5 ms·

Five years ago many handsets were obsolete they day you bought them. I'll take fragmentation over slow progress any day. And I did for a year and a half. In

by jbyers 16y ago

Five years ago many handsets were obsolete they day you bought them. I'll take fragmentation over slow progress any day. And I did for a year and a half. In October 2008 I got a Google G1 the day it came out, replacing a tired Blackberry. This phone is the poster child for Android fragmentation, running a now-ancient version of the OS. But I could run most apps, and despite its relatively slow speed and limited non-SD memory, I believe it was the best alternative to an iPhone at the time. Thanks to Google my new phone is an HTC Evo 4G. Same apps, same basic OS experience, only with the performance and phone features that make a G1 look like a toy. This is the platform I want: innovation as fast as possible on hardware and software at the same time. HTC is keeping up just fine and I'm betting developers will too.

dmix 16y ago
Now that you have a free Evo 4G, are you at all interested in picking up an iPhone 4G? I've been using a G1 for a year and the lack of quality apps for android (good design is rare) makes me want to pick up an iphone. I've tried my coworkers Nexus One and its many times more usable than my G1 (pure speed) but it still lacks the apps and iPhone 4G will have comparable performance.
- jbyers 16y ago
  I'm happy with Android. All the applications I want or need are in the marketplace and app quality seems to be steadily increasing. The official Twitter app is a great example, it's gorgeous and highly functional. The integration with Google's services is excellent as you might expect, and I have a lot of data stored in that world. Everyone I've shown the EVO to -- including half a dozen Googlers who use Nexus Ones -- have been struck by the size of the screen and feel of using the phone. It's strong competition for the iPhone.
- usaar333 16y ago
  May I ask what apps you are missing? I've been using Android for awhile, and at least at this point, I've hardly ever found a lack of apps to be a problem. The only problems I've found are slowness (I have a sprint hero). The main benefits I found to the iPhone (for me) are its speed and smoothness (esp. in the browser). The drawbacks thoug (for me) didn't make up for the gains (terrible notification system, lack of task switching, and lack of linux support).
ROFISH 16y ago
Yes, but an iPhone 2G could reasonably run all apps except for a few hardware features not present (MMS, GPS, OpenGL ES 2.0, video camera) because it received all OS updates. And until iPhone OS 4.0 comes out that effectively end-of-lifes the 2G, one could be reasonably happy with the post-sale support of the original iPhone with two years of major upgrades, three including security/bug updates. The thing that scares me off the Android platform is the OS fragmentation. The sheer fact that I have to hack my device to upgrade it mind-boggles me. The fact that the G1 is not receiving what is becoming the greatest OS upgrade for the Android a mere 1.5 years after release is discouraging beyond the least.
- watty 16y ago
  Most users don't know what OS version they are running or care. Those that do can "hack" it (feels wrong to call installing an OS hacking).
  - ROFISH 16y ago
    I have heard of (not actually experienced as I do not have an Android phone) programs on the Android Market stating "You must have Android 2.0+ to run" or "Does not work on XXXXXX device with 1.5, but we're working on support!" While most users don't care, developers do. Because Apple offers the upgrades free through iTunes ("New update! Click here!"), the number of upgraded iPhones 2Gs with 3.0 (opposed to the 1.0) nears 100%. Thus most developers can just build against the latest OS, get to use the new APIs, and be okay. However, I do admit the loss of the 2G upgrade changes things a bit, and I would like to see how Apple handles it. The easiest answer is that the App Store allows one to select devices that are incompatible with certain builds, however I would love to see a universal binary situation supporting the old OSs much like PPC/x86 or iPhone/iPad apps.
    - ergo98 16y ago
      >I have heard of (not actually experienced as I do not have an Android phone) programs on the Android Market stating When you open the market on a device it is pre-filtered to apps that work on your handset with your features, in your region, etc. Users don't have to read through and sigh at disclaimers. Apps can even pre-filter by your screen size, whether you have a GPS, and so on. The situation with Android is very similar to the Windows landscape: Lots of apps work perfectly fine back to Windows XP or before. Yet occasionally an app demands something particular on the newer variants so it becomes, for instance, Windows Vista+. Same idea with Android. That's just life of a quickly evolving ecosystem, and they've managed it well. And remarkably many of the improvements have been ecosystem enhancements that benefit even apps target obsolete versions. The truth is that even today the platform API was so robust back on 1.6 (that was really the pivot point) that brand new apps still primarily target it.
Tichy 16y ago
Apparently Froyo could make it possible for the G1 to be updated, because apps can be installed on the SD card. I wonder if they will actually provide an update.
- brandonkm 16y ago
  I'm running Android 2.1 on the G1 courtesy of the cyanogen mod (http://www.cyanogenmod.com/ http://www.cyanogenmod.com/). Its been very snappy and has surprisingly had minimal bugs for a beta release.
  - peregrine 16y ago
    I can confirm your experience. Heres hoping for a 2.2 release soon though!
deleted 16y ago
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blasdel 16y ago
Wow, your new phone has a whole 512mb of non-SD flash instead of the G1's paltry 256mb!
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 16y ago
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by jbyers 16y ago

