That is shocking
When your choice is > 1, things are a bit more complicated. Who knew?
35 Responses to “That is shocking”
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
Uncle Pays the Bills
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October 31st, 2011 at 11:19 am
It’s not just about choices. NONE of the android phones are being supported by the manufacturers. That’s a REALLY BAD THING on a mobile computer that you can load anything you want on.
Android is turning into a malware fiesta that makes Windows look secure.
October 31st, 2011 at 11:24 am
My takeaway is that android does upgrades and the old phones aren’t compatible, fairly normal in computers.
I’ve never had nor known of anyone who has had malware issues with their phone.
October 31st, 2011 at 11:32 am
It’s not just major version upgrades. They’re not even doing bug fixes.
October 31st, 2011 at 11:35 am
Ah. One of the issues is that most of the phone companies make their custom version of AndroidOS (so they can limit tethering and other apps).
October 31st, 2011 at 11:57 am
+1 to what Uncle said. Most phone manufacturers build a custom Android version which is not native. On top of that, your carrier could ask for a custom ROM of that software, to limit tethering, apps, etc. That’s why it takes so long to update. Apple’s iOS just doesn’t have that problem.
The Android software fragmentation is pretty obvious, but iOS is no stranger to that. When they released the iPhone 4, some 1st gen units and some iPod Touch units were left in the dust.
October 31st, 2011 at 11:59 am
Another problem is that updates that are released have caused more problems than they have fixed.
I work for a major wireless network and I have seen updates cause problems like ghost voice mails that can’t be cleared, phones power cycling, all kinds of various crashes and corruptions to the entire device locking up and having to be wiped and started over.
I’ve never had any of those problems with my iPhone. I turn it on – it works. 🙂
Thanks for the link, Uncle.
October 31st, 2011 at 12:35 pm
All that chart means is that:
1) hardware advances are occurring more rapidly on the Android side than the Apple side and
2) Google is updating their software to take advantage of the hardware advances.
Apple? Not so much.
If Google only allowed the Motorola Droid line to use Android, and only updated the hardware and software once a year, then of course long term support would be better.
Less choice is always better, right? I mean, why have unnecessary competition and innovation? You’ll just confuse the consumers!
October 31st, 2011 at 1:05 pm
It has nothing to do with choice, unless you’re talking about the choice carriers make to cripple and fuck up good phones before they sell them. Let ME decide what is on my phone, thanks.
October 31st, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Why so much Apple hate?
October 31st, 2011 at 1:58 pm
To Gehenna with the OS wars. My phone – not a smartphone, a dumbphone – is so locked down that the only thing I can do with the USB port is charge the battery. I can take pictures, but the only way I can get them off the phone is by e-mailing them to some other phone. And THEY probably can’t get the photo off THEIR phone into something more free.
The problem is crippleware. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, bloatware. I don’t like either, and try not to buy hardware or contracts that include them.
October 31st, 2011 at 2:15 pm
“It’s not just major version upgrades. They’re not even doing bug fixes.”
Really? That’s funny because every Android phone I’ve had has had multiple major upgrades and bug fix updates. My thunderbolt just had a bugfix update this past week.
The low end android phones, which is the majority of that chart, don’t and probably never will be updated with any frequency. There’s simply no money in it and the people that buy those phones don’t know or care what version of Android they’re using.
On the other hand, the high end phones are updated with regularity.
At the same time, to suggest that Iphone fragmentation doesn’t exist, is quite simply foolish. The original Iphone certainly hasn’t gotten ios 5. The 3g got ios5, but runs it absolutely craptastic. The whole Siri feature that’s a cornerstone of Apple marketing right now, yeah, only the 4S gets that. That’s all fragmentation whether people wish to admit it or not.
October 31st, 2011 at 2:16 pm
My takeaway is that android does upgrades and the old phones aren’t compatible, fairly normal in computers.
Nope.
Those old phones can almost all run more modern versions of Android – that the Cyanogenmod people can make them run proves that.
It’s not that they’re “incompatible” because Android changed.
What that chart shows is that carriers and manufacturers of Android phones don’t care about post-sale upgrades, for the most part.
It does show that the Google phones keep being supported, though – the Nexus is almost entirely green.
(Contra “Advancing”, I see no evidence at all that Android OS versions are strongly correlated to hardware advances; see above re. Cyanogenmod supporting newer Android versions on older phones.
It’s not that the hardware can’t take it.
Letting Samsung and Motorola (and the carriers!) off the hook for keeping a modern phone from ever having even a one-revision-old* version of Android “because of choice” is, in plain Anglo-Saxon, fucking bullshit.
But, hey, it’s not Apple, so it must be good, and it should be supported by giving them money and re-upping your contract, right? Because choice.
* The Cliq only ever had as close to one version behind current for one month over the past two years. The Backflip and Cliq XT have never been less than two major versions behind. The Behold two, likewise.
Less than half of those phones shipped with a current version of Android – and of the ones that didn’t, only thee of them ever got current, and never for more than two months. The one exception, again, being the Google-run Nexus One.
And in fairness, the G1 did pretty well, and the Droid took a year to get outdated.
But overall? PATHETIC.
Google should be pissed off at how this kind of thing affects consumer experience with their brand.)
October 31st, 2011 at 2:57 pm
On the other hand, the high end phones are updated with regularity.
I have one of those phones, and no, they’re not.
