A new wrinkle in the update and fragmentation story emerged today. AndroidSpin is quoting an unnamed T-Mobile employee as saying that the carrier is being told not to release the Android 2.2 update (Froyo) to customers that own the Samsung Vibrant. The reason: to increase sales of the new Vibrant 4G.
I bought the G2 before it was rooted and watched carefully every day on the progress.
Thankfully they got there and now my phone is completely rooted.
Another good thing to do is make sure that someone on the CyanogenMod team or Cyanogen himself own the device.
Even then, some devices are better supported than others.
It sucks… but its still better than being an iSheep.
And you have to root your device, if it’s even possible, to be a real owner and have root privileges. If it’s not possible – your are on your operator mercy….
It’s weird “open” Google experience.
I don’t like the idea that you have to root your own phone to get your full ownership rights.
Nokia should really hurry up with the meego phone, that’s the only thing that I would consider to replace my trusty n900
or you could just buy a Nexus device. They are easy to root and you get the fastest upgrades.
But that’s exactly it, though. The people who are likely to care about what version of Android their phone is running are typically the same people who are willing and able to install custom firmware. So in essence, (almost) no-one is given incentive to buy the newer phone, and (almost) no-one who cares is crippled by their holding back the new version.
No incentive, except for the better hardware. The same people who care about the Android version will care about which proc and how much memory are in the device.
For an example of functionality that could be improved with updates, Android sucks up electrical juice. I can get 1.5 days with everything turned off and minimal usage; I get well under a day running a moderate load, normal startup services, web browsing, and Alchemy or Solitaire. Previously, I could get about three days out of my Blackberry Bold with a much less austere program set. I checked the changelog of Android 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3. The number one thing between them is improvements in power management, and everyone could use the better power management in mobile devices.
2.2 also adds remote wipe to the ActiveSync connector, but that’s only a necessary feature if your company requires it or you just want it.
The crappy updates system really hinders Android. It’s major competitors all have centralized updates, and they will get features and updates before Android due to manufacturers caring more about selling phones then supporting their products. Geeks are going to get burned out buy Samsung, to name a manufacturer, saying, “If you want the latest, buy phone XYZ, otherwise go take a flying leap at a rolling donut.”
Oh man, I swear if my EPIC hasn’t been updated cause of this I will be spit’n mad!
The article is wrong. This is a plan to decrease sales of Samsung products. What else did they expect the buying public to do upon hearing how they are distorting the market …
I am watching carefully which phone brands update their software the most often. Brands like Samsung are not even on my wishlist because they just don’t update. So far HTC has been the best and I own an HTC Desire.
Have you read this page http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/01/data-shows-what-manufact… that someone posted in a comment about another topic?
Why is it that I’m not surprised at all about Sony? When deciding for an Android phone, I compared the X10 and the HTC Desire… I’m glad I got the latter.
Come on people. Geez. This strategy was as obvious as the nose on your face. I agree that most people don’t give a rat’s what version of an OS their phone is running, but they do care about features, especially the younger users.
Another case of people being blinded by that word “open”…
open also means you have a pretty good shot at being able to get custom roms for your phone that give you all the updates and feature the carriers won’t. Of course thats of little value to the average consumer but might mean a lot to the type of people who care about ‘open’.
Yes, how surprising! This is probably the most obvious strategy anyone could come up with. Samsung doing that could be foreseen… although it seems totally useless anyway in this fast moving market. I wouldn’t be surprised if all phone manufacturers act like that. Laptop manufacturers do: try to find a battery for an 18-month old laptop and see how successful you are.
That’s why I’m calling for the EU to impose a minimum support period for tech products. Idle wish, I know.
Edited 2011-01-18 15:53 UTC
What is Google’s take on this?