I’m not sure this is a real problem. Apple offer better and simpler long term support than Android users typically enjoy - that’s undeniable.
But if you’re switching to a new handset every 18 or 24 months - which smartphone users of all varieties, including Apple, seem to do quite a lot - then the LTS isn’t such a big win (and has to be weighed against the greater cost of ownership for Apple product)
You bring up a good point that I hadn’t considered: Android’s fragmented update arrangement will keep the latest and greatest features out of reach for most phone owners, but the ones that actually care about those features probably know how to jailbreak/root their phones to get those features/updates. So its only an annoyance for the tech-savvy, and a non-issue for the tech-stupid. Although, it remains a problem for those with average tech knowledge who are aware of what their phones should be able to do, but frustrated that they can’t access the features.
Still, it seems overly complicated to push updates in that way. Why couldn’t android be designed such that when Google releases a new version, every Android phone with the minimum requirements can get the update? Thats a huge draw back to the beloved “openness” of the platform.
As I say, I don’t think it matters - because most of those users, across all categories, will be looking to upgrade to a shiny new handset in two years or less.
In my experience, this also applies to Apple users - nearly all of the people I know who have iPhones had a 3GS, then an iPhone 4 - and about half of them have already switched up to the 4S (a few of them switched to the white iPhone 4 on the way, additionally).
Long term support is only useful if people use it - and in my experience, they generally don’t. Maybe this does not apply elsewhere in the world, but it certainly seems to be the case in the UK, where I live - perhaps we’re just overly fixated on mobile phones.
I agree - but it’s a more or less inevitable effect of the way android is customised by the different manufacturers and phone providers - either just to make it different, or to make it run on specific hardware. The openness is part of the problem - Google is happy to let people run Android on whatever they can hack or port it onto - but that hacking/porting introduces dependencies.
There was talk about imposing a reference platform, but Android isn’t one supplier working to one agenda, it’s a bunch of different companies all trying to outdo each other - so the hardware spec is always going to be fluid.
Hello, I simply got my answer from several posters and have nothing more to say.
It just seemed weird to me that at least 3 of the most hardcore and vocal i-fans at the other forum I frequent switched to Android about the same time (ie shortly after 4s was released). Obviously it was just a localized phenomenon.
It’s not localized…in my personal group of geeks, I’m the last iPhone holdout. The loudest detractor has been saying he wants to jump ship for MONTHS, but in another behavior typical of Cellphone companies in America, the phone he wants (Galaxy S II) was only available on a Carrier he hates (AT&T), he’s currently waiting for the Galaxy Nexus to be announced anywhere but AT&T.
His biggest complaints about the iPhone are lock-in (understandable), and longevity (he’s soaked one phone, and the other looks like it’s been through a war). I’m really curious to see how an android phone looks after 18 months in his care.
But geeks love to relish in the new-hotness and like to fiddle, and right now, those aspects of the iPhone are pretty hashed out…it does not mean ‘people are leaving the iPhone in droves’ as that is clearly not the case.
Personally, I find debating the relative merits of a cellphone to be…well…something I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time on (he says, looking at how many posts he’s had in this thread.) My gripe isn’t with one or the other, it’s with the ** inaccurate claims** made against one or the other. Either platform is more than developed enough to do 100% of what 100% of the people want a phone to do…the rest is just debate over the color of the frosting.
I’d have to agree with one article I read regarding fragmentation, when they said the more critical concern for anyone, should be security updates.
A lot of the concerns regarding other Android updates are many times overblown, because like you say, many casual consumers have no knowledge or use for the changes, especially when looking at the differences between 2.1 and 2.3.x. That’s not to say meaningful additions don’t exist, but provided they could even work on lower-end phones, most consumers would be none the wiser if they were directed to a list of changes in any current updates. Again, though, security patches/updates should always be pushed, as immediately possible.
While that would be nice, I have a different perspective on it.
