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It is remarkable the difference in awareness that android vs iOS releases produce. As a iOS user, i'm glad that iOS releases and features are pushed to me aggre

It is remarkable the difference in awareness that android vs iOS releases produce. As a iOS user, i'm glad that iOS releases and features are pushed to me aggressively.

handrous 5y ago
Having been a developer for both platforms, Apple events/announcements are exciting for people working on iOS apps, while Google events are kinda just depressing. "Oh, yeah, that's cool I guess. Be fun to get to use it in five more years when enough people have this, or a newer, version, for it to matter."
- slownews45 5y ago
  In fairness it is getting (very slightly) better. A few years ago the phone co's would sell a phone today to your parents that was already 1-2 version behind especially if the phone was released a year or so ago. And then NEVER update it over 3 years outside of (maybe) some security updates. For some reason, a month after iOS is released, phones from Apple, including older phones still being sold, are either sold updated or can be updated.
  - notreallyserio 5y ago
    Google themselves abandon their phones after only a couple of years. It’s awful for the environment, users, and app developers. Meanwhile my iPhone 8 got iOS 15 over 5 years after it launched.
    - slownews45 5y ago
      And they are still updating older versions of iOS for some reason. iOS 14.8 was 9/13/21 14.7 was 7/26/21 iOS 12.5 was 6/14/21 So that's 7+ years?
  - y4mi 5y ago
    > For some reason, a month after iOS is released, phones from Apple, including older phones still being sold, are either sold updated or can be updated. That reason should be pretty obvious. Apple has a massive profit margin on their phones, so they're economically able to do this. The margins are super small with Android devices, so if any OEM tries to offer support they'll be quickly undercut by the competition
    - est31 5y ago
      There are more reasons than that. Apple has tight control over its operating system, and even designs many chip components themselves (not all). Android phone manufacturers on the other hand integrate finished components from various manufacturers, together with their driver packages. If Qualcomm doesn't create a new set of drivers for a new android version, they don't have much of a choice.
- gman83 5y ago
  This isn't true imo. With AndroidX and before that the support library, most of the new features have been backwards compatible with older versions of Android.
  - notreallyserio 5y ago
    Most of interesting features aren’t (can’t) be in the support libraries. I haven’t developed android apps in years — thankfully — but the features I can recall off the top of my head are runtime permissions and granular notification settings. Both sweet things that weren’t worth implementing for years after the OS official release.
- ajsnigrutin 5y ago
  Well yeah... because you have to wait until 2020 to get widgets on your home screen. :)
  - handrous 5y ago
    Sure, but I don't want them and that's on the (lengthening every year) list of stuff I wish Apple'd take out, to simplify the UI. Peaked in iOS 6, IMO, been a rollercoaster that's never again reached the height of that first hill ever since.
    - reayn 5y ago
      Really? I've found Apple's slow and steady approach to additions in the iOS UI to be more pleasant than not. I will admit I've only been using iPhones since iOS 10 but have mostly only noticed improvements since then (e.g. the new control panel, amazing animations, app library). Widgets, as well, have been a deal breaker for me, what makes you dislike them? The only real problem I have with iOS as a whole right now is how buried some actions can be, especially in apps like Safari and Music, some things which should be a press away can take 3-4 taps to complete, which while not really annoying does make me feel like a grandpa just tapping away at his phone to share an image or add a song to my queue.
      - handrous 5y ago
        I like iOS devices as a slab of glass & metal that becomes various tools (apps). Since there's nothing else that operates that way, the more it becomes like a general-purpose OS, the farther we get from having anything available that behaves that way. The shock of the move from 6 to 7 was pretty large. 6: "slide to unlock" slider that looked like a physical slider-latch, like one you might slide to unlock a container, and was so obvious in what it did, that it hardly even needed text to be usable by anyone. 7: "swipe to unlock" in thin text on... the background? So what do I swipe? Oh, the screen itself, which is a completely different metaphor for interaction, and entirely unintuitive to people who don't think like that. That kind of thing, repeated across the entire UI. Most of the multitasking stuff they've added, are just weird modes I accidentally put myself in then have to spend time figuring out how to get out of them. I'm sure they're pure rage-inducing hell for most people, who are even worse at tech than I am. I think the loss of the home button, one of the most brilliant UI elements of all time, is a big loss for intuitiveness/usability for people who aren't immersed in very digital-native metaphors. It was such a great safety net for people. "Oh shit, what's this?! HOME BUTTON! Ah, now I'm in familiar territory". Swiping the screen up from the bottom is not a complete replacement for that. Overall it's just far less relaxing and straightforward than it used to be. Used to feel like some kind of hyper-advanced "slow tech" sort of thing. Now it's a lot closer to just being another computer OS. I wouldn't care, except there's no alternative that provides the old thing that I liked better.