October 31st, 2011 at 3:39 pm
This is all very odd to me. I had a the iPhone 3G for two years, almost to the day. Got it very shortly after it came out and the updates most definitely stopped before the 2 year mark.
Yet I’ve had my Google Phone 2 (Nexus S 4G) since June of this year and have seen at least two OS updates, three if you count the one when I first got it home.
I guess the proof will be in what it’s like a year and beyond after I got it, but the trend for me seems to not necessarily favor the iPhone.
October 31st, 2011 at 4:28 pm
so you’re saying more complicated + the need for more upgrades = good? Really?
October 31st, 2011 at 4:30 pm
I would have thought that as a Glock fan you’d want something that just works, without having to mess around with it all the time.
October 31st, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Unless it’s a 4th gen Glock then it just doesn’t work.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Android is not any more complicated, unless you want to dig in to it. My mother in law and her sister are perfectly capable with their Android phones, and they’re technologically impaired.
Also, the case can be made that the phones don’t need the software upgrades. An iPhone 3gs doesn’t neediOS5 to function. It functioned perfectly well for two years without it. Same thing with any Android phone. Or non-smart phones, for that matter.
The difference is that Android is releasing feature enhancing updates fairly regularly, while apple is not. There is no continuous improvement process in place at Cuppertino.
Apple is the modern day version of Ma Bell: Why improve anything? Why not just slap a letter on the end of a product that’s a year or two behind the competition and call it revolutionary?
October 31st, 2011 at 7:02 pm
My Motorola Droid 2 Global got Android 2.3 upgrade last summer. A bit later than I’d care for, but it got it.
The Apple fanboi like to praise the comfort and security of the walled garden. That’s great for them.
October 31st, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Now Stephen Green is a huge Apple fanboy. I’ve teased him in person at Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash nights mercilessly for it and his endless shilling for Apple on his blog.
But his walled garden experience came with some poison ivy recently.
October 31st, 2011 at 7:39 pm
That claims to show every Android phone for sale before June 2010.
Odd. I picked up my Droid 2 in May 2010… Droid X was for sale then too.
November 1st, 2011 at 9:38 am
It’s really odd – out of all the smartphone users I’ve ever met, the Android owners are the ones that seem the most ardently fanboy-ish and interested in continuing the Droid vs. iPhone pissing contest. (this blog, for example) And they seem to come in two flavors: those that bought a Droid and now feel like they need to justify it, and those that just hate Apple generally.
Issues.
November 1st, 2011 at 9:46 am
I’m pretty sure this post pointed out that an apple owner was starting the Droid vs. iPhone pissing contest and in a not convincing manner for pretty much what sigivald said.
November 1st, 2011 at 9:48 am
“My sports team can beat up your dad”
November 1st, 2011 at 10:01 am
Creating a bar graph is now considered to be starting a pissing contest?
You’re very defensive about your choice in smartphones, Unc. Thanks for proving my point.
November 1st, 2011 at 10:04 am
Not defensive at all. And, yes, a bar graph that says my phone rules and yours drools is pretty much what I’d think a pissing contest would be.
Up next, Coke is better than Pepsi!!!!!!
November 1st, 2011 at 10:17 am
Coke IS better than Pepsi.
November 1st, 2011 at 11:34 am
^ Only when you’re washing down a big ol’ bowl of chili (which has beans).
November 1st, 2011 at 11:42 am
Coke is OK for mixing but then again, who would ruin perfectly good alcohol by diluting it?
November 1st, 2011 at 11:54 am
Welcome to Consumer Electronics! Wait until they come out with Android TV’s – it takes a TV about three years to get from the factory to market! Hahahahaha! And Apple TV…? How often will you have to hold down the Power switch and the Mute button (or something) for the TV to re-set? 🙂
November 1st, 2011 at 3:20 pm
I got up in a fairly decent mood this morning. Then I found out about William the Coroner. Now I read this.
All of you please find a fire to crawl into immediately.
November 1st, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Up next, die in a fire over a round of boxers v. briefs?
November 1st, 2011 at 4:20 pm
@DirtCrashr: Android TVs and set-top boxes have been out for a while now (Google TV), are scheduled to receive a major update soon, and new hardware is coming out in early 2012. Apple TV has been around for years…
And to contribute to the discussion:
Android > iThings
Coke > Pepsi
Chili + Beans = Drek
Boxer-briefs > boxers > briefs
1911 > Glock
Any sports team > Yankees
My dad > your dad
Hope that helps. 🙂
November 2nd, 2011 at 11:00 pm
Do people really keep their phones for more than 3 years? I don’t have a smart phone, so I haven’t paid that much for one. (The last phone I had fell into saltwater. Not the best way to treat an expensive bit of insanity.)
But so much of what I hear about iPhone devotees, says they all want to upgrade to the newest-latest-greatest whatever every time a newest-latest-greatest is released. How many still have a 3-year-old phone? I am in the process of dumping my 3-year-old computer for an upgrade. And even the new one won’t last too long. (I foresee a custom build in the near term.)
It is funny to see Apple (weren’t they the anti-big-brother computer company?) adopting IBM’s software distribution and hardware model. From their mainframe business even, not the PC side.
And besides, chocolate is much inferior to vanilla.
November 2nd, 2011 at 11:04 pm
Someone said, “This is all very odd to me. I had a the iPhone 3G for two years,”
So if he had an iPhone for 2 years, why does it matter what the long-term support is? Should anyone care?