9 ms·

A 2.3 Phone will run almost every existing Android app out there. In fact, most Android apps target 2.2 and up.

by DominikR 13y ago

coldtea 13y ago
Which shows how backwards the platform is.
- beedogs 13y ago
  yeah, how dare they allow people to have a useful phone for several years at a time.
  - coldtea 13y ago
    What? It's the very inverse: they DONT allow people to have a useful phone for several years at a time, they saddle them with an osbolete OS and don't provide upgrades. It's a very big pain point that Android makers don't provide upgrades for their older devices (even 1 year old ones). For some models they don't provide upgrades AT ALL, and you have to get custom-install on them to have a new Android. That's why (Google's own numbers) older (by up to 3 years) Android releases amount to 60%+ of the CURRENT installed base, whereas on iOS over 80% of users update on the latest version on the very first month of its release.
    - bdcravens 13y ago
      I don't think this is an Android issue, but with the carriers, and to a lesser degree, the handset makers.
      - coldtea 13y ago
        If it gets down to the users, then it is an Android issue. After all, the Android maker choose to have this kind of collaboration and enable the carriers to do this.
bdcravens 13y ago
Most of the phones running 2.3 aren't shipping with Google Play (is Play even compatible?), so there isn't the integrated app marketplace that defines the modern smartphone experience. These are drastically underpowered devices. Even if an app can run on 2.2, it doesn't mean it'll run well (or at all) on sub-$100 hardware.
- nickik 13y ago
  Mini is 2.3 and uses Google Play.
- DominikR 13y ago
  "Most of the phones running 2.3 aren't shipping with Google Play (is Play even compatible?)" This is wrong, Google Play is compatible with every Android device. (link: http://source.android.com/compatibility/ http://source.android.com/compatibility/) I don't know where you got this information from, but I can assure you that 99,9999% of all Android devices you'll find outside of China will have Google Play on it. "These are drastically underpowered devices. Even if an app can run on 2.2, it doesn't mean it'll run well (or at all) on sub-$100 hardware." Drastically underpowered like an iPhone4/4S? Most 2.2 - 2.3.3 devices out there are just 1-2 year old phones, so of course they are underpowered compared to todays standards. Still, most apps will run on those devices the same way they still run on an iPhone4/4S - in a few cases slow, but still usable for the mayority of consumers.
  - Tloewald 13y ago
    I think Amazon devices comprise more than 0.0001% of non Chinese devices. OK not exactly Android.
    - DominikR 13y ago
      Like you said, Amazon devices are not Android, even though they are architecturally very close.
  - bdcravens 13y ago
    Stop and read my grandparent post. 99,9999% of all Android devices you'll find outside of China - yes, but I was referring to phones in places like China. Drastically underpowered like an iPhone4/4S? Obviously you're so hyped up by your anti-Apple venom that you failed to read my original post, so all is forgiven. No, think underpowered like an original iPhone - if that powerful. My original point: there's tons of phones out there that aren't even remotely in the same category as the market that Apple and Samsung are selling to. Yet, those numbers keep getting included in the discussions about the Android install base. Samsung and other mid-to-high end Android makers are killing it; there's no need to be intellectually dishonest by including number that are irrelevant to their market.
mikevm 13y ago
Yes, truly a great time to be an Android developer...
- DominikR 13y ago
  Thank you for sharing this enormously important insight. I'd bet you had to think hard to come up with that one. Btw: I am an Android developer having a truly great time with this and other platforms.
rodolphoarruda 13y ago
Yes, and that point drove my decision to buy my now 2 year old Samsung Ace. It was a 2.3 device, thus it will run most apps without any issues. What I found later was that a particular hardware spec would really annoy me to the point that I couldn't install any more apps, and it's probably an issue that many low end phone users face: small internal memory. Hey, the phone has only 128Mb of memory for apps. The problem is not when you want to install new stuff, but the natural process of updating existing (default) apps like YouTube and Maps. When I run out of memory I have to reset the phone and start over. I'm thinking about buying a new phone just to get rid of this annoying thing.
- rthomas6 13y ago
  If it has an SD card slot, you can fix this problem by rooting the phone and installing a custom ROM that lets you force apps to be stored to the card. That's what I would do. In the process you would even get to have a 4.1 or so version of Android.
  - rodolphoarruda 13y ago
    > installing a custom ROM that lets you force apps to be stored to the card I almost tried that, but stopped when I read in the custom ROM page that in some cases it could brick the phone. Since my phone is a "branched" version of the standard Ace I decided not to take the risk.
    - ikt 13y ago
      yes, firmware upgrading has a chance it will brick the phone. That didn't stop me doing it 10 times, after the nerves of the 1st time go away it's easy. What do you mean "branched" version of Ace? nothing comes up on google :s
      - rodolphoarruda 13y ago
        I mean a different sub-model (I guess...). Mine is a GT-s5830 instead of a s5830. All of the ROM updates I found made reference to the latter only so, again, I decided to not take any chances while it is my primary phone. By the time I buy a new phone, I'll sure update the old one and see how it goes.
jeffasinger 13y ago
Which is a problem. There are a lot of things that have changed between 4.0 and 2.3, and it would make most developers lives easier if 2.3 would go away.