It is remarkable the difference in awareness that android vs iOS releases produce. As a iOS user, i'm glad that iOS releases and features are pushed to me aggressively.

handrous 5y ago

Having been a developer for both platforms, Apple events/announcements are exciting for people working on iOS apps, while Google events are kinda just depressing. "Oh, yeah, that's cool I guess. Be fun to get to use it in five more years when enough people have this, or a newer, version, for it to matter."

slownews45 5y ago
In fairness it is getting (very slightly) better. A few years ago the phone co's would sell a phone today to your parents that was already 1-2 version behind especially if the phone was released a year or so ago. And then NEVER update it over 3 years outside of (maybe) some security updates. For some reason, a month after iOS is released, phones from Apple, including older phones still being sold, are either sold updated or can be updated.
- notreallyserio 5y ago
  Google themselves abandon their phones after only a couple of years. It’s awful for the environment, users, and app developers. Meanwhile my iPhone 8 got iOS 15 over 5 years after it launched.
  - slownews45 5y ago
    And they are still updating older versions of iOS for some reason. iOS 14.8 was 9/13/21 14.7 was 7/26/21 iOS 12.5 was 6/14/21 So that's 7+ years?
- y4mi 5y ago
  > For some reason, a month after iOS is released, phones from Apple, including older phones still being sold, are either sold updated or can be updated. That reason should be pretty obvious. Apple has a massive profit margin on their phones, so they're economically able to do this. The margins are super small with Android devices, so if any OEM tries to offer support they'll be quickly undercut by the competition
  - est31 5y ago
    There are more reasons than that. Apple has tight control over its operating system, and even designs many chip components themselves (not all). Android phone manufacturers on the other hand integrate finished components from various manufacturers, together with their driver packages. If Qualcomm doesn't create a new set of drivers for a new android version, they don't have much of a choice.
gman83 5y ago
This isn't true imo. With AndroidX and before that the support library, most of the new features have been backwards compatible with older versions of Android.
- notreallyserio 5y ago
  Most of interesting features aren’t (can’t) be in the support libraries. I haven’t developed android apps in years — thankfully — but the features I can recall off the top of my head are runtime permissions and granular notification settings. Both sweet things that weren’t worth implementing for years after the OS official release.
ajsnigrutin 5y ago
Well yeah... because you have to wait until 2020 to get widgets on your home screen. :)
- handrous 5y ago
  Sure, but I don't want them and that's on the (lengthening every year) list of stuff I wish Apple'd take out, to simplify the UI. Peaked in iOS 6, IMO, been a rollercoaster that's never again reached the height of that first hill ever since.
  - reayn 5y ago
    Really? I've found Apple's slow and steady approach to additions in the iOS UI to be more pleasant than not. I will admit I've only been using iPhones since iOS 10 but have mostly only noticed improvements since then (e.g. the new control panel, amazing animations, app library). Widgets, as well, have been a deal breaker for me, what makes you dislike them? The only real problem I have with iOS as a whole right now is how buried some actions can be, especially in apps like Safari and Music, some things which should be a press away can take 3-4 taps to complete, which while not really annoying does make me feel like a grandpa just tapping away at his phone to share an image or add a song to my queue.
    - handrous 5y ago
      I like iOS devices as a slab of glass & metal that becomes various tools (apps). Since there's nothing else that operates that way, the more it becomes like a general-purpose OS, the farther we get from having anything available that behaves that way. The shock of the move from 6 to 7 was pretty large. 6: "slide to unlock" slider that looked like a physical slider-latch, like one you might slide to unlock a container, and was so obvious in what it did, that it hardly even needed text to be usable by anyone. 7: "swipe to unlock" in thin text on... the background? So what do I swipe? Oh, the screen itself, which is a completely different metaphor for interaction, and entirely unintuitive to people who don't think like that. That kind of thing, repeated across the entire UI. Most of the multitasking stuff they've added, are just weird modes I accidentally put myself in then have to spend time figuring out how to get out of them. I'm sure they're pure rage-inducing hell for most people, who are even worse at tech than I am. I think the loss of the home button, one of the most brilliant UI elements of all time, is a big loss for intuitiveness/usability for people who aren't immersed in very digital-native metaphors. It was such a great safety net for people. "Oh shit, what's this?! HOME BUTTON! Ah, now I'm in familiar territory". Swiping the screen up from the bottom is not a complete replacement for that. Overall it's just far less relaxing and straightforward than it used to be. Used to feel like some kind of hyper-advanced "slow tech" sort of thing. Now it's a lot closer to just being another computer OS. I wouldn't care, except there's no alternative that provides the old thing that I liked better.