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Even not knowing what an OS is, a user is incredibly frustrated by crashes, lag, and sms errors. There may not be an 'android phone' but there is 'the alternat

Even not knowing what an OS is, a user is incredibly frustrated by crashes, lag, and sms errors. There may not be an 'android phone' but there is 'the alternative to the IPhone' which isn't, outside of the business market, the blackberry. Users use. And they do compare how well things work, and migrate. So in the larger sense, users should care about fragmentation. Eventually, its going to limit their choices.

uxp 16y ago
Especially when manufacturers and vendors start selling devices with different Android versions, as they are now. Someone that physically breaks their Motorolla DroidX running 2.2 and buys a replacement Samsung Galaxy that runs 1.5 (now 1.6 I hear), and then realizes that the majority of the apps that they purchased aren't compatible with the lower version of the phone, and that the phone has a terrible UI (compared to the improved 2.2), is going to be mighty disappointed in both the carrier and the Android name. The average user doesn't know how to root and upgrade the phone software to unofficial versions. The average user only knows that it is Android, and that Android now "sucks" in that situation.
- Calamitous 16y ago
  If they downgrade from a DroidX to a Samsung Galaxy, and it sucks, are they going to blame the OS or the phone? Put another way, are you more likely to hear "My phone sucks" or "This lower version number of the OS I was previously happy with sucks"? The market will drum out the bad apples who try to leave their Android phones stuck at ancient versions.
  - forgottenpaswrd 16y ago
    The same way people has complained for years about Linux drivers support. They don't care their printer or modems, or webcams manufacturers don't give technical info about their devices, they just want their devices to work as they are used to. Ironically, now Linux support way more devices than Windows, and let you do things that no commercial vendor is going to let you do(e.g I have used an old scanner as spectrogram with very little money).
  - Locke1689 16y ago
    You're right but I think they end up with the same result. Whether or not it's "my phone sucks" or "my OS sucks," the result is just going to be people leaving for the main competitor (i.e., Apple).

uxp 16y ago

Especially when manufacturers and vendors start selling devices with different Android versions, as they are now. Someone that physically breaks their Motorolla DroidX running 2.2 and buys a replacement Samsung Galaxy that runs 1.5 (now 1.6 I hear), and then realizes that the majority of the apps that they purchased aren't compatible with the lower version of the phone, and that the phone has a terrible UI (compared to the improved 2.2), is going to be mighty disappointed in both the carrier and the Android name. The average user doesn't know how to root and upgrade the phone software to unofficial versions. The average user only knows that it is Android, and that Android now "sucks" in that situation.

Calamitous 16y ago
If they downgrade from a DroidX to a Samsung Galaxy, and it sucks, are they going to blame the OS or the phone? Put another way, are you more likely to hear "My phone sucks" or "This lower version number of the OS I was previously happy with sucks"? The market will drum out the bad apples who try to leave their Android phones stuck at ancient versions.
- forgottenpaswrd 16y ago
  The same way people has complained for years about Linux drivers support. They don't care their printer or modems, or webcams manufacturers don't give technical info about their devices, they just want their devices to work as they are used to. Ironically, now Linux support way more devices than Windows, and let you do things that no commercial vendor is going to let you do(e.g I have used an old scanner as spectrogram with very little money).
- Locke1689 16y ago
  You're right but I think they end up with the same result. Whether or not it's "my phone sucks" or "my OS sucks," the result is just going to be people leaving for the main competitor (i.e., Apple).