> It isn't so much that the manufacturers don't "allow" people to, it's that they need to update their drivers to support the new versions. (For instance, for a

> It isn't so much that the manufacturers don't "allow" people to, it's that they need to update their drivers to support the new versions. (For instance, for a long time the custom Android 2.1 ROM for the Sprint HTC Hero did not support the camera). Carriers are also pretty terrible at approving upgrades. This reminds me of a sort of retort to linux on the desktop not being so great, that "Linux is the kernel, it has nothing to do with GNOME usability issues". The details don't matter to the end user, what matters is brand Foo doing what they expect brand Foo to do. The real question is, are they expecting their Google Android phone to behave a certain way, or are they expecting their Motorola Droid to behave a certain way?