A 2.3 Phone will run almost every existing Android app out there. In fact, most Android apps target 2.2 and up.

coldtea 13y ago

Which shows how backwards the platform is.

beedogs 13y ago
yeah, how dare they allow people to have a useful phone for several years at a time.
- coldtea 13y ago
  What? It's the very inverse: they DONT allow people to have a useful phone for several years at a time, they saddle them with an osbolete OS and don't provide upgrades. It's a very big pain point that Android makers don't provide upgrades for their older devices (even 1 year old ones). For some models they don't provide upgrades AT ALL, and you have to get custom-install on them to have a new Android. That's why (Google's own numbers) older (by up to 3 years) Android releases amount to 60%+ of the CURRENT installed base, whereas on iOS over 80% of users update on the latest version on the very first month of its release.
  - bdcravens 13y ago
    I don't think this is an Android issue, but with the carriers, and to a lesser degree, the handset makers.
    - coldtea 13y ago
      If it gets down to the users, then it is an Android issue. After all, the Android maker choose to have this kind of collaboration and enable the carriers to do this.

bdcravens 13y ago

Most of the phones running 2.3 aren't shipping with Google Play (is Play even compatible?), so there isn't the integrated app marketplace that defines the modern smartphone experience. These are drastically underpowered devices. Even if an app can run on 2.2, it doesn't mean it'll run well (or at all) on sub-$100 hardware.

nickik 13y ago
Mini is 2.3 and uses Google Play.
DominikR 13y ago
"Most of the phones running 2.3 aren't shipping with Google Play (is Play even compatible?)" This is wrong, Google Play is compatible with every Android device. (link: http://source.android.com/compatibility/ http://source.android.com/compatibility/) I don't know where you got this information from, but I can assure you that 99,9999% of all Android devices you'll find outside of China will have Google Play on it. "These are drastically underpowered devices. Even if an app can run on 2.2, it doesn't mean it'll run well (or at all) on sub-$100 hardware." Drastically underpowered like an iPhone4/4S? Most 2.2 - 2.3.3 devices out there are just 1-2 year old phones, so of course they are underpowered compared to todays standards. Still, most apps will run on those devices the same way they still run on an iPhone4/4S - in a few cases slow, but still usable for the mayority of consumers.
- Tloewald 13y ago
  I think Amazon devices comprise more than 0.0001% of non Chinese devices. OK not exactly Android.
  - DominikR 13y ago
    Like you said, Amazon devices are not Android, even though they are architecturally very close.
- bdcravens 13y ago
  Stop and read my grandparent post. 99,9999% of all Android devices you'll find outside of China - yes, but I was referring to phones in places like China. Drastically underpowered like an iPhone4/4S? Obviously you're so hyped up by your anti-Apple venom that you failed to read my original post, so all is forgiven. No, think underpowered like an original iPhone - if that powerful. My original point: there's tons of phones out there that aren't even remotely in the same category as the market that Apple and Samsung are selling to. Yet, those numbers keep getting included in the discussions about the Android install base. Samsung and other mid-to-high end Android makers are killing it; there's no need to be intellectually dishonest by including number that are irrelevant to their market.

mikevm 13y ago

Yes, truly a great time to be an Android developer...

DominikR 13y ago
Thank you for sharing this enormously important insight. I'd bet you had to think hard to come up with that one. Btw: I am an Android developer having a truly great time with this and other platforms.

rodolphoarruda 13y ago

Yes, and that point drove my decision to buy my now 2 year old Samsung Ace. It was a 2.3 device, thus it will run most apps without any issues. What I found later was that a particular hardware spec would really annoy me to the point that I couldn't install any more apps, and it's probably an issue that many low end phone users face: small internal memory. Hey, the phone has only 128Mb of memory for apps. The problem is not when you want to install new stuff, but the natural process of updating existing (default) apps like YouTube and Maps. When I run out of memory I have to reset the phone and start over. I'm thinking about buying a new phone just to get rid of this annoying thing.

rthomas6 13y ago
If it has an SD card slot, you can fix this problem by rooting the phone and installing a custom ROM that lets you force apps to be stored to the card. That's what I would do. In the process you would even get to have a 4.1 or so version of Android.
- rodolphoarruda 13y ago
  > installing a custom ROM that lets you force apps to be stored to the card I almost tried that, but stopped when I read in the custom ROM page that in some cases it could brick the phone. Since my phone is a "branched" version of the standard Ace I decided not to take the risk.
  - ikt 13y ago
    yes, firmware upgrading has a chance it will brick the phone. That didn't stop me doing it 10 times, after the nerves of the 1st time go away it's easy. What do you mean "branched" version of Ace? nothing comes up on google :s
    - rodolphoarruda 13y ago
      I mean a different sub-model (I guess...). Mine is a GT-s5830 instead of a s5830. All of the ROM updates I found made reference to the latter only so, again, I decided to not take any chances while it is my primary phone. By the time I buy a new phone, I'll sure update the old one and see how it goes.

jeffasinger 13y ago

Which is a problem. There are a lot of things that have changed between 4.0 and 2.3, and it would make most developers lives easier if 2.3 would go away.