind .
• At least 16 of 18 will almost certainly never get Ice Cream Sandwich .
Also worth remark that each bar in the chart starts from the first day of spill – so it only gets worse for people who corrupt their phone late in its sales period .
Why Is This So Bad?
This may be tell the obvious but there are at least three major reasons .
consumer Get Screwed
Ever since the iPhone change by reversal every smartphone into a clean ticket , the economic value of a phone is largely derived from the software it can run and how well the phone can run it . When you ’re making a 2 year commitment to a gadget , it ’d be nice to have some means to severalize if the software package was going to be remotely current in a yr or , heck , even a calendar month . Turns out that ’s nearly impossible – here are two examples :
The Samsung Behold II on T - Mobile was the most expensive Android phone ever and Samsung promoted that it would get a major update to Eclair at least . But at launch the earphone was already two major versions behind – and then Samsungdecided not to do the update after all , and it fell three major operating system versions behind . Every one ever sell is still under declaration today .
The Motorola Devour on Verizon launched with aMegan Fox Super Bowl advertising , while reviews said it was “ built to last and it delivers on features . ” As it turned out , the Devour send with an oculus sinister that was already outdated . Before the next Super Bowl came around , it was three major versions behind . Every one ever sold is still under contract until sometime next year .
Developers Are Constrained
Besides the obvious political platform fragmentation job , consider this compare : iOS developers , likeInstapaper ’s Marco Arment , await patiently until just this calendar month to put up their apps ’ minimum requirement to the 11 calendar month sometime Io 4.2.1 . They can do so lie with that it ’s been well over 3 years since anyone grease one’s palms an iPhone that could n’t run that OS . If developer apply that same standard to Android , it will be at least 2015 before they can get going requiring 2010 ’s Gingerbread OS . That ’s becauseeveryUScarrieris still selling – evenjust now introducing(2 ) – smartphones that will almost certainly never run Gingerbread and beyond . Further , those are phone still sell for actual upfront money – I ’m not even counting the more often than not even more outdated & presumptively much more popular liberal phones .
It seems this is one country the Android / Windows comparability obtain up : most app developer will end up targeting an ancient interlingual rendition of the bone for maximize mart range .
Security Risks Loom
In the chart , the dashed telephone line in the center of each bar indicate how long that speech sound was getting any variety of accompaniment update – not just major OS upgrades . The significant legal age of modelling have received very limited support after sales were discontinued . If a security or privateness problem pop up in previous versions of Android or its associated apps ( i.e. the web web browser ) , it ’s hard to imagine that all of these no - longer - supported phone would be updated . This is only less likely as the number of phones that producer would have to go back and deal with increases : Motorola , Samsung , and HTC all have at least 20 models each in the field already , each with a orbit of carrier that seemingly have to be dealt with on an individual basis .
Why Don’t Android Phones Get Updated?
That ’s a very good inquiry . plain a big part of the problem is that Android has to go from Google to the earphone manufacturers to the carriers to the devices , whereas iOS just blend from Apple directly to machine . The cyberpunk community ( for example CyanogenMod , et cetera ) has frequently managed to get these earpiece to start the new operating organization , so it is n’t a ironware issue .
It appear to be a widely held viewpoint(3 ) that there ’s no inducement for smartphone manufacturers to update the OS : because manufacturers do n’t make any money after the hardware sale , they want you to buy another phone as soon as possible . If that ’s really the subject , the telephone set manufacturers are spectacularly dumb : ignore the 2 year declaration cycle & abandon your users is n’t going to engender much loyalty when they do corrupt a new telephone set . Further , it ’s been passably well established that Apple alsoreally only makes money from computer hardware sales , and yet their prospicient full term update financial support is excellent ( see chart ) .
In other words , Apple ’s way of getting you to bribe a unexampled phone is to make you really happy with your current one , whereas apparently Android phone manufacturing business guess they can get you to corrupt a unexampled telephone by make you really dysphoric with your current one . Then again , all of this may be ascribing motive and intent where none be – it ’s entirely possible that the root reason of the trouble is just bland - out bad management ( and/or the aforementioned spectacular dumbness ) .
A Price Observation
All of the even slightly cheaper phones are much worse than the iPhone when it comes to OS reinforcement , but it ’s interesting to note that most of the phones on this list were in reality not cheaper than the iPhone when they were released . Unlike the iPhone however , the “ full - price ” earpiece are oftentimes discounted in subsequent months . So the “ low cost ” telephone that fuel Android ’s generally accepted price advantage in this period were basically either ( a ) flashy from the kickoff , and ergo likely outdated & terribly supported or ( b ) purchase later in the speech sound ’s lifecycle , and ergo probably outdated & awfully support .
Also , at any Leontyne Price point you ’d well jazz your rebate . If you ’re financially encumber enough to be drive by upfront damage , you ca n’t be that worked up about plunking down another $ 100 cash and wait weeks or more to get it back . And sometimes all you ’re getting back is a “ $ 100 Promotion Card ” for your chosen provider . uncalled-for to say , the iPhone has never had a rebate .
Along similar communication channel , a very small but perhaps evidence point : the price of every undivided Android phone I looked at ended with 99 cents – something Apple has never done ( the iPhone is $ 199 , not $ 199.99 ) . It ’s almost like a warning sign : you ’re buying a platform that will nickel - and - dime you with advert and undeletable bloatware , and it start out with those 99 cents . And that damn rebate manikin they ’re hop you do n’t send in .
Notes on the chart and data
Why stop at June 2010 ?
I ’m not kick the bucket to . I do think that hold 15 months or so of story gives a honest position on how a phone has been treated , but it ’s also just a parturiency number – it take a while to dredge through the various sites to determine the history of each equipment . I plan to go on on and might also endeavor to bring out the underlying mesa with references . I also acknowledge that it ’s possible I ’ve overlook something along the room .
Android Release Dates
For the major Android version dismission date , I used the date at which it was really useable on a normal telephone set you could get via normal means . I did not use the earlier SDK release date , nor the appointment at which ROMs , hacks , reference , et cetera were available .
Outside the US
Finally , it ’s worth noting that people outside the US have often had it even worse . For example , the Nexus One did n’t go on sale in Europe until 5 months after the US , the Droid / Milestone FroYo update bump over 7 months subsequently there , and the Cliq never got update at all outside of the US .
1 . Thanks primarily toCNET&Wikipediafor the list of phones .
2 . Yes , AT&Tcommitted to Gingerbread updatesfor its 2011 Android speech sound , but only those that had already been released at the time of the July 25 closet release . The Impulse does n’t meet that standard . Nor does theSharp FX Plus .
Republished with permission fromtheunderstatement.com
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