The openness of the platform can be taken to mean a few things, but one of those is the fact that if I purchase an Android device from Samsung, I’m also buying one with enhanced features (which have grown to be more user-friendly, as of late). For this reason, you’re already ahead of the Android curve in many ways, thanks to the Touchwiz layer/additions, whereas anyone running a vanilla version of Android will be lacking these features, to some degree.
So it’s not just about getting the updates for the sake of getting updates. I like having the ability to remove specific items from my notification bar, or having access to the power control widget in the same area, for example. Prior to the recently released 4.0, neither of those features were included in any version of vanilla Android. So in the end, if I prefer Samsung’s flavor of Android, then I’m not looking at Google’s specific update cycle, but I’m more looking at Samsung’s. If they want people to continue purchasing their products over, say, Motorola, then it will be in their interest to push updates as quickly as possible.
Of course everyone has a different take on this and the “openness” of Android can be a double-edged sword. This is why in the end, I only look at who is voting with their dollars. iOS and Android, all things considered, are doing fine and constantly improving.
I migrated from an iPhone 4 to an HTC Desire HD, mainly because the Desire has a much larger screen.
The Desire is a very good phone but the iPhone is better quality, both in its construction and in the quality of the Apps. I will probably go back to the iPhone when my contract is up.
I thought Steve Jobs died?
What? It needed perhaps the biggest bloatware of them all: iTunes.
Call it a ‘drinking the coolaid’ thing if you want, but honestly, I don’t have a problem with iTunes. There seems to be a high correlation between people that hate it and one or more bad experiences with it (and even then, it seems to happen more with Windows than OS X)
iTunes and I have a relatively good history, and it does stuff that you just don’t get with ‘but I just wanna copy my music on and off in folders, like Og intended!<stomp>’
I feel obligated to point out the Black Eyes of the competition, if only to make this a fair and balanced conversation: http://gizmodo.com/5863849/your-android-phone-is-secretly-recording-everything-you-do
iTunes on Windows XP is a dog. Just now, on my Lion Mac: 2.5 bounces. At work on my XP Machine: it’ll take at least 30 agonizing seconds to load and another six or seven for the interface to respond (although this latter condition is endemic in all sorts of Windows apps).
Windows Xp is two major versions behind. (For better or worse) How is it under a ‘modern’ environment?
Fair and balanced:Yes, Your iPhone Can Track You With Carrier IQ, Too
iTunes on Windows XP was complete and utter ass. iTunes on Windows 7 is pretty good. iTunes on my MacBook Pro running OS X is no problem. (Only relating my own experiences, of course.)
The Galaxy S II was available on Sprint first, and is also on T-Mobile. Or he could have gotten an unlocked one six months ago.
More importantly, is this:
Fair is correctly attributing the CarrierIQ thing to the carriers.
Perhaps his limitation was financial (single father + 2 kids daycare, etc) but he’s been MOST vocal on how Apple and AT&T are fucking people over and how they should all leave.
I suspect some of his complaints are geographical. Coverage to the not of the metro area sucks…where I frequent, it doesn’t
Fwiw, I think thte carrierIQ thing is just another in a long list of events that’ll be grouped under privacy concerns…until people get used to the fact that there are enough ways to suss out your goings on through indirect observation, that the only way to truly be privat is to completely divorce yourself from society.
I ran it on a 2008 Macbook and it was still a slow piece of shit that needed updates every week with an interface I found completely unintuitive.
Also, and this isn’t just iTune’s problem, but I hated the fact that I needed to sync practically the entire god damn phone (unless I fiddled with the options) to add anything–a process that always took forever, if it didn’t end up hanging completely.
Really, it was largely iTunes and its file-management system that drove me to Android. Of course, Apple’s now taking a few pages from Google’s book, which is a good thing, but I can’t see myself returning to the walled-garden that is iOS.
That is not, nor ever has been, iTunes normal behavior. There’s a resend with major OS updates, and the first time you install the device, after that it’s differential.
Well, I would go long periods without syncing, because 1) I hated the process, and 2) Didn’t have much reason to. But when I did have to do it, it was a giant PITA.