5 ms·

My Epic upgrade path has hit the wall, and I've had it less than a year? It's hard to see why I'd ever buy another smartphone.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
TylerE 15y ago
If other there was another provider of high-quality smartphone equipment that didn't have a business plan of rampant market fragmentation and crapware. Made the switch from a Moto Droid 3 months ago and couldn't be happier, personally.
potatolicious 15y ago
You can always root it and install something else. Not an option for many users, but since you're on HN likely an option for you. There is also a certain other vendor that has, so far, had a good track record of issuing updates for at least 2 years from release... and sometimes longer. But of course, according to some parts of the internet, if you buy anything from this vendor you're shallow, materialistic, vain, attention-seeking, and just plain dumb. But what do I know, I just use this phone.
- a_a_r_o_n 15y ago
  "There is also a certain other vendor ..." Ironic that I went Android out of fear and irritation toward that other vendor, and in fact I've been having other vendor envy.
  - kls 15y ago
    I have an iPhone but I went with the Galaxy Tab 7 inch tablet because my kids play a good deal of Flash games and I figured that would be a big part of the usage in my house. It was and for that it was a good purchase, but I must say, I don't think I would switch phones, I say that even though a feature I use on my phone a good deal (navigation), is far superior on the Android phones. It's one of the primary features I use but after dealing with dead end upgrade cycles I just can not bring myself to switch. My wife has the Atrix, which has been a good phone for her, and we use it as our navigation device so I don't really feel the pain of needing that feature. Google really needs to try to align the market and figure out a path to make it profitable for vendors to upgrade these devices, even if it requires purchasing the upgrade. I would pay a fee or purchase a service agreement, if they offered a path to update these systems. In fact I think their may be a business model there, for a pure software company to build out a common version of Android for these devices, provide support, and a time period of upgrade coverage no matter who's device you buy, obviously the hardware would have to support the updates, but I believe that there would be value in it. Hell I would buy it, just to get newer video codecs. I am noticing more and more videos are not working as my Tab is starting to age.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

TylerE 15y ago

If other there was another provider of high-quality smartphone equipment that didn't have a business plan of rampant market fragmentation and crapware. Made the switch from a Moto Droid 3 months ago and couldn't be happier, personally.

potatolicious 15y ago

You can always root it and install something else. Not an option for many users, but since you're on HN likely an option for you. There is also a certain other vendor that has, so far, had a good track record of issuing updates for at least 2 years from release... and sometimes longer. But of course, according to some parts of the internet, if you buy anything from this vendor you're shallow, materialistic, vain, attention-seeking, and just plain dumb. But what do I know, I just use this phone.

a_a_r_o_n 15y ago
"There is also a certain other vendor ..." Ironic that I went Android out of fear and irritation toward that other vendor, and in fact I've been having other vendor envy.
- kls 15y ago
  I have an iPhone but I went with the Galaxy Tab 7 inch tablet because my kids play a good deal of Flash games and I figured that would be a big part of the usage in my house. It was and for that it was a good purchase, but I must say, I don't think I would switch phones, I say that even though a feature I use on my phone a good deal (navigation), is far superior on the Android phones. It's one of the primary features I use but after dealing with dead end upgrade cycles I just can not bring myself to switch. My wife has the Atrix, which has been a good phone for her, and we use it as our navigation device so I don't really feel the pain of needing that feature. Google really needs to try to align the market and figure out a path to make it profitable for vendors to upgrade these devices, even if it requires purchasing the upgrade. I would pay a fee or purchase a service agreement, if they offered a path to update these systems. In fact I think their may be a business model there, for a pure software company to build out a common version of Android for these devices, provide support, and a time period of upgrade coverage no matter who's device you buy, obviously the hardware would have to support the updates, but I believe that there would be value in it. Hell I would buy it, just to get newer video codecs. I am noticing more and more videos are not working as my Tab is starting to age.