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The best comment I've heard on this news came from John Gruber: "Here’s the list of Android phones you can buy today other than the Nexus One which support And
by kloncks 16y ago
The best comment I've heard on this news came from John Gruber:
"Here’s the list of Android phones you can buy today other than the Nexus One which support Android version 2.2: {}."
- spot 16y agoiOS4 was announced in January. Froyo was announced in May. I leave the arithmetic to you.
- jrockway 16y agoI can make meaningless statements too! "Here's the list of iPhone apps I can install on my iPhone without Apple's permission: {}" Incidentally, 2.2 (via the CM6 test) runs just fine on my Sapphire. The joy of Free Software is that I can fix my own device that is no longer the flavor of the month. T-Mobile will never give that device an Android > 2.0. But the community can, and it works much better than the stock image. (Android 2.2 sort of works on my EVO 4G. The 4G doesn't work, but then again, since the EVO came out, Sprint's 4G hasn't worked in Chicago anyway. So I guess 2.2 works fine on the EVO, actually.) Anyway, it all comes down to how you define supported. If you mean, "in the form of a bloatware ROM filled with ads for your carrier", you're right, Android 2.2 is not supported by anything. If you mean, "I can check it out from git, compile it, and load it onto my phone", well, pretty much everything supports 2.2 now. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.
- kloncks 16y agoWith all due respect, you're going off another tangent. Froyo, aka Android 2.2, was released on May 20. It's now July 19th, almost two months later. The fact that only one phone will support an OS for more than two months is a problem.
- jwhitlark 16y agoI wouldn't call it a problem; it's an artifact of a completely different ecosystem. If it wasn't an open platform, and was all built by only one company, it wouldn't have been announced until just before it was shipped. I'm sure some people are frustrated by it, but following "publish early and often", and all that goes with it, is how open source works.
- SandB0x 16y agoWhat's frustrating is that pretty much every Android phone is sold with a "with Google" stamp on the back, and that this basically means fuck all. It should mean "this is an Android phone that is built with Google's blessing and with Google's support, so lean back and don't worry".
- lwhi 16y agoI recently bought an HTC Desire - there's no "with Google" stamp. I don't think your statement is correct.
- jrockway 16y agoIndeed. The "with Google" mark carries meaning; it means you are getting AOSP (the consistent version of Android that is actually usable), instead of the handset's bastardized version of Android. (HTC Nonsense, Moto-durrr, etc.)
- buro9 16y agoUnless you're in the UK where Vodafone have delayed the OTA update so that they can fiddle with it first. It turns out that the Google mark really is meaningless. Myself and most of my friends who I recommended the Nexus One to on the basis of first updates and vanilla software, we are now all running CM6.
- SandB0x 16y agoThis isn't quite true. For example, the fairly new HTC Droid Incredible has Sense and the "with Google" stamp. Also the Motorola Droid X. Maybe it's not the majority of phones then, but my point still stands that the stamp is fairly meaningless.
- IgorPartola 16y agoDo you use Linux? Every Linux distro comes with a Linux kernel. Yet none of the distros are supported by the kernel team. It's a different task. In OSS world there is a concept of upstream, where cool newstuff happens and the package maintainers who pack the released software. The two almost never happen together. If you care to go into business of testing and delivering Android OS for every single phone out there - go ahead. You might even make $$ off of it. But in the mean time the official maintainers are the manufacturers and they are nit going to all agree on when to release the next update - it is a competitive advantage to them to keep the current OS + all the ads and proprietary features running as long as possible.
- ZeroGravitas 16y agoFroyo was not released on May 20th. It was formally announced at Google I/O at around that time. I don't know the exact release date but a quick Google reveals a staff member denying that it had reached final realease as recently as June 23rd. Why you (or Mr. Gruber) would consider it a problem that one phone model would receive updates sooner than others is something of a mystery to me, particularly on such a short timescale. It's not even out for the Nexus One in my country yet. edit: US rollout began 28th June, and phased in with most users getting an update notification within that first week, http://googlenexusoneboard.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-android-22-software-update-for.html http://googlenexusoneboard.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-android-...
- roel_v 16y agoI hope Google learns from this and doesn't announce future new version until the day they can ship the code. Android bashers have been complaining that 'it's taking months to get 2.2 deployed' which is a complete misrepresentation of the facts.
- spot 16y agono, it was announced on 5/20.
- perpetuity 16y agoLet me fix this for you... you don't need apple's permission to install anything. the developer does indeed meet a requirement to be included in the App Store, but, you never need to ask Apple if you can install x, y, or z from the App Store.
- padmanabhan01 16y agoSo the options are either bloatware or git? How about something that just works?
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- YooLi 16y agoWhy does wanting something to work make you a fan boy/girl? Should someone want something that doesn't work and needs to be fixed manually?
- jrockway 16y agoWhy is it that iPhone fanbois have such trouble understanding metaphors? I chose the word bloatware to imply that trusting the provider was not the best option; sure, carrier ROMs might not support Android 2.2, but what's so good about carrier ROMs anyway. I chose the git example as contrast -- it's the opposite of carrier intervention; it's a guy in his house, talking to nobody, making and Android 2.2 build for his own phone. In the real world, the perfect balance lies somewhere between the two. For every Android phone I have owned, there is always a middle ground. On one side, is the carrier ROM with their ads removed. On the other side, is a community-supported open-source build, like Cyanogen Mod. These are the sort of possibilities alluded to by my posts, without worrying the reader about concrete problems (like how the first is copyright infringement, and the second can be unstable). Oh well, next time I will just write a computer program to unambiguously represent the set of possible meanings, so nobody will have to do any thinking on their own.
