3 ms·
Some phones are too slow, but I think the vast majority of android phones in the wild (by number sold) fall under the umbrella of #2 right now, and that's the m
by ericd 16y ago
Some phones are too slow, but I think the vast majority of android phones in the wild (by number sold) fall under the umbrella of #2 right now, and that's the much bigger issue. It's hard for a consumer to tell whether the phone they're picking up will be supported a year after the fact.
That is a problem with the structure of the Android ecosystem, which by extension is a complaint with Android itself.
- kelnos 16y agoI don't agree. How is Google going to require that all manufacturers of Android phones continue to support each model with sometimes-major OS upgrades for X number of years? Why would they even want to? Apple has, what... 8 devices (4 generations of iPhone, 3 of iPod Touch, and the iPad) out? Hell, at least that many new Android phones have or will come out this year alone! And even Apple can't keep all their devices up-to-date: people with the iPhone 3G are reporting slowness and instability with iOS 4. I imagine the 1st-gen iPod Touch (and maybe even 2nd-gen) would have trouble as well. And last I read, iOS 4 isn't available yet for the iPad. So Apple's track record is (on the generous side) that 50% of their potentially-capable devices work with iOS 4. There's an easy way to solve the "what version of Android does this phone I'm considering buying have on it?" problem -- ask a salesperson. If they don't know, ask the manufacturer. Or just google for it. I'm sure someone else has the phone and has noted it somewhere, or some reviewer has gotten a review unit and has noted the version. And how do you know if it's going to get upgrades? You go by the manufacturer's past record with such things. The interwebs can tell you all this, and more.