dmix 16y ago

Now that you have a free Evo 4G, are you at all interested in picking up an iPhone 4G? I've been using a G1 for a year and the lack of quality apps for android (good design is rare) makes me want to pick up an iphone. I've tried my coworkers Nexus One and its many times more usable than my G1 (pure speed) but it still lacks the apps and iPhone 4G will have comparable performance.

jbyers 16y ago
I'm happy with Android. All the applications I want or need are in the marketplace and app quality seems to be steadily increasing. The official Twitter app is a great example, it's gorgeous and highly functional. The integration with Google's services is excellent as you might expect, and I have a lot of data stored in that world. Everyone I've shown the EVO to -- including half a dozen Googlers who use Nexus Ones -- have been struck by the size of the screen and feel of using the phone. It's strong competition for the iPhone.
usaar333 16y ago
May I ask what apps you are missing? I've been using Android for awhile, and at least at this point, I've hardly ever found a lack of apps to be a problem. The only problems I've found are slowness (I have a sprint hero). The main benefits I found to the iPhone (for me) are its speed and smoothness (esp. in the browser). The drawbacks thoug (for me) didn't make up for the gains (terrible notification system, lack of task switching, and lack of linux support).

ROFISH 16y ago

Yes, but an iPhone 2G could reasonably run all apps except for a few hardware features not present (MMS, GPS, OpenGL ES 2.0, video camera) because it received all OS updates. And until iPhone OS 4.0 comes out that effectively end-of-lifes the 2G, one could be reasonably happy with the post-sale support of the original iPhone with two years of major upgrades, three including security/bug updates. The thing that scares me off the Android platform is the OS fragmentation. The sheer fact that I have to hack my device to upgrade it mind-boggles me. The fact that the G1 is not receiving what is becoming the greatest OS upgrade for the Android a mere 1.5 years after release is discouraging beyond the least.

watty 16y ago
Most users don't know what OS version they are running or care. Those that do can "hack" it (feels wrong to call installing an OS hacking).
- ROFISH 16y ago
  I have heard of (not actually experienced as I do not have an Android phone) programs on the Android Market stating "You must have Android 2.0+ to run" or "Does not work on XXXXXX device with 1.5, but we're working on support!" While most users don't care, developers do. Because Apple offers the upgrades free through iTunes ("New update! Click here!"), the number of upgraded iPhones 2Gs with 3.0 (opposed to the 1.0) nears 100%. Thus most developers can just build against the latest OS, get to use the new APIs, and be okay. However, I do admit the loss of the 2G upgrade changes things a bit, and I would like to see how Apple handles it. The easiest answer is that the App Store allows one to select devices that are incompatible with certain builds, however I would love to see a universal binary situation supporting the old OSs much like PPC/x86 or iPhone/iPad apps.
  - ergo98 16y ago
    >I have heard of (not actually experienced as I do not have an Android phone) programs on the Android Market stating When you open the market on a device it is pre-filtered to apps that work on your handset with your features, in your region, etc. Users don't have to read through and sigh at disclaimers. Apps can even pre-filter by your screen size, whether you have a GPS, and so on. The situation with Android is very similar to the Windows landscape: Lots of apps work perfectly fine back to Windows XP or before. Yet occasionally an app demands something particular on the newer variants so it becomes, for instance, Windows Vista+. Same idea with Android. That's just life of a quickly evolving ecosystem, and they've managed it well. And remarkably many of the improvements have been ecosystem enhancements that benefit even apps target obsolete versions. The truth is that even today the platform API was so robust back on 1.6 (that was really the pivot point) that brand new apps still primarily target it.

Tichy 16y ago

Apparently Froyo could make it possible for the G1 to be updated, because apps can be installed on the SD card. I wonder if they will actually provide an update.

brandonkm 16y ago
I'm running Android 2.1 on the G1 courtesy of the cyanogen mod (http://www.cyanogenmod.com/ http://www.cyanogenmod.com/). Its been very snappy and has surprisingly had minimal bugs for a beta release.
- peregrine 16y ago
  I can confirm your experience. Heres hoping for a 2.2 release soon though!

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

blasdel 16y ago

Wow, your new phone has a whole 512mb of non-SD flash instead of the G1's paltry 256mb!

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]