- ericd 16y agoFrom the perspective of one of my parents, neither of whom have probably ever heard of Git, it's not supported by any phone model. This is a serious problem with the ecosystem, and saying that that's how Free Software works isn't going to make it not a problem.
- Niten 16y agoNo, it's emphatically not a problem with the ecosystem. Android 2.2 phones are being designed as we speak, and Android 2.1 works perfectly fine for people in the meantime -- it's not like Google had to play catchup with Android 2.2 the way Apple did with iOS 4. Like you said, typical users such as your parents have no idea what software their phone is running; they just want it to work. Android 2.1 works perfectly well, and the fact that 2.2 has been announced but is not yet commercially available is no hindrance to people who don't care for such matters. The only people who really seem to be getting up in arms about Android 2.2 not being available right now are the Apple fanatics.
- ericd 16y agoIt's a problem in that the old phones should continue to be supported and get the new OS's in a timely fashion. They shouldn't need to worry about which OS is on there, but I think the OS should continue to get better over the life of the phone regardless. I'm not saying it needs to be out there right now, it's more of a question of whether a random model x will ever get it. Some probably won't, even if they can support it, and I would say that's a problem.
- kelnos 16y agoWhy would you expect that to be the case? Can you install Windows 7 on your 2000-era PC? Can you even install it on your 2005-era PC and expect it to perform well? Some phones will be updated, and some will not. Some won't get the update because: 1. The hardware is too old/slow/underpowered/too little RAM for the new OS 2. The manufacturer/carrier doesn't give a damn and doesn't feel like pouring money into an old phone when doing so doesn't give them any new revenue. Either way, your complaint isn't with Android or Google.
- lr 16y agoThat is great for you, but for 99% of the rest of the planet that doesn't give a flying f* about open source or couldn't care less about hacking a phone, the fragmentation of the Android market is only going to piss them off when they eventually encounter the day where their friends can do some cool thing on their Android phones, and they can't. With the iPhone the path of progression from one phone to another is simple and clear. Not the case with Android.
- krschultz 16y agoUh, there are obvious differences between different versions of the iPhone and/or iPod Touch that lead to new version envy. Otherwise why would anyone upgrade?
- kyleslattery 16y agoThe thing is though--if you go into a store and by an iPhone, you're guaranteed to have the newest version. If you go and buy an Android phone, you never quite know what you're getting.
- nuclear_eclipse 16y agoUnless you go into the store and buy the $99 old model?
- bretthoerner 16y agoThey still sell the 3G. And that's kind of a tautology. You're tied to one manufacturer and one carrier. I can walk into the Verizon store and purchase the most expensive HTC phone and I know that I have the latest HTC on Verizon just like you know you have the latest Apple device on AT&T. A lack of choice doesn't mean you automatically have something better in your hands.
- macrael 16y agoActually, they sell the 3GS which is a year old and is running iOS4. So there is a difference in the way that the two operating systems are being adopted.
- gamble 16y agoThe best thing going for the N1 was the expectation that you'd be able to run the latest Android release. With other handsets you're lucky to get one upgrade before they EOL your phone. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect at least two years of upgrades when you're expected to lock into a two-year contract.
- rbanffy 16y agoAs a good pythonista, I know this is not a list, but a set. And it makes sense - why would one need the same phone to appear more than once?
- Niten 16y agoBest in terms of what exactly? Baseline snarkiness? Most customers don't know, much less care about, the exact version number of their phone's operating system. They care about what the operating system can do for them. But I suppose if Gruber were to compare the actual capabilities of currently available Android systems vs. iOS 4, he would have much less to be snarky about on Apple's behalf.
- rimantas 16y agoactual capabilities of currently available Android systems vs. iOS 4 So how many devices are shipping now with Android 2.2 and how many are shipping/getting updated with iOS 4?
- Niten 16y agoLet me rephrase that, since you appear to have entirely missed the point of my post. It doesn't matter that Android 2.2 isn't out yet, because Android 2.1 still compares favorably to iOS 4.
- megablast 16y agoWell, it becomes a problem when users start reading about features, and they are not available on their phones yet. I buy an android phone, and it doesn't have built in mifi, I am going to be annoyed (I am ok, I have a nexus one).
- kelnos 16y ago2.2 is basically 2.1 with some performance enhancements and a few features sprinkled in here and there. A better question is how many are shipping with >= 2.1? An even better questions is... who cares? I have an N1 with 2.2 on it. I was happy with it with 2.1 on it. I'm slightly happier with 2.2 on it. I know people with Droids with whatever is on it, and they're happy with it. I know people with Droid Incredibles, and they're happy with what's on that. Why do you assume that the average smartphone user is always chasing the most recent version of software that may or may not be available for their particular handset? It's all just hypocritical argumentation. On one hand we have the people who say "well you can install CyanogenMod on it" get shot down by others who say "your average user won't install CM," while these same "others" claim that the average user actually gives a damn that they don't have 2.2 yet. I don't think they do. And I think minority who actually does will be informed enough to decide if they want to take the leap and install CM. Probably most won't, but that's their choice.
- jwhitlark 16y agoActually, It appears that 2.2 started rolling out today to the Droid X. http://moretechnews.com/news/tech-industry/540717/motorola-droid-x-gets-android-update-remains-sold-out.htm http://moretechnews.com/news/tech-industry/540717/motorola-d... I don't have one, can anyone